That’s All Folks!

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The first round of the 33rd Alaska State Legislature is neatly wrapped up, and our lawmakers and their staff are integrating back into the civilian world for the summer. The drama, bruised sentiments, blather, tweets, accusatory statements, pointed fingers, shouts, and slammed doors of the winter session grow less poignant by the day. Alaska Spring has a way of interceding in human affairs. The anger a lawmaker may carry about a bill not getting its due treatment in committee is sure to be unsettled by the ancient cry of a sandhill crane, the smell of cottonwood buds on the wind, or the moose calf ambling across the highway ahead. (Watch out!)

There is a lot that these folks should be proud of as they fade out of the spotlight and into the summer fray. The legislature passed a significant investment into public education – the largest ever in state history. They passed legislation establishing the month of October as Filipino American History Month; they passed legislation to regulate the use and disposal of the “forever chemical” PFAS found in firefighting foams; they began work on a state Renewable Portfolio Standard to have utilities sell 80% renewable generated electricity by 2040; a Community Solar bill was introduced to allow more Alaskans the benefits of low-cost solar power; an omnibus election bill was heard which would allow greater access to the voting process; the state’s Renewable Energy Grant fund was extended indefinitely, and numerous clean energy projects were funded. Necessary for our salmon habitat, the legislature did not allow a state take-over of wetland development permitting duties, which would have led to decreased oversight.

The design of our Democracy serves to slow-roll, often for the best, so we are not surprised that few bills passed this spring. The process is messy, and the 33rd Alaska State Legislature is a completely imperfect and exhausting bundle of humanity, and we love it. It may not be the most remarkable legislature, but Ranked Choice Voting has produced a huge crop of freshmen and moderates, which benefits the state’s health. Alaska has enormous problems, from suicide rates to climate change, and getting away from partisan divisions is crucial. What the 33rd does next session hopefully will be a step toward the betterment of Alaska. It is time that the Governor, the Senate Bi-Partisan Majority, and the House Mish-Mash-Maybe-Majority put their collective shoulder to the wheel and work on a plan.
Whether the legislature is in session or not, our plan at The Alaska Center is to continue advocating for increased voting rights and voting access, increased renewable energy production, and increased equity and justice – in schools, workplaces, homes, and everywhere else. We will fight to protect salmon from habitat loss, climate change, and bycatch.

We will keep our eyes on the horizon for a special session on some broad-based tax proposal, rumored to be scheduled for September or October. We truly appreciate all of the support and feedback you have provided and the work you have put in this session reaching out to lawmakers on issues important to you. Constituent contact is vital to an elected official, even if they don’t give you the answer you may want to hear or any answer at all.

Never ever, ever give up.

Herein follows a brief note from the author (who is headed out to Bristol Bay for gillnetting soon and will be departing The Alaska Center for future pursuits):

“I appreciate you all, and have learned more over the past eight years at The AK Center than I have space to put in words right here in this email/blog. There is no easy way to define the work of this organization. What I can say is this is a non-profit that seeks to empower youth to fight for things that will help them live lives of abundance.
You can always reach out to me directly at louieflora@hotmail.com.
Be excellent to each other,”

