Mike's E-News

After a lot of discussion and compromise, House Bill 369, the bill that establishes a development team to pursue an in-state gasline, was moved from the Senate Resources Committee yesterday.  The bill underwent some changes but all were to my liking and it should be scheduled for a hearing in Senate Finance within the next two days.  We are getting close to the end of session but I remain optimistic that it will be one of the end game bills that should pass. 

We are still in discussion over the capital budget and I will be insisting some of the requests from my district be incorporated.  I am concerned about the size of the capital budget but House District 34 is woefully lacking in having our needs addressed and I will take every opportunity to see we have taken care of a number of our needs.

Coastal zone management is still an issue and not yet resolved.  I am not a proponent of coastal zone management as it is currently proposed.  However, a lot can happen as we approach the last five days and I will wait and see if a compromise is worked out that does not give sole authority over development to local entities.  I believe these local entities are more than entitled to provide input on issues that will affect them, but there has to be a balance between federal, state and local jurisdiction in most of these matters.  Time will tell.

With the final week of session upon us, it appears all the pieces needed to adjourn are starting to come together.  The House will be working on the capital budget this week.  My district came up a little short on capital requests and I intend to work with the Finance Committee to get some of our key requests placed into the budget.  However, I am concerned about the size of the capital budget and we will be meeting with Senate leadership and the Governor to see if we can develop a sensible, prudent capital budget.  With that said, I also will work to ensure some of the boroughs and communities needs are included.  There has to be a level playing field and I have a problem with our district’s being left out while other district’s receive millions and millions of state dollars to address some of their requests.

The House is expected to pass a reasonable bond package out today or tomorrow.  Three of the educational needs within the borough are being addressed through this package.  Two projects are for the Kenai Peninsula College campus:  the Career and Technical Education Center and the college’s student housing project.  Also included in the bond package is funding for the city of Kenai’s library.  The Senate will continue their work on this legislation and hopefully, we will have a reasonable bond package to put before the voters in November. 

House Bill 369, the in-state gasline bill that I sponsored is scheduled to be heard in Senate Resources today.  I’ve been told the committee plans on passing it from committee and move to Senate Finance.  I am cautiously optimistic it will be on the Senate floor at the end of the week and receive the votes needed to pass.

Mike and Majority Leader Kyle Johansen share a laugh during an at ease today on the House floor. The House was awaiting the Senate for a joint session to confirm state board and commission appointees.

We held a joint session today to confirm the governor’s appointees to various boards and commissions and the Administration’s cabinet posts.  All were confirmed with the exception of two Alaskans.  Al Barrette of Fairbanks, a nominee for the Board of Game, was turned down and Nancy Bienvenue of Fairbanks was not confirmed as a member of the Board of Nursing. 

The opposition of Al Barrette centered around his stands on subsistence and predator control.  There was also debate about his commercial background as a trapper and fur tannery business so some perceived there may be a conflict of interest.  I didn’t have a problem with his background and he was not unspoken, at least in my mind, on subsistence.  Therefore I supported his nomination but he was voted down by a majority of the Legislature.

House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, answers end of session questions in the final episode of Ask the Speaker.

We are currently awaiting the release of the capital budget which is expected to be heard in Senate Finance this afternoon.  Once I have had a chance to review it, I will be listing on this site, proposed projects within the district that have been included in the Senate proposal.  The House will get the final opportunity to add individual projects after the bill is passed by the Senate.  I will be scrutinizing it closely and make every effort to add some of the priority requests we’ve received from the borough and local governments, non-profit entities and our communities.

The House Finance Committee will unveil a proposed bond package tomorrow.  Once we learn what projects are being proposed, I will provide that list as well. 

Only 11 days left in session and the more important issues facing the Legislature are starting to move forward.

I recently received an update from the Rasmuson Foundation on the Pick. Give. Click. program, also known as the PFD Charitable Contributions Program. As of midnight Wednesday, March 31, the close of the filing period for the 2010 Permanent Fund Dividend, over 8,600 Alaskan individuals pledged charitable donations totaling $815,000 when they filed online for the 2010 PFD.

This $815,000 figure represents a 46 percent increase in total pledged dollars over last year and a 65 percent increase in the number of pledges. Average participation rates through the state’s Pick. Click. Give. program increased too, with most days showing a doubling of participation over the project’s first year.

Contributions through Pick. Click. Give. help provide food, shelter, and much needed relief for many Alaska residents. You can visit www.PickClickGive.org to download the list of individual organizations and see the support they received by the end of the regular PFD filing period.

A special extension of the Pick. Click. Give. filing period opened, Monday, April 5, and continues through May 31. This window of opportunity provides a second chance for Alaskans to give, regardless of whether they made a donation during the regular filing period.

House Action

Last week the Senate passed out the Operating and Mental Health budgets.  They will be heard on the House Floor this morning and it is expected the House will not concur.  At that point, the bills will move to Conference Committee and the Session will go into what is called the “24 hour period”.  That means for the last two weeks of session, Committees only need to give 24 hours notice to hear a bill so the pace of Session becomes accelerated and Legislators and the public need to stay on high alert for any bills that they want heard and passed.  Committees can also hear bills under the “Bills Previously Heard” category without notice.

Senate Action

The Supplemental bill, which passed the House last week, is currently in Senate Finance.  This bill is currently not scheduled but could be heard at any point once we are in the “24 hour period”. 

It is anticipated that the Senate Finance Committee will be “dropping” the Capital bill tomorrow—Tuesday.  Once dropped, Legislative members will be scrambling to insure their capital requests are in this bill.  The bill will go from Senate Finance to the Senate Floor and then over to the House.  Most additions in the House will be added in House Finance although amendments could pass on the Floor.  The Capital Budget is normally one of the last bills to pass the Legislature.

Education

My office is also following some education bills that are starting to move.  The first, HB 317, is in House Finance which adds funding for K-12 for the next two years; the second is HB 350 that is also in House Finance and relates to public school funding and the local contribution, and the last is SB 237 which relates to School Construction Debt Reimbursement which just passed the Senate last week and has been transmitted to the House.

House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, sits down with House Majority Press Office Staff Dani Carlson in this week’s episode of Ask the Speaker. The Speaker answers questions on the budgets, 24-hour rule, forward-funding education, and repaying the Constitutional Budget Reserve Fund.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           PRESS RELEASE

HOUSE ACTS TO NAME ROBERT E. BUSH, Jr., MEMORIAL BRIDGE

Chenault’s HB 7 names Sterling Hwy’s Kasilof River Bridge after former veteran

Thursday, April 1, 2010, Juneau, AK – The Alaska State House today unanimously passed House Bill 7, to rename the bridge over the Kasilof River after Robert E. Bush, Jr., a former veteran and life-long Kasilof resident who passed away in July 2007. House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, sponsored the resolution at the request of Mr. Bush’s uncle.

With a little over two weeks left before sine die adjournment, a number of issues and legislation are starting to come to the forefront.  The Senate is expected to produce a capital budget soon, how soon is anyone’s guess?  Legislators in both the House and Senate would like to get a preview to make sure their individual district’s are going to have some of their capital needs met.  My district has submitted a long list of capital requests and I will do what I can to see that some of our needs are met.  I know it will be impossible to fund each and every request but the Kenai Peninsula needs to be represented fairly in this year’s capital appropriations.