Alaska reported 13 more cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in the past 24 hours for a total of 226. One more person has been hospitalized. One more person has died for a total of seven deaths in Alaska. Thirty-two cases have recovered.
The new cases were in Anchorage and Fairbanks, with one additional case in the Mat-Su region.
DOYON DRILLING WORKERS TO BE SEVERELY IMPACTED
ConocoPhillips announced Tuesday that due to the heightened COVID-19 risk to its North Slope workforce, the company will significantly reduce the number of personnel on the Slope in a managed fashion.
“To do this, we are making the difficult decision to demobilize our rig fleet. Given the high degree of uncertainty on how the situation plays out, we can’t say how long these measures will be in place,” said the official statement from ConocoPhillips.
Impacted will be the rig fleet, including exploration and development drilling rigs, and most likely will not impact production in 2020.
The announcement will impact many of oil field contractors, and a memo was issued by Doyon Drilling Inc., describing major impacts to the company.
“Today we were informed that CPA has made a decision to demobilize their rig fleet. This decision was made to protect the health and wellbeing of the workforce and their families to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This impact will be severely felt by DDI Employees and Alaskans,” said a memo from Ron Wilson, president and general manager of Doyon Drilling.
“We understand that this volatile environment and our Operator’s directive is very concerning to our employees. We are unable to predict how long it will take for the COVID-19 virus or the low prices to pass. In the meantime, we will demobilize our rigs in a safe and effective manner to ensure we are in position to resume drilling operations upon CPAI directive,” he wrote.
ConocoPhillips is one of the big three oil producers in Alaska, along with BP and ExxonMobil.
PRELIMINARY: ASSEMBLY STAYS IN LIBERAL HANDS
With half of the votes counted in the Anchorage Municipal election, it appears that while some races are close, Eagle River has voted for Jamie Allard for the Anchorage Assembly. She will replace Fred Dyson, who chose not to run for reelection.
Here are the very-preliminary results from the 45,183 ballots counted so far, of the over 90,000 ballots cast:
Assembly 1B, Downtown: Incumbent and hard Democrat Christopher Constant was unchallenged, and won 2,009 votes so far.
Assembly 2C, Eagle River: Republican Jamie Allard won in a three-way race where Republican Roger Branson was the would-be spoiler for the conservative seat, and Stephany Jeffers stuck to an undeclared affiliation. The vote so far is Allard- 3,943, Jeffers-2,179, and Branson-495. More ballots were cast today and will trickle in this week, but this race is certain to be a win for Allard.
Assembly 3E, West Anchorage: Incumbent nonpartisan Austin Quinn-Davidson found herself in a three-way with Republican Nick Danger and nonpartisan MoHagani Magnetek. Quinn-Davidson walked away with 4,756 votes, Danger received 2,270, and Magnetek got 472. With over 62 percent of the votes so far, Quinn-Davidson is safe.
Assembly 4G, South Anchorage: Republican Christine Hill, challenging Democrat incumbent Felix Rivera, may be able to pull ahead when all the remaining votes come in. She is just 91 votes behind, with 3,346 to Rivera’s 3,437. This race is a dead heat. Will her ballot-chase efforts succeed or will the labor unions’ ballot-harvesting keep Rivera in office?
Assembly 5I, East Anchorage: Incumbent Democrat Pete Petersen looks safe from the challenge by Republican Monty Dyson, 3,765-2,435. Petersen has 55 percent of the vote, so far.
Assembly 6K, South Hillside: Incumbent Democrat Suzanne LaFrance is leading strongly, with 5,329 votes, to Republican challenger Rick Castillo, who pulled in 4,949 votes. It looks doubtful that Castillo can make up the difference with the outstanding ballots, but he gave LaFrance a scare, taking over 48 percent of the vote, so far.
School Board Seat C: Incumbent Republican Dave Donley was the far-and-away winner with 21,800 votes to Democrat James Smallwood, who received 16,992 votes.
School Board Seat D: Incumbent Andy Holleman won with 20,497 votes in a three-way race, where Phil Isley received 8,076 votes, and JC Cates got 8,685. Holleman has no party affiliation.
Proposition 1, Areawide life/safety access roads improvement bonds.
This proposition is too close to call, the difference between yes and no votes is less than 1 percent.
