IT’S EASY: FIRST CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION, THEN ENFORCE
March for Our Lives tapped into a fear of violent death, something no student should have to think about. But in fact school shootings have declined.
So when 13-year-olds tell American voters, “”Guns are for the police and the government,” what are we to make of it?
Five easy steps toward a gun-free America, a two-minute playbook by Reason Magazine, is a video everyone should watch, but especially teens who are interested in gun control.
Rebecca Logan, the leading conservative candidate for Anchorage mayor, said she talked to a 100-year-old man over the weekend. He is a voter who has never missed an Anchorage election, “but he refuses to mail in his ballot. He said he has seen way too many things in his life,” Logan said. And he’s not able to get into an accessible voting center either.
She talked to another couple who have waited three weeks for their absentee ballots to arrive.
Logan and volunteers contacted more than 3,000 Anchorage voters over the weekend to urge them to get their ballots in the mail, in a drop box, or into an accessible voting center. They heard many complaints about ballots that were promised but never arrived, and a lot of frustration with the new mail-in election.
Polling from over the weekend shows that Logan is neck-and-neck with Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, a liberal Democrat who is running for a second term.
Ethan Berkowitz, mayor of Anchorage, speaking at the 2016 Alaska Democratic Convention.
ANCHORAGE VOTING INTELLIGENCE
20,230 Anchorage ballots were received by the Muni election office by March 23, out of the 198,000 ballots mailed to voters on March 13. It’s a 9.27 percent turnout so far for an election that ends April 3. Not impressive but the election is only halfway there.
Last April 4, 49,370 voted of the 212,782 registered Anchorage voters, a 23 percent turnout that decided six Anchorage Assembly seats and eight ballot propositions.
The election office processed 4,000 ballots on Saturday. A flood more is expected today, as many as 9,000.
Chugiak turnout is 9.72 percent, trailing South Anchorage by 4 percent. This area used to vote on par with South Anchorage.
Eagle River turnout is 8.86 percent, trailing South Anchorage by 5 percent. This area was also historically similar to South Anchorage.
Taku Campbell also lags behind South Anchorage by 5.5 percent.
Anchorage is at mid-point for ballot collections and so far, fewer than half of the voters have mailed in their ballots than voted in the last election.
Turnout for the mayoral election in 2009 was 58,233 for the first round, and 55,000 for the runoff.
Turnout for the mayoral election in 2015 was 54,275 for the first round and 70,516 for the runoff.
PRECINCT CURIOSITIES
Voting totals from various precincts as of Friday:
Eagle River 1&2 = 287
Chugiak = 101
Peters Creek 1&2 = 416
Oceanview 1&2 = 453
Goldenview = 421
Bayshore = 337
Downtown 1-4 = 414
WHO IS VOTING SO FAR
MRAK reviewed available data over the weekend. (Readers can be assured this is not confidential information and that the ACLU has the same data and is working it very hard via phone banks and door-to-door. If the Left hasn’t knocked on your door to remind you to vote, it’s because they know you are a conservative and they prefer that you just let it slip your mind).
The gender of those voting is about 50-50 male/female (yes, we’re still basically binary)
74 percent of voters are over 50 years old.
50 percent of the ballot drop boxes are located on public school property, making it convenient for members of the NEA to get their ballots in on time. Here are drop box locations.
— Anchorage School District Education Center, 5530 E. Northern Lights Blvd.
— Bartlett High School, 1101 Golden Bear Drive
— Clark Middle School, 150 Bragaw St.
— Dimond High School, 2909 W. 88th Ave.
— Fairview Community Recreation Center, 1121 E. 10th Ave.
— Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St.
— Service High School, 5577 Abbott Road
— Spenard Community Recreation Center, 2020 W. 48th Ave.
— South Anchorage High School, 13400 Elmore Road
— UAA Alaska Airlines Center, 3550 Providence Drive
— Eagle River Town Center, 12001 Business Blvd.