Louie Flora/The Alaska Center

The unchecked leaks: Tax Loopholes, and Sliding Scale Credits

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]If our state were a car (of course, our state would never be a mere car, it would be a badass F-350 Ford truck with an obnoxious decal on the rearview window and a snowmachine in the back), but say it was an automobile of some kind, it would be wise for the operator to take heed of leaking fluid left on the ground in the parking lot – be it oil or be it antifreeze or any other toxic ooze from the underbelly. A sound and sober assessment would lead the driver to fix the leak so the engine did not blow up.  
We need the Alaska State Legislature to do this with the S-Corporation loophole that allows Hilcorp to reap huge profits in Alaska and pay no corporate income tax, taking all of the money back to Texas HQ. At the same time, our education system teeters in a funding crisis. Of even greater fiscal importance, the legislature needs to address the sliding scale tax credit it gives to oil companies that have already deprived the state of Billions in revenue that could have gone toward building up our state.
Alaska seems stuck in a strange acceptance of a condition that is not right or well or normal. We do not need to accept underfunded schools, leaky roofs, potholes up the wazoo, insignificant investments in renewable energy, bridges, ferry vessels, ports, libraries, and museums. We don’t need to be saved by federal investment (though it helps) – we have the tools to fix the problem, and we have the problem right in front of us seemingly every year since the passage of the abysmal SB 21 oil tax policy/blatant give-away/almost criminally insane financial maneuver.
The good news is that there are options for addressing the roughly $600 million budget deficit. Not all of them are politically realistic in the current zeitgeist – say zeroing out the permanent fund dividend or imposing a progressive income tax. Some are realistic, including requiring oil companies incorporated under IRS Code as S-Corporations, to pay state corporate income tax. The Department of Revenue has estimated this would bring an additional $47 to $61 million per year into state coffers. On the other hand, the oil tax credit system deprived the state of an estimated one Billion dollars in Fiscal Year 2022. Modifying the oil tax credit system through simple tweaks could bring in enough revenue to bridge the deficit gap. These changes could solve our deficit promptly instead of imposing a broad-based sales or income tax, which would take a few years to set up before the state would see increased revenue. The simplicity and the immediacy of this fiscal fix makes it essential.
Another reason to take note this year specifically – is that these changes are proposed in a bipartisan piece of legislation sponsored by the powerful Senate Rules Committee, SB 114. Rumor has it that many lawmakers and the Governor are keeping their ears open to the proposal. As the legislative session enters its final stretch, there seems to be some cohesion around the idea that something needs to happen on the fiscal front and that the oil and gas industry needs to be at the table providing solutions and helping with the hard work. SB 114 is a reasonably moderate proposal – it simply would have Hilcorp pay the same tax that the other majors, Exxon and Conoco, are already paying. It would not do away with tax credits. It reduces them and ties them directly to capital investment in Alaska. 
We know from history that nothing is straightforward regarding the oil tax code or any tax code for that matter. It is a cozy nest and a protective bramble for attorneys, accountants, and few others. Please expect that the legislature will be very deliberative when it comes to significant changes, not wanting to upset the status quo or break any eggs in the process. SB 114 might be just the ticket. It makes fiscal sense, gets us out of our deficit problem, and would make a rounding error dent in the profit of our major oil companies.  
Tell your Senator you support this fix, so Alaska can keep on Truckin’.
Vroom, Vroom,The Alaska Center

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_button _id=”5″ ][cs_content_seo]Find Your Elected Officials’ Contact Info\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”6″ ][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][cs_element_layout_row _id=”7″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”8″ ][cs_element_button _id=”9″ ][cs_content_seo]Bills To Watch\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id=”10″ ][cs_element_button _id=”11″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

Our Piece of the Pie

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Getting a piece of the pie can be a great motivator for states. The sweet aroma is hard to resist when there is a $27 Billion pie to be allocated to energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean transportation, battery storage projects, and more. As the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act programs begin to spread across the nation, we can almost see Biden and his administration smiling at the kitchen window of the White House in the spring sun, wearing flour-dusted aprons.

Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled guidance on how states and nonprofit groups can apply for $27 billion in funding from a Green Bank that will provide low-cost financing for projects intended to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA expects to award $20 billion in competitive grants to as many as 15 nonprofit groups that will work with local banks and other financial institutions to invest in projects that reduce pollution and lower energy costs for families. Another $7 billion will be awarded to states, Tribes, and municipalities to deploy a range of solar energy projects, including residential rooftop solar, community solar, and solar storage.

We are glad, then, that Alaska has chosen to go after new federal clean energy benefits in earnest and not die of deprivation on some hill of partisan spite while other states gobble up the positives. Alaska has, along with every other state in the United States (except the self-sabotaging states of Florida, Iowa, South Dakota, and Kentucky), applied for funding under the EPA’s climate pollution reduction grant program, which will help our state lay the foundation for climate action. The Dunleavy Administration has also reprised a state Green Bank framework in legislation to position Alaska to receive federal start-up funding.

As a refresher, because The Alaska Center and our partners have supported its establishment in Alaska for many years now, a Green Bank is an entity established in state statute – but it can be established as a nonprofit – which facilitates public/private lending partnerships to move large scale clean energy projects forward. Having the support of government capital to take the risk out of private lending arrangements increases the security of large-scale loans and brings traditional financing entities to the table.

