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Member:
Senate Finance Committee
Staff:
Denise Liccioli
Elizabeth Rexford
Seth Beaver
Contact Information:
Toll Free Year Round:
1-800-597-3707
LEGISLATURE
ON THE WEB:
WWW.LEGIS.STATE.AK.US
CONTACT OTHERELECTED OFFICIALS:
Senator Dan Sullivan Anchorage Office: 907-271-5915
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Anchorage Office:
907-269-7450
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31st Alaska Legislature
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February 5, 2020
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Start of a New Session
I started the new year in Golovin with my wife and 6 children. We are thankful for all that 2019 brought us, the growth of our kids, and another year to serve our people. With the beginning of the second session of the 31st Legislature, 2020 has started with continued discussions on balancing the State budget. I look forward to working with my colleagues to shape the state of Alaska for the better.
I am pleased to introduce our staff for this year from L to R: Denise Liccioli, my Finance aide and Chief of Staff, has been working in my office for over a decade; Elizabeth Rexford, whose family is from Barrow and Fairbanks and is excited to be back in the capitol for her third session and working for her region; and Seth Beaver, whose family is from Kotzebue and excited to serve his region during his first legislative session.
Budget
The Senate Finance committee began meeting daily the first full day of session, so we are off to a running start. We started with a series of meetings to brief us on the expected revenue, our savings accounts, the permanent fund, and a high level look at the anticipated expenditures. The Governor's budget request leaves a $1.5 Billion deficit, with no plan for how to fill it other than to pretty much completely drain the State's savings accounts. That is unacceptable. As our Governor, he should be leading with ideas on how to address the deficit. The legislature is unlikely to go along with depleting our savings in order to balance this budget. There needs to be talk about new revenues and revising oil tax credits, as well as looking for places where spending can be cut or reduced. The Governor also released his supplemental budget on the 15th day as required and we heard it in Finance soon after. The largest funding included in the supplemental is for Medicaid and fire disasters, among the other items in the bill.
This year, I will be chairing two subcommittees: the Department of Law and the Department of Public Safety. The Department of Law has reopened their office in Utqiagvik and their budget request asks for the additional amount needed to have it fully operational. The Public Safety budget request is for a lot of additional money for Troopers, but nothing additional for VPSOs. We will hold our first subcommittee meetings next week for both subcommittees, to begin the process of reviewing those budgets in detail. I fully and enthusiastically support VPSOs and I support the recommendations of the VPSO working group, which included a recommendation for additional funding for VPSOs in their report. Capital Budget - CAPSIS CAPSIS is the system used for the capital budget. It is currently open to communities to input their requests. CAPSIS will close to communities on February 14th, so if you have any requests, they must be input by then. The capital budget is expected to be bare bones again this year, and to mostly contain matches for federal projects. Unfortunately, there will not be an opportunity for legislators to add any discretionary funds for our communities. If you need help, or have any questions, contact Denise in my office.
REAL ID
The deadline by which you need a REAL ID-compliant form of identification in order to get through TSA and fly is October 1, 2020. Alaska has pushed back deadlines to produce REAL ID cards, but now the final deadline is approaching. There are 15 forms of ID that are acceptable for purposes of clearing TSA for flying. A few of those are: Passport, Passport card, and a Tribal ID; as well as a REAL ID. If you already have a passport, passport card or a Tribal ID with a picture, then you do not need to get a REAL ID in order to travel by air come October 1. However, if you do not have one of those, then I highly suggest updating your State ID and driver license when the next opportunity arises, to avoid disruption in airline travel. For more information on flying with a REAL ID, please visit https://www.tsa.gov/real-id.
VPSO Working Group
On May 9th, 2019, Senate President Cathy Giessel and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon announced the creation of a Joint House/Senate Working Group to provide substantive policy recommendations related to the VPSO program. Appointed to the working group were: Senator Donny Olson, Co-Chair; Representative Chuck Kopp, Co-Chair; Senator Click Bishop; Senator Mike Shower; Representative Bryce Edgmon; and Representative George Rauscher. The working group was assigned to coordinate with stakeholders to examine the underlying causes of the recruitment and retention obstacle and provide proposals to turn around the epidemic rate of personnel turnover within the VPSO program. The working group has since held meetings, attended community meetings, participated in listening sessions, and worked with stakeholders to arrive at the proposals outlined in the recommendations report. The proposals are the first step needed to address the core problem of increasing the number of VPSO's available to communities. This report further addresses other fundamental issues such as: inequity in pay, lack of housing, officer safety, low morale, the inability to generate more interest from applicants in rural Alaska, and the role of Alaska Native Tribes in reaching solutions. I, along with the members of the working group and many VPSO grantees, all have consensus that the program is not broken but has been distressed.
Among recommending statutory improvements for improving deficiencies found in highlighting the mission, vision and statutory law enforcement duties for the program and VPSO personnel; the working group's report includes 8 additional recommendations such as including specific authority for streamlining funding disbursements, restoring VPSO funding levels to FY18 levels and mandating that the grant awards pay grantee organizations their full indirect costs. To view the full working group's report, please visit
http://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=31&docid=47914.
If the proposals are implemented they will begin the process of strengthening the VPSO program for better public safety in rural Alaska. More work will be needed and it is my hope that the VPSO working group can continue its work, and build upon these first steps.
Permanent Fund Working Group Report Available
On June 10, 2019, the 31st Alaska State Legislature created the Bicameral Permanent Fund Working Group while the legislature was still working on the Fiscal Year 2020 budget. The Permanent Fund working group was comprised of eight legislators - four from the Senate, four from the House - to review the use of Alaska Permanent Fund earnings and make recommendations on how to use these funds in the future. The lawmakers came from across the state, from both major parties, and includes members from House and Senate majorities and minorities. They were: myself, Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin; Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, Co-Chair; Rep. Jennifer Johnston, R-Anchorage, Co-Chair; Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer; Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka; Rep. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River; and Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks.
The Permanent Fund Working Group's report is now publicly available, which includes synopses of the six hearings hosted in 2019, and the appendix includes the minutes of each hearing. Three working team assignments were created to explore three scenarios of PFD Amounts: Statutory PFD (Statutory Net Income), $1600 PFD (Fixed amount) and Surplus/net-dividend (POMV).
Within the report, you can find detailed explanations of how the three scenarios covered by the working group members can affect future PFD amounts. The working group's report can be found at http://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=31&docid=47583. I'd like to remind my region that I have always been in favor of the full PFD.
On that note, we'd like to remind our community members that it is now time to submit your PFD applications! You can file online through your MyAlaska account, and if you are unable to file online then contact the nearest Distribution Center to start the process.
Constituent Visitors
Many thanks to those individuals who take the time out of their busy schedules to come visit my office when they are in Juneau. My decisions are guided by the input of those I represent. I truly appreciate hearing from constituents over their concerns.
Senator Olson visiting with the Kotzebue Electric Association
Senator Olson visiting with Former Representative Chuck Degnan from Unalakleet.
Thank you for taking the time to read my ULU Newsletter.
Best wishes and be safe,
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