Friends, I know it is sad to think about, but someday the fanfare will fade, the bloggers and pundits and lobbyists will move on to other questionable endeavors, and the special session will conclude. Our lawmakers will voyage in the annual diaspora to their home districts where they will convert to members of the community again, and be welcomed back …
Leg With Louie: Alaska legislature and 415 parts per million
The Earth’s atmosphere is reported, as of May 12, 2019, to contain 415 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, primarily from human activities. 415 ppm is a number unknown to humans. The news that humanity is killing itself off by way of petroleum use is not new news; hitting 415 ppm is an ominous benchmark and it …
Leg With Louie: The End May Be in Sight
The naming of conferees to an operating budget conference committee marks the beginning of the end of the legislative session, usually. Under Alaska legislative uniform rule 23(d), once the conference committee (composed of three House and three Senate members) is formed, standing and special committees can hold committee hearings with 24-hour notice, instead of the one-week notification required for committees …
Looking to the future, Anchorage finalizes Climate Action Plan
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) — After a year of development with guidance from more than 100 city leaders, university professors and other subject matter experts, the Anchorage Climate Action plan has been completed, setting a blueprint for how the city will adapt to and attempt to mitigate a changing climate. “It has two big parts basically. We have how we’re going …
Leg with Louie: Confirmed!
The Dunleavy Cabinet is in place now. Given the political makeup of the legislature, there was never a great deal of doubt that department heads would be confirmed, though DEC Commissioner Jason Brune was lobbying legislators with some persistence in the days before the vote. Brune wears the albatross of the Pebble Mine around his neck, as a former …
PRESS RELEASE: The Alaska Center Stands With Thousands of Alaskans in Opposition to Brune Appointment
Alaskans hold up Brune’s Pebble past as another example of compromised leadership and Pebble’s influence on Alaska’s future. TODAY – Legislators voted to confirm Jason Brune as Commissioner for the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Those legislators ignored the voice of Alaskans by voting to confirm a former Pebble Limited Partnership spokesperson. The Alaska Center applauds the 24 legislators voting …
Leg with Louie: House Operating Budget brought to you by Rep. David Eastman
Anyone still doubting the wisdom of Rep. Gary Knopp for not caucusing solely with the Republicans in our State House, should look no further than the antics of Rep. David Eastman, both before and during House floor debate on the operating budget. Recall, Rep. Knopp would not settle to join a majority with a single vote margin of control because it …
Leg with Louie: Predicting Success!
Here’s a prediction: before too long, someone out in our great state who is tired of this self-imposed budget calamity will file a citizen’s initiative to change the oil tax structure. The oil industry will charge this Alaskan citizen with playing unfairly – pulling the rug out from under them, not being a good partner, creating an unstable investment …
Leg With Louie: Negotiating with a Tourist
Each day of this AK Legislative session is a slow-moving catastrophe at which one cannot stop rubbernecking. The Dunleavy Administration is paying a tourist from Michigan with deep Republican ties one of the highest salaries in state government ($195,000) to do the dirty work that apparently no-one who actually lives in Alaska is qualified for, or wants to do …