— Girdwood Community Center, 250 Egloff Drive
ACCESSIBLE VOTING CENTERS AND HOURS
Anchorage City Hall
632 West 6th Avenue, Room #155
All Municipal ballots will be available at this location.
Monday, March 26 through Friday, March 30 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 2, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Election Day, April 3, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
ZJ Loussac Library
3600 Denali Street, First Floor
All Municipal ballots will be available at this location.
Monday, March 26 through Saturday, March 31 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 1, from Noon to 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 2, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Election Day, April 3, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
MOA Election Center
619 East Ship Creek Ave, Suite 100 at Door D on the east side of the building
All Municipal ballots will be available at this location.
Monday, March 26 through Friday, March 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday, April 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Election Day, April 3, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
O’Malley’s on the Green
3651 O’Malley Road
All Municipal ballots will be available at this location.
Monday, March 26 through Friday, March 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Monday, April 2, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Election Day, April 3, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Eagle River Town Center
Community Room #170
Same building as the Library
12001 Business Boulevard, Eagle River
Only Chugiak-Eagle River ballots will be available at this location.
Monday, March 26 through Friday, March 30 from 8a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 2, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Election Day, April 3, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
A Dittman Research poll conducted between Feb. 26 and March 4 of 809 Alaskans asked several questions about the 2018 election for governor, and one question stands out as important bellwether:
Who would you most likely vote for for governor if the election were between Republican Mike Dunleavy and non-affiliated Bill Walker?
Must Read Alaska is not privy to all the public sentiment information gathered by the Dittman poll, but it appears the name recognition challenge Dunleavy had in late 2017 has been overcome to a great extent.
Dunleavy for Alaska has run ads on television during the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, and has had an active radio presence statewide, along with social media.
The responses to the question – when picking just between Dunleavy and Walker – were:
Mike Dunleavy – 47 percent
Bill Walker – 41 percent
Unsure or someone else – 12 percent
In the past 50 years, Dittman Research has accurately predicted the winners of Alaska gubernatorial and senatorial races 100 percent of the time. In this poll, Dittman is doing research on behalf of the Dunleavy for Alaska independent expenditure group, whose chair is Terre Gales. The group has raised over $500,000 so far to make its case that Mike Dunleavy is the strongest candidate in the field.
A separate poll — by an unknown firm — was conducted over the weekend and asked if respondents were likely to vote for Democrat Mark Begich, Republican Mike Dunleavy, or former Gov. Sean Parnell, who the pollster said was unaffiliated (he is registered Republican).
COULD AK-CHINA NATURAL GAS DEAL MAKE SEAFOOD A FUTURE TARGET?
Alaska seafood has escaped the growing trade war with China, for now.
Friday’s announcement that China will slap higher tariffs on American-made goods, steel pipe, and agricultural products hit Iowa hog farmers and California orchards.
Seafood is not on the list, a relief to the Alaska commercial fishing sector.
Yet it’s a warning of just how much leverage a powerhouse like China could have over a small economic province like Alaska in an era when the state’s fragile economy is growing increasingly dependent on China as a trading partner.
‘PIPELINE-POOR’ POLITICS
With Gov. Bill Walker now attempting to make deals to sell Alaska natural gas to China, the state could become heavily indebted to the Chinese under the Walker “Pipeline-Poor Plan” whereby Alaska borrows tens of billions of dollars from China and turns over most of the construction and operation of the AK-LNG project to Chinese entities.
In the deal that is only superficially understood by Alaskans, China would also own the rights to 75 percent of Alaska’s gas from the North Slope.
The die has not yet been cast, but negotiations are underway between Alaska Gasline Development Corporation and Chinese banks, financial institutions, and the Chinese government.
HOW A TRADE WAR COULD COME BACK TO BITE SALMON FISHERS
The China Ministry of Commerce issued a list of 128 items it will target for increased tariffs, a first shot back over the bow of the U.S.
States such as California (fruit, nuts, wine), Wisconsin (90 percent of U.S. ginseng), and Iowa, North Carolina, and Minnesota (pork) are going to feel the sting from China’s decision.
