Legislators Stand Up for Coastal Communities

Approximately 30 people representing coastal communities from Kotzebue to Ketchikan attended an evening meeting hosted by Senator Kim Elton and Representatives Beth Kerttula, Ethan Berkowitz, and Paul Seaton. Other legislators in attendance included Senator Hollis French and Representatives David Guttenberg, Les Gara, Reggie Joule, and Bruce Weyhrauch. The legislators and community representatives discussed the impacts HB 191 and SB 143 (changes to the state coastal program) will have on coastal communities. They also discussed the speed with which the bill is moving through the legislature and the lack of time for adequate public input. Frustration was high and the meeting concluded with a decision by the coastal representatives to draft a letter to Alaska legislators expressing their concerns.

Senate Approves Drug Lab Clean-Up Bill

The Alaska State Senate unanimously approved House Bill 59 by a vote of 18 to zero on Monday. HB 59 sets basic standards and requirements for the cleaning and repair of former drug lab sites, and is sponsored by Representative Jim Holm (R-Fairbanks) and Senator Gretchen Guess (D-Anchorage). Last year, a similar bill by former-Representative Guess passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Over the past four years, more than 90 methamphetamine labs have been discovered in Alaskan apartments, hotels, cabins, mobile homes, and boats.

HB 59 requires the property owner to clean up hazardous materials when law enforcement agencies discover an illegal drug lab. Before the property can be used again, the owner must provide test results that show contamination levels below Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) limits. The DEC or a law enforcement agency will provide the property owner with the guidelines for cleaning the site and a list of laboratories that can test the site. Holm and Guess worked together in their respective legislative bodies to ensure passage of the new regulations. HB 59 will return to the House for concurrence.

Senator Georgianna Lincoln Introduces Resolution to Protect the Permanent Fund Dividend

Recognizing public support for the Permanent Fund dividend and anxiety about possible legislative raids to pay for government, Senator Georgianna
Lincoln (D-Rampart) introduced a resolution on May 2 as one way to permanently protect the Permanent Fund dividend. Senator Lincoln's resolution comes one day after the Democratic caucus disclosed its intent to not allow a withdrawal from the Constitutional Budget Reserve unless the Legislature acts to permanently protect the PFD.

Senator Lincoln's resolution mirrors SSHJR 3 which Representative Eric Croft (D-Anchorage) and Representative Harry Crawford (D-Anchorage) introduced in the House, but Democrats insist that this specific piece of legislation is not the only method of protecting the dividend that they will accept.

The resolution, SJR 19 takes the exact language of the initiative sponsored by former Governor Jay Hammond and the group Alaskans for Efficient Government that would require a vote of the people in order for the legislature to spend any of the Permanent Fund earnings.