Rep. Andy Josephson's Newsletter

Tuesday marked the start of the second session of the 29th Alaska State Legislature. At the forefront of everyone’s mind right now is the growing deficit facing Alaska. It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most important sessions in Alaska’s history.

This session I’ll again be sitting on the House Labor & Commerce (L&C) committee and the House Resources committee. I am joined on my committees by fellow caucus members Representative Kito III (L&C) and Representative Tarr (Resources). I will also serve on the Law, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Conservation, and University Finance budget subcommittees. During this time of stressed revenue flow, cuts to government are prudent and to be expected, but we must make sure that any cuts that are made do not send ripples through the economy that cause a recession or are focused unfairly on the most vulnerable in our society.

Though the budget will be the focus of the session, this fact does not preclude legislators from working on personal legislation that they hold dear. This session I plan to continue to pursue legislation that will address climate change, as well as personal privacy. I believe that Alaskans need to be very wary of the effects of climate change. With more coastline than the rest of the United State combined and villages located near rising oceans it is important that we do something. I introduced HB 233 this session to establish the Alaska Climate Change Commission in order for Alaskans to start to plan and take action.

Relative to personal privacy, I am introducing legislation that would prohibit employers and schools from demanding access to personal social media accounts from their employees and students, as well as from applicants for employment. The Juneau Empire posted a story about the rollout that you can read here.

The privacy legislation--sponsored with the aid of the ACLU--would protect personal privacy on social media. While I do agree that everyone must be responsible when posting things on-line there should also be protections so that employers cannot force an employee to disclose the content of their social media profiles. This is an example of culture and technology advancing faster than our laws. I believe it is imperative that we protect individual privacy in all facets of life.

On January 9th, Senator Gardner, Representative Drummond and I held a constituent meeting to discuss the upcoming session and the budget deficit. Special guest speaker,Cliff Groh from Alaska Common Ground, gave a presentation about the scale of the deficit and some possible solutions. You can check out the diagram that Cliff providedhere and his one page fact sheet here. There was a great group of people present and I want to thank all of you who made it to the meeting.

Following the conclusion of our meeting the Anchorage Caucus held its pre-session meeting. We heard from constituents all over Anchorage who had a variety of issues ranging from concerns for the budget to protecting workers with a statewide smoke-free workplace law. I encourage all of you who have programs or issues that are close to you to reach out not just to your local legislators, but others as well. You never know how far your voice will reach.

This year I am joined in my office by staffers Johnathan Church and Megan Rowe. Johnathan’s family came up with the Mat-Su Colony New Deal program and were some of the first farmers in the Mat-Su Valley. Following graduation from Palmer High School, Johnathan attended school at UAF and UAA where he eventually received his Bachelors in Political Science. He has served in my office for three years now (one as an intern) and will be helping me on the House Labor & Commerce committee as well as on the Law and University budget subcommittees.

Megan is a new face to the office and relatively new to the state. She is originally from Georgia and brings a fresh perspective to the office. She graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelors in Political Science and then went on to receive her J.D. from the Vermont Law School. She will be staffing me on House Resources and on my DEC and DNR budget subcommittees. I am excited to have her knowledge of environmental law and criminal law in the office.

As always, please call or email with any thoughts, ideas, or concerns.

Representative Andy Josephson
State Capitol Bldg., Room 430
Phone: 907-465-4939