Starting May 7, all US air travelers aged 18 and older will be required to present a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or another acceptable form of identification, such as a valid passport, to board domestic flights and access certain federal facilities, specifically those serving jets. The small commuter flights that buzz around Alaska are not impacted by this requirement, as passengers do not go through Transportation Security Administration screening to reach their boarding gates.
The upcoming enforcement marks the culmination of the REAL ID Act, enacted by Congress in 2005 to enhance national security following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The rollout has been, however, delayed five times.
A REAL ID-compliant license is typically distinguished by a star in the top right corner. To obtain one, applicants must visit the Department of Motor Vehicles and provide specific documentation, including proof of identity (such as a birth certificate or passport), proof of Social Security number, and two additional proofs of residency. The ID is manufactured out of state and mailed to the recipient, and it can take a few weeks.
In Alaska, while obtaining a REAL ID is not mandatory for non-commercial drivers, those holding a commercial driver’s license are already required to be federally compliant and must upgrade to a REAL ID at the time of license expiration, if not already compliant.
Air travelers who do not possess a REAL ID-compliant license by the deadline will need to present an alternative form of acceptable identification, such as a valid US passport or some military ID types to pass through TSA checkpoints. Failure to provide such identification may result in being denied access to flights or federal facilities like military bases or nuclear facilities.
Alaska has updated its identification cards. Both the standard ID cards and REAL ID-compliant cards feature the new design but are distinguished by specific markings. REAL ID cards will display a star symbol in the top right corner to indicate compliance, while standard ID cards will not have the star and will include the notation “Federal limits apply.”
Alaskans report that lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles offices have been long, sometimes hours. Even if you get through the REAL ID process, the ID cards themselves are not printed on the spot, but will arrive in the mail weeks later.
Thursday, April 24, was a day like any other day – the sun came up, the sun went down, and Donald Trump was hit with at least three nationwide injunctions by federal district court judges.
That’s just the way it goes if you are a president who wants to take back America from the entrenched left-wing bureaucracy and restore common sense to government before it is too late.
The danger of the bureaucracy was predicted by Julien Benda in his 1927 book “The Treason of the Clerks,” which warned of the danger of the intellectual class adopting political passions that had previously been the sole domain of the masses. We see this most distinctly today in the federal bureaucracy, which I dare say has the greatest concentration of degree-holders from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia (and the like) of any sector in the nation, other than the incestuous universities themselves.
The treason that Benda described was the loss of independence of thought and dispassionate reason by intellectuals, and the accompanying subservience of intellect to political passions. During Trump’s first term, I wrote a column describing the danger that Benda had foreseen:
“Benda wrote at the beginning of the age of mass communication, and yet he already saw that political passions have attained a universality never before known. … Thanks to the progress of communication and, still more, to the group spirit, it is clear that the holders of the same political hatred now form a compact impassioned mass, every individual of which feels himself in touch with the infinite number of others, whereas a century ago such people were comparatively out of touch with each other and hated in a scattered way.”
It seems that we are now living out Benda’s worst nightmare — an age of manipulation of the masses by those who think they know better — whether you call them the “deep state,” the “opposition party,” “the national elite,” “the entrenched bureaucracy,” or just “the establishment.”
And for the past 10 years, they have turned their hatred on Donald Trump. Without rhyme or reason, they fight him on every reform and arm themselves with invented scandal and fake news.
Now, in Trump’s second term, we see that the bureaucracy has a close ally in the judiciary – not one judge, but multitudes that aim to preserve the status quo of liberal governance. If that wasn’t clear before April 24, there was no room for doubt after the day was filled with one court ruling after another telling Trump to “stand back and stand by” rather than to exercise his lawful power as president.
Here’s what tumbled out of the judicial branch that day:
– A federal district court judge in California blocked Trump’s executive order that would have denied federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities that limit or forbid cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
– A Washington, D.C., judge blocked the Trump administration from following through on the president’s executive order requiring that voters in federal elections show proof of citizenship when registering.