Proposition 2, Capital improvements for the Anchorage School District bonds
Proposition 3, Roads and drainage service area bonds
Proposition 4, Fire service area protection bonds
Proposition 5: Parks and Rec improvement bonds
Proposition 6, Police facilities bonds
Proposition 7, Capital improvement project bonds
Proposition 8, Public safety and transit bonds
Proposition 9, Emergency medical supplies and reduction of voter indebtedness bonds
Proposition 10, Girdwood faciliites bonds
Proposition 11, Onsite consumption of marijuana
Proposition 12, adding another seat to the Assembly
Proposition 13, 5 percent tax on alcoholic beverages
A Department of Law opinion issued today states that the North Slope Borough doesn’t have the authority to seize the property of RavnAir, which had shut down operations and stated it would be filing for protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules.
According to a statement from Maria Bahr, spokesperson for the Department of Law, “the North Slope Borough does not have the authority to commandeer property. All Ravn’s property is part of its bankruptcy estate. This means the North Slope Borough order is void under federal and state law. Any party seeking to operate air services also needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
“The State appreciates the concerns of establishing substitute air service for all communities impacted by Ravn’s bankruptcy, including communities in the North Slope Borough. However, the North Slope Borough’s actions in this case were counterproductive. As long as local governments might be attempting to seize Ravn’s property it will be more difficult to establish replacement air service.
“In addition, more than 1,200 Ravn employees who were laid off on Sunday are unpaid and actions by local governments that impede the bankruptcy jeopardize those employees being paid.
“Ravn, the State, North Slope Borough, and other stakeholders are working diligently to establish substitute air service as quickly as possible and get Ravn’s former employees paid, all within the bankruptcy context. Any disruption by local governments makes those goals more difficult to achieve,” Bahr wrote.
Over the weekend, RavnAir Group announced it was grounding all flights due to financial hardships brought on by COVID-19 travel restrictions around the state.
Almost immediately, the mayor of the North Slope Borough issued a statement saying he was commandeering the assets of the company under his authority granted through his emergency orders during the COVID-19 crisis.
By ANDREW JENSEN
“Have you ever been to the villages at dividend time?”
That was the question posed to me during a phone call from House Finance Co-Chair Jennifer Johnston of Anchorage on April 1, and it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.
That morning I published an opinion column chiding the Legislature for failing to utilize the Permanent Fund to help Alaskans during the worst economic crisis in the state’s history by first canceling the Senate-approved supplemental dividend and then refusing to move up the distribution of the traditional annual payment to provide immediate relief.
Johnston asked me how long I’ve lived in Alaska (I learned 10 years is “not very long”), what I know about state finances and whether I was familiar with the federal CARES Act (I covered it in the column she was calling about).
She then asked the question at the top of this piece.
Without ever asking to be off the record, Johnston went on to state that part of the reasoning for not paying the dividend early was because it would be too much money in rural Alaska on top of the federal payment that was approved in the CARES Act. She further claimed the congressional delegation actually discouraged the Legislature from paying a spring dividend because they shared the same concerns.
Representatives for Rep. Don Young, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan all denied such a message was conveyed to the Legislature either by them or members of their staffs.
“We unequivocally deny that anyone in our office — including Senator Sullivan — made such a comment to anyone,” wrote his communications director Mike Anderson. “Furthermore, no one in our office, including Senator Sullivan, holds such offensive views.”
(I relayed the denials from the delegation to Johnston in a text message. She never responded.)
In Johnston’s view, “social services would be overwhelmed” in the villages and elsewhere if Alaskans were to receive their 2020 dividend now instead of in October.
You read that right.
Read the rest of this column at the Alaska Journal of Commerce.
REP. DAVE TALERICO DECIDES TO PASS ON RUNNING
Elijah Verhagen, a legislative aide from Nenana, has file a letter of intent to run for House District 6. The seat is currently served by Rep. Dave Talerico of Healy.
District 6 is considered a safe seat for Republicans, and Verhagen was a Republican up until today, when he changed to Undeclared. He is a conservative.
Verhagen earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has worked as a legislative staff member for seven sessions and has staffed Rep. Talerico, whom he considers a lifelong friend, mentor, employer, “and a fantastic representative.” This is Talerico’s third term. Verhagen was an aide to Rep. Sharon Jackson, but has gone on layoff status so he can run for office. His brother is the current mayor of Nenana.
“Others and I have tried to get him [Talerico] to run again this next session, but to no avail,” Verhagen said. “I’ve carried several of his bills through the process while working for him. If elected, I will continue to carry some of his great bills that ran out of time to pass this session due to COVID-19.”
