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Welcome to my last Peggy’s Corner for the 2014 session. We have worked diligently in both houses of the Legislature on many pieces of legislation that will affect our state for many years. Throughout the process this year we have been trying to keep our eye to Alaska’s future. State employees will be happy to learn that the legislature put in place a long term plan to pay down the unfunded liability in the PERS/TRS retirement systems. $2 billion will be moved from our constitutional budget reser...
by Representative Peggy Wilson Hello again. After a short break to visit family, I wanted to report, from my Corner of the House, on all the latest news. Between budgets, a special session, and redistricting, there’s a lot going on. The best news is how well the Capital Budget came out. Because the legislature worked so carefully with the governor to keep expenditures at a reasonable level, there were very few vetoes. All the projects that are so critically needed in our District 2 c...
by Representative Peggy Wilson Hello once more from Alaska’s capitol. Well, the 90 day session Legislature came to an end shortly after midnight on Sunday. It was a mad dash the last few days, with dozens of bills being passed in both bodies after weeks of deliberation in committees. There was also a rush of creative bill drafting during the last half day that helped both bodies pass some important legislation. One of the great things about working on the budgets this year is that for every doll...
Hello again from Juneau. We’re down to crunch time now, with the major focus being on the budgets, education funding, and oil taxes. The House is now primarily hearing Senate bills. The Senate is doing the same, by hearing House bills during the last week and a half of the session. There will be hundreds of bills that will die at the end of this session. Less than ten bills have passed both houses. The Senate passed their version of the Operating Budget, changing the House version in hundreds o...
Hello again from the Legislature. Now that we’re down to the last two weeks of session, the pace is really picking up and the hours getting longer. I was very pleased that my resolution to recreate the state’s dedicated transportation fund received approval of the House on Friday. House Joint Resolution 4 would put a constitutional amendment before the voters in November to amend the Alaska Constitution - reinstating a dedicated Alaska Transportation Infrastructure Fund (ATIF). As the state’s po...
by Representative Peggy Wilson Hello again from Juneau. By the time you read this report we’ll be entering the last 22 days of the session, during which we will be focusing on passage of the bills that we really feel are the most important. The House has passed the Operating Budget, which is our only constitutional duty. Now we’re waiting for the Senate to share the Capital Budget with us, so that we can carefully review and hopefully add to it before adjournment. There’s been a lot of discu...
Hello again from the capital. This week we passed the mid-point for this year’s legislative session, so we’re on the downhill slide for the end of the session – with a lot of work yet to be done. Friday was another good day for my office. House Bill 216 passed the House unanimously. It will greatly improve understanding of the regulation process for the public as well as legislators. All departments will be required to write a brief descriptive summary, in easy to understand English, of every...
The buzz in the hallways, here at the capital, is all about Education funding. We all recognize that if we’re going to keep America’s workforce strong, today’s students need to be getting the best education possible. There are those who believe that the state hasn’t raised education funding in several years. This is not so. In fact, in Fiscal Year 2009 the House of Representatives instituted forward funding education with a three year increase that just ended two years ago. In addition to incr...
Rare Earth Elements (REE’s), while receiving more worldwide attention in recent years, still remain a mystery to much of the public. REE’s are a group of 17 chemical elements that occur together in the periodic table of elements. What makes them valuable are their unique characteristics, such as chemical, catalytic, magnetic, optical, electrical, and metallurgical properties. These properties make them valuable in products such as smart phones, hybrid cars, windmills, military hardware, fiber op...
Hello again from the Capital. We’ve now completed the first thirty days of the session. There’s a lot to be done yet, and I’m concerned about whether we’ll get all the important legislation accomplished. These ninety-day sessions are a real stretch. The week began with a rush and ended with a new piece of legislation being introduced that will be of great interest to District 2. I have joined with a group of coastal legislators in introducing Coastal Management Program (ACMP) legisla...
Hello and welcome to Peggy’s Corner of the House. I’m excited to be back in Juneau representing District 2 in the State House. I’m sad, though, that this will be my last year representing Sitka, Petersburg, Pelican, Elfin Cove, Port Alexander, Kupreanof and Baranof Warm Springs because of redistricting. This is the second year of the 27th legislative session, and we’ll be working hard to gain approval of all the good legislation that was introduced last year. This is my second year serving...