– A district judge in New Hampshire blocked efforts to defund public schools that utilize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Not to be outdone, judges in Maryland and Washington, D.C., essentially issued the same order, giving added protection to one of the least popular programs ever shoved down the throat of American citizens.
At the time, those were the latest of more than a dozen nationwide injunctions issued by unelected federal judges who appeared more interested in preserving and protecting left-wing shibboleths than the Constitution.
Also in courts across the nation that week were attempts by judges to reject Trump’s authority as commander in chief to ban transgender participation in the military, to deny Trump the right to strip security clearances from law firms that he says put national security interests second to political partisanship, and stop the administration’s efforts to eliminate federal news services such as Voice of America that engage in anti-American propaganda.
Those are all in addition to the several injunctions issued relative to Trump’s promised reform of the immigration system to expedite deportation of illegal immigrants, especially those who have a criminal history or are members of international gangs.
If that seems normal, it isn’t. There were only six nationwide injunctions during the eight years of the George W. Bush presidency, and only 12 during the Obama presidency. That increased to 14 under President Biden, which was surpassed by President Trump in the first nine weeks of his second term when 15 such injunctions were issued. Of course, Trump should be accustomed to such judicial abuse. In his first term, there were 64 injunctions against his policies, a staggering 92.2% issued by Democrat-appointed judges. Julien Benda would have clearly recognized the “political passions” that had supplanted the disinterested intellectual rigor we once expected of our judges.
Yet because of our habituated respect for the separation of powers, none dare call it the treason of the judiciary.
That of course is a reference to the 1960s tract “None Dare Call It Treason” by John A. Stormer. Stormer took on the country’s intellectual elites, blaming them for working against the interests of the nation by tolerating or quietly promoting communism. The left-wing elites of the day laughed it off as another right-wing conspiracy theory, but as time has passed it’s become clear that there was indeed a long-range effort to corrupt our institutions with Communism 101 – reducing social acceptance of religion, turning education into indoctrination, and infiltrating government with the intelligentsia that thinks American values are outdated.
Now, at long last, we can see the fruit of the corrupt tree sprouting in our court system, where judges help illegal immigrants escape through the back door of the courtroom, where other judges demand the return of deported gang members or halt the deportation of antisemitic radicals, and where every effort to put America first is ruled unconstitutional.
Fighting back against the overreach of the judiciary must be Donald Trump’s No. 1 priority as he seeks to restore sanity to the federal government. Because the most important principle of constitutional law that is being decided in the next few months is whether the president is truly the chief executive or whether he serves at the pleasure of left-wing judges who put political passion ahead of national interests.
In the ultimate irony, the case must be decided by nine men and women in black robes, the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The fate of the nation’s future hinges on whether they will seek justice impartially or be swayed by partisan rancor.
Unfortunately, it’s an open question.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
There has been a virtually endless discussion on increasing the funding of our K-12 schools by increasing the Base Student Allocation. But what has not really been debated is how does Alaska increase education opportunities for our children in the current K-12 system.
The entire focus has been on funding, and little on improving the current system.
It seems as if the majority of legislators believe that more funding will necessarily lead to better student outcomes and more educational opportunities.
Let’s take a look at what Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed in his HB 204 and what the legislature majority supported in HB 57.
Which legislation would lead to better student opportunities and outcomes?
Proposed Improvement
Governor’s Bill, HB 204
Legislature Majority Bill, HB 57
Reading Incentive
$450 Grant if Improvement Shown
$450 Grant if Improvement Shown
School District Boundaries
Allows Student to Attend Any Public School if Space Available
No Change in School Boundaries. Status Quo
Charter School Changes
Can Apply Anytime; Can Appeal Contract Termination; Final Appeal to DEED and State Board
Can Apply Anytime but School Board can Set Deadlines; Contract Termination Final Appeal Through the Courts
Correspondence School Funding
Increases From 0.9 to 1.0 BSA
No Change. Status Quo
Base Student Allocation
Increased by $560
Increased by $700
Vocational-Tech Education
No Change
Increased from 1.015 to 1.023BSA
Tracking High School Graduates
Not Included
Department of Labor Will Track HS students for 20 Years After Graduation
Most legislators support the Alaska Reads Act and have even offered financial incentives to districts to improve students’ reading ability from kindergarten through sixth grade. If we cannot teach children how to read, then we are stealing their futures for success.
