An Ending. And a Beginning.
May 15, 2021
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Session ends in four days. Session starts in five days. Confused? Read more on our extra, extra sessions below.

But first, some good news from an unlikely source:
The end of session means a lot of time on the floor. I talked about one of my bills with Sens. Micciche, Kawasaki, & Begich during an 'at ease' Monday.
You’ve Got Mail
There’s great news out of Washington, D.C.! The U.S. Senate paused the Passenger Vessel Services Act Thursday. The PVSA says foreign cruise ships have to stop in Canada before sailing to Alaska. But Canada isn’t letting any big boats in. I passed a resolution in April asking the feds to hold off on those rules during this pandemic just until Canada opens back up.

Now a bill to do that is halfway through Congress! If the waiver passes the U.S. House too, big ships can come up to Alaskasubject to strict CDC health rules, of course.

So how does the waiver work? As long as Canadian waters are closed, a cruise ship will email Canada on the way by. The email will count as ‘visiting’ Canada for purposes of federal law. That’s a creative approach. But it’ll work! Big points to Sen. Murkowski and Rep. Young on this one. I’m hopeful they'll pass it soon.
We spent all of Tuesday on the floor in joint session considering the governor's appointees. Seven hours. Luckily, I got to sit next to Sen. Gray-Jackson for the whole marathon.
Extra, Extra Session
It’s officialwe’re headed into double overtime. The governor called two special sessions this summer. The first starts Thursday, the morning after the regular session ends.

When the governor calls a special session, he gets to limit the things we consider. This time, he wants the budget and SJR 6. (That's a plan to put the PFD into the constitution. More on that below.)

I'm frustrated we need a special session to get the budget done. We’ve been at it since January, and it didn't get harder as we went this year. The price of oil actually went up a little. Some federal help arrived. It's not the most complex puzzle the legislature ever tackled.

I support putting the PFD in the constitution. But SJR 6 needs a lot of work. More important, we shouldn’t consider it in vacuum without talking about the revenues our state desperately needs. How desperately? The governor's plan raids an extra $3 billion from the Permanent Fund to cover the first few years of deficits his amendment would leave. After that's gone, it's not clear what he'd do...

Which brings us to the second special session. The governor called it for August. That's when he says we should consider revenues, how to spend federal COVID relief, and his other (richly terrible) constitutional amendments.

We should finish up the budget and get out in the next week or two. We can figure out the first year's worth of federal money now. But nobody should compromise on the constitution for consideration of a single year's budget.

Once the budget is done, we should look at revenues and Permanent Fund/PFD protection together in a special session on Alaska's long-term financial plans. That lets us put the big pieces together so they work for all Alaskans.
Speaking during the Joint Session. Did I mention we spent a lot of time on the floor this week?
All Dressed Up & Ought to Go Nowhere
Remember how I wrote last week about the governor’s proposal to put the PFD in the constitution? Well, forget that. There's a new concept in town.

SJR 6 version 2.0 is a little bit better and a whole lot weirder. Buckle up:

Improvement #1 puts a 5% limit on the POMV draw. So nobody could take out more than five percent of the Permanent Fund in a single year. (It’s actually 5% of a 5-year average, which evens out wild swings in the markets.) This beats the pants off the first version, which was just begging future legislatures to overspend the fund.

Improvement #2 protects Power Cost Equalization. Why PCE? Alaska spent zillions over the years to help railbelt communities have cheap power. Plus a tidy sum on the 4-dam pool. And we subsidize natural gas for Anchorage & the Kenai to the tune of more than $100 million every year by not taxing Cook Inlet gas that gets burned in-state. So it's only fair we have PCE to help rural Alaskans with their electric bills.

We pay for it with investment earnings from an endowment, much like the Permanent Fund. Unlike the Fund, PCE isn’t in the constitution. So it’s always in danger. We've seen many attempts to raid it over the years. SJR 6 2.0 would guarantee we keep funding PCE at some level or other "as provided by law."