China, the world’s largest pork producer, doesn’t actually need Iowa pork, making it an easy target. For now, China likes Alaska’s salmon as a commodity, but increasingly doesn’t need our wild-caught protein. Alternatives in the farmed salmon market are exploding across the world.
Between 80 to 90 percent of wild-caught Alaska seafood is sent to China and re-exported as fillets and fish sticks to the U.S., Europe and Asia. China’s cheap labor in Qingdao, a seafood processing and trading hub, shaves about 80 cents a pound off of salmon that’s had its pin bones removed.
Alaska seafood processing jobs, which once upon a time covered everything from “slime line” to canning, now are reduced to heading and gutting. The fish is then frozen and sent to China, where pin bone removal is left to those making pennies on the dollar.
With Alaska competing with farmed salmon around the world, that calculus could change in a few short years. Fish lovers may value wild, Alaska salmon, yet many are settling for an acceptable, cheaper farmed fish. In fact, consumers have adapted to the milder flavor of farmed salmon, and farming operations have responded to the demand by advancing projects from Chile to South Florida. They are becoming less dependent on antibiotics and are now marketing how sustainable and environmentally friendly they are.
Norway, Chile, and Australia are importing more salmon to China, with Norway taking the prize for the most salmon imported to China. New free trade agreements with European countries are scheduled for a May roll-out, and the 10 percent tariffs on imported salmon and other seafood are expected to drop to as low as zero.
And the pace of change in seafood markets is staggering: The amount of Norwegian salmon that China is importing grew by 1,600 percent in 2017.
China is getting in on the farmed salmon action. In 2016, Rizhao Res Mo Ze Feng Yu Ye Ltd Co., announced it will open salmon farming on the Rizhao coast in the Yellow Sea, water that connects China and Korea.
The company plans to produce 20,000 tons of salmon per year. If China’s coastal provinces become more adept at salmon farming, the value of Alaska salmon could drop dramatically.
A photo from the International Space Station of fish farms on the coast of China’s northeast province of Liaoning, extending four miles out into the Yellow Sea.
Russia is still the largest exporter to China of seafood, followed by the U.S., Norway, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand and New Zealand.
THE LIST OF CHINA’S TARIFF TARGETS
The list of U.S. products that China has increased tariffs on (MRAK ran China’s officially published list through Google translate, and has not verified for accuracy)
Dried coconut
Coconut without inner shell (endocarp)
Other coconut
Unhulled Brazil fruit
Shelled Brazilian Fruit
Unshelled Cashew
Shelled Cashew
Unshelled almonds
Shelled almonds
Unshelled hazelnuts
Hazelnut
Unshelled walnut
Walnut
Unshelled chestnut
Unhulled Chestnuts
Unhulled Pistachio Nuts
Unshelled Pistachio Nuts
Unhulled Macadamia Nuts
Unshelled Macadamia Nuts (Hawaiian Nuts )
Betel nut
Pine nuts
Unlisted fresh or dried nuts
Fresh or dried plantains
Fresh or dried bananas
Fresh or dried dates
Fresh or dried figs
Fresh or dried pineapple
Fresh or dried avocado
Fresh or dried guava
Fresh or dried mango
Fresh or dried mangosteen
Fresh or dried orange
Mandarin orange and Satsuma orange
Clementine orange
Verkin orange and similar hybrid citrus
Grapefruit, including pomelo
Lemons and limes
Unlisted citrus fruits
Fresh grapes
Raisins
Fresh watermelon
Fresh cantaloupe
Papaya
Fresh apples
Fresh pears and pears
Other fresh pears
Fresh sour cherries
Other fresh cherries
Peach, including nectarine
Fresh plum and plum
Fresh strawberries
Fresh raspberry, blackberry, mulberry and loganberry
Fresh cranberry and cowberry
Kiwifruit