The newly passed HB 57 really doesn’t open up any more opportunities for parents to choose better public school options for their children. Students are still fenced in to their ZIP code schools-their neighborhood schools.
On the other hand, Gov. Dunleavy’s legislation, HB 204, would have allowed parents to enroll their children in any public school district regardless of where they lived. Children would not be limited to zip code school boundaries.
And to ensure that parents were not wrongly refused the ability to enroll their students outside their ZIP code, the governor’s legislation required the districts to provide school enrollment information for every school to include capacity and available vacancies for each grade.
So, parents would know if there were available slots in a particular school for their child.
What about improving opportunities for more charter schools for our kids?
We know that our charter schools are some of the best public schools in the state. So, why don’t we replicate what is successful? It may be because the K12 monopoly sees charter schools as a threat to its brick-and-mortar schools.
Many parents would love to enroll their children in these successful schools but there are wait lists for most all the charter schools. And if a parent misses one of the charter school lotteries, then they usually miss out on enrolling a child forever because very few parents remove their children from those schools freeing up space. Sorry, there are no vacancies.
HB 57 provides some very ambiguous information on the regulation of charter schools. It is wishy-washy at best. There are no “teeth” in the bill to enforce these requirements on the districts. And the school boards would still have all the power.
The school boards establishthe charter school contract requirements and also can terminate the contract if the school fails to comply with the contract terms.
HB 57 also says that the district shall give written notice to the charter school before terminating the contract. Is this notice given one day before contract termination? Thirty days? The time is open-ended and is detrimental to the charter school and its parents.
In HB 57 if a charter school’s contract is terminated, their only recourse is to the Department of Education & Early Development and then through the courts, not the State Board of Education.
Remember, the Family Partnership Charter School, the largest charter school in Alaska, whose contract was terminated because of a dysfunctional board? They had no recourse to the State Board of Education.
It takes a lot of time and expertise to start a charter school.
Parents must put together a +100-page business plan that describes the curriculum, financing, staff, and structure. They must also find a facility to house the school, which is the most difficult part.
Lower income parents don’t stand a chance to put together a charter school business plan without expert assistance. That assistance could come from the Department of Education & Early Development which could use a funded vacant position to provide expert help in overcoming obstacles.
HB 57 does nothing to help parents start a charter school. It merely maintains the status quo with the local school board in control.
Let’s look at Gov. Dunleavy’s legislation to see the opportunities for more charter schools.
The governor’s bill tightens up the language to terminate a charter school’s contract. It states that a charter school contract may only be terminated if the school fails to meet educational achievement goals or fiscal management standards or fails to comply with a material term of the contract.
The governor’s bill also gives the final decision on termination of a charter school to the DEED commissioner and eventually the State Board of Education. One does not have to resort to the courts for help.
Since the shutdown of our schools during Covid, Alaska’s Correspondence (home school) program has grown to nearly 23,000 students-about 17% of the entire Alaska student population. Parents saw what their kids were being taught and what they were not being taught and opted out of the neighborhood schools.
Many parents chose to home school their children rather than send them back to the neighborhood schools. But the funding of these home school students lacks equity with their counterparts in the neighborhood schools.
HB57 did not increase the funding of Correspondence students. It remains at an inequitable 0.9 of the BSA per student. Nor does the correspondence student funding go through the formula to add additional funding for different categories. This is unfair and considers the homeschool student as only a fraction of a brick-and-mortar student. This is just another attempt to keep education opportunities from challenging the education establishment. Monopolies do not like competition.
Governor Dunleavy’s bill provided equity funding to correspondence students by increasing the funding to a full BSA. This would help parents pay for their child’s curricula, books, physical education, and tutoring. This would be a win for home school parents.