Last year, the Dunleavy Administration proposed establishing a Green Bank structure in the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). This put a lot of NGOs and Tribes on edge due to the lack of transparency in the AIDEA board decision-making process and the fact that AIDEA has invested heavily in questionable endeavors – buying up oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after no actual petroleum company found them economic, for instance. This time around, the Dunleavy Administration is proposing the state Green Bank be established in the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC), a more trusted entity with a track record of overseeing numerous successful energy efficiency projects such as the Home Energy Efficiency Rebate Program, and the Weatherization Program.

Senate Bill 125 and House Bill 154 to establish a Green Bank for the state of Alaska were introduced on April 5th, and the House version received a hearing this week in the House Energy Committee. These bills do not specifically reference a Green Bank, choosing instead to call it the Alaska Energy Independence Fund, but the functions will be the same. The legislative findings at the beginning of the bill state it simply enough:

“The legislature finds that permitting the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation to create a subsidiary to assist in the financing of sustainable energy development serves a public purpose benefiting the people of the state. The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is empowered to act on behalf of the state and its people in serving this public purpose for the benefit of the general public.”
This is a simple but key statement. Sustainable energy development will create jobs, make our communities more efficient, independent, and resilient, and will decrease carbon emissions. If that is not a public purpose benefiting the people, we don’t know what is.
We expect that with the immediacy of EPA funding for states, and the fact that having a Green Bank in place will put Alaska in a competitive position to receive additional grants, the legislature will approve this concept, if not this year than next. There will be arguments about the unacceptable amount of federal spending – arguments that ignore the future cost of federal spending on climate-related disaster relief, arguments that ignore the cost of the Trump tax cuts, and the trillions we spend on other programs like national defense. Overall, though, the benefit of this smart federal spending – and a legal structure that will lead to additional private lending – will win the day. Alaska can and should get a piece of the pie on its plate. We deserve it!

Happy Spring,
The Alaska Center

Wing-and-a-Prayer budgeting for DEC

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_button _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]TAKE ACTION: Tell your senator you oppose 404 Primacy\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][cs_element_text _id=”6″ ][cs_content_seo]The State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hopes to sell the Alaska State Legislature on a costly program to take over responsibility for federal permitting of wetland development. This comes at a time when the legislature faces a deficit of between $400 and $600 million, depending on the level of funding they arrive at for a boost to our education system. It also comes when the state lacks any credible fiscal plan to bridge the deficit gap aside from drawing down savings accounts.
The program DEC hopes to burden the state with is called “Clean Water Act Section 404 primacy”. The 404 permitting program regulates the dredging and filling of wetlands and waterways for construction projects, including large mining projects, often in sensitive salmon habitat. The federal government handles this responsibility for (almost) all states because the federal government has the resources to do the vast and complicated job. States generally do not have the resources. Alaska definitely does not. Exhibit A) $½ Billion deficit and no fiscal plan. Three states: Michigan, New Jersey, and Florida have assumed 404 permitting primacy, and all of these states are having trouble maintaining them.
Under the Clean Water Act, a state can apply to take over the program if it can demonstrate that the state program is equivalent to the federal program. Already, the lowball cost estimates that DEC has provided make it clear that Alaska intends to take over the program and do the bare minimum to meet the federal requirements. Currently, the federal program requires 49 staff with an annual budget of $7.9 million. DEC has requested $5 million for a program run by 28 staff. The likelihood that an understaffed and underfunded state permitting program will do a lousy job and be hit with lawsuits is absolute. Part of the DEC’s rationale for wanting to assume the program is to “speed up” the permitting process. Remember that these are highly complex permits, often in sensitive salmon wetland habitat, in a state with the most wetland habitat. A state that is drawn together by salmon, if nothing else. The true cost of this program to state coffers has been grossly underestimated.
Lawmakers in the House Finance Committee saw the wisdom of denying the proposed $5 million increment increase to create a new DEC bureaucracy and took it out of the budget, allocating the money to a program that actually has a proven track record: Head Start. The budget then moved to the full House floor and the wild and wooly full House amendment process, where it was added back in through some clever political maneuvering on a vote of 18 against, 22 for. The hypocrisy is rich in lawmakers acceding to the creation of a new bureaucracy with only the vaguest idea about outcomes – especially those who bemoan “outcomes” in education while voting to starve that critical system.
If the idea is that DEC wetland permitting will improve economic outcomes for Alaska, one has to only look to our takeover of federal wastewater permitting. In the decade since we took over the responsibility for wastewater permitting, under the same rationale as today’s push for 404 primacy, our state’s economy has not been bolstered by more lax wastewater permitting. In fact, we have plummeted and are stubbornly at the bottom of most national rating systems as far as economic activity. The argument that assuming wetland permitting will ultimately pay for itself through increased permit issuance and permit fees is also a sham. Since DEC took over the federal wastewater permitting agency, funding has consistently dropped, causing many of its core programs to be severely underfunded. The legislature would do well by revisiting self-serving assumptions made by extractive industry boosters about the connection between permitting and the overall economy. To be open for business, a lot of actual choices will have to be made about broad-based individual taxes, closing corporate tax loopholes, and funding early childhood and social services programs. Creating a new state bureaucracy to craft shoddy development permits that will not protect salmon, will be constantly challenged in court, and will cost Alaskans well over the $5 million a year figure being foisted on the legislature (easily $10 million a year by some estimates) is no way to get there.
The state Senate still has yet to start working on its version of the operating budget. From there, the budget differences will be hashed out by House and Senate conference committees, so there remain plenty of opportunities to call on the legislature to remove the proposed money for DEC wetland permitting primacy. The fact that the House Finance Committee chose Head Start over creating more DEC bureaucracy should give us hope that many lawmakers in the Senate will choose the future instead of the past in their decision-making.\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”7″ ][cs_element_button _id=”8″ ][cs_content_seo]Tell Alaska’s legislators to protect our budget and defend our fisheries\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”9″ ][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][cs_element_layout_row _id=”10″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”11″ ][cs_element_button _id=”12″ ][cs_content_seo]Bills To Watch\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id=”13″ ][cs_element_button _id=”14″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

