Kohring-proposed bill gets another vote

March 14, 2006

Juneau report/Myrl Thompson

Editor's note: The following are excerpts from the weekly Juneau Report of Valley resident Myrl Thompson.

Quote: &#8220Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.”

- Ronald Reagan

Bills/Issues

House Bill 300 - AOGCC member bill (The &#8220No more Sarah Palin Bill”)

This bill by Rep. Vic Kohring would add additional qualifications to the last public member seat on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. When passed, no more lay members will be allowed.

In other words, had this bill been enacted a few years ago, Randy Ruedrich would have had smooth sailing. Sarah Palin would not have been eligible to be appointed in the first place. Thus, Ruedrich's illegal behavior may never have come to light.

The bill would require all new members of the AOGCC to have an oil and gas background prior to appointment. The bill came one vote short last week, but will be brought back up for another vote, probably this week. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Rumor has it that the Democrats may try to amend it, so that current party officials are not allowed on the board, either. I suspect this bill will pass the second time around, since it only needs one more vote. (Five legislators were absent during the last attempt at passage.) Vic showed up at a Democratic open caucus to try to curry favor for his bill.

Senate Bill 232 - Appropriations: Energy-Related, Pipeline and Misc. (supplemental appropriation)

Never say that a little added pressure can't have a positive outcome. Two school funding appropriations that were badly needed within the state finally got their due.

It wasn't easy, but the burned down White Mountain school and the Su-Valley HS roof both were funded in section 7 of the amended bill. The White Mountain school received the $10 million it needed for replacement. Su-Valley High will receive $3.85 million, which is 70 percent of the projected cost of the roof repairs.

Sen. Charlie Huggins testified in a Senate Finance Committee hearing for the 70-30 split. The Mat-Su Borough is responsible for the remainder. So you can lead a horse to water and make him drink.

Huggins deserves some credit and the folks back home deserve the rest. And it should be mentioned that Betty Vehrs was always good with horses.

Senate Bill 193 - Municipal Property Taxes (became the &#8220Anchorage Baptist Temple Bill”)

I'm going to include this bill just to show folks how Sen. Ben Stevens operates down here in Juneau.

Original title of Con Bunde's bill: &#8220an Act relating to an optional deferral of municipal property taxes on certain primary residences owned and occupied by individuals with incomes at or below federal poverty guidelines for the state.”

After Ben Stevens hijacked and amended the bill: &#8220An Act relating to a mandatory exemption for certain residences owned by a religious organization and to an optional deferral of municipal property taxes on certain primary residences.”

This bill went from being legislation that everyone was testifying in favor of, to a bill that everyone was testifying against. The changes made transformed the bill from possibly helping some property owners in need, to being a large tax break for one of the wealthiest churches in the state.

If any of the majority senators on the Community and Regional Affairs Committee had even a smidgeon of backbone, they would have stopped this bill dead in its tracks. Stevens looked in the room and decided to leave the bill's eventual passage to his fellow majority members.

Every citizen testified against this changed version of the bill. Chairman Bert Stedman cut testifiers short, sometimes in mid-sentence. He hurried others, and for a moment looked as if he was going to refuse to hear still others who had signed up.

I had to interrupt him to point out that other testifiers were being left out. I heard him say to fellow senator Tom Wagoner, when I pointed this fact out, &#8220It went in one ear and out the other,” referring to me.

Wagoner explained to him that he indeed had to hear the remainder of the people. I was speaking up for myself and a nice senior citizen from AARP who had been passed over.

Sen. Bunde is not happy with Stevens' ploy and has indicated he may vote against his own bill. Sen. Ellis said he would remove himself as a co-sponsor if the bill were not returned to Bunde's version. No amount of reason or shame would stop the majority from passing this bill on to Sen. Lyda Green's Finance Committee, which is exactly what happened.

Earlier in the week, I had seen Anchorage Baptist Temple church administrator Glenn Clary lobbying in the halls. Clary is also the treasurer of the Alaska Republican Central Committee, the group chaired by Randy Ruedrich.

Valley resident Myrl Thompson is a citizen lobbyist and former independent candidate for the state House. He is a regular contributor to these pages, whose Valley Voices guest opinion column appears every fourth Sunday. Excerpts from his weekly Juneau Report appear here as space and relevance allow.