MAY 1, 2015  

Juneau Update & Report From
Alaska Food Security Week

Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks) and I offer GMO-free apple pie courtesy of Rainbow Foods in Juneau. The pie was dished out during a presentation we did on genetically engineered foods.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The session should have adjourned on April 19th, but we have gone into overtime to make sure we have a budget that reflects the priorities of Alaskans, including education funding, Medicaid expansion, Erin’s Law, and cutting wasteful spending. This session I’ve received thousands of emails and calls of support for these priorities. When we held budget hearings thousands of Alaskans called in to support these priorities. The support has been overwhelming while the oppositional is minimal. Also, in the case of Medicaid expansion most opposing are asking for reform. I’m proud to have supported House Bill 148, that includes both expansion and reform that will result in hundreds of millions of dollars of savings.

As drafted, the budgets this year contain the largest cut in state history. The operating and capital budgets are about $1 billion dollars less that last year. We are not interested in adding to the budget, but instead want to spend differently to prioritize education over corporate subsidies and megaprojects we can’t afford. We have to have a back to basics approach and make sure our basic needs for education, public safety, and health care are addressed.

On Erin’s Law, I am so proud that the bill I sponsored has become a part of this special session and that Governor Walker has remained committed to getting this legislation passed. This bill needs to pass so we can address the silent epidemic of child sexual abuse that is costing us hundreds of millions of dollars and hurting our state. Today, in the ADN, I authored a guest editorial with Senators Gardner and McGuire (sponsors of a Senate version of Erin’s Law) on why we need to pass this important legislation now.

You may have read that yesterday the Republican Majorities voted to take a recess. I voted against this measure, along with my colleagues in the Independent Democratic Coalition, and instead called for the members to stay put and finish our work. The special session is less expensive in Juneau and we can’t take votes from Anchorage so we do have to be here in the capitol city to finish our work. Your thoughts are very important to me and I love hearing from you. Please call me anytime on my cell at 360-4047 with any questions.

We had an incredibly productive legislative session so while I am working hard to resolve the remaining important issues and finish, I want to keep updating you on the work we did this session.

ALASKA FOOD SECURITY AWARENESS WEEK & YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW

In March, I hosted Alaska Food Security Awareness Week in an effort to engage citizens around the state on the importance of food security, your right to know what is in your food, and the incredible economic opportunities developing our agriculture industry in Alaska can provide for our economy. Events were held in Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, and Sitka with over 250 Alaskans in attendance.

Around 95% of the $2 billion dollar food purchases in Alaska are imported from out of the state. These are dollars that could stay in Alaska and What happens if our grocery store supplies are delayed due to events out of our control like weather incidents or barge breakdowns?

According to the Alaska Food Policy Council (AFPC), food is a $5 billion business in Alaska, yet we distribute more of our food to outside vendors and import most of our food from outside vendors. On top of that, AFPC could only identify a half dozen manufacturers that focus their efforts on feeding Alaskans.

To address the issue of food insecurity in Alaska, I’ve introduced several measures including HJR5 that passed in 2013 opposing GMO salmon, a measure to increase Alaska Grown food purchases, and this year I introduced House Bill 92, which requires the labeling of GMO foods.

We are currently working very hard to get movement on House Bill 92, a consumers’ right-to-know bill that also addresses food security. Right now Alaska is pretty much GMO-free, and thousands of Alaskans are demanding to know what is in their food. With the small amount of food that is grown here in Alaska, keeping it as genetically diverse as possible means a lesser chance of a parasitic insect or disease taking out our crops. Because we are still working on increasing our local food supply in Alaska, we need to keep utilizing heirloom varieties, keeping our seed stocks local, and giving consumers know a way to know what is or is not GMO free.

Representative Tarr speaks to a large crowd at the Juneau-based discussion on GMOs. Attendees had many questions and wanted to know what products are most commonly genetically modified. The answer: soy, corn, canola, sugar beets, and cotton.

I thank my colleagues on the House Resources Committee for hearing HB92 this session, and next session, let’s make – or label it-- a GMO-conscientious year!

Here is some of the coverage of our week long event:

http://www.newsminer.com/opinion/community_perspectives/alaskans-need-to-know-what-s-in-food/article_d7af2946-c55d-11e4-9d83-9786705b3348.html

http://www.adn.com/article/20150306/alaska-needs-order-labeling-frankenfoods-especially-salmon

http://juneauempire.com/opinion/2015-03-09/my-turn-know-what-you-eat

http://juneauempire.com/opinion/2015-03-15/empire-editorial-alaska-should-require-genetically-engineered-foods-be-labeled

http://www.ktoo.org/2015/03/13/legislator-says-mandating-gmo-labels-empowers-shoppers/

http://www.kcaw.org/2015/03/12/alaskas-gmo-labeling-bill-looks-to-film-for-public-support

http://kinyradio.com/juneau-daily-news-online/135138

The Alaska Food Security Week was a success across the state! We had over 250 people come out, join us for the film screening of “GMO OMG,” and facilitate discussions on how genetically modified foods impact our state. Definitely some food for thought!

Sincerely,

Representative Geran Tarr