House Action

Last Friday,  House Finance passed out the Supplemental Bill.   It will be heard on the Floor of the House this morning.  This monumental piece of legislation includes forwarding funding for education and completes the final payback of monies borrowed from the Constitution Budget Reserve.  In the future, excess funds not appropriated by the Legislature will remain in the General Fund.

Senate Action

The Operating and Mental Health budgets will be on the Senate Floor this morning.   The Supplemental Bill is noticed for Senate Finance on April 1 pending passage on the House floor.  The long awaited Capital budget is also scheduled on April 1 in Senate Finance.  It is anticipated that the Deferred Maintenance will be combined with the Capital in Senate Finance.

It is also anticipated the Supplemental will pass and move on to the Governor.  The Operating and Mental Health budgets will be going to Conference while action on the Capital budget remains unknown. 

We are beginning the countdown to the end of the 26^th Alaska State Legislative session.  All but one of my priority bills are in the Senate and most are on one committee schedule or another.  House Bill 369, my legislation to expedite the process in getting an in-state gasline constructed, will be heard next Thursday at 3:30PM in the Senate Resources Committee.  I expect there will be an extensive review of the bill by the Senate members of that committee.  House Bill 229, tax credits for Cook Inlet exploration and development, is scheduled for a House Finance hearing on Wednesday at 9AM.  This bill extends the tax credit program for Cook Inlet gas from 2013 to 2020.  House Bill 7, naming the Sterling Highway bridge over the Kasilof River, the Robert Bush Memorial Bridge, is also scheduled to be heard in House Finance on Wednesday at 9AM.  House Bill 44, the ANGDA bonding bill, still resides in the Senate Resources Committee and provides another piece of the puzzle toward an in-state gasline could be heard again anytime soon.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                          PRESS RELEASE

Chenault’s HB 369 seeks to unify state approach, bring a project plan in 2011

The House unanimously passed House Bill 369, my legislation which primarily is an an effort to expedite the process for an in-state natural gas pipeline.  The in-state gasline has been a topic of discussion in the Legislature and the Administration for a number of years.  Currently, there are two separate state entities, the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority and the in-state gasline coordinator, working on a project.  House Bill 369 combines these two entities along with the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, the Alaska Railroad Corporation and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation to create a Joint In-state Gasline Development Team within the Office of the Governor.  The Development Team is to ensure that a project plan is developed by July 1, 2011 with gas flowing by the end of 2015.  It is my hope the Development Team will be able to focus the state’s efforts in putting a project plan together and leverage the best ideas and data to get a gasline built. 

The bill passed 38-0 and now moves to the Senate.

House Action

Today in House Finance the committee will take up HB 297, the Governor’s Performance Scholarship bill.  As proposed, this bill contains an enormous fiscal note that will have to be given serious consideration as our oil revenues decline.

On Wednesday the House Finance Committee will take up the Supplemental Bill.   The bill is also scheduled on Thursday and it is anticipated that a Committee Substitute will be adopted by the Committee.

Senate Action

Last week the Senate closed out all Subcommittees on the Operating and Mental Health Bills.  The next step in the process is for Senate Finance to draft Committee Substitutes for the bills.  These bills are scheduled for Tuesday in Senate Finance with public testimony on Wednesday.  They are again scheduled on Thursday and Friday.  It is expected that these bills will pass out of Senate Finance this week and go to the Senate Floor.

I am also watching the Capital bill process in Senate Finance.  The Governor’s bills for Capital and Deferred Maintenance have been presented and public testimony has been received.   It is expected that Senate Finance will now produce a Committee Substitute that includes both bills and move the amended bill to the Senate Floor.

All FY 2010 and FY 2011 appropriation bills are now moving!

House Resolution 14 is scheduled to be on the House floor tomorrow. House Resolution 14, of which I am the primary sponsor, requests the Alaska Congressional delegation to vote against current health care reform bills and to develop health care reform that is affordable and accessible to all legal residents. It also requests the Governor to review the constitutionality of the Nebraska Compromise that guaranteed Nebraskans would receive a break to pay for expanded access to Medicaid benefits. Other states: Vermont, Florida and Louisiana received special deals or compensation in order to get those Senators’ votes.

Yesterday, I heard three hearings on bills affecting Alaska’s gas.  All three were heard for the first time within the committees of referral.  House Bill 369, promoting an in-state gasline, was heard in House Finance.  I presented the bill and discussed my vision of what I foresee by getting this legislation passed.  A number of questions were directed at Bob Swenson, the governor’s in-state gasline coordinator.  I expect a committee substitute to be drafted and brought up again very soon in House Finance.

House Bill 229, tax credits for Cook Inlet gas, received a favorable reception from the House Resources Committee.  Marathon Project Manager Carrie Lockhart discussed the merits of the bill.  Also on hand were spokespersons for the Departments of Law and Revenue.  They had some suggested language changes which we are checking out at this time.

House Bill 44, ANGDA bonding, was heard in the Senate Resources Committee for the first time in that committee.  After I presented the bill discussion revolved around in-state gas and bonding.  Harold Heinze, CEO of ANGDA, also discussed the legislation and what he wants to accomplish if bonding authority is granted by the legislature.  There was interest expressed in that legislation by Senate members and since it was its first hearing in that particular committee, it did not move.  I expect the broad support from around the state this bill has received, that it will eventually move forward to the Senate Finance Committee.

Last week marked major milestones in the budget process.  The Operating and Mental Health bills passed out of House Finance, moved to the Floor and passed the House.  They have been transmitted to the Senate for their review and action.

This week we noted that the Capital and Deferred Maintenance bills have been noticed on the Senate side and we will be following their progress as they move first through Senate Finance and then to the Senate Floor before being transmitted to the House.

In addition to the operating/mental health budgets, House Finance has been engaged in some very interesting meetings.  A new Subcommittee entitled “House Fiscal Policy Committee” was appointed early in the Session. This Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Austerman, has been meeting once a week to discuss Alaska’s long term fiscal policies.  Presentations from David Teal, Director of Legislative Finance and Scott Goldsmith from ISER, University of Alaska have been received.  This week the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget will present at their Thursday meeting.   The meetings are extremely informative and will be instrumental in forming fiscal policy for the State over the next decade or two to bridge fiscal gaps until first gas.