The Legislature is more than a third of the way through the voter-approved 90-day session (with no intention of hitting that deadline) and there are two big-ticket items up for public testimony this week: The state’s operating budget, which will command three days of hearings in the House Finance Committee, as well as a separate bill dealing with K-12 education.
Here’s a rundown of how to testify on those issues, as well as some other key public testimony opportunities coming up this week:
The budget
Ah, the budget. Legislators in the House wrapped up the budget subcommittee process last week with few changes beyond adding in $320,000 in state support for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposal. As it stands, the legislation doesn’t call for an increase to school funding and doesn’t have much finality on the size of the dividend, yet. In the big picture, it’s also not entirely clear just how big the deficit will be and what might be needed to balance the budget.
Before the next round of amendments, the House Finance Committee will take testimony in grouped-together areas from the state. Testifiers can call in, testify from a local information office or send in written testimony to house.finance@akleg.gov. Here’s the schedule:
- Tuesday 1:30-3:30: Dillingham, Petersburg, Sitka, Glenallen, Valdez, Wrangell, Homer, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Seward and Tok
- Tuesday 5-9 p.m.: Juneau and off-network callers
- Wednesday. 2:30-4:30: Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Kenai, Bethel, Cordova, Kotzebue, Nome, Utqiagvik
- Wednesday, 5-8 p.m.: Anchorage, Mat-Su and off-net callers
- Thursday, 3-5 p.m.: Off-net callers
And here’s the call-in numbers:
- Anchorage: 907-563-9085
- Juneau: 907-586-9085
- Other: 844-586-9085
Education funding
House Education Committee will be taking testimony on Ketchikan independent Rep. Dan Ortiz’s House Bill 65, which increases the BSA by $1,250, starting at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Senate advanced its version of education funding, which would call for two years of stepped increases and then tie funding to inflation after that, last week.
12-month coverage of contraceptives
The Community and Regional Affairs Committee will be hearing public testimony on Fairbanks Democratic Rep. Ashley Carrick’s House Bill 17 at a 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
The legislation would require insurance companies cover up to 12 months of contraceptives at a time, rather than requiring people to pick them up every one to three months. The legislation has been before the Legislature several times before, but it appears that it has more momentum this year despite the Republican-led House giving it a longer-than-usual path to a vote. While it doesn’t have anything to do with abortion or abortion pills, it’s still raised opposition from abortion opponents. On that end, the legislation no longer covers medications like Plan B.
A defined benefit pension plan
After a week of hearings, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee is taking several days of public testimony on legislation to instate a new defined benefit pension plan for public employees. The committee took testimony today and will take testimony again at its 1:30 p.m. hearing on Wednesday.
The Senate has proposed an expansive public pension plan seeking to address the recruitment and retention issues at pretty much every level of public sector employment from teachers to the Division of Public Assistance and licensing departments.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
