Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 295
With the legislative season at an end and no special sessions left in sight, candidates for Alaska’s primaries and general elections have already put themselves forward for voters’ consideration. By the end of the June 1 filing deadline, House District 36 – an area of representation encompassing Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Saxman and other outlying communities – had three candidates for voters to choose between in the coming election. Two of them will be running unopposed in their prospective primaries against the incumbent, the politic...
The 30th Legislature drew its latest session to a close earlier last week, pushing forward a budget deal that would tap into earnings from Alaska’s Permanent Fund to draw down its spending deficit from the billions to around $700 million next year. Back home in Ketchikan, independent Rep. Dan Ortiz of District 36 thought the package left something to be desired, which under the circumstances was a good thing. “I feel it’s a good example of a good compromise budget,” he reflected. “Nobody really got everything that they wanted, but it reflects...
At a public presentation at the Nolan Center on Monday, staff with the Department of Environmental Conservation and its contractors updated Wrangell on the status of a proposed monofill site on the island. A designated monofill to house around 18,500 cubic yards of contaminated earth from the former Byford junkyard is planned to be sited at a state-owned rock pit. Accessible by Forest Service roads along Pats Creek, the project’s nearness to the popular fishing stream has been a point of c...
A shuffle in some funding leaves Alaska’s commercial fisheries division in good shape to manage the resources and target important projects across the state. At first glance, the $69 million operating budget for FY19 appears to be down slightly from last year’s $72.3 million but that’s not the case. “Most of that difference is a sort of ‘cleanup’ in authority we no longer had funding for, such as the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund, test fishing and some interagency items. The rest is due to $1.1 million shortfall in Commercial Fisheries E...
The Alaska House on Monday passed a concurrent resolution that would urge Gov. Bill Walker to declare a state of "linguistic emergency" for Native languages. HCR 19 passed by 34-4 and will be taken up by the Senate for consideration. If adopted there, it would encourage state agencies, the Legislature, Alaska Native organizations and others to prioritize and strengthen policies aimed at promoting the continued use of Alaska Native languages. The state has already been making steps in a more supp...
Wrangell residents will have an opportunity to offer their two cents on the state operating budget currently in development in the Alaska House. The basis for the draft budget was proposed by Gov. Bill Walker last December. Being considered now in the House, bill number 286 will see a number of amendments to it that have been put forward by the chamber’s representatives and various subcommittees. “We’re in the process of finalizing what we’ll be looking at right now,” said Rep. Dan Ortiz (U-District 36), who sits on the House Finance Committee...
Southeast Conference held its annual Mid-Session Summit in Juneau last week, turning the region’s attention to the state of its economy as legislators reach the mid-point of their 2018 regular session. For much of it, the outlook is pretty grim. Indicators since 2014 put the region’s population and jobs on a worrisome decline, along with earned income. “We’re just taking a hit in almost every way you can imagine,” explained Meilani Schijvens, a consultant to SEC and a former executive director. Faced with continued multibill...
Funding for Alaska’s schools is one of the most important pieces of our state budget. Yet, each year, school funding gets caught in the crossfire of budget debates and ends up being one of the last measures passed by the Alaska Legislature. The delay wreaks havoc on schools and communities who are forced to play a guessing game on what their bottom line will be. It forces School Districts to draft multiple budgets and contingency plans. It creates a climate of uncertainty, especially given the State’s fiscal situation and the possibility of...
Governor Walker submitted a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The proposed budget includes a direct increase of $34 million in Public Safety Investments, funding for Medicaid, health care reform strategies, and deferred maintenance projects within the state. Unrestricted General Fund (UGF) revenue is projected to be about $2.1 billion while spending is nearly $4.6 billion, leaving a deficit of approximately $2.5 billion. This is troubling because the state has nearly exhausted its savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve Fund...
The city will be trying to return court services to the Public Safety Building as quickly as possible. The Alaska Court System curtailed its courtroom and legal services in Wrangell just before Thanksgiving, citing air quality concerns with the space it rents from the borough. The building, which is home to the majority of the city’s emergency services, has experienced long-term leakage issues with its roof and siding. The problem at the court offices came to a head in September after the discovery of carpenter ants in an exterior wall, and i...
The Wrangell Assembly will be holding a workshop with its state representative Tuesday, ahead of its regularly scheduled meeting. Set for 6 p.m., Rep. Dan Ortiz (Unaffiliated – District 36) plans to present thoughts on the budget and fiscal plan put forward by Gov. Bill Walker last month, which will be making the Legislature's agenda when it convenes for its next session on January 16. "I just want to give the opportunity for the Assembly to give me some input with regards to what they would l...
Legislators wrapped up their fourth special session called for the year last week, passing a crime reform bill but failing to take up any new revenue measures. Passing both chambers, Senate Bill 54 revises the criminal justice reform package passed under SB 91 in 2016. The latest bill is based on recommendations by the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission, including tightening up penalties for Class C felonies and repeat thefts, violations of release and sex trafficking offenses. “There was definitely a need to work the Senate Bill 91, which I di...