And why shouldn’t a home school student be worth the same as a brick and mortar school student? It’s all about equity.
One of the most concerning parts of HB57 is that the State’s Department of Labor will track high school graduates at 5 year intervals for 20 years. What is the State going to do with the data once it collects it? Will it look back to see if its K-12 education system has been successful? That would be kind of late to correct K12 systemic problems. Will it check to see if a student still lives in Alaska? What difference would that make?
Finally, tracking high school graduates may be a violation of Alaska’s Constitution.
Article 1, Section 22, Right of Privacy states, “The right of the people to privacy is recognized and shall not be infringed.. This alone could kill HB 57.
The governor’s bill has no tracking of high school graduates.
Here is a comparative summary of both pieces of legislation.
Gov. Dunleavy’s bill, HB 204, provides many more opportunities for students to choose the public school that fits them best. It removes invisible ZIP code boundaries so a student can attend any public school, in district or out of district. HB 57 fences students in to their local ZIP code school.
The governor’s bill allows charter schools to approve their termination to the State Board of Education, allowing investigation by a disinterested party. HB57 keeps the local school board in power by maintaining the status quo.
The governor’s bill provides equitable funding for correspondence students increasing funding the same as a brick-and-mortar student. HB-57 does nothing.
The governor’s bill does not track high school graduates and protects their privacy. HB57 tracks high school graduates for 20 years and does not provide any use of the data.
The question is, “Which bill improves opportunities for public school choice and which bill merely protects the status quo of the current K-12 monopoly?
David Boyle is an education writer at Must Read Alaska.
President Donald Trump announced on social media a proposal to reopen the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, the island prison in San Francisco Bay that once held some of America’s most famous criminals, including a notorious one from Juneau — Robert Stroud, better known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.”
Although Alcatraz ceased operating as a federal prison in 1963 and has since become a national historic site managed by the National Park Service, Trump believes the island facility could be brought back into operation for some of America’s most violent criminals, who he intends to see brought to justice.
Stroud, who spent 17 years in the island penitentiary, was convicted in 1909 of manslaughter after shooting a bartender in Juneau during a dispute involving his mistress. Born in Seattle, he had left home at age 13 to escape his father, described in various accounts as abusive and alcoholic. By the age of 18, he was living in the Alaska Territory, where he became a pimp. During his incarceration, he had a reputation for violence, and in 1916, he fatally stabbed a prison guard.
Stroud became known for his interest in ornithology and for keeping and studying birds during his time in prison. Unlike the romanticized depiction in the movie, he was not allowed to keep birds while at Alcatraz. He had raised canaries at Leavenworth federal penitentiary, and he also served time at McNeil Island, where he was first placed after being held in a Juneau jail. He was eventually transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 and died in 1963 at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, in Springfield, Missouri. He was 73 and had spent 55 years in prison.
The 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz, starring Burt Lancaster, made Stroud famous, although great liberties were taken with his life story, and the film did not include all of his violent episodes in prison. The prison also held Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly and was featured in the movies, “The Rock,” which starred Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, and “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood.
“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “That is why, today I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Currently, the island is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and sees over a million tourists every year. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has no current authority over the island and it would cost an enormous sum to bring it up to standard, after it has been mothballed for 60 years.
At its regular Tuesday meeting, the Anchorage Assembly is slated to approve over $1.4 million in additional funding to support ongoing shelter operations and services for individuals who are without shelter. The expenditures are outlined in a series of Assembly Memorandums and represent a continuation of the city’s broader efforts to underwrite and expand shelter capacity amid a crisis in vagrancy and substance abuse addiction that has made Anchorage a daunting place for others to live and work.
The proposed allocations include the following:
$730,000 to Catholic Social Services for continued operations of the Brother Francis Shelter (AM 387-2025). This amendment to the existing grant agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage and the Anchorage Health Department (AHD) would support one of the city’s central emergency shelter facilities.
$50,000 to Restorative & Reentry Services, LLC for professional third-party oversight of emergency cold weather shelters operated by the municipality (AM 404-2025). This contract aims to ensure accountability and quality in the delivery of shelter services during the harsh winter months.