Then come the crummy new parts. Version 2.0 would put what people call a ’50/50 split’ in the constitution. That means 2.5% of the fund’s total value has to get paid in PFD checks. No exceptions. That's a bigger PFD than we've had since 2016, and it will just keep getting bigger as long as the fund grows faster than the population. (It has for decades.) That would be fine if we could also pay for the services Alaskans need. But we can’t. And we need to remember the original purpose of the Fund: to pay for services when the oil ran low.

A 50/50 split means about $1.5 billion per year in cuts, new taxes, or a combination. The governor knows those kind of cuts aren't realistic without an absolute crisis. He hasn't proposed anything close. Sure, his budget this year tried to shift costs for prosecuting some crimes to local taxpayers instead of the state, and asked to close half a dozen DMVs. Those bad ideas would have cut just a few million dollars annually—nothing close to $1.5 billion.

Of course, we do need some state taxes. I support a fair share for Alaska's oil and a broad-based tax, but getting to $1.5 billion takes tax rates so high they'd drive a lot of people out of state!

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered the 2.0 version this past week. Folks are in a rush, so we moved it in a single hearing. You've heard how haste makes waste? So does sloppy, high-speed constitution writing. The committee passed some ‘conceptual’ amendments to clean up obvious mistakes or easily spotted problems. That should worry you. A conceptual amendment is when legislators say things they’d like added to the bill, without writing them down or running them by the nonpartisan lawyers who work for us. Shoot, we even had trouble figuring out what one of the words in the thing would do. The Department of Law and Legislative Legal Services disagreed about it. (Neither set of lawyers had time to think it through in advance.) But on a 4-1 vote, the rest of the committee left it in the bill. That's no way to write a constitution.

Let’s just say SJR 6 2.0 is very much still in beta version. We'll need to slow things down to do this right.
All my best,
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Events & Happenings Around District Q
Heart of Hospice
As charities go, it’s hard to do better than Hospice and Home Care! May 15th there’s a Virtual 5K with two routes to choose from. You can also plot your own. Lace up those shoes today and go the distance for a great cause!

New Worlds
Wearable Arts 2021 is huge, and it’s here! The theme is "Intergalactic," and it’s so big, with so many parts, it'll encompass most of May – scavenger hunts, online trivia, and of course, the art pieces. Don’t miss out! 

Juneau Theatre in a Park!
Prophecies, royals, and bloody ambition – Theater Alaska is hosting Shakespeare’s Classic Macbeth. It’s free for all ages playing in a park near you from May 14th – May 23rd!

Festive Finale
The Juneau Symphony is ready for its final bow this season – are you?! This virtual concert was filmed at Eaglecrest. It premieres at 3pm, May 16th.  It’ll be a crowd pleaser: Irving Berlin, P.D.Q. Bach, Saglietti, and more!

Skagway Bad Hombres

Haines Goods
It’s that time of the year – don’t let Mother’s Day sneak up on you! The Haines Farmers Market has you covered May 8th with local crafts and treats!


Haines Motorcycle Rodeo
The Ugly’s of Haines and the Pandhandlers MC are inviting everyone to a see some hot wheels and enjoy in some BBQ cooking. Happening Memorial weekend May 29th – 31st!


Haines Trash to Treasure
Reimagined, repurposed and refinished creations from amazing local artists! Today’s (May 15th) event has food trucks, a dessert auction, & more. Come raise money to improve the Fort Seward sculpture garden!


Klukwan Tribal Elections
Elections matter, especially the ones closest to us. If you’re a Klukwan Village resident, mark May 17th on your calendar for Tribal elections!
Is there an event in our district I should know about? Please call or email!
Snail Mail?

Alaska State Capitol
Room 419
Juneau, AK 99801

Call:

800 550 4947
907 465 4947


Contact My Staff,
the people who power my work:

Edric Carrillo
907 465 6419

Cathy Schlingheyde
907 465 6827