Fresh Durian
Persimmon
Fresh Litchi
Fresh Longan
Bright red Maodan
Fresh sweet lychee
Fresh Carambola
Fresh lotus fig
Fresh Pitaya
Fruits not listed
Frozen Strawberry
Frozen raspberry, blackberry, mulberry, loganberry, currant (gallon) and gooseberry
Frozen fruits and nuts, not listed
Temporarily preserved cherries
Other temporarily preserved fruits and nuts
Dried apricots
Mei Qiang and Li Gan
Dried apples
Dried longan and meat
Dried persimmons
Red dates
Dried Litchi
Unlisted dried fruit
Sparkling wine
Other fresh grapes brewed in containers of two litres or less or alcohol-inhibiting brewing
Grape juice
Wines made from other fresh grapes packed in two-liter or more but not more than 10-litre containers, or alcohol-suppressed brewed grape juice
Wines made from other fresh grapes loaded in more than 10 containers or alcohol-inhibited brewed grape juice
Wine grape juice other than item 20.09
The third type of modified ethanol
Any concentration of modified ethanol and other alcohol
American ginseng
Other fresh ginseng
Unlisted ginseng
Fresh or cold boned pig forelegs, pig hind legs and their meat
Other fresh or cold pork
Other frozen whole head and half pork
Frozen pork bones, pig hind legs and their meat
Other frozen pork
Frozen pork liver
Other frozen pork chops
Stainless steel oil and gas pipeline pipe, 215.9mm ≤ outside diameter ≤ 406.4mm 89 stainless steel oil and gas pipeline pipe, 114.3mm < outside diameter <215.9mm 90 stainless steel oil and gas pipeline pipe, outside diameter ≤ 114.3mm
stainless steel oil and gas pipeline pipe, outside diameter > 406.4mm
Other steel oil and gas pipeline pipes, 215.9mm ≤ outside diameter ≤ 406.4mm 93 Other steel oil and gas pipeline pipe, 114.3mm < outside diameter <215.9mm 94 Other petroleum and natural gas seamless pipe pipe, outside diameter ≤ 114.3mm
Other steel oil and gas seamless pipe, outside diameter > 406.4mm
Stainless Steel Drilling Oil and Gas Drill Pipe, Outside Diameter ≤168.3mm 97 Stainless Steel Drilling Oil and Gas Drill Pipe, Outside Diameter>168.3mm 98 Other Steel Drilling Oil and Gas Drill Pipe, Outside Diameter≤168.3mm
Other Steel Drilling Oil and Gas Drill pipe, outer diameter >168.3mm
stainless steel seamless casing and conduit for drilling oil or natural gas
Other seamless steel casings and conduits for oil and gas drilling with a yield strength of less than 552 MPa
Other seamless steel casings and ducts for oil and gas drilling with yield strengths equal to or greater than 552 MPa but less than 758 MPa
Corrosion-resisting oil and natural gas seamless pipes and ducts for other steel drills with a yield strength of 758 MPa or more
Seamless boiler tubes for cold drawn or cold rolled iron or ordinary steel
Cold drawn or cold-rolled iron or plain steel seamless geologic drill pipe, casing 106 Undrawn cold-drawn or cold rolled iron or plain steel seamless circular cross-section pipe
Non-cold drawn or cold rolled iron or ordinary steel seamless boiler tubes
Non-cold drawn or cold-rolled or ordinary steel seamless geologic drill pipe, casing
Unlisted non-cold drawn or cold-rolled iron or ordinary steel seamless circular cross-section tubes
Cold drawn or cold rolled stainless steel seamless boiler tubes
Senate Democrats tried to weaken a key spending cap bill that was up for a vote on Friday, and when that didn’t work, they resorted to the old Abbie Hoffman tactic: They walked out.
After an hour and 15 minutes and 12 opposing amendments, many of which were ruled “not germane” by Senate President Pete Kelly, Democrats had had enough.
Democrat minority leader Berta Gardner threw down the gauntlet and headed for the door after saying, “Just because the chair says something is so, and the caucus members are obligated to follow their leader, does not make it so, and Mr. Chair, we protest those rulings about things not being germane,” she said.