$1,144,847 to Habitat for Humanity Anchorage for property acquisition to be used by the Municipality and the Anchorage Health Department (AM 407-2025). This investment is intended to expand long-term shelter or transitional housing capacity.
$265,710 to MASH Property Management LLC for non-congregate shelter services (AM 413-2025), replacing services previously anticipated to be provided by Henning, Inc.
These proposed allocations follow several other significant expenditures by the city in 2025 focused on addressing homelessness. In previous months, the Assembly approved:
$1.5 million in operational support to expand non-congregate shelter options in early February.
$3.2 million for transitional housing development and support services allocated in March, which included funding partnerships with local nonprofits and behavioral health providers.
$500,000 to the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness for data coordination and client services, approved in April.
The Assembly meeting will take place starting at 5 pm the Loussac Library Assembly Chambers on Tuesday.
Here are the appropriations and their links on the agenda:
In 2018, the bumper sticker for then-Gov. Bill Walker claimed that Walker and Lt. Gov. Mallott “SAVED THE PFD FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.” Walker vetoed half of the dividend that year. His bumper sticker was saying, essentially, he had to burn the village to save the village.
Seven years later, the PFD is still being burned. Now, it could be reduced to ashes for some Alaskans.
House Bill 209 by Rep. Zack Fields sets the PFD at a flat amount of $1,000, but would eliminate the dividend for anyone making over $50,000 a year (or $100,000 per married couple.)
In other words, the dividend would no longer be a share of the oil wealth of the state, but instead would be a welfare payment. HB 209 has been referred to House Judiciary and Finance Committees and is unlikely to pass both bodies this year due to the looming legislative deadline of May 21. It will be on the calendar for Judiciary on Monday.
“Payment of PFDs based on a 1982 formula is no longer practical,” said Fields in his sponsor statement.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Senate may cut the Permanent Fund dividend this year to $1,000 — its lowest level in history, when adjusted for inflation. It’s also lower than what the House passed earlier this year, $1,400.
The reduction in Senate Finance Committee trims an estimated $265 million from the Senate’s version of the budget, potentially bringing the state’s finances into balance without requiring new revenue sources or tapping more heavily into savings. The full Senate is expected to vote on the budget proposal next week. Ironically, several revenue bills are also awaiting action in the House and Senate, such as the controversial Etsy Tax, SB 113.
The PFD, distributed annually to nearly every Alaska resident, is a unique program Alaska lawmakers set up in 1982 that returns a share of the state’s oil wealth to its people.
The wealth originates from the Alaska Permanent Fund, a constitutionally established fund created in 1976 to save a portion of the state’s oil revenue for future generations and to eventually pay for state services when the oil runs out.
Dividend payments began in 1982, via statute rather than constitution, and were intended to ensure that Alaskans directly benefit from the development of natural resources, since private landowners in Alaska do not hold subsurface mineral rights — those belong to the state.
Historically, PFD amounts have fluctuated with oil revenues and investment earnings, but the dividend has become a contentious political issue in recent years as lawmakers find it easy to spend when oil prices are high, but can’t manage to trim when prices slip.
While earlier PFDs regularly exceeded $1,000 — and in some years, such as 2008 and 2015, approached or surpassed $2,000 — recent fiscal pressures have led to smaller payouts. The Legislature has increasingly used Permanent Fund earnings to pay for essential government services, squeezing the portion available for dividends.
This year’s proposed $1,000 check would be the lowest in real, inflation-adjusted terms since the dividend’s inception.
Historical Permanent Fund Dividend Amounts (1982–2024 not adjusted for inflation)
The Republican Party district committee for Alaska House District 27 has formally called on Gov. Mike Dunleavy to veto House Bill 57, citing concerns about government overreach, education spending, and potential violations of constitutional privacy rights.
In a resolution passed on May 2, the Wasilla Republicans argued that HB 57 undermines key principles of the Alaska Republican Party’s platform, particularly individual liberty, limited government, and parental rights.