Although he will run as an undeclared candidate, he said he will caucus with the Republicans. Today, Republicans have a bipartisan caucus in the House, and a more conservative smaller wing of Republicans make up the House minority.
A jump in cases in the past 24 hours brought the total cases of COVID-19 in Alaska to 213. On Monday, only six new cases had been reported, but also there had been a slight drop in testing. Today’s number is one of the largest reported since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Alaska on March 12.
No additional hospitalizations were reported in the past 24 hours; that number still stands at 23 — and some of those have been released from the hospital. No additional deaths due to the Wuhan coronavirus were reported since the ones announced over the weekend. The total of COVID-19- related deaths in Alaska is still six.
Alaska, as of April 6, had the smallest number of COVID-19 cases in the nation, followed by Wyoming.
The new cases are mainly in Anchorage and Fairbanks, but the Bethel area has reported its first diagnosis.
The current count:
Across Alaska, 6,913 Alaskans have been tested for COVID-19, less than one percent of the population.
MOST LEGISLATIVE ADD-ONS VETOED
Gov. Mike Dunleavy today announced he is signing a budget that is about the same size as the one he proposed in mid-December.
He trimmed back two-thirds of the $314 million in additions that the bipartisan Senate and Democrat-led House put in for things like school bond debt reimbursement, community assistance, the university system, and public broadcasting.
With these vetoes, the FY 2021 operating, mental health, and capital budget, including previously enacted legislation, is $4.5 billion, which will be paid, in part, with $3.85 billion in federal funds.
Most of entities will qualify for federal funds through money that is coming in through the CARES Act, which is the major stimulus package requested of Congress by President Donald Trump to address the COVID-19 crisis. School bond debt reimbursement, for example, had $30 million added by the Legislature, but was cut in the final budget. However, the state can use the anticipated CARES Act money to shore up that line item.
The governor also vetoed the $1.5 billion that the Legislature had moved from the Permanent Fund’s Earnings Reserve Account to the corpus of the fund, where it would not be able to be tapped for spending this year. Dunleavy said that with so much uncertainty due to the COVID-19 crisis, it was more prudent to keep that money available to meet the needs of the state operations.
Gov. Dunleavy also called on the Legislature to come back out of recess and pass an additional PFD or stimulus check for Alaskans, who he said are reeling from the effects of a government-imposed economic crisis due to the COVID-19 virus response.
The current budget is predicated on oil prices that could remain in the mid $30s per barrel, far from what is needed to run state government. This, most analysts agree, will force a very difficult budget conversation next year.
The Permanent Fund is expected to transfer $2.9 billion to the general fund in FY 2020 and $3.1 billion in FY 2021, according to the Department of Revenue. These amounts include funds for both payment of dividends and general government spending.
Key programs and services funded in the operating budget, HB 205:
Line-item vetoes include:
Click here for FY 2021 budget items of interest.
Click here for additional information on the enacted House Bill 205.
MAYOR’S ESSENTIAL SERVICE: GETTING OUT THE BLUE VOTE
On Monday, one day before the end of the Anchorage municipal election, MRAK counted 14 trucks and cars parked in front of the IBEW hall on Denali Street. That’s an unusual number of vehicles for a Monday.
It was time for the phone banks, and the union wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to turn out the base.
Unions like IBEW have conquered the art of turning out the vote. They pay their members to come in and work the phone banks and typically right before the election is when they’re busiest. Right now, during a work slow down, there appeared to be plenty of help.
While Mayor Ethan Berkowitz has mandated stop-work orders posted on companies such as Sportsman’s Warehouse, his enforcers have allowed the union phone banks to proceed, unmolested by the COVID-19 social distancing and business shutdown orders.
On Tuesday, the number of cars at the union hall had returned to normal, about seven. Today is the last day to get that ballot into the mail or a drop box in the Anchorage bowl.
So far, over 50,000 ballots have been received, and election workers had verified over 43,000 of them by late yesterday.
(Readers who wonder if their ballots have been received by the Muni can send a note to [email protected] and she’ll try to respond quickly. Her list goes through Monday morning.)
The only place to vote in person today is at City Hall until 8 pm.
If voters have questions about voting or the election, call the Voter Hotline at 243-VOTE(8683).
Drop boxes can be found at:
The Alaska Family Council voter guide has recommendations for candidates and ballot initiatives appearing on the ballot, which must be delivered or postmarked by 8 pm.