She then picked up her notebook and headed for the door, followed by Sens. Tom Begich, Bill Wielechowski, Dennis Egan, and Donny Olson.
By staging a walk out, the Democrats avoided putting themselves on the record in a vote against a spending cap.
Democrats Sens. Berta Gardner, Tom Begich, Bill Wielechowski, and Denis Egan head for the door of the Senate in protest of a spending cap bill.
Senate Democrats quickly issued a press release explaining their frustration and brought up old grievances about other measures they have offered that gained no traction in the Republican-led body.
SB 196 was sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee. It caps unrestricted general fund spending at $4.1 billion.
“Alaska must control its spending in order to refill our savings accounts and sustain constitutionally required programs Alaskans rely on in their everyday lives,” said Senate Majority Leader Peter Micciche of Soldotna in a statement. “Senate Bill 196 will help constrain the growth of government, so in the future we don’t find ourselves in the same difficult fiscal situation we face today.”
The spending limit is a priority for the Senate Majority but must pass the Democrat-led majority in the House.
Last year, the Senate passed a spending cap that also put protections in place for the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve Account. That was rejected by the Democrat-led House. This year, the spending cap is going over to the House as a standalone bill to simplify negotiations, the Senate said in a press release.
“Had we had an effective spending cap in place during the fiscal years of 2006 through 2014, we would have about $15 billion in our Constitutional Budget Reserve right now,” said Sen. Natasha von Imhof of Anchorage. “A spending cap could give the Legislature the discipline it needs to keep state spending at a reasonable level from one year to the next.”
The Constitutional Budget Reserve is now $2.58 billion, likely not enough to patch the gap between spending and revenues this year.
To promote transparency, SB 196 requires the governor to submit a report with the budget, comparing the governor’s spending proposal with the spending limit. The spending limit adjusts over time to reflect changes in inflation.
“SB 196 plants a seed for a future tree of fiscal sustainability for Alaskans. Had the Legislature passed this bill 15 years ago, we would have billions more in savings, new taxes would not be a primary objective for the current House Majority, and it’s unlikely the governor would have cut Permanent Fund dividends.” – Sen. Peter Micciche
The limit does not apply to appropriations to the Alaska Permanent Fund, payments for Permanent Fund dividends, required spending for state debt obligations, capital projects, or to meet a state of disaster declared by the governor as prescribed by law. The bill also has a three year “look back” provision to evaluate how the limit is working.
SB 196 passed the Senate by a vote of 13-0 after the Democrats went AWOL.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz were featured in a Facebook interview by KTUU TV that was at once awkward and off-putting, with the audio having a three-second delay with the video.
The two incumbent politicians stood in their requisite hardhats and orange vests at the site of the Artillery Road Bridge in Eagle River on the Glenn Highway, which was struck by a commercial truck on Wednesday and rendered unsafe. That crash led to horrific traffic backups on Thursday and the shut down of Chugiak and Eagle River High Schools on Friday.
State workers living in the Mat-Su Valley were advised to stay home Friday after the commute on Thursday, when an injury accident on the Glenn could not be reached by ambulance due to the gridlock, requiring the victim to be airlifted by helicopter to a hospital. Both sides of the highway — north and southbound — were closed due to that incident.
In all, the bridge accident has highlighted the need for better access between Anchorage and the ever-growing Mat-Su Valley. We should say it highlighted it for many residents, but not for the governor.
When questioned about whether the bridge disaster demonstrated the need for the Knik Arm Crossing, which the governor vetoed in 2016, Walker brushed off the question, citing a need for a full fiscal plan, and better plans for future disasters. When asked where the funds would come from to repair the bridge, he replied that he did not know.
Viewers of the video were unsatisfied with the governor’s performance, and to a lesser extent the mayor of Anchorage, who had a minor speaking role. By Friday evening, more than 430 people had left comments on the Facebook page, and only a handful of them were charitable.
Take a look at the video that drew such an epic social media response:
Or view it here on Facebook and read the comments viewers provided (you’ll need a Facebook account to do so).
