The Alaskan legislative session came to an end in mid-October, and the governor. Mike Dunleavy has yet to take a look at the majority of 31 bills that were passed by both the House and Senate this spring.
The 31 bills passed by the Legislature are the third-lowest of any session that began in the first year since the state’s founding. The only exceptions were the 2017 session (26 bill) as well as the 2019 session (29 bills) were less.
It’s unclear which bills Dunleavy would reject. He’s already vetoed one of the bills voting against a bill that would have slowed raises for employees of the executive branch.
The veto was the initial stage in a complex procedure that saw lawmakers and the governor work together to select new public-salary board members, who voted for raises for legislators as well as the governor.
The Legislature did not approve a bill that rebuts the new recommendations of the board which means lawmakers will receive annual salaries of $84,000, and approximately $37,000 in per-diem expenses.
The largest expenses of this year include the omnibus budget bill as well as the annual budget for mental health. Dunleavy is able to veto or decrease line items in the budget prior to the beginning of the fiscal year starting on July 1 but with just one month left the governor hasn’t offered any indication of what he’s thinking.
The oil price was much lower than those of the previous year legislators were also required to pass the fast-tracked budget bill which allows the state to use the Constitutional Budget Reserve in order to balance the budget up to June 30.
The first year in two for the 33rd Legislative
The Legislature is governed by two-year cycles. And in every Legislature since the state’s founding the majority of bills were passed during the 2nd year of statehood than first. The only exception was the first Legislature which was in 1959.
It takes time for lawmakers to grasp what a coworker is trying to get. The goal of legislators is to make a law get through one half of the Legislature in the initial year, and then move it through the final hurdle after the second.
Even if it’s not made law, it’s poised to take effect quickly once the new Legislature meets after the election.
Senator. David Wilson, R-Wasilla was blocked last year when he tried to make it a crime to harass dispatchers and operators of 911 and dispatchers; however, the Legislature approved the bill this year, partly because lawmakers were already well-versed in the legislation.
The same thing took place in the House in the House of Representatives, when Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla she urged members of the Legislature to limit the ability of the state to restrict shooting ranges, as well as stop ammunition and gun sales following a declared catastrophe.
The proposal was the consequence of the actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. each House and Senate adopted it before the end of the session.
The former governor Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks, has urged legislators to remove the regulation on electric bicycles, and had proposed legislation that would do this before he opted out of running to re-elect himself in 2022.
The person who assumed his office as his staff chief was now Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks She led legislation through the Capitol this year.
The same topics are discussed regularly
The state’s various commissions and boards receive focus from the Legislature and this year legislators modified the membership as well as the rules for the board that cover engineers and architects.
The Alaska Minerals Commission, state medical board and board of certified direct-entry midwives were granted an extension of several more years. State law requires that most commissions and boards to get renewed by the Legislature periodically.
Legislators have decided to remove the expiration date of the Renewable Energy Grant Fund, creating a permanent account. The fund, which is sometimes stocked with cash from the Legislature is used to distribute grants to projects throughout the state.
Legislators went in the opposite direction with the five programs they had abandoned, voting to repeal these from state law with the help of Senator. James Kaufman, R-Anchorage.
The celebration of religious holidays is another frequent event in the Legislature and the lawmakers have approved three of them this year.
The Legislature approved October as Filipino-American Heritage Month. It also declared September 10 as Alaska Community Health Aide Appreciation Day and declared the 9th of June to be Don Young Day.
Legislators also ratified the State’s regular bill to revisor which corrects small mistakes and typographical errors in the legislation that was that was passed in the last two-year legislative session.
Lawmakers are required to approve new license plates that are commemorative that makes bills establishing new license plates a frequent occurrence within the Capitol. A bill that Senator. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River, refers to as “the licensing plate legislation that will end all license plate legislation” could shift authority over the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill passed the Senate however, not the House at the close of the session.
Healthcare and moving backwards to move forward
Veterinarians were exempted from the state’s opioid-abuse-fighting prescription drug database, and the laws governing the state pharmacy board were modernized in a pair of bills introduced by Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, and passed by the Legislature.
Another important bill related to pharmacy, regulating pharmacy benefit managers was proposed by Senator. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage however, it didn’t receive an opportunity to hear during the session. A number of states passed legislation to regulate benefit managers and their employees, citing excessive profit-taking, which contributes to the rise in health care costs.
The bill on veterinarians was designed to solve a problem that was created by the Legislature it self eight years ago.
The lawmakers this year also enacted the bill that aims to correct the problem that occurred by they permitted to the state’s Power Cost Equalization Endowment Fund to be administered similarly as that of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
The first year following the change in the year following the switch, the multibillion-dollar PCE fund, administered through the Alaska Department of Revenue, had low returns. In the aftermath to that, the Legislature passed a resolution this year to transfer the management of the fund to Department of Revenue to the Department of Revenue to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.
The lawmakers considered, but did not move an initiative that was proposed by Rep. Ben Carpenter, from the state of Nikiski, which would have changed the administration of each year’s Permanent Fund dividend from the department to the corporation.
The Senate however, not the House has approved the bill which provides a brand fresh formula that will determine dividends from the Permanent Fund dividend. Disputs about the amount of the dividend remain the most contentious issue within the Capitol.
Two State of the State goals achieved
The governor, in the State of the State address, Dunleavy said the passage of a bill that would expand Medicaid coverage for mothers who are pregnant was a top priority. The lawmakers agreed, passing that bill in May following Rep. Will Stapp, from Fairbanks, expanded the coverage to include more women than Governor Dunleavy had originally proposed.
