Democrats Disappointed by Failure to Extend Alaska Coastal Management Program
Program’s demise threatens jobs, development, local control

House Democrats are disappointed today by the unraveling of the special session to retain the Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP). Democrats said abandoning the ACMP will directly affect Alaskans by killing jobs, impeding development and decreasing state and local control in Alaska.

Democratic Leader Rep. Beth Kerttula said, “It’s unfathomable to me that Alaska, with more coastline that the rest of the country combined, will be the only coastal state without a coastal management program. The loss of the ACMP will be felt around the state. The state and coastal communities will lose their power over the permitting process on federal lands and in federal waters in Alaska. The Division of Coastal & Ocean Management provided essential services that streamlined and coordinated the permitting process. Loss of the program will decrease permitting efficiency and discourage investment by small independent companies that don’t have entire legal divisions to deal with permitting.”

Democratic Whip Rep. Berta Gardner said, “What we really needed was leadership to put together a deal to keep control of Alaska’s resources in Alaskans’ hands. This outcome demonstrates a lack of leadership from the governor.”

Finance member Rep. Les Gara said, “We had quick, coordinated permitting and the right to follow state law and to listen to local communities. That will be replaced by slower permitting, federal laws and decisions made solely by federal bureaucrats. Today was a bad day for Alaska.”

###

Rep. Sharon Cissna Statement on Texas TSA Law
Americans should travel with “security and dignity intact”

In February of this year, Rep. Sharon Cissna (D-Anchorage) made national headlines following an encounter she had with the TSA (Transportation Security Authority) while traveling. An airport full-body X-ray scan revealed scars from breast cancer surgery, prompting the TSA to subject Cissna to an invasive hand search. Cissna refused and began a long journey back to Juneau by automobile, ferry and small aircraft.

She has worked with legislators from many other states since and is a co-chair of the new group of legislators dedicated to solving this issue. The organization’s name is United States for Travel Freedom. Today, the Texas House of Representatives passed legislation sponsored by Representative David Simpson, a member of the Travel Freedom group. This legislation is the first actual bill that would limit the TSA’s ability to conduct intrusive searches without probable cause. The following is a statement from Rep. Cissna on the heels of that landmark vote.

I am so pleased with the progress of this legislation in Texas. Current invasive airline screening affects everyone, in some way that they may not realize until they or a loved-one is invasively felt up at the airport. In Alaska, as we are dependent on commercial airlines to leave the state, it becomes a greater economic and survival issue. That does not diminish the need for security. We need to ensure TSA understands that security is both physical, emotional and medical. These invasive searches are not in the spirit of our Constitution. It’s time to restore freedoms we once took for granted.

Our group believes this important step in Texas is the first of the journey to restore important rights to Americans who simply want to travel with both their security and their dignity intact.

If you have any questions or would like further comment, please contact Rep. Cissna at (907) 269-0190 and visit www.akhealthcaucus.org, which contains a TSA link giving more information about TSA-related legislative issues occurring around the country.

###

House Democrats Propose Common-Sense Solution to Budget Impasse
All parties should stand down and work together in good faith

JUNEAU – Today, Alaska House Democrats announced a simple, common-sense solution to the budget stand-off that has the Legislature locked into a special session.

“We have a way out of this mess. It isn’t all that complicated,” said Representative Beth Kerttula, House Minority Leader. “We say this without blame and in the spirit of being helpful.”

The Democrats’ proposal has three parts. First, the governor needs to renounce his threat to veto capital projects in retaliation for HB 110. Then the Senate needs to remove the contingency language concerning energy projects in the capital budget. Finally, the House, Senate and the governor need to agree on which energy projects should be in the capital budget.

“And that’s it. Sorry it’s that simple, but it is that simple. And if everyone can do their part and stop what I can only characterize as bickering about this, we can be out of here in two or three days,” said Representative Mike Doogan.

“We need to stop having the House blame the Senate or one body blame the other body and move ahead and solve this thing. That’s what the public expects,” said Representative Les Gara.

“What’s clouding the issue right now is the governor’s threat to veto. The most important thing is for the Governor to back off of that statement,” said Representative David Guttenberg. “It’s not about pointing the finger. It’s about understanding what the issues are and getting past them. It’s about sitting down together and getting to where we need to be.”

