Capitol Currents

 

Summary of the Last Week of the Second Session

(A final report covering the second session will be sent once the Governor has acted on the budgets and bills of interest, normally the end of summer).

There was good news—shelters and rape crisis centers will receive a $437,000 increment for FY09 and the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault was extended through 2014; bad bills died with the sine die motions on Sunday—abortion battles will have to wait for another day. HB 301, Partial Birth Abortion, passed the House but didn’t get a hearing in the Senate; HB 364, Notice & Consent for Minors Abortion, passed the House but didn’t get a hearing in the Senate; HB 270, HB 329, HJR 26 stayed in the House.

And there was bad news—approximately 1200 children and 200 pregnant women will not be covered by Denali Kid Care because House Republican Leadership would not move SB 212 to the floor on the last day.  An Anchorage Daily News editorial put it well:  “Bottom Line - Some lawmakers in the House simply refused easily affordable health care to 1,200 Alaska children.  Are they proud of that?”

Other bad news:  Health Care facilities will not be required to limit nurse’s overtime or provide mandatory rest periods (SB 28 stalled in H FIN).

Budget news:  The Legislature put $5 billion into two rainy-day savings

accounts; passed an education funding bill that both increases the per-student allotment and raises the amount districts get to teach the most severely disabled special-education students; approved revenue sharing—about $60 million that will go directly to communities around the state for each of the next three years; and passed a $315 million road bond package and a $2.9 billion capital budget.

Bills that made it through the last week of session:

HB 50 Child Placement Compact sponsored by Coghill

HB 65 Personal Information & Consumer Credit sponsored by Coghill

HB 252 Leave for Organ/Bone Marrow Donations sponsored by LeDoux

HB 281 Campaign Finance Complaints/Disclosure sponsored by Lynn

HB 305 Campaign Fund Raising During Sessions sponsored by Meyer

HB 307 Assaults: Repeat Offenders sponsored by Holmes

HB 332 Pre-Elementary School Programs sponsored by Edgmon

HB 334 Extending Council on Domestic Violence sponsored by Fairclough

HB 354 Child in Need of Aid/Adoptions sponsored by Coghill

HB 366 PFD: Execution/Disclosure of Approps sponsored by Crawford

HB 268 Ethics: Legislative & Gov/Lt. Gov sponsored by STA

HB 400 Mitigating Factor: Care for Drug Overdose sponsored by Kerttula

HB 406 Ballots sponsored by Fairclough

HB 414 Crime Victim Compensation Fund sponsored by JUD

HB 417 Public Employee Salaries/State Officers Comp sponsored by Governor Palin

HCR 13 Education Funding/Cost Factor Commission sponsored by Hawker and the Joint Legislative Education Funding Task force

SB 8 Mental Health Patient Rights: Staff Gender sponsored by Davis

SB 170 Insurance Coverage for Well-Baby Exams sponsored by McGuire

SB 188 Sex Offender/Child Kidnapper Registration sponsored by Wielechowski

SB 196 Prescription Database sponsored by Green

SB 202 Prohibit State Spending for Real ID Act sponsored by Wielechowski

SB 231 Low-Income Housing; Homelessness sponsored by Governor

SB 265 Omnibus Criminal Bill/PFDs sponsored by McGuire

Governor’s Corner:

The Governor Palin announced the milestone that more than half of Alaska residents - 335,033 people - have signed up to be organ and tissue donors. Alaska is the first state with a donor registry to enroll more than half of its state’s population.

April is National Donate Life Month.  Life Alaska Donor Services is the tissue donation organization serving the State of Alaska.  Ninety-five percent of those registering as organ and tissue donors do so through the Division of Motor Vehicles.

To learn more about the Alaska donor program, or to register with the AK Donor Registry online, please visit Life Alaska at www.lifealaska.org or call 800-719-5433 (in Alaska). Alaskans interested in becoming a donor may visit any local DMV office.

The Governor signed SB 97 before a group of students attending the Alaska Association of Student Governments Conference. More than 200 students from across the state attended.  SB 97, sponsored by Senator Gary Stevens, ensures that only works made by Alaskan Natives who reside in Alaska can carry the Silver Hand seal. The Silver Hand program was created to help promote the creation, appreciation and sale of high-quality Alaska Native art. The program is administered through the Alaska State Council on the Arts.

Contact Lobbyist:  Caren Robinson: dcc@alaska.net