Valley lawmakers sign on for busy session

MAT-SU — With the legislative session just one week into its 90-day session, members of the Valley’s delegation have put their names on 26 pieces of legislation.

Here’s a rundown of their legislation:

CARL GATTO

Palmer’s Republican representative is listed as the sponsor of the first two House bills filed this year. He also has a number of other bills and constitutional amendments.

House Bill 1, in which Gatto teamed up with Rep. Bob Lynn of Anchorage, seems aimed at national laws mandating health coverage and would create a policy allowing Alaskans to “choose or decline any means of securing health care services.”

House Bill 2, also in partnership with Lynn, would mandate that the Alaska Permanent Fund, state retirement systems and other state investment portfolios divest themselves of stock in companies that do business in Iran.

House Bill 56, in which Gatto teamed up with Lynn and Rep. Max Gruenberg of Anchorage, would make first- and second-degree arson serious enough crimes that conspiring to commit them could result in a charge of conspiracy.

House Bill 75 would impose tougher regulations on gift certificate and store gift cards.

House Bill 88 would prohibit courts, mediators, administrative agencies or enforcement authorities from enforcing any law that violates a person’s rights under the state or U.S. Constitutions.

House Joint Resolution 1 would propose amending the state’s constitution to avoid masculine and feminine personal pronouns and make the document gender-neutral.

House Joint Resolution 2 would propose amending the state’s constitution to extend the legislative session every other year from 90 to 120 days, mandating that a two-year budget be adopted in the longer session.

WES KELLER

Wasilla’s Wes Keller, another Republican, is in the sponsor’s seat on a number of pieces of legislation, though only three of them have him flying solo without help from another Valley politician (a list of legislation Valley politicians have teamed up on is at the end of this rundown).

House Bill 5 would institute a secondary school class in the history of the U.S. Constitution.

House Bill 8 would bar unconstitutional federal legislation and presidential executive orders from pre-empting state legislation. The state’s attorney general would be in charge of evaluating whether legislation is constitutional.

House Joint Resolution 5 proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit any laws that interfere with direct payment for health care, interfere with purchasing private health care or that compel a person to participate in a health care system.

MARK NEUMAN

Representative Neuman of Willow has three bills to his name that don’t involve teaming up with another Valley politician.

House Bill 26 would build a new legislative hall or renovate an existing building to serve the purpose.

House Bill 55 would modify criminal law to add definitions for a “gravity knife” and “switchblade,” both of which have restrictions as to who can own them.

House Bill 66 has Neuman teaming up with Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, to put in place a tax structure for taxing gas that is to be used in Alaska as fuel or feedstock in a manufacturing process.

BILL STOLTZE

Representative Stoltze of Chugiak, who also represents the Butte, has sponsored two pieces of legislation relating to Ronald Regan.

The first is a bill urging the Alaska Historical Commission to come up with recommendations for naming a geographical feature in Alaska — say a mountain, river or water body — after the late president. The second is a joint resolution honoring Regan on what would have been his 100th birthday.

LINDA MENARD

Sen. Menard is the lone Valley legislator on three bills, a couple of which should be familiar to anyone who has kept tabs on Menard’s past attempts at legislation.

Senate Bill 4 would establish an Alaska Volunteer Appreciation Day.

Senate Bill 57 would change state laws that exempt the first $150,000 of a veteran or senior’s home value from municipal taxation to be $200,000 if the state agrees to reimburse the municipality for that lost revenue.

Senate Joint Resolution 1 proposes a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on legislators.

JOHN COGHILL

Sen. Coghill, of North Pole, who represents the eastern reaches of the Mat-Su Borough, has teamed up with Sen. Fred Dyson of Eagle River to sponsor Senate Bill 14, which would make it easier for a health care worker to refuse to provide a health care service if it is objectionable to his or her conscience.

VALLEY TEAM-UPS

House Bill 10 sees Stoltze and Keller teaming up to create a registration fee for trailers used for a non-commercial purpose.

House Bill 19 sees Keller and Gatto teaming up with Lynn to create a new license plate design with an American flag and the words “In God We Trust.”

House Bill 20 has Stoltze teaming up with Keller again to change fishing rules so that state employees imposing quotas reduce the allotment for personal-use fishermen last.

House Bill 64 is yet another Stoltze-Keller team-up, this time to allow people to permanently register a non-commercial vehicle if it’s older than eight years rather than having to renew the registration every two years.

House Bill 80 is a team effort between Neuman, Chickaloon’s Republican Rep. Eric Feige, Lynn and Republican Rep. Mia Costello of Anchorage. It would allow for the use of deadly force in self-defense anywhere a person has a right to be rather than just at the person’s home or workplace.

House Bill 90 is another Neuman-Feige team-up and would increase the municipal tax exception on seniors and others to $200,000, just like Menard’s bill, except that instead of the caveat about paying back the municipalities, it would make the expanded exemption only apply to anyone whose income is more than 150 percent of the federal poverty rate.

Senate Bill 2 is has Menard teaming up with Wasilla state Sen. Charlie Huggins to create a special National Rifle Association license plate.