Valley lawmakers would do well to follow Gov. Palin's lead

MYRL THOMPSON/Juneau Report

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from the weekly Juneau Report of Capitol watchdog Myrl Thompson.

Valley legislators have been front and center in a couple of high-profile issues lately. But the roles they've played have been less than favorable for Alaskans.

Senate Bill 80

This bill by Kenai Sen. Tom Wagoner proposes to close a loophole in last year's Petroleum Production Tax legislation, which would allow BP to pass on to Alaskans much of the cost of fixing pipes corroded due to the company's own negligence.

I have written about this bill for months, but mainly because Mat-Su Sen. Charlie Huggins has been sitting on it for almost the entire session. SB 80 finally got another hearing last week and again failed to move out of Huggins' committee, despite his professed support for it.

Now, this time-sensitive bill will languish even longer, and the ramifications are tremendous. The PPT loophole, which could result in an industry deduction of more than $100 million for those corroded pipes, is alive and well.

I warned that this bill was being held up about a month and a half ago, and the various explanations given as to why have bordered on the suspicious and the ridiculous. The blame goes squarely on the shoulders of Huggins and his Valley colleague, Senate President Lyda Green. They are two of the 17 co-sponsors of the bill but are responsible for holding up this legislation that will probably cost the state dearly.

To be commended are Wagoner and the administration of Gov. Sarah Palin for trying to do what is right for Alaska. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once wisely observed, &#822090 percent of the politicians give the other 10 percent a bad reputation.”

Sen. Huggins has been very decent to me, and I can't say that about many legislators down here at the Capitol. However, I would rather he punch me in the gut daily and do Alaskans right, than glad-hand me on a regular basis and put the screws to everyone else in Alaska.

House Bill 217

This bill would loosen disclosure requirements for the cruise ship industry about the fee cruise lines take for referring customers to on-shore services. It's part of an ongoing multi-front assault on the recently passed cruise ship initiative.

The bill is being sponsored by Anchorage Rep. Lindsey Holmes, who was working with the initiative sponsors to tweak her bill to help make it a bit easier on local small businesses while still helping to protect consumers and remain true to the intent of the initiative language.

Once HB 217 was adjusted, with the help of initiative sponsors, the committee substitute bill was due up in Rep. Mark Neuman's Economic Development, Trade and Tourism committee. However, something strange happened on the way to the forum.

A few hours before the bill was up for a hearing, Neuman pulled a switch. Without the knowledge of the bill's sponsor or those who were responsible for the original ballot initiative, Neuman scrapped the changes in favor of a more industry-friendly approach.

I'm sure Rep. Neuman is looking out for the best interest of Alaskans, because voters just

didn't understand what they were doing at the polls when they approved the initiative last August. Or at least that's the party line.

I'm also sure, as Neuman has stated often, that his action was not affected in any way by the $5,000-plus of tourism-related campaign contributions he received during the 2006 election cycle. Likewise, I'm sure the cruise industry lobbyist who mouthed a silent &#8220thank you” to Neuman when he moved the bill out of committee was just caught up in the moment and it had nothing to do with anything in particular.

Furthermore, I'm sure the nice letter to the editor that appeared in the Frontiersman last week from Mark Miller of Meadow Lakes was just praise from a happy constituent and had nothing to do with his role as a lobbyist for the Alaska Travel Industry Association.

Perhaps we should all thank Rep. Neuman for saving us from that misguided vote we made in favor of the cruise ship initiative last year.

House Bill 164

This is one of the other bills that attacks the recently passed cruise ship initiative. It seeks to remove state monitors - ocean rangers - from ships while they are in Alaska waters.

Rep. Kyle Johansen of Ketchikan, along with point-man Rep. Jay Ramras of Fairbanks, have been busy trying to convince the other legislators that initiatives by the people are only acceptable if they are acceptable to legislators - and those who fund their campaigns. In other words, they argue that the constitutionally protected right to the citizen initiative process isn't really all it's cracked up to be.

Their logic seems to say that as long as the Legislature doesn't totally repeal an initiative, it's fine to amend the life out of it. Good thing those two fine representatives weren't around during the establishment of the Bill of Rights, because they would have amended out all the letters in between - and the only two letters left would have been B-S.

HB 164 is being held over for some amending of its own. Some of the lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee managed to come to their senses and have decided to not totally remove those ocean rangers from the cruise ships.

Once again, Gov. Palin is leading the way and respecting the will of the Alaska voter. It remains to be seen how many of those legislators stiffen the spine and actually follow her lead and represent the clearly expressed will of the people, too.

Valley resident Myrl Thompson is a free-lance journalist and former independent candidate for state House. He writes a twice-monthly &#8220Capitol Watch” column for the Frontiersman. For information about receiving his weekly e-mailed Juneau Report, contact him at myrl@ak.net.