MARCH 6, 2007 - 9:27 AM
Senate President Lyda Green on Anchorage talk radio Monday questioned the governor's gas line legislation. Later in the day, the Senate passed ethics legislation. Rather than heap praise on Senate leadership, Gov. Sarah Palin heaped a couple of insults. She said she was disappointed that the bill did not include several provisions, and she accused the Senate majority of paying "lip service" to ethics reform. Was the governor just grumpy about the Senate ethics bill, or was she also grumpy at her political and geographic neighbor, Sen. Green, for not endorsing the gas line bill on talk radio. Sources tell us it was both. Perhaps it's another indication that the two Mat-Su politicans are not best friends.
MARCH 1, 2007 - 5:59 PM
During her election campaign, Gov. Palin said North Slope gas isn’t stranded and that a gas pipeline project is viable.
Now, as governor, she wants to offer a state gift of up to $500 million to help jump start the pre-construction phases of work on a gas line. The money would match dollar-for-dollar the private sums spent on preliminary work on the project.
The free state money - about 1/60th of the estimated $30 billion cost - would bring slightly lower tariffs, or shipping charges, when gas begins to flow. Lower tariffs would produce slightly higher royalties and taxes to the state, since the payments are calculated on the value of the gas after shipping charges are deducted.
FEBRUARY 26, 2007 - 4:55 PM
This is a big week in Juneau -- for the governor, for legislators, for those of us who are fixated on politics. Gov. Sarah Palin faces a deadline for telling legislators what she wants to do with the budget left behind by Frank Murkowski. She will have to tell lawmakers exactly where and how she plans to cut $150 million from the budget. The days of generalities will end this week -- it's time for specifics. And, on Friday, she is scheduled to unveil her gas line bill, which she believes will induce someone to build a North Slope gas line. Whether it also induces someone to pay to build the line, well, that will be the harder question. Lawmakers will have less than 11 weeks left in the session to work on the gas line bill. It likely will be a tight time squeeze.
FEBRUARY 22, 2007 - 1:12 PM
This is how a governor builds good will in the Legislature. Gov. Sarah Palin invited House Democrats over to dinner for a briefing on how she’s handling the natural gas pipeline. The main course was filet mignon – or at least, that’s what a couple of well-fed and duly impressed Democrats reported.
For the Dems, filet mignon is definitely a treat. Unlike Republicans, who’ve run the House for ages, Democrats are on the fringes of power, and if they’re courted at all, it’s more likely to be with fillet of fish than filet mignon. Gov. Frank never served them dinner.
So, our governor might turn out to be pretty good at this wooing business. Lobbyists have long known that one way to a lawmaker’s vote is through his stomach.
FEBRUARY 19, 2007 - 6:00 PM
For a citizen who wants to keep an eye on an issue or a legislator in Juneau, the Internet offers an indispensable tool. The Legislature’s web site, http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/, has a user-friendly way to track what’s going on.
You can search for legislation by bill number, by subject or by legislator who sponsors it. Bills in the database show the full sections of the laws affected by changes, not just obscure references like “strike that word and insert this word instead.” (You still have to decode the legalistic lingo of the bill to figure out what it does. Unfortunately, no “plain English” translation is available.)
FEBRUARY 14, 2007 - 11:43 AM
In answer to a question from a blogger, news out of Juneau about the proposed North Slope natural gas pipeline has been quiet because legislators are waiting for the governor to introduce her plan for moving the project along. The governor's office now expects to have its bill ready by March 1 -- a little later than originally planned. The bill will set out the requirements for anyone who wants to build a gas line, and will explain how the state will select the best proposal for the project. Then, legislative debate will begin on the bill. So look for a lot of action in March and April.
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FEBRUARY 13, 2007 - 4:59 PM
Here’s something you don’t see every day in the Alaska Legislature. Someone introduces a bill that is sure to rile one of the state’s most powerful industries and, right away, it gets 15 of Alaska’s 20 state senators as co-sponsors.
That’s the case with SB 80. It would ban oil companies from taking a tax deduction for repairs made necessary by slipshod maintenance.
The measure aims to keep North Slope producers from writing off expenses for fixing Prudhoe Bay pipelines after BP’s corner-cutting maintenance allowed corrosion to eat holes in them. The leaks forced BP to shut in a good portion of Alaska’s oil production for weeks.
FEBRUARY 12, 2007 - 4:31 PM
State Rep. Max Gruenberg (D-Mountain View) can sometimes drive his colleagues into eye-glazing distraction with his attention to the minutia of legislation. But earlier this session, Max caught a pretty serious glitch in one of the first bills to pass the House.
He and his colleagues had just voted unanimously to pass a bill honoring the late Iditarod musher Susan Butcher by officially designating the first Saturday in March – the day the Iditarod starts -- as “Susan Butcher Day.”
Then Rep. Gruenberg noticed that the bill wouldn’t officially take effect in time to honor Ms. Butcher during this year’s Iditarod. That’s because newly passed legislation doesn’t take effect for 90 days, unless the Legislature votes otherwise. The House-passed version didn’t set an immediate effective date on the bill. Doing so requires a supermajority vote.
FEBRUARY 9, 2007 - 8:12 AM
The Alaska Legislature is getting ready to voice its dislike of a proposed new fee under consideration by Washington state lawmakers. The fee would be assessed on all shipping containers coming and going through Washington state ports -- where the bulk of goods destined to Alaska are loaded aboard container ships. The fee would be $50 for each 20 feet of container length -- or $100 for each standard 40-foot metal box. Alaska House members Feb. 15 and 16 are scheduled to hold committee hearings on a resolution opposing the new fee, which many shippers likely would pass on to consumers. The reso
FEBRUARY 7, 2007 - 6:52 PM
North Pole Rep. John Coghill thinks more education is part of the answer to better ethics in state government. He's probably right, and he has introduced a bill that would require classroom attendance. His proposal (House Bill 119), among other provisions, would require lobbyists to attend ethics class each year, taught by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. The class would "promote adherence to high ethical standards of professional conduct." The provision would require that lobbyists complete the course. There is no requirement for a competency exam, as Alaska requires of high school graduates.
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