The Alaska Legislature heads back to Juneau for a fourth special session on Monday. By proclamation of Gov. Bill Walker on September 22, lawmakers will have two bills to consider during their 30-day extra session. One will be Senate Bill 54, which revises the criminal justice reform package passed back in 2016 based on recommendations by the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission. In particular, the bill would tighten up penalties for class C felonies and repeat thefts, violations of release and sex trafficking offenses. The bill had been passed...
The Alaska Marine Highway System needs forward funding. I don’t think I need to say it twice. If money is allocated to the AMHS for its future expenses, the AMHS can properly plan sailings which would: capture revenue from tourists (including those considering traveling with their RVs or vehicles), allow businesses to send employees to neighboring islands, and provide more advance planning options for Alaskans. Of course, the ferry system would also benefit from being more insulated from political influence. Currently, support for the marine h...
Last week, I wrote a letter to the editor outlining specific funds in the capital budget allocated to southern Southeast Alaska. District 36 fortunately received millions of dollars for local infrastructure projects. That being said, the state’s overall capital budget is still miniscule in comparison to previous years. Since 2013, it has been cut by over 55%. You may be wondering, how is it possible to cut the capital budget by more than half? Many of these cuts are not long-term budget reductions, but are instead deferred maintenance costs t...
Last week, Alaska's lawmakers received word from the governor's office another session may be called for October. On August 31 emails were sent to members of the Alaska Legislature, letting them know a special session – the fourth of the year – will likely be called to discuss revenue. During the second special session in July an operating budget was passed, with a capital budget approved the following month in another session. The spending bills came with cuts and an overhaul of the state's oil tax credit system, but without new sources of...
If legislators do not pass a budget within the regular legislative session, they should not receive legislative per diem during the subsequent special session. Alaskans for Integrity – a group founded by one independent lawmaker, one Democratic lawmaker and one Republican citizen –proposed a ballot initiative for 2018 that will raise legislative standards of financial transparency and accountability to the public. I support this initiative, known as the “Alaska Government Accountability Act.” If approved by voters, this ballot initiat...
By Dan Rudy Sentinel writer Project leads for a contaminated site reclamation met with townspeople Monday evening to address concerns with a proposed monofill. The monofill – a landfill meant for only one substance, in this case treated, lead-contaminated soil – would be the second phase of the Byford junkyard cleanup, an operation which was undertaken last year by Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Environmental Protection Agency and various contractors. In use as a private landfi...
Later this week, the Legislature will convene for its third (and hopefully very brief) special session to pass a capital budget. Negotiations with the Senate have been completed and I’m confident that a compromised version of the capital budget will pass out of both bodies. It will meet the minimum needs of the state and it’s residents in terms of infrastructure investment. Most generally, the capital budget is how we fund investment in Alaska’s infrastructure for transportation (including the AMHS) and our natural resource development. Over...
On Monday Gov. Bill Walker signed into law a capital budget for the 2018 Fiscal Year, which had been adopted by the Legislature in a brief special session on July 27. The new budget includes $5,000,000 in the Municipal Harbor Facility Grant Fund, precisely what will be needed for Wrangell’s Harbor Department to proceed with an overhaul of the facilities at Shoemaker Bay Harbor. “We’re excited,” said Wrangell harbormaster Greg Meissner. The aging facility has about passed its useful life, with a portion already closed off to moorage. The project...
As the fisheries industry continues to expand and Wrangell’s Marine Service Center’s services demand increases, I believe Wrangell’s economy has nowhere to go but up. However, to accommodate this growth, the state must maintain their services in Wrangell. I am particularly concerned about the conservation of state jobs in Wrangell. Several years ago, Wrangell lost its social worker and its fisheries biologist. Now, the loss of the Wrangell trooper and the potential of reduced funding to the city jail weigh heavily, as Wrangell’s state jobs sl...
Just averting a state government shutdown, Gov. Bill Walker signed into law an operating budget for the new fiscal year, which began July 1. The budget follows extensive negotiations between the largely Democratic coalition-led House and Republican Senate, whose majorities each offered differing plans on how to address Alaska's multibillion-dollar spending deficit. "The operating budget was an example of compromise, and an example of both sides not giving in and not exactly getting what they...
Ending its regular 120-day session without a budget plan in place, the Legislature was called back into its first special session of the year by Gov. Bill Walker. The body’s regular session expired last week, with unresolved questions on how to address a multibillion-dollar spending deficit. Led by a mostly Democratic majority, the solution put forward by the House consisted of an income tax with some cuts, as well as changes to the state’s oil tax and credit structure. Maintaining its majority in the Senate, Republicans put forward a pro...
For those following the issues facing our state, it’s no surprise that Alaska’s $2.7 billion budget deficit is the biggest issue. For the last five years, Alaska has had a budget deficit. Those deficits have caused the state to burn through at least $12 billion in savings, and we are quickly running out of savings. In the previous legislative sessions (2013-2016), the Legislature – led by Republican majorities – was unable to address the issue in any meaningful way other than to continue reducing the budget and kicking the can down the road. S...