The House xerox copies bad voting bills from the Senate super-minority

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A slew of bills pertaining to elections and voting saw airplay this week in the House State Affairs Committee. HB 1 intends to repeal Ranked Choice Voting/Open Primaries (bad), and HB 37 to institute ballot-curing, postage paid by mail envelopes, and a ballot tracking system (good) were heard on Tuesday and held in committee.

The House Judiciary Committee apparently believes that Senator Mike Shower – election denier par excellence, residing in one of the smallest conservative minorities in state history, should emerge from his sleepy senate backwaters to guide the work of a House standing committee. The House Judiciary Committee sponsored in rapid succession HB 129, HB 130, HB 131, and HB 132, which are all identical bills to those that Senator Shower prefiled earlier this session. They have a familiar theme: make it harder and more complicated for Alaskans to vote, elevate the phantasm of widespread voter fraud by toughening penalties for said offense, and give credence to the conspiracy that voting machines and vote tally systems were the cause of Donald Trump’s loss.

There are good faith changes that can be made to help Alaskans ensure that their votes are safe, secure, and counted. Ballot curing, ballot tracking, and a more robustly funded system for by-mail voting are good starting points. There is always room for improvement in our system.

The ever-sprawling, ever-shifting nature of conspiracy thinking makes good faith compromise challenging. Donald Trump tried to overthrow Democracy in America. Likely the majority of these bills would not have been introduced if he had prevailed, which is a tough pill to swallow when discussing compromise on voting reform measures. If a “reform” touted by a Trump supporter is based on empirically and legally wrong information, does it still get to play in the great field of legislative ideas? Apparently it does, considering the bills that House State Affairs is choosing to bring up. Whether it needs to become law is another question.

Ranked Choice Voting and Open Primaries won at the ballot box, decreased the power of political parties, and led to the largest field of mostly moderate freshmen lawmakers we have seen in decades. Those are factual statements. You can voice your support for RCV and against HB 1 here. When the House State Affairs Committee holds hearings on HB 1 to repeal RCV while hearing a slate of other bad voting bills, there is an implicit message that RCV is part of a greater conspiracy that the House Majority is addressing. We refute this idea, strenuously, because it is nonsense. Believe you me, we will fight any repeal attempt of RCV either in the legislature or at the ballot box with all available resources, strategies, tactics, and Alaskans we can muster.

