February 6th, 2015  |
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Dear Friends and Neighbors, The legislative session is in full swing. Yesterday, Governor Walker released his full budget for fiscal year 2016. The Operating Budget starts in the House, so those of us on the House Finance Committee will be diving in right away.
I will send out more information on the governor’s budget recommendations after I have had the chance to take a closer look, in the meantime click here to read the budget. Alaska has weathered a lot of budget storms, its part of being a boom or bust economy, and I don’t expect this to be much different. While there will be cuts, I want to make sure that we do not do harm to our future when prices rise again. I recently wrote an opinion piece for KTUU’s Political Pipeline titled, “Four Ways to Make the Most of Alaska’s Dire Financial Situation”, click here to read it. Constituent Meeting February 14th The Interior Delegation will be holding a constituent meeting on Saturday, February 14th. I will be unable to be there in person, but will be online to listen and respond to questions. Date: Saturday, February 14th If you cannot attend in person, please consider calling in 907-586-9085. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments about this session. Pending Fairbanks Natural Gas Sale to the State The pending sale of Fairbanks Natural Gas (FNG) to Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) has been a hot topic around the building. Yesterday, I listened to a Senate committee hearing on the subject of the sale. It is the first chance Legislators have had to ask AIDEA questions about the intent of this and I look forward to hearing more from AIDEA as the project progresses. AIDEA is looking at purchasing Pentex, which includes FNG, and all of its assets for roughly $52 million. AIDEA stated that it will continue to focus on distribution build out in North Pole and Fairbanks, as well as storage. AIDEA will not operate the utility but will be the investor. Whether or not AIDEA sells off the trucking and/or LNG facility in Cook Inlet is still to be decided, as is the transportation portion. AIDEA is looking at all options including rail, truck and pipeline. I don’t have to tell you how much fuel prices hurt us in the Interior, but I do have to tell my colleagues consistently. I support the Governor moving forward with an option to bring low cost energy to all of us in the Interior. Arctic Policy Releases Final Report The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission released its final report last week, outlining a plan for making sure that Alaska has a seat at the table as Arctic development continues. As a member of the commission, I made sure that the Interior was included in economic benefits and that the University of Alaska Fairbanks was the premier Arctic research facility. The Legislature will now turn its attention to continuing the work of the commission through House Bill 1 “An Act declaring the Arctic policy of the state". I want to give special thanks to the many UAF professors and staff who lent their expertise to the committee. Given the broad topic of the Arctic, it was almost impossible to find consensus on just about anything. There is a lot more work ahead for Alaska and it is my hope that we can better incorporate the needs and wisdom of the indigenous people of the Arctic into our actions. Meet our Intern! I am proud to have Connor MacDonald joining my team this session as a University of Alaska Fairbanks intern. You may remember him from a short stint in my office this fall. I am glad that Connor chose to do the internship route where he will get an up close look at state government as well as the academic experience. Connor is seeking a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UAF. Born in Seattle, but he considers Valdez and Fairbanks home. Connor will help run the office and take point on pieces of legislation.
Connor joins my two long term staffers, Meredith Cameron and Ron Clarke. All three of them look forward to serving House District 4 and I am happy to have them on board. Thank you for reading and please feel free to call my office and share your ideas.
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![[signed] David Guttenberg](../../images/signatures/7.jpg)
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