District 27’s representative in the House, Jubilee Underwood, was a “yes” vote for HB 57. The Valley Republican Women of Alaska issued a statement after the vote, warning that “primaries are coming.”
Only eight Republican legislators in the House and three Republicans in the Senate voted against HB 57, which was the bill that became the Democrats’ funding mechanism for raising spending on schools.
Originally, it was a bill only about cell phone use in schools, but it now appears that Rep. Zack Fields, the lead sponsor, always intended it to be the vehicle for a major increase to the Base Student Allocation. Fields is the former communication director for the Alaska Democratic Party and field coordinator for AFL-CIO.
At the center of the District 27 committee’s opposition is a provision in HB 57 that would require the state to track Alaska’s high school graduates for 20 years after graduation, collecting data on their careers, education paths, and residency. The resolution characterizes this as “unprecedented government overreach” and a violation of Article I, Section 22 of the Alaska Constitution, which protects the right to privacy.
The resolution also criticizes the bill’s financial implications, pointing to more than $220 million in new education spending, including a $700 (12%) increase to the Base Student Allocation (BSA), without what the committee sees as sufficient reforms or accountability measures. Alaska already spends over $21,000 per student annually, and District 27 Republicans argue that the state’s low educational performance rankings warrant structural reform rather than increased spending.
Another point of contention is the bill’s conditional grant funding, which is tied to the future passage of Senate Bill 113 — a tax proposal from Democratic Senator Bill Wielechowski. District 27 Republicans labeled this a political maneuver that aligns with Democrat and union interests, not with the conservative grassroots.
The resolution concludes by urging Dunleavy to veto the bill “in its entirety” and calls on all Republican legislators to support a veto override if necessary.
Here’s the resolution in its entirety:
Resolution Urging the Veto of House Bill 57
District 27, Alaska Republican Party
WHEREAS, the Alaska Republican Party stands for individual liberty, parental rights, limited government, and strict adherence to the Alaska and U.S. Constitutions, as clearly stated in its platform; WHEREAS, House Bill 57 contradicts key principles of the Alaska Republican Party Platform, which surveillance and government abuse of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, and champions results-driven investment in public services, particularly education; WHEREAS, HB 57 mandates the government to track Alaska’s high school graduates for 20 years after graduation, collecting career, education, and residency data—an unprecedented government overreach to be placed in state statute and a violation of the Alaska Constitution’s explicit right to privacy against unwarranted state intrusion (Article I, Section 22); WHEREAS, HB 57 includes contingency provisions tying reading incentive and Career Technical Education grants to the future passage of Senate Bill 113, a tax bill put forward by Sen. Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage); WHEREAS, HB 57 represents over $220 million in additional education spending, including a $700 (12%) increase to the Base Student Allocation, with little accountability or reform, at a time when Alaska ranks near the bottom in education outcomes despite already spending over $21,000 per student annually; WHEREAS, Alaskan students need and deserve educational choice, empowered parents, and improved charter school access and effective accountability from school administrators and districts, HB 57 instead rewards and perpetuates the status quo; WHEREAS, HB 57 was largely crafted and championed by Democrat legislators and union interests, despite clear opposition from the conservative base and grassroots Republican organizations across Alaska; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that District 27 of the Alaska Republican Party urges Governor Mike Dunleavy to veto House Bill 57 in its entirety, due to overt betrayal of core Republican values; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that District 27 of the Alaska Republican Party urges all Republican legislators to stand with the Constitution, the Republican Platform, and the people of Alaska by voting to uphold Governor Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 57. Passed this 2nd of May 2025
Eli Graber Chair District 27 Alaska Republican Party
At Saturday’s Alaska Senate District E constituent meeting, attended by Senator Cathy Giessel (District E), Rep. Chuck Kopp (District 10), and Rep. Ky Holland (District 9), legislators were questioned about a pension plan some intend to resurrect for State employees.
It wasn’t that long ago that the legislature took action to address a funding shortfall for the prior state pension plan, which was unsustainable. The Legislature ended the defined-benefits pension program and replaced it with a 401(k) retirement plan.