The Senate Bi-Partisan supermajority has widely broadcasted that their agenda will focus toward the middle on education, retirement/employee retention, energy cost, and a few other issues. Only one of Senator Shower’s election bills has had a hearing in the Senate this session (after he consumed almost the entirety of his tenure last year as chair of Senate State Affairs on this type of bill). We don’t anticipate that there will be lots of patience in the Senate this year for the House’s posturing on their voting issues that are so profoundly suffused with the anti-democratic events of the recent past. While we’re hopeful, we encourage you to contact the legislature to let them know what you want to see.

Here’s to hoping,
The Alaska Center

An RPS Revival

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]The Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) policy has been revived and resurrected from the past legislature, and looks at this point much better than the version that died in committee last year. SB 101 was recently introduced in the Senate, and a companion was introduced in the House, HB 121. These bills establish renewable energy benchmarks for electric utilities to meet in an effort to transform our electric energy sources away from fossil fuels. Like last year’s proposal, utilities would be required to provide electricity from renewable energy resources in the following percentages and by the following dates – 25% by December 31, 2027; 55% by December 31, 2035; and 80% by December 31, 2040. If a good faith effort is not made by utilities to reach these percentages, fines are levied.
Unlike last year’s severely watered-down and over-complicated version – this new legislation starts fresh. It does not allow nuclear energy to be considered “renewable,” nor does it allow waste heat recovery from natural gas combustion to be categorized as “renewable.” Both items will surely be on the utility wish list for amendments to the RPS as it moves forward. To increase residential solar energy as a way of contributing more renewable electrons to the grid, the new RPS policy modifies the existing net energy metering policy by allowing home and business owners who put up solar panels and accrue credits for the energy production beyond what they use, to use these credits throughout the year. Current regulations require that all surplus energy is credited to your next month’s bill. This RPS also sweetens the solar pot by requiring that the credits for surplus energy be at the utility’s retail rate. Current solar regulations nickel-and-dime home solar producers by crediting their surplus energy at a much lower rate.
Anticipate electric utilities uniformly chafing at the idea of having their investment decisions mandated by the legislature, but don’t be fooled – transmission, generation, and distribution of electricity are inextricably linked to public regulation and swayed by public policy decisions. This happens daily, across the nation. To be fair, these decisions are complex. The process of filing tariffs and making rate cases before regulators can be time-consuming and costly, but it is simply the price of doing business as a utility.
Utility managers have a unique advantage in swaying lawmakers as they are the experts in the energy field, while most of our elected officials juggle general knowledge of multiple matters and seek out experts to inform their decisions. Hence, when a complex piece of legislation is brought up in committee, those with significant technical, financial, and legal knowledge are often given greater deference. However, in the case of our unique, member-owned, Board of Director-governed non-profit utilities, we Alaskan rate-payers need to be heard, loudly, in the legislative process. We are the ones paying extremely high electric rates as the price of natural gas increases due to looming supply shortages.
This is the right time for an RPS policy. The legislature has recently mandated that utilities work together to craft system reliability standards and a planning process for new generation. The federal government has unleashed billions of dollars for renewable energy, including a direct payment for non-profit utilities that build new renewable generation facilities. Utility managers are working together more collaboratively than in decades past on upgrading the railbelt transmission system and battery storage facilities. Also, of vast importance, the price of renewable energy is plummeting at a rate never before seen in history. At the same time, we are tied to a monopoly supply of natural gas in the Cook Inlet basin, ever increasing in cost despite years of subsidies from the state’s general fund.
Let’s keep the new RPS policy from falling prey to complex and unending rewrites and delay tactics, utility in-fighting, byzantine attorney tricks, and old costly dogmas about Alaska always and forever needing oil and gas to thrive. It’s time we move in an orderly fashion into the future that is renewable energy guided by a clear RPS policy. Write your legislators today, tell them Alaskans support the RPS.
Keep up the good work, friends, and we will talk to you soon.
The Alaska Center

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][cs_element_layout_row _id=”6″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”7″ ][cs_element_button _id=”8″ ][cs_content_seo]Bills To Watch\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id=”9″ ][cs_element_button _id=”10″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]

Do Your Damnedest, and Fight

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With Representative David Eastman grabbing headlines as he is prone to through his outrageous, racist, stupid, dull, and performative statements, and with Senator Murkowski offering the sobering reminder that our great state is losing population like a deflating balloon, it is tempting to fall into the trap of the February blahs.

