Good Pay/Bad Pay

January 29, 2022

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Session's afoot! Bills are moving and the budget work is full speed ahead.

We've also had our first COVID case in the Capitol this session. Regular testing caught it quickly. Keep an eye out, and your mask on!

I welcomed Alaska's first-ever Miss America, Emma Broyles to our capital city. Did you know CBJ Mayor Beth Weldon's mom Stuart Sliter was the first-ever Miss Alaska?

Paying Ahead

I talked to a group of design professionals this week. I joked that the measure of whether a capital project request was worthy of funding is whether or not it's located in my district. Despite that, I stumbled across a few ideas elsewhere in the state worth paying for as I read through the governor's supplemental capital budget. Some of these make a whole lot of sense.

The warming climate means Arctic fish populations are changing. Russia is getting ready to start commercial fisheries in its newly ice-free waters, and while an international treaty prevents fishing in the international water that makes up about 1/5th of the Arctic Ocean, China makes no bones about its future plans. There's basically no commercial fishing in America's territorial Arctic waters now, but that seems likely to change. The trouble is, there just isn't enough science yet to guide a responsible fishery. The governor asked for $1 million of state money to match $2 million from the federal government so we can start getting the lay of the land (or the seafloor, in this case.)

And speaking of climate change, there's a pair of proposals that will start making Alaska a little more sustainable. The first is $1.5 million to jump-start the next phase of a statewide electric vehicle charging network. It'll help bring in roughly $50 million of federal help from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. When the project is done, there should be fast chargers at least every 50 miles from Homer to Fairbanks, and you'll also be able to drive off a ferry and plug in a car in at least 11 of the 12 highest-traffic AMHS ports.

There’s also funding that doesn't sound like it'll help with Alaska's carbon emissions, but there's good stuff in there. The governor asked for $2.5 million to do a "strategic plan for Railbelt assets." That's the kind of meaningless title you'd give to a slush fund, so I started digging. I liked what I found. The idea is to figure out how to get all the hydroelectric power from Bradley Lake on the Kenai Peninsula north to where it’s needed. Most of the Lake Bradley power gets used in Anchorage and Mat-Su. But the power lines were built before the hydroproject. So they're sized to carry a little extra juice south toward Nikiski and Homer from the big gas-fired plants in Anchorage and Mat-Su. They're not really big enough to take loads of low-cost, carbon-free, fish-safe hydroelectricity north to Anchorage and displace some of that natural gas. (Or better yet, send that gas-powered electricity north in turn to displace diesel-driven power around Fairbanks.)

True confession: it's a tiny bit galling flying a couple of million dollars to the rescue here. The state is pretty unlikely to spend general funds on the planning and prep work to fix, say, the stressed undersea power line between Haines and Skagway. But Railbelt utilities have been fighting over who should upgrade these lines (and how to pay for it) for a decade or two. And the work itself is likely to cost well north of $200 million, which should be borne by ratepayers (who will still mostly save money as a result.) So in the end I think it's worth ponying up 1% or so.

This bill hasn't hit the Senate floor, and I suspect there will be changes on the way. (Maybe we can tighten up that title, for instance?) I’ll keep working to support these worthy projects.

On the Senate Floor with Sen. Kawasaki Tuesday.

(Lower) Payday

This week we passed a bill to disapprove the report of the State Officers Compensation Commission. The commission sets pay for the governor, lieutenant governor, commissioners, and legislators. It's a politically fraught subject, but we managed to find unanimity in turning it down.

A super-short history to start: Legislative and top-of-the-executive-branch pay had stagnated for a couple of decades and some legislators had been perp-walked for taking bribes in the mid-2000's before then-Rep. Mike Doogan passed a bill to put the pay issue in non-legislative hands. Under the law he passed, the commission issues a report at the top of a legislative session, then legislators have 60 days to disapprove it by passing a bill into law, or the report takes effect automatically.

This year's version would have done some weird and inappropriate stuff. A few commission members were really hung up on the daily amount legislators who travel to the capital get to cover the costs of working away from home. So the commission proposed both cutting it by 2/3 and requiring receipts for everything from rent to milk to sandwiches.

That approach would require creating a whole new accounting position in the legislature just to keep track of all the small dollar receipts. (That's assuming you could hire someone to spend their days going through supermarket receipts to decide whether the chewing gum is reimbursable, or whether the Windex wipes are for cleaning the windows in a legislator's apartment (reimbursable) or car (not.) I'd rather floss a hippo.)

The commission also would have paid legislators' expenses only when the governor called a special sessions, not when the legislature called itself in. You can call me old fashioned, but I don't want the pay plan to shift the constitutional balance of power between the legislative branch and the executive.

There's a Juneau-specific angle there, too. Employers should never require workers to pay out of pocket when they have to work away from home. Not even grubby ol' politicians. Breaking that principle as the commission suggested would have created an incentive for legislators to call special sessions in Southcentral where fewer legislators have to pay out of pocket (even though the cost to the state treasury would be higher!) Clearly, Alaska is better off covering legislators' costs no matter who calls a special session.

At the same time, the commission would have increased legislators' salaries by about $14,000 per year. That bump in taxable income would certainly not make up for reducing non-taxable per diem $200 per day over the 121 days my out-of-town colleagues need to be in the capital city.

There are some problems with the way legislative per diem works today. There are ways to do it better and more fairly. But this report fell way, way short.

The legislature disapproved the report unanimously. If you can spare 20 minutes, it's worth watching the senate debate.

In the interest of full disclosure, this vote stung just a little bit. Juneau-based legislators don't qualify for per diem, so I would have gotten the pay raise and lost nothing on the per diem cut. But I'm not in the senate to serve my pocketbook, and the report clearly didn't pass muster for the state as a whole.

I hope the commission will put their heads together and come up with a smart re-write of legislative per diem for next year.

All my best,

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Events & Happenings Around District Q

Juneau Platypus Con

It’s all fun and games at this board game and card game convention, starting Jan. 28.

Juneau Quilled

Come to the City Museum for an exhibition of Kirsten Shelton’s art built around the rainforest we live in. It starts Feb. 4 (and there’s an artist talk on the 5^th!)

Juneau Pour the Love: Cabin Fever

The four Juneau breweries are joining forces in another bid to bring goodwill and support community projects! All through February, stop by and enjoy special brews to help build a new public use cabin at Eaglecrest.

Juneau Wearable Art Extravaganza!

A community staple is back and this time they’re wading in deep. The theme is “Oceanic Overtures.” Don’t miss out on this whimsical runway show happening Feb. 12^th and 13^th.

Haines Discovery Kits

Get to the Haines Library and check out your discovery kit to open up a world of fun!

Haines Winterfest

Feb. 26^th the winter games return! The Olympics will be over, but we’re talking about fun at the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds – games followed by a cookoff and potluck!

Haines River Talk

Come listen to stories on the theme “Lost and Found.” Seven speakers, seven stories, seven minutes, 7:00, for $7. Plus live music and more -- happening Feb. 17^th at the Chilkat Center for the Arts.

Haines Blind Dates

The Haines library has books and movies in mystery wrappers for the month of February. Check one out, read or watch it, and if you submit a review you can win fabulous (chocolate) prizes!

Gustavus Pies

Sweet? Savory? You name it, it’ll be there! Come one, come all to this free, fun PIE POTLUCK this Saturday at the Gustavus Community Center! There will be prizes for different pies, too. (Did I mention PIE?!)