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Legislative Updates :: Capital Notes 04/02/08 Capital Notes 04/02/08 State Budgets - Largest Component of the Legislature's work Large budget numbers dominate the news of late. Both the Senate and the House have passed their versions of the state's operating budget, which takes care of all departmental and day-to-day operations of the state. The total budget passed and signed into law for fiscal year 08 beginning July 1 was $9.1 billion. This year's operating budget as passed by the House was $9.9 billion and the Senate's version spent $11 billion even. Operating budgets for the state continue to increase at a rate just above 10% on average over the past four year. As reported in past Capital Notes, formula programs continue to be the driving force of increases in the operating budgets, with Medicaid and education funding eating up most of the state operating increases. Recently, the State Senate passed their capital budget to a tune of about $1.8 billion, funding pet projects, and important school and transportation projects. The capital budget often becomes everybody's favorite Christmas tree, adding decoration after decoration metaphorically in place of project upon project. Last year's capital budget totaled $1.9 billion when passed by the legislature. The Governor took issue with the legislature's large capital budget and trimmed $200+ million, which brought the budget total to $1.7 billion. Just short of a year later, the legislature dumped many of those vetoed projects into a recently passed supplemental budget, and again the Governor vetoed a majority of those projects. Still these budgets fall short of the capital budget passed in the last year of the Murkowski administration at just under $3 billion. The House, which will likely add to the Senate Capital budget, will send the bill back to the Senate probably in the remaining hours of the session for final concurrence. We would not be the least bit surprised if the capital budget passed by the House crept up another $500 million. Look for a show down in the remaining weeks as the legislature and the governor attempt to prioritize capital funding. Who will win remains to be seen, as legislators would like clear and discernable guidelines to follow in order to avoid the veto pen. The governor appears bent on funding projects important to the governor's office. Expect fireworks, huge budgets, line-item vetoes, and angry legislators as the process comes to a close. State Chamber Gathers Strength on Priorities Your state chamber has been very active this year on a number of fronts. Continued from last year, the State Chamber has been working with Rep. Mike Hawker to enact HB 125. HB 125 will put into law a requirement that the Governor submit a fiscal plan looking out 10 years for the entire state. The bill would force each sitting governor to update the plan annually and to include all expenditures and revenue sources. We have thanked Rep. Hawker repeatedly for addressing this priority, and again we thank him for his efforts. We have been engaged on this bill on a number of fronts by providing testimony and constructive dialogue, while also exercising our lobbying efforts. The bill recently passed out of the Senate Finance Committee and on to the Rules Committee for final approval for the Senate Floor. We recently received confirmation from staff that the bill will be scheduled for a floor vote in short order. Unemployment insurance legislation, SB 120, has also been a subject of continued work. SB 120 provides increases in the unemployment insurance weekly benefit amount as introduced each of the past four years. Currently, the bill is a compromise bill worked on extensively by the State Chamber to limit the bill's affect on employers' bottom line. While the bill falls short of our ultimate goals, we do feel this is the time to settle this outstanding issue. In the past, the State Chamber has been the sole entity focusing on stopping the legislation. As a new sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Ellis has been instrumental in addressing many of the State Chamber's concerns. In the past two weeks, the State Chamber has been active in shepherding the bill through the process. We have been successful in navigating two committees and a floor vote in two weeks. We are hopeful that with one committee left on the House side, the bill will pass the House and thus both legislative bodies this session. Other bills receiving attention in the recent weeks include: HB 25-Limiting liability for recreational purposes, HB 65-Personal Information & Confidentiality, HB 103-Bond Cap on Appeal, SB 91- Water discharge relating to primacy, SB 254 Alaska Regional Economic Assistance Program. The watch list is not limited to the above bills. There are many bills we continue to lobby on and in many cases prevent movement, as they would not be beneficial to Alaska's businesses. As always, we continue to focus on strengthening our efforts as the voice of Alaska's business while continuing to build on the many good relationships we have with legislators. RFID technology in Alaska - Cutting edge Legislation Slows Down A bill, recently introduced by Senator Lesil McGuire, dealing with a new technology called Remote Frequency Identification (RFID) is under consideration. Shipping companies, credit card companies and a host of other businesses operating in Alaska, utilize these miniature electronic tags to track movement and inventories as well as conduct commerce. While Sen. McGuire was altruistically looking to protect personal information that may be unknowingly or knowingly electronically scanned from RFID tags, SB 293 as introduced created a great deal of consternation and concern for many of Alaska's businesses. Although introduced late in the session, the bill had already cleared multiple committees and headed for a floor vote. A companion bill was introduced on the House side and there was serious concern that some version of the bill would be finalized before the session ended or more importantly before Alaska's businesses fully understood the effects of the bill in the real world. In an attempt to calm a brewing storm, the State Chamber offered to work with Sen. McGuire and hold a series of stakeholder meetings about the use and potential misuse of RFID technology in Alaska. These stakeholder meetings will likely be held over the summer and would provide businesses currently using RFID technology time to work with Sen. McGuire to draft legislation that adequately addresses their concerns. This process has worked well for us in regards to other bills, most recently exemplified by our efforts on SB 120-Unemployment Insurance. Up front, the State Chamber would like to acknowledge Sen. McGuire's willingness to work with us, and we really do appreciate her willingness to slow down her own personal legislation in order to adequately address our concerns. Other legislators might not have been as willing to sacrifice their own goals for their personal legislation. Special Session called on AGIA The Governor has called a 30-day special session in Juneau beginning June 3. The Executive Proclamation calls for legislators to review "any action taken by the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources and the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue" under AGIA. "This schedule is extremely aggressive," Governor Palin pointed out, in explaining the basis behind the dates selected. "Our plan is to complete the findings by the week of May 19, allow legislators time to read and absorb the materials, provide public gasline team briefings in Anchorage, and then move to special session in Juneau where they have requested to meet." The commissioners would give notice of their findings to the legislature the week of May 19, and if they recommend awarding the proposed license, the legislature would then have 60 days to approve issuance of the license. The gasline team's schedule includes briefings in Anchorage – May 28, 29 and 30 – on the commissioners' findings for legislators and the public. State Chamber of Commerce While there are a number of issues the State Chamber is working on, if there is an issue that is important to you and your business, please let the folks at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce know of your concerns. Following Legislation? Any person can follow the legislative process and access new bills, committee substitutes or determine which legislator is on a particular committee in the Legislative Bill Action and Status Inquiry System (BASIS). You can see what committee a bill is in, when it will be heard, how committee members voted, and much more. You can also view all bills relating to your specific areas of interest by selecting "Subject Summary" from the menu on the right. Just click on the link below and bookmark it for later use. http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/start.asp Back to top Juneau Headquarters: 217 Second Street, Suite 201, Juneau, AK 99801 Phone: 907.586.2323, Fax: 907.463.5515, Email: info@alaskachamber.com Anchorage Office: 601 W. 5th Avenue, Suite 700, Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: 907.278.2722, Fax: 907.278.6643 Copyright © 2003 - Present, The Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, all rights reserved. Designed by WebWeavers Technology Group LLC™ |
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