Summer is here and the 2023 Legislative Session has come to an end. The completion of the budget was a little behind schedule, and as usual, there has been drama around finalizing and passing the operating and capital budget. I’ll explain more about that below, but aside from the budget, here’s some perspective on some other things that we have achieved: 

We passed our Senate Bill 25, which is meaningful legislation to sweep and close out unused accounts. This bill is a cousin of a bill that we passed last year to reduce and eliminate the number of redundant or unnecessary publications, documents and reports generated by our state government. SB 25 uses the same biennial review cycle as our previous bill, but instead of reports and publications, SB 25 focuses on eliminating accounts that are no longer needed. The impact of both of these documents over time will save money and simplify operations, and received unanimous passage in both bodies. These bills are examples of our continuing efforts to drive efficiency and economy in state operations. Read more here >>  

We also made life easier for those wanting to begin training for a commercial drivers license by carrying Senate Bill 123 to the finish line. This bill which removes an outdated barrier to entry, should help in filling the estimated shortage of 500 commercial drivers that the state of Alaska desperately needs to keep people and freight moving. It passed both bodies unanimously. Click here to read more >>

The third policy proposal that crossed the finish line was the companion to my SB 33 which permanently extended Alaska’s Renewable Energy Grant Fund. Thank you to Rep. Bryce Edgmon for carrying the vehicle which passed both bodies, HB 62. This program has distributed almost $300 million to renewable energy projects in Alaska since 2008 and goes a long ways towards reducing energy costs statewide. I believe in an all-of-the-above approach to energy and this bill ensures that a successful program can move forward. Click here to read more >>

We did a lot of great work on the Senate Transportation Committee which I chair, including passing bills to prevent electric bicycles from being regulated as motorized vehicles, ensured fuel barges can continue to operate in western Alaska, and removing barriers to entry for those seeking CDL’s as I described above. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that I done as chair as well. This work centers around doing what we can to drive improvements in the Department of Transportation, often by sharing best practices gained during my time in the private sector. Read more about our efforts with the Port of Alaska below and learn more about our work with the Alaska Marine Highway System and the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board (which we helped create last year) here >>

The House and Senate passed SB 48, one of the governor’s highest priority bills. SB 48 allows the Department of Natural Resources to start leasing land or entering into contracts for carbon offset projects. The bill is seen as a way to potentially create revenue from vast tracts of state owned land that are otherwise useful for revenue sources. I am on the Senate Resources committee, where we worked to ensure that the land would be put to its best use, bids would be competitive, and that we wouldn’t be locking up land if valuable resources are found in the future. This bill helps us attract capital investment from those who might otherwise shy away from Alaska and help us secure approval for other resource development and production projects critical to our economy. Click here for a link to more information >>

Passing a couple of our continuous improvement bills unanimously through the legislature was great, but we also continued to work on our bigger pieces of of fiscal policy legislation including SB 21 (Strategic Operating Plans for State Agencies) and better budgeting and spending discipline with SJR 4/SB 20 which links our spending to our state economic performance as measured using a 5 year trailing average of our state domestic product. these are big ideas that will take work and time to enact, but I remain committed to the pursuit of continued reform, transparency and optimization of our state operations.

Finally, there where many other policies that we helped shape through our efforts on committees including bills heard in the following committees that I am on (Health & Social Services, Resources, Judiciary). Alongside those bills, I also cosponsored a number of bills that are striving to do good things in our state. View those bills here >>

Thank you for following along. Look out for e-newsletters throughout the interim and, as always, stay keep up on day to day things over on my Facebook page. As always, please reach out if there is anything I can do for you!