Well November is here, clocks have been rolled back (don’t get me started) and the snow has certainly arrived in force! It’s that time of the year when I sometimes feel that Alaska is its own little planet, spiraling away from the sun, only to be rescued by the force of gravity and slowly reeled back in after the depths of the winter solstice.

This is a great time of the year for taking stock of things, thinking about the past and hoping for the future. Here’s a few thing that are currently on our minds, and on our office radar:   

Energy: As noted in previous newsletters, I committed to doing a deep dive into alternative (renewables and low emissions) energy. In pursuit of that commitment, I attended over 4 weeks of classes, seminars and workshops. What I learned was summarized and reported in the form of this opinion editorial published in the ADN. the thrust of the article is that there is genuine opportunity for alternative energy in Alaska, but we have to be very careful about managing transitional risks, while assuring that we keep our focus on cost and reliability as we pursue lower emissions.

A Focus on Anchorage: One of the things that the Senators and Representatives from other regions of the state have done well is to work cooperatively together to address common goals in areas such as the Interior, Southeast, and Bush. For a long time, in Anchorage, we just didn’t seem to work well together to pursue a short list of key goals and objectives that would help our region.

To remedy this, I spearheaded and now co-chair the Anchorage Delegation. The delegation is a bipartisan, and bicameral effort. Its core purpose is to focus on and address a few big picture policy areas that, as Anchorage-based legislators, we can all agree upon. At present, this includes funding for the ongoing Alaska Port Modernization project, housing and homelessness, and mental healthcare priorities. So far the group is working well, we have met with municipal leaders such as the mayor, assembly, school board and others. When we get back in legislative session beginning in mid-January, the work we’ve done over the interim to learn and communicate about the really important local issues should help us be more productive.
 
New bills: We have been hard at work on new legislative proposals that are designed to create private sector opportunity and drive government efficiency, two key policy areas that we continue to pursue! There will be more information about this after we return to Juneau in January!   

There’s much more below, so as always, please take a look, and let me know if you have any questions or comments!              
 
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