This year, the Legislature struggles to identify revenue to fund basic state programs like education.
Sen. Giessel’s recent public position on natural resource development is that Alaska is not a “colony to be pillaged.”
This suggests Sen. Giessel may not support even a modest expansion of natural resource development. But, even if she did, certainly the democratic colleagues of her caucus wouldn’t support such expansion.
At the meeting, Giessel was asked, “What is the simple funding solution to the obvious issues with reinstating a pension plan for the public employees of Alaska?”
Giessel first addressed her position about Alaska not being a place to plunder. She clarified that she envisions Alaska taking over the role of ensuring adequate regulation and controls exist to protect air and water quality. Presumably, this effort would require enabling legislation, a new state agency or expansion of existing agencies, new regulations, enforcement rules, and compliance mechanisms.
Giessel did not provide specific details about her vision for expanding environmental controls over Alaska’s resource development industry. Giessel did, however, express concern over Alaska’s history of experiences with entities plundering Alaska’s resources citing examples like the Klondike gold rush era and the fishing industry’s past practices prior to statehood.
Giessel attributed problems with Alaska’s prior pension plan to a math error committed by an actuary. Her proposed pension plan, she claims, is fully endorsed as a practically fail-safe plan following a review by current state-employed actuaries – barring extraordinary circumstances, of course.
Furthermore, two additional actuaries have reviewed and provided similar endorsements. One of these two additional reviewers is rumored to be a former state-employed actuary himself.
Some have placed the price tag on Giessel’s new pension proposal at over $9B. Senator Giessel believes her plan is a bargain claiming an annual cost of only $45M to $50M and a net savings to taxpayers after accounting for attrition and the associated administrative cost to handle personnel related expenses.
An indicated feature of the new pension plan is that contributions may depend in part on market performance, which helps reduce the possibility that the state could face future pension funding issues.
Questioned later in the constituent meeting about dealing with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Giessel accused the DOT&PF of being impossible to work with, and said the only way to deal with them is to cut their budget, which she says is exactly what the Senate Finance Committee has done.
Giessel says she had identified an additional $4M reduction, but that reduction had been sidelined.
Cutting the DOT&PF budget, of course, would only make it more challenging to access Alaska’s vast resources necessary to generate new revenue and fund things like a new state employee pension program. It should be noted here that Giessel’s husband is a longtime DOT&PF employee.
There was also a suggestion that the proposed pension plan is cheaper than the current defined contribution plan. If this is true, State employees might question whether Giessel’s plan is truly an increase in benefits to state employees, or a bait and switch. We may never truly discover this, given Giessel’s propensity to disguise herself as both a Republican and a progressive Democrat.
Meeting handouts highlighted how 40.7% of state revenue is from the federal government, 37.3% of state revenue is from Investment earnings, with only 13.8% coming from petroleum. Still, a handful of constituents cheered the idea of increasing and creating new state taxes. Senator Giessel presented her plan to generate new revenue by taxing S-Corporations while painting the majority owner of Hilcorp as an aristocratic polo-club lounger.
If it is true that you get more of what you subsidize and less of what you tax, the writing is on the wall. We can clearly see where Giessel’s plans will lead us.
The race horse Sovereignty galloped to a commanding victory at Churchill Downs in the 151st Kentucky Derby, leaving the pre-race favorite, Journalism, to write its own race recap for near-miss glory.
Journalism, despite 3-1 odds and a compelling narrative leading up to the race, couldn’t quite craft the fairy-tale ending on the sloppy track. While Journalism wrote the lead early on, it was Sovereignty’s late burst, after trailing the majority of the race, that clinched the win for the underdog.
According to theCourier-Journal, all the horses who ran the race were descendants of the famed racehorse Secretariat. Sovereignty was sired by Into Mischief. A $2 bet on Sovereignty paid out $17.92.
Simulated reality? Metaphor of the year? End of fake news? Next race bet: Truth vs. algorithm? Never count on Journalism? The jokes can go on, and some stories just write themselves.