From the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski comes this summary of Alaska-specific items in the Interior Department portion of the omnibus spending bill that passed and was signed by President Donald Trump today:
Alaska Provisions in the Interior Bill Contained in the FY2018 Omnibus Appropriations Act
PRIORITIZING OUR LAND
Legacy Wells: Provides an additional $10 million for the BLM to clean up exploration wells drilled at the direction of the federal government in NPR-A between 1944 and 1982. While Senator Murkowski secured significant funding to clean up these abandoned wells through the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013, 26 wells still require remediation. Murkowski’s bill provides enough funding to complete remediation of 9 of the remaining wells, and compels BLM to craft a long-term strategy to finally complete this effort.
ANCSA Contaminated Lands: Directs BLM to coordinate with all responsible federal agencies to implement a long-term solution to clean up contaminated Alaska Native lands as quickly as possible.
Tribal General Assistance Program: Maintains funding for the Tribal General Assistance program. In FY 2016, Senator Murkowski included language to authorize the backhaul program to operate though FY 2020. This year’s bill includes language to make the backhaul program permanent.
Transboundary Water Quality: Allocates $120 thousand for transboundary river stream gages, including for Unuk River, and directs the USGS to enter into a formal partnership with local tribes and other agencies to help develop a water quality strategy for transboundary rivers.
National Park Service: Includes a historic $180 million increase for National Park Service construction and deferred maintenance, the largest percentage increase ever in an annual appropriations bill.
HONORING AND CARING FOR VETERANS
Healing Arts Program: Supports the efforts of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to expand the Healing Arts Program, developed by the NEA and the Department of Defense (DoD) to help our nation’s wounded and injured service members and their families in their transition into civilian life.
Jay S. Hammond Wilderness: The bill designates 2.6 million acres of National Wilderness Preservation land located within the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve as the “Jay S. Hammond Wilderness.” The land will be named after former Governor Jay Hammond, a decorated World War II Marine Corps fighter pilot.
INVESTING IN COMMUNITIES
Payment in Lieu of Taxes: Fully funds the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program at $530 million, to provide monetary compensation to local governments throughout Alaska that contain federal lands that are not subject to state or local taxation. The revenue helps local governments provide vital services, such as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations.
Secure Rural Schools: Reauthorizes the Secure Rural Schools program for two years to help provide funds for school and local budgets across Alaska.
EPA Targeted Airshed Grants: Provides increased funding at $40 million to ensure that cities like Fairbanks are eligible for grants to support wood stove change-outs in order to help reduce air pollution.
Tongass National Forest Management: Directs the Forest Service to gather sufficient data about the timing and availability of young-growth timber before developing a plan revision or new amendment to the Tongass Land Use Plan.
SAFE DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
State Water Revolving Funds: Provides $2.86 billion, increased funding to help facilitate clean, safe drinking water in local communities. Funds can be used to address drinking water and wastewater infrastructure challenges, including addressing problems posed by lead.
Alaska Native Villages Water Program: Provides $20 million for the construction of new drinking water and wastewater systems, or the improvement of existing systems in rural Alaskan communities.
Assistance to Small and Disadvantaged Communities Water Program: Includes $20 million for a new grant program to help bring basic water and sewer to communities in need.
Lead in Drinking Water: Funds two new programs by providing $20 million to help reduce lead in schools and child care facilities and $10 million to help communities reduce lead in other water systems.
BOOSTING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
Arctic Priorities: Supports the Arctic Council and directs federal agencies to focus on economic opportunities in the region, as well as science and subsistence issues.
Energy and Minerals: Provides $4.7 million for USGSto conduct studies that would significantly expand the public’s knowledge of the minerals resource potential in Alaska and provide state-of-the-art data for current and future use.
Forest Service Recreation: Provides $257.8 million for the Forest Service’s recreation programs to issue additional special use permits, helping to expand recreation-based businesses in the Chugach and Tongass National Forests in Alaska. Also funds Forest Service recreation assets like cabins, trails, and campgrounds.
