SPECTRUM: Colver says farewell with an update on projects, legislative outlook

The New Year brings in new opportunities and a fresh start. It has been an honor to serve you in the Alaska Legislature. As your representative, I have strived to listen to you, take a broad look at issues, and do what’s best for Alaska.

Although this is my final newsletter, the projects and initiatives we worked on will continue. Below I give you a brief status report on the work in progress on projects, and where things are in the legislature.

The past two years has not been an easy time for our state government addicted to easy oil money. But, we always knew this day would come . . . it just took 15 more years to arrive than originally forecast back in 1976. No other state, province, or country is as dependent on one source of revenue as we are. If it were not for our Permanent Fund, previous legislatures would have spent all our oil wealth.

Budget

Oil prices are not rebounding enough to save us this time. The Legislature will have to make some tough decisions. Restructuring of departments is needed to reduce the budget smartly, but cuts alone won’t do it. The Legislature is going to have to rip off the band-aid. The voters have spoken: 1) solve the budget deficit; 2) don’t make excuses and do nothing; 3) we don’t like paying taxes or cutting the dividend, but do something.

Some restructuring of oil tax credits was accomplished last session and more will likely happen this year; look for a fight between the House and the Senate on that one. Last session, the House in a bipartisan manner made progress on supporting the new fields on the North Slope and winding down Cook Inlet drilling tax credits. The Senate balked and favored provisions benefiting the three North Slope major companies. Governor Walker vetoed paying the majority of exploration credits owed and thus, this winter, new exploration is taking a hit on the Slope.

Roads

Most of Alaska’s national highways pass through District 9. As a professional surveyor and roadbuilder, I have successfully worked with the excellent staff at DOT to move many highway upgrades and maintenance projects forward that will be built over the next 5 years. My frustration has been that the Statewide DOT headquarters reshuffles statewide priorities every 6 months, resulting in wasted time and effort as some projects get pushed out several more years after expending considerable funds on them. The DOT Northern Region office, led by Ryan Anderson, P.E., gets my award for being the most responsive and efficient at bringing projects on line.

Salmon

As Vice-Chair of the Mat-Su Borough Fish & Wildlife Commission in 2014 after years of failing salmon runs in the Mat-Su, the Commission and I successfully worked with the Board of Fisheries (BOF) to create a conservation corridor in Upper Cook Inlet (UCI), allowing passage of salmon through the Inlet to reach spawning grounds in the Susitna and Matanuska River drainages. A noticeable spike in escapement of silver salmon and other salmon species was observed in 2014 and 2015. The plan is working; following our constitutional mandate to sustainably manage our salmon resources, putting conservation of the resource first.

In February, the BOF will meet again to consider all the regulations for personal use, commercial, and sport fishing in Cook Inlet. For the health of the salmon runs, it is important to keep in place the conservation measures adopted in 2014 in place to perpetuate wild salmon runs which have existed for millions of years. I will also be defending your personal use fishing rights.

Chitina dipnet

HB 137 which updated hunting and fishing license fees includes a $15 fee for a Chitina Dipnet harvest ticket beginning this summer. The fee will be used to provide for toilets and trash bins to deal with the impacts from thousands of participants.