Take heart! The fact that the whole State House unanimously and rapidly condemned Eastman’s latest statements on the deaths of violently abused children is a sign that we have not lost our collective sanity. The fact that Education funding is top of mind with many lawmakers is a sign that we have an eye on the state’s future. The fact that a multipartisan caucus of first-year lawmakers has formed in the House and a mega-gigantic super bipartisan majority has formed in the Senate is important.

We have seen food security, bycatch reduction, and renewable energy become more than just vague talking points on the lips of our politicians over the past few years. We have seen our federal delegation come together to support broad infrastructure legislation. We have a new marine highway vessel in the works. The Pebble Mine has been set back significantly by the Environmental Protection Agency. Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples Day have just been added as Anchorage Municipal holidays. Things are looking up (perhaps we caught the eddy in the metaphorical climate change river rushing towards floods, searing heat waves, drought, pestilence, and swarms of insects).

Now is not the time to give up.

In the immortal lines of poet Robert Service, “You’re sick of the game!” Well, now, that’s a shame. You’re young, and you’re brave, and you’re bright. “You’ve had a raw deal!” I know — but don’t squeal, Buck up, do your damnedest, and fight. It’s the plugging away that will win you the day, So don’t be a piker, old pard! Just draw on your grit; it’s so easy to quit: It’s the keeping-your-chin-up that’s hard.
We will be back in Juneau next week, meeting with lawmakers on our priority Democracy legislation. The specific bills we are supporting are SB 19 and HB 37, which would require the Alaska Division of Elections would to provide stamped return envelopes for absentee ballots, automatically check voters’ signatures, allow voters to fix their absentee ballot signature if there’s a problem, and create a ballot-tracking system viewable by the public. While the effort to repeal our Ranked Choice Voting/Open Primary law will go nowhere in the legislature (but will be a significant fight as a ballot proposition), bills to protect voters’ rights are in the hopper. These must move forward to ensure that all votes, and all voices, are heard in these critical elections that will help rebuild our state.

We will also circle back with lawmakers on our priority clean energy legislation: extension of the Renewable Energy Fund, creation of a Community Solar law, a Renewable Portfolio Standard, and a Green Bank for Alaska. The passage of these bills will help us create the Alaska we want to see for our children and grandchildren.

Thank you for your support,
The Alaska Center

The Good The Bad And The Attack On Democracy

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Several bills have been filed in the AK Legislature this year pertaining to voting rights and elections, and we are geared up to support the good ones and fight the bad ones.

There is a Republican partisan movement afoot to rescind the popular Ranked Choice Voting/Open Primary law passed by a majority of Alaskan Citizens just two years ago – we are going to fight these bills tooth and nail because they seek to constrict the will of the people. We are supporting bills that expand the ability of Alaskans to choose the politicians that best represent their values.

Laws around voting seem simple enough but never are. Voting is about human agency, and voter suppression is about control. We don’t have to look too far down the blood-stained history of our nation to understand this – from the Women’s Suffrage Movement to the Voting Rights Act. At The Alaska Center, we stand firmly in support of increased voting rights. Period.

House Bill 1, House Bill 4, and Senate Bill 2 want to repeal our Ranked Choice/Open Primary law. We oppose these bills and will be actively working to stop them. Why? Because the people of Alaska spoke in the 2020 election and said they wanted a voting system where party control is not paramount. Political parties, corporations, and the wealthy should not run our Democracy. The people should run it, and the people wanted Ranked Choice Voting so they could have a broader suite of candidates to choose from.

House Bill 37 and Senate Bill 19 seek to empower Alaskan voters. These bills provide that the state will pay for the postage to return a by-mail ballot. These bills provide that if you make a mistake on a by-mail ballot, the State of Alaska will give you a chance to fix the mistake and have your vote count. These bills would ensure you can track your by-mail ballot through an online portal. These bills are the result of a compromise between Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in the previous legislative session, and we will be working to make sure they pass.