Alaska Red Cedar and Economic Timber Sales: Continues current law that requires that timber sales in Alaska be economic, and requires that Alaska and West Coast sawmills be given the first right to process the timber, in order to keep these jobs in the U.S.
Forest Inventory Analysis: Increases funding to $77 million to partner with states to inventory forests across the nation. Includes significant expansion for interior Alaska.
FIGHTING FEDERAL OVERREACH
Lead Bullets and Fishing Tackle: Continues to prohibit the EPA from regulating lead content of ammunition and fishing tackle.
Kagalaska and Chirikof: Prohibits the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from using funds to conduct a costly caribou hunt on Kagalaska Island in the Aleutian Chain. The legislation also prohibits costly and impractical efforts to remove cattle from the remote Chirikof Island.
Small, Remote Incinerators: Provides an exemption for small, remote incinerators in Alaska to help manage waste in remote areas of Alaska.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Village Built Clinics: Maintains $11 million for Village-Built Clinics, a program unique to Alaska that supports 150 healthcare clinics in rural areas which often serve as the only health facility in the respective region.
Contract Support Costs: Funds contract support costs at $959.57 million for operational and overhead costs in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service, to ensure tribes have the necessary resources they need to deliver programs and services. This is especially important to Alaska because all healthcare for Alaska Natives is directly provided by tribal organizations. The account is continued as an indefinite appropriation so that if estimates made by the respective agencies are too low, funds are available to pay these costs without taking funds from other programs which reduce their capacity.
Zero Suicide Initiative: Provides $3.6 million for an IHS program aimed at preventing suicide by providing tools and support for organizations with patients receiving care. The initiative’s premise is that suicide deaths for people receiving care are entirely preventable.
Domestic Violence Prevention Initiative: Includes $4 million for an IHS initiative that promotes culturally appropriate prevention and treatment approaches to domestic and sexual violence from a community-driven context. This includes funding projects that provide victim advocacy, intervention, case coordination, policy development, community response teams, sexual assault examiner programs, and community and school education programs. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation, Chugachmiut, Copper River Native Association, Kodiak Area Native Association, Maniilaq Association, Norton Sound Health Corporation, Southcentral Foundation, and Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium all receive funds through this initiative to continue efforts in addressing domestic violence and sexual assault in their communities.
Alcohol and Substance Abuse: Increases funding to $227.7 million for IHS alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs to focus on tribal youth and the incorporation of more holistic healthcare models. Programs within tribal communities to combat alcohol and substance abuse include inpatient and outpatient treatment, and rehabilitation services in both urban and rural settings.
Behavioral Health Integration: Provides $21.4 million to support IHS programs to address issues such as mental health disorders, substance use disorders, and behavior-related diseases among American Indians and Alaska Natives, ensuring a comprehensive system of preventative care to encourage community support and strong collaborative relationships with other agencies.
Small Ambulatory Clinics: Increases funding to $15 million to provide additional resources to make infrastructure improvements across the nation for providing healthcare delivery to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
SAFETY
Tribal Court Funding (PL280): Increases Tribal Court funding to Public Law 280 states to $13 million, such as Alaska, in order to help develop tribal court systems for communities.
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA): New this year,provides an additional $2 million for training and specific VAWA tribal court needs.
Tiwahe Initiative: Provides $15 million for this program to help communities design a comprehensive approach for the delivery of social services and justice programs. The Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) is a Tiwahe Initiative pilot site. The bill also sets aside $200 thousand under the initiative for women’s and children’s shelters.
3D Alaska Mapping: Maintains $7.7 million for Alaska mapping initiatives that will help gather data to improve maps, enhancing safety for activities such as aviation. Currently much of the terrain data in Alaska is more than 50 years old and hand-sketched from photos shot from World War II reconnaissance craft.
USGS Earthquake and Volcano Hazards: Includes $45 million to bring Alaska volcano equipment into compliance and provides funds for the purchase of earthquake sensors to incorporate for use in Alaska.