In addition, prior to the close of the session the Legislature brought together two bills dealing with elderly care and disabled people, then passed them together under one roof. The bill originally was that was drafted by the governor.
In addition, during the State of the State, Dunleavy urged lawmakers to approve two bills that will allow the state to earn a profit from the growing market for carbon dioxide mitigation. Legislators approved one of those bills that allows the state to create the system of carbon credits that utilize forest land owned by the state.
The Legislature failed to pass a law that would permit the state to earn money from businesses which collect carbon dioxide, and inject it into the ground. The bill is still in the procedure, but lawmakers did approve one portion from the legislation and incorporated it in the bill that was passed.
The section allows the state to apply to an agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to assume the regulation of certain types of injection wells.
Native companies achieve their the goal
Alaska Native corporations got help from the Legislature this year following a vote by lawmakers decided to alter the minimum threshold required to alter their constitutions.
The corporations that were founded prior to June 1, 1989that includes the majority of Native corporations -require shareholders who hold two-thirds of the outstanding shares to vote on amendments to their constitution, their articles of incorporation, and the corporate constitution, and the corporate.
Many Native corporations are expanding their shareholders, making the two-thirds threshold more difficult and they wanted to change the threshold that only requires a simple majority to pass. The Legislature approved the bill that was introduced by Rep. Craig Johnson, of Anchorage, R.
Environmental bills pass
The Legislature approved a ban on using PFAS — the toxic chemicals found in certain firefighting foamsafter Senator. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau succeeded in incorporating the ban into a bill by Rep. Stanley Wright, who is from Anchorage, which allows construction companies to make use of eco-friendly refrigerants.
The lawmakers also voted to clarify the regulations on spills of oil for vessels that transfer fuel to other vessels, stating in a new law that oil barges and tank vessels must be treated as ships and not in the same manner the oil terminals that are located on land are.
Oil terminals located on land must be equipped with a spill response plan that is based on the event of a spill in the largest tank. Ships must have plans to handle some percentage of their cargo. Prior to the change, which was that was signed by the governor in the last week, there was no clarity on which standard was in place.
In an effort to assist local builders and sawmills To aid local builders and sawmills, legislators of the Legislature approved the program which will permit local sawmill operators with a professional education for them to check and stamp the lumber they produce to determine the quality.
In the present, lumber has to be evaluated by an organization in the Lower 48 group, which can cost more.
The lumber can be utilized in residential projects of a small size, as well as the legislation was an unusual one that was backed by both construction groups as well as environmental groups.
Cronk talk
Rep. Mike Cronk, Tok, R-Rep., pushed lawmakers in passing the bill that allows towns that are shrinking to relinquish certain powers. In response to residents of Tanana Cronk drafted legislation that permits a first-class city to ask that the commission for state boundaries deprive the city of of its powers if the town is unable to meet the minimum population necessary to be a first-class municipality.
Tanana would like the chance to join the larger district of rural schools however, state law obliges first-class cities to manage their own school districts.
Kiehl and Cronk were able to get legislation that grants disabled veterans and active duty members who are members of the Alaska National Guard a free fur-trapping licence.
Attention ID
Legislators voted to pass two bills that deal with ID cards. In one of them they eliminated the one-year wait period between when a person receives a driver’s permit until the point they are eligible to get the Alaska commercial license.
The bill’s supporters said the waiting duration, that isn’t a part of Federal law, punishes immigrants as well as rural Alaskans who are licensed later in their lives.
In a separate bill lawmakers required for officials from the Alaska Department of Corrections assist prisoners who have been released to obtain the ID cards in the event that they don’t have one. Rehabilitation experts say the absence of a legitimate ID hinders individuals from reintegrating into society following the confinement process.
No big subjects made the cut.
The Legislature approved a bill to raise the salary of attorneys working in The state Office of Victims Rights However, a larger bill dealing with criminals and legal aid did not pass this year.
There was a lapse in the process when both House and Senate did not act on an idea which would boost the number of lawyers capable of helping struggling Alaskans in civil court, and they failed to pass an act that would increase the penalties for dealers in drugs whose products kill anyone.
The bill that passed the House but not the Senate that was passed by in the House however not the Senate was entangled with another piece of legislation on criminal justice that was approved by through the Senate however not the House. The second bill is a bid to alter the laws that regulate how the state handles individuals who are alleged to have committed an offense but are not able to be tried.
At the conclusion of session attempted to come up with a compromise that included both issues. The effort failed, however, either or both bills are likely to be back next year.
A similar scenario occurred with an attempt to raise the state’s base allocation, which is the formula that determines the amount of funds school districts are given per student.
A bill to increase the BSA failed to pass in the House Finance Committee, the idea was incorporated into another Senate-approved bill which would fund greater internet access for schools in the public sector. The opposition of members of the majority Republican House majority means that the two ideas did not get through prior to the end this year. The same can be said for both ideas the following year.
The lawmakers included a one-year temporary increase in funding in this year’s budget but it’s unclear if it’s acceptable to Governor, who may decide to veto the plan.
An Senate plan to renew the state pension, proclaimed in the seventeen-member Senate supermajority, did not be approved by the Senate by the close this year. The plan is still within the Senate Finance Committee, and lawmakers say the plan is not likely to be approved by the Capitol before the 2024 elections.
Legislation on election reform also failed to get through this year even with the help of lawmakers like senators. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks along with Rep. Sarah Vance, Homer, R.
Vance advocated for the removal of the state’s ranked-choice voting system, whereas Kawasaki was in favor of an omnibus, bipartisan plan that includes amendments to the current system to increase accessibility and security.
The story was originally published in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