Alaskans deserve to know that their vote has been counted. If the “Big Lie” about stolen elections espoused by our former president did anything useful, it made Americans acutely concerned about their ballots being received and counted. While we vehemently oppose the violent and racist intent behind the Big Lie, we support measures that increase voter confidence, such as a ballot-tracking website. We support efforts that increase penalties for voter and election worker intimidation. We must be vigilant for attacks on Democracy.
We will be celebrating the life and legacy of Elizabeth Peratrovich on February 16th. Due to the advocacy of Elizabeth Peratovich, the territorial legislature codified civil rights for Indigenous Alaskans. We must carry on her work. Fighting to increase voting rights for all Alaskans is one way to do this.

In solidarity,
The Alaska Center

Don’t let the sun go down on the Renewable Energy Fund

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The Renewable Energy Fund (REF), when passed by the AK Legislature in 2008, was one of those rare Kumbaya policies that was approved by a unanimous vote. This was at a time when the Legislature was showered by a windfall of revenue from skyrocketing oil prices (combined with a new progressive tax structure) while outside the shower curtain, constituents were holding pitchforks and shouting, beset by the highest cost gasoline in the whole United States of America. The REF intended to fund renewable energy projects to help lower the cost of living in Alaska. The fund would be capitalized annually for a five-year period to the tune of $50 million per year.

Since its inception, the REF has proven to be an effective and important tool to get funding out on the street toward renewable energy projects. Check out the deets in this handy Quick Facts[!] sheet. The process behind project selection is insulated from political interference by the Renewable Energy Fund Advisory Committee, a body established by the REF legislation to review proposals and make recommendations to the Alaska Energy Authority, which reviews, approves, and passes the approved project along to the Legislature for approval. This helps assure the project benefits are spread out to communities statewide.

When the Legislature passed the REF, it was for a five-year period with a “sunset” at the end. Sunsets are applied to most boards and commissions in Alaska. The reason for a sunset is to provide an incentive for the Legislature to take action within a specific time frame if they want the entity to continue. If an extension is not granted before a sunset date, whether intentionally or not, the Legislature causes the entity to go away. It can be revived from oblivion in a subsequent legislative session though creating a program is often more challenging than simply extending a termination date. In 2012 a vote was taken to extend the sunset to 2023. And here we are, looking on as the sun falls on the silhouettes of future wind energy generators across the state.

Thankfully, lawmakers still largely approve of the REF. That is why a bill was filed last year to extend the sunset (it ran out of time before the end of the Legislature), and another bill has already been filed this year. SB 33 extends the REF to 2033. Sponsored by Anchorage Senator James Kaufman, it was introduced in January and referred to the Senate Resources and Senate Finance committees. We support this bill and encourage our readers to send a quick note to Senator Kaufman supporting the REF.  On that note, The Alaska Center and our partners in The Alaska Climate Alliance were in Juneau this week meeting with the new legislature, with REF extension as one of the top clean energy priorities.

If the bill does not move forward, all is not lost. There are shenanigans the Legislature can pull – such as attaching the sunset extension to another piece of legislation pertaining to renewable energy. In the past, sunsets have been amended into other legislation containing sunset extensions for unrelated programs. There are lots of avenues to keep the REF going. Considering the influx of federal funding with an emphasis on a clean energy transition, it would be both practical and wise for the Legislature to renew the REF.

Hopefully, the new Majority in the House will play along, and not spend their entire tenure in control tilting at windmills like the proposed repeal of ranked-choice voting.

Here’s to hope!

Tall Mike tap dances carbon policy?