The Alaska House of Representatives heard and rejected dozens of amendments over the past three days, adding some $211,000 for rural emergency response, but rejecting $28 million in cuts that the conservative minority offered.
Amendment 73 went down, like so many offered by conservatives. It related to a well-known public lands access case brought by John Sturgeon against the National Park Service for denying him access to a navigable waterway so he could get to his moose hunting grounds.
Rep. George Rauscher, a member of the conservative minority from District 9, offered an amendment that would have had the State cover up to $500,000 of legal costs for Alaskan John Sturgeon, if he decides to take his case back to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Rauscher’s amendment didn’t increase the budget, but would have moved funds from a contingency fund to the Department of Commerce. As Sturgeon’s legal fees came in, he could apply to the State for reimbursement.
The state has an interest in this case because it affects all Alaskans’ right to access public lands.
Rauscher noted that Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth wrote in her amicus brief filed in this case, “Alaska has a direct and profound interest in maintaining its authority to keep its waterways open as Congress intended … If left uncorrected this decision has broad ramification that extend well beyond its blow to Alaska’s sovereignty.
“It (the Ninth Circuit decision) ignores the needs and realities of rural Alaskans who face unparalleled changes in accessing the transportation thoroughfares they rely upon to provide for their families. Alaska has compelling in interest in preserving its sovereign right to responsibly manage its lands and waters and protecting its citizens ability to use the states’s waterways.
Rep. Paul Seaton, a Homer Republican who joined the liberal majority, rose to argue against it. He said that Rauscher was asking the State to pay private lawyers for something that was a “private benefit” to one Alaskan. Rep. Les Gara, an Anchorage Democrat, said it was like giving money to one person.
But Reps. Mark Neuman, Tammie Wilson, Dan Saddler and David Eastman said that this is a state sovereignty case.
“The battle is not for him,” said Rep. Wilson. “It’s for all Alaskans.”
A day earlier Seaton had gotten his amendment passed for the same amount, adding $500,000 to a strained state budget to pay for a study of the importance of Vitamin D in the diets of Alaskans.
The group advocating a no vote on Proposition 1 used the image of Anchorage’s top police officer in a campaign to sway voters this month to vote against the safe bathrooms ballot question during the municipal mail-in election, which began about March 15.
On the Mike Porcaro Show yesterday on KENI (650 AM), Police Chief Justin Doll said he had not given permission for the group to use his name, image, or endorsement in its position on Prop. 1, and he was none too happy about being blindsided by them.
Fair Anchorage is an independent expenditure group founded primarily by the Alaska branch of the ACLU. Ship Creek Group, the campaign company founded by the governor’s campaign manager John Henry Heckendorn, is doing much of its campaign work. It has acquired hundreds of thousands of dollars from Outside to push voters into opposing a measure that would keep public bathrooms separated by gender.
The ACLU is fighting for open bathrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms so that people who are uncomfortable using one gender’s bathroom can use the other.
The chief said the group had apologized to him and agreed to pull back any of its social media and other propaganda, but the postcards have already been received by all Anchorage voters.
Police Chief Justin Doll was featured on both sides of the mailer sent to all Anchorage voters. He did not give his permission to Fair Anchorage for this message, he told Mike Porcaro on Wednesday.
Porcaro asked Doll if he felt the police force had been weaponized by the “vote no” side. Yes, Doll said, adding that police stay out of weighing in on political questions.
Jim Minnery, whose group Alaska Family Council is heading up the “Yes on One” campaign, issued a statement saying that Fair Anchorage was not playing fair with their campaign to sway voters toward the open-bathroom policy in Anchorage
“Bottom line – how many voters who have already turned in their ballots were misled by this completely inaccurate representation?” the group asked on Facebook.
Porcaro said that an apology from the group is owed to the entire public, but in mail-in elections, most ballots that will be voted are likely already in the mail. If voters felt swayed by Doll’s apparent endorsement, it’s too late. The election ends on April 3.