Watch the entire press availability here.

###

Mark Gnadt
Press Secretary, House Democratic Caucus
W: (907) 465-3842; C: (907) 209-7006
http://www.akdemocrats.org

Legislature Requests TSA Hearings in Alaska

Air travel, airport procedures of upmost importance to Alaskans

JUNEAU – Today, fifty-nine of sixty members of the Alaska Legislature sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs requesting hearings be held in Alaska on the often invasive procedures used by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA).

“Alaskans depend on air travel more than most other Americans,” said Rep. Max Gruenberg (D-Anchorage) who drafted the letter and gathered signatures from his colleagues in the State House. “The committee needs to hear from Alaskans about our unique concerns.”

“I thank the good Lord that we don’t have to do the mandatory full-body pat downs in Alaska YET. It is my desire that the committee needs to leave the Washington, D.C. beltway to better find out from Alaskans what they are experiencing,” said Senator Linda Menard (R- Wasilla) who collected signatures in the Alaska Senate.

The letter specifically requests the hearing focus on the new pat-down procedures adopted on October 28, 2010 and “other TSA policies that may violate the privacy rights of law-abiding individuals.”

“Efficient air travel is a cornerstone of Alaska’s economy and quality of life. There is no way to travel to many areas of Alaska except via air. Furthermore, there is no way to travel to Alaska itself except by ship, airplane, or through Canada, which requires a passport. Therefore, the procedures used for air travel are of the utmost importance to Alaskans,” say the legislators in the letter.

The letter was addressed to Senator Joe Lieberman, Chair, and Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member, of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and also to Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich of Alaska.

If the link above does not work, the letter is available at: http://www.akdemocrats.org/gruenberg/040811_signed_letter_to_US_Senate.pdf

###

Mark Gnadt
Press Secretary, House Democratic Caucus
W: (907) 465-3842; C: (907) 209-7006
http://www.akdemocrats.org

Democrats: Let’s Get Something for Oil Tax Breaks

House Democrats offer amendments to require more development, disclosure

JUNEAU – Today, House Democrats offered a series of amendments to Governor Parnell’s oil tax giveaway designed to make sure Alaskans get the exploration, production and jobs Alaska needs on the North Slope in return for lowering oil taxes.

Rep. Bob Miller (D-Fairbanks) introduced an amendment that would allow oil companies to get the governor’s proposed tax breaks until January 1, 2017. After that, companies would have to have increased their production ten percent over current levels in order to continue receiving the lower tax rates. For each year after, a company would have to increase its production two percent each year to keep the lower rates. Companies not increasing production in any given year would not get the breaks in the governor’s bill for that year.

“We want to be sure that they are earning the breaks that we are giving,” said Rep. Miller. “This amendment says here’s the benefit. If you do not make certain metrics for the benefit of Alaska, we withdraw those benefits.”

The amendment failed 13-24 with two members of the House Majority joining House Democrats in support.

Rep. Berta Gardner introduced an amendment to require companies asking for tax credits for investments to tell the public what they did to earn the investments.

“This is the ‘tell us what we’ve bought’ amendment,” said Rep. Gardner. “Who got credits, how much were the credits, and what did they do to earn those credits. This is what we are buying, and I think that Alaskans will broadly support that it should be available to us.”

Rep. Mike Doogan offered an amendment to sunset the whole bill at the end of 2014, roughly the same amount of time the legislature gave ACES to work before revisiting it.

“If we don’t do this [amendment] we’re just going to give oil companies a lot of money for a long, long time,” said Rep. Doogan.

Both Rep. Doogan and Rep. Gardner’s amendments failed along caucus lines.

In order to target the bill to get more oil, Rep. Les Gara offered an amendment to increase the exploration tax credits in the bill and remove the rest of the governor’s tax breaks. That amendment was still under debate when the House recessed until 5:00pm.

While debating Rep. Miller’s amendment, Rep. Gara summed up the theme of the Democrats’ amendments:

“There’s a common theme in the amendments from members from our side of the aisle. If we’re going to give you state money, we want to see jobs, exploration, production facilities and oil in the pipeline.”

###

Mark Gnadt
Press Secretary, House Democratic Caucus
W: (907) 465-3842; C: (907) 209-7006
http://www.akdemocrats.org