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[cs_content][cs_element_section _id=”1″ ][cs_element_layout_row _id=”2″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”3″ ][cs_element_text _id=”4″ ][cs_content_seo]Predicting the actual future from a Governor’s State of the State address is often pointless. They are crude indicators at best. As a ceremony, they are at least consistent: handshaking upon entry, some levity, the introduction of noteworthy Alaskans including the love of their life spouses, lots of clapping, people standing awkwardly in the gallery for recognition, then onto the meat and potatoes of the speech – usually, no, definitely always – this is an aspirational monologue containing bits about hope for the future, the promise of our people, the threats we must face and fight, being open for business, having lots of trees and gold and fishes and petroleum, looking ok or bad financially, etcetera, add a personal story here or there and a wrap up with god blessing us all each and everyone and the great state as well amen.
Governor Dunleavy is noteworthy because, in his State of the State speeches, he is very tall. He also looks seriously P.O.d most of the time. When he says he will go after criminals and lock them away for good, you tend to believe he is serious in his intent and means to do it himself physically. As he has warmed to the job of Governor and is looking at a whole new four years, many commentators and lawmakers noted that his State of the State seemed more conciliatory than in the past. But wait! In the middle of his address, he stated he wanted Alaska to be the “most pro-life state” in the nation. Historically, the Governor has wasted a lot of time with controversy, so throwing anti-choice bombs is in line with his former approach. The rumor is that pragmatic strains could be emerging on the third floor. There is certainly plenty of work to do, as the Governor alluded to, from fentanyl overdoses to food security, that will benefit from a working relationship with the lawmaking body.
One area the Governor highlighted as a policy direction is the exploration of the carbon sequestration credit market for Alaska. We have yet to see the specifics. Generally, a carbon credit represents 1 ton of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. A company can purchase credits to make up for carbon dioxide emissions that come from industrial activities, delivery vehicles, or travel. The State of Alaska currently needs a legal structure in place to participate in existing carbon markets by designating forest, tundra, peat bog, and other lands, and kelp forests as carbon sequestration acreage.
If he devotes time, energy, and resources to this policy option, he could score a win. The catch is that it might require cooperation with hippy states like California – California’s carbon cap-and-trade program is one of the world’s largest multi-sectoral emissions trading systems. It will also require a solid ground-game in the legislature to convince skeptical members of the benefit of leaving certain forests un-clearcut, certain wetlands un-mined, etc. It will be a delicate dance, and we have yet to see this Governor step onto the ballroom floor. Perhaps he is a secret Fred Astaire.
Valuing forests and tundra for their ability to sequester carbon naturally can mean that these green things are afforded more protection. The whole “mechanically capturing carbon from the atmosphere and pumping it into caverns in the earth” is a bit vaguer of a concept. The jury is out because no bill has been introduced, but we will be watching with interest. It is by no means a simple fix or a simple issue. Some of our good friends and allies in the climate fight view the carbon market issue with great skepticism. Other friends like The Nature Conservancy have worked for years to promote the carbon market in Alaska and America.
The last time the legislature paid heed to carbon sequestration was in 2004 when former Representative Ethan Berkowitz sponsored, and Governor Frank Murkowski signed legislation requiring the state to investigate the issue. Many elections and events transpired after that, causing the issue to fall by the wayside. The recent success of Alaska Native Corporations gaining revenue by committing lands to carbon sequestration has provided some concrete evidence. Of course, there is the whole issue of the planet heating rapidly due to carbon emissions, and some adults in the room better do something soon, or we will all broil, but that is the part not said out loud. It will be a tacit recognition of the fact implicit in the policy action. There is plenty of that in the Dunleavy Administration, from last year’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and Green Bank bill to the current carbon discussion.
Many in the legislature and the Governor recognize that renewable energy is critical to addressing high energy prices. The Alaska Center applauds this and encourages bold policy action during this session. We will be hitting the ground running next week in Juneau, meeting with members of the legislature to discuss our top legislative priority this session which also seeks to address high energy costs: Community Solar. Here is the elevator pitch:
The majority of Alaskans support solar power. Net Energy Metering has proven to be extremely popular on the Alaska Railbelt. However, most Alaskans cannot install their own solar panels because they rent rather than own their homes or cannot afford the upfront installation costs. Community Solar allows communities and individuals to come together and purchase shared solar arrays at affordable prices. Community Solar puts the power in the hands of communities and individuals to decide where their energy comes from.
We will be shopping the concept around, addressing questions, and learning about concerns next week. Stay tuned for legislation shortly. All Alaskans deserve to benefit from solar energy, and we intend to help bring it to them.
See you soon,
The Alaska Center

\n\n[/cs_content_seo][cs_element_gap _id=”5″ ][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][cs_element_layout_row _id=”6″ ][cs_element_layout_column _id=”7″ ][cs_element_button _id=”8″ ][cs_content_seo]Bills To Watch\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][cs_element_layout_column _id=”9″ ][cs_element_button _id=”10″ ][cs_content_seo]More Hot Takes In A Cold Place\n\n[/cs_content_seo][/cs_element_layout_column][/cs_element_layout_row][/cs_element_section][/cs_content]