District 36 Rep. Dan Ortiz stopped into Wrangell over the weekend, both to enjoy some of the Bearfest 2015 events and meet with constituents.
The Ketchikan Independent has put his first session
under his belt after being elected last November. And it was an interesting year to start with, after an atypical pair of special
sessions were called by Gov. Bill Walker as legislators
struggled to pass a budget.
“In this last session we were able to cut the budget by $800 million,” Ortiz noted. However, he pointed out the state is
still left with a more than $3 billion deficit to deal with next year.
Ortiz does not believe this will go away through cuts alone, and he expects the next session will see changes to how the state collects its revenue, and from whom. In the interim, around the state conversations about how to raise money have already begun. The methods are varied, ranging from lotteries to a state-wide sales tax.
“Some people are supportive of an income tax, based on what people pay the federal government,” Ortiz explained. “Other people are supportive of revamping the Permanent Fund.”
Ortiz has been visiting the communities in District 36 in order to gauge how the people he represents would prefer resolving the deficit problem.
“Generally I’m hearing there’s a realization out there of the issue, which is good, and an understanding we need to cut, and an understanding that while we need to continue to cut and find efficiencies in government, the solution is not going to be found entirely in that,” he said.
What people can agree on is that they have not formed a consensus yet on where those sources of revenue are going to come from.
“Everybody agrees that government needs to be efficient, but you’ve got to make sure your cuts are smart, that they don’t hurt you in the long run. There has to be a level of government service there in order for there to be adequate infrastructure and economic development opportunities,” he said. “It might come down to several different combinations of things that hopefully would put us on a more sustainable path.”
During his first session, Ortiz was given four committee assignments— Community and Regional Affairs, Transportation, Economic Development, and Fisheries.
While only a few bills sponsored by Ortiz made it out of the House, among his successes he counts what became Senate Bill 46, authorizing the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority to issue bonds or notes for a joint action agency such as Southeast Alaska Power Agency.
Since the bill’s passage in June, SEAPA has looked toward refinancing its remaining bonds through the bank’s low interest rates, while raising capital for its Swan Lake expansion project. The power provider anticipates the benefits offered by the bond bank will increase over that of private capital markets, as interest rates eventually rise elsewhere.
“Getting access to these low-interest funds was something that was really helpful to them and therefore helpful to our district,” Ortiz said.
He explained other bills failed to advance largely because he is part of the House’s minority caucus.
“I think that any time you’re not part of the majority you do have a hard time getting some of your specific pieces of legislation looked at as readily as they would be looked at if you were a part of the majority,” he said.
Running to become the state legislature’s only Independent, during last year’s campaign Ortiz assured voters he would be able to caucus with either party. Leadership with the largely Republican House majority denied this was the case, however, and Ortiz has since caucused with the Democratic minority.
Despite this, Ortiz feels being in the minority has been a positive development.
“I think the net result of me being in the minority this year was actually a good thing for District 36. What it allowed me to do in cooperation with the rest of the folks in the minority is we were able to leverage our Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) votes, which the
majority needed in order for them to get the budget balanced.”
Prior to the 2014 election, the majority—which included four Democrats—held 30 of the 40 House seats, which would have given it the three-quarters majority it needed to tap into the CBR Fund. Republicans’ loss of three seats tipped the balance, putting the ball into the minority’s court during budget negotiations.
As an example, Ortiz explained the minority was able to push for restoration of the $36 million cut proposed by the Senate majority from the base student allocation funding formula.
“We asked, ‘How can we be spending $700 million out in oil tax credits and yet not have enough money to fully fund the BSA?’ That’s just not acceptable,” Ortiz said.
Funding that would have been cut to other areas important to rural communities was returned in part, such as elder services, public radio, and the Alaska Marine Highway System.
“It’s very important,” Ortiz said of the latter. “I’ve been hearing a lot about that from voters here in Wrangell as well as in Ketchikan and all of District 36,” he said.
“These are some things that I wouldn’t have been able to do, wouldn’t have been able to advocate for if I was part of the majority. Being part of the minority and having that CBR vote authority was something that turned out to be pretty positive for our district, and our state as a whole.”
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