Making Waves

March 19, 2021

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Thanks for staying so engaged with the important, sometime choppy, legislative process. Brownie points to the six dozen or so of you who joined our town hall earlier this week!

I also got to listen to all your testimony in the Senate Finance Committee about the state budget and what the essentials mean to our communities and our lives. I really do have the best constituents in the state!

A special shout out to everyone pushing to save the Haines DMV! Your work is making a difference—legislators across the state are skeptical of the closure. (Plus, the postcards are awesome!)

Up a River without a Plan

The Recreational Rivers Act protects half-a-dozen rivers in the Mat-Su. It has since the 1970s.

It's a well-written law. It's a model of multiple use: giving Alaskans room to hunt, fish, powerboat, trap, camp, snowmachine, mush dogs, cut firewood, and look for gold. It also allows for economic development—from gravel to lodges and tourism infrastructure.

Of course, good law doesn’t legislate every detail. This one has the Commissioner of Natural Resources and a group of locals write a management plan to meet the needs of the Mat-Su and the state.

Turns out, the plan hasn’t been updated in 30 years. And it needs a rewrite. But instead of getting the miners, hunters, subsistence users, lodge owners, private property owners, fishermen, and others together to revise it, the governor is asking us to delete the whole shebang.

Not to go all Bill Clinton on you here, but this is a case of 'mend it, don't end it.' Certainly don't kill the entire Recreational Rivers law because the department hasn't done its job since before Clinton ran for president.

This proposal is part of SB 97, a bigger bill dealing with how the state disposes of land. The larger bill is a mixed bag. It can probably be saved (especially the agricultural land pieces, which look good) but this part is a total washout.

Arguing for SJR 9 on the Senate floor.

Sailing Through

Today my Senate colleagues unanimously passed my resolution, SJR 9, calling for a life ring for our tourism economy. I’m grateful we could make this statement on the Senate floor—Alaska needs a short-term fix to let cruise ships sail to Alaska while Canadian waters are closed.

Our congressional delegation understands the urgency, and they've all introduced legislation. SJR 9 gives them some backup. When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says big ships can sail safely, Alaska small businesses and workers need their passengers' custom.

The bill goes to the House next and I look forward to talking with my colleagues there on how to keep this piece of our economy and communities afloat.

Rough Seas

Last week I mentioned troubles with the governor's bond bill. This week it got weird.

We haven’t gotten to the important job of adding in valuable projects Alaska needs—that’ll happen in the Finance Committee. But as Transportation started pruning unconstitutional stuff out of it, the administration came in to propose amendments of their own.

Pause just a second to remember they wrote this bill... Ok, let's go on.

The governor's folks asked to remove one project because it would cost a lot more than they thought. Fair enough. That happens. Then they asked to remove a couple projects because they're nowhere near ready for construction. That's less typical, but there's no sense standing on pride. We took all of those out.

Then two more projects were pulled because they’ve already been fully funded. (So why propose borrowing money for them to pay back over 20 years?) A third is funded and already out to bid. Wait. What?!

So we nixed those, too. Then came my personal favorite: a grant to a facility that has no outstanding projects. The governor had asked to borrow $3 million dollars to pay for nothing at the Wasilla airport. Look, I'm a big fan of municipal airports, but before we borrow money it should probably have... a purpose? Yeah. We pulled it out of the bill.

High-quality prep work like this means the bond bill has a long row to hoe if we're going to get it ready for a vote.

A Sea of Books

Finally, a special shout-out to the outstanding folks at the Haines Borough Library! They're a finalist for the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. Kudos to everyone at the Library for their exceptional contributions to Haines!

All my best,

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Events & Happenings Around District Q

Read Across Juneau

Help Juneau teachers honor Alaska Authors by joining these different Story Paths – the next one is March 19^th – 21^st - Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy at the Auke Lake Trail – learn more here!

Earth, Wind, and Strings?

Join the Juneau Symphony April 4^th for their “Strings and Friends” concert at the Mendenhall Glacier – remotely! It’s a great cast of local musicians that you don’t want to miss. Sign up here!

Haines Living with Bears

March 21^st: as the snow melts, here come the bears. Haines is bear country, so tune into this presentation by ADF&G to learn more here.

Skagway Reading up a storm

“Tournament of Books” is up to the Semi-Finals Book talk. March 20^th you can tune in, listen, and vote for your choice of champion. Join the Skagway Public Library as the community picks its book champion here!

Skagway Kanopy Movie Club

“Boy” you better not miss out on this critically acclaimed film by Taika Waititi – The Skagway Public Library is hosting the film and a conversation on March 24^th – find more info here.

COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic

The vaccine wheels are spinning! SEARHC is vaccinating in the North and West parts of our district, and Juneau has ~3700 more doses en route. So ITS TIME TO GET YOUR VACCINATION! Pharmacies and a couple of doctors’ offices are each getting hundreds more doses, and appointments for the next mega-event go live March 22^nd at noon (That’s for shots April 5-8) – check this link for more info.