(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Governor Sean Parnell will sign oil tax reform legislation in Anchorage on Tuesday. Senate Bill 21, the More Alaska Production Act, will be signed by the Governor at a special meeting of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.

Not everyone is as pleased as the Governor with this new oil tax legislation.Members of Vote Yes! Repeal the Oil Giveaway have planned to gather in front of the Dena’ina Center Tuesday at 11 a.m. to protest the signing of Senate Bill 21, which they say will cost Alaskans an estimated $4.5 billion over the next five years alone, and much more than that if prices rise.

“This is one of the worst bills to pass the legislature in our entire history as a state,” said Vic Fischer, a member of the state’s constitutional convention and former senator.  “It runs afoul of our constitution, which guarantees Alaskans the maximum benefit from the sale of our natural resources. It’s an unjustified and egregious giveaway that must be stopped.”

Members of the group are collecting signatures to put the question of whether to repeal SB 21 on the ballot.  Hundreds of Alaskans from around the state have volunteered to help collect the needed 30,000 signatures.

“We are going gangbusters,” said Pat Lavin, the group’s coordinator.  “Alaskans know when they’re getting bamboozled, and SB 21 just doesn’t sit right with people across the state. When the legislature gets things wrong, it’s up to the citizens of Alaska to set things right with a referendum.”

The bill slashes Alaska’s oil tax rates, even for existing fields.  It requires no new production in exchange for the tax cuts and eliminates Alaska’s share of “windfall profits” generated when oil prices are high.  Prices have been high for years, and this trend is projected to continue.   

“Senate Bill 21 boosts industry profits at the expense of funding for roads, schools and public safety in Alaska,” added Fischer.  “At the same time as Alaskans struggle to pay their heating bills and buy gasoline, the bill funnels billions to the world’s most profitable corporations -- without any condition to invest in Alaska. Alaskans deserve to be outraged.”   

The Alaska Democratic Party stated in a news release. "SB 21 only passed after a Republican-dominated redistricting board gerrymandered the state Senate and two Conoco Phillips employees cast the deciding votes for SB 21."

“SB 21 will go down in history as an epic ripoff—unless it is repealed,” said Kay Brown, Executive Director of the Alaska Democratic Party.

Quoting the news release from the Alaska Democratic Party, "Due to passage of SB 21, Alaska faces a state budget deficit of as much as $1.7 billion next year, more than Alaska’s entire secondary public education budget.  Neither the Governor nor the legislature has said how they will close the budget gap that has resulted from passage of SB 21."

The Alaska Democratic Party says that since SB 21 passed, the Parnell-Treadwell administration has claimed that it jump-started new oil drilling projects, but the projects for which they claimed credit were already in the works

Governor Parnell on Tuesday will also sign House Bill 4, legislation authorizing the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation to develop, finance and operate an in-state gas pipeline. Senate Bill 27 and House Bill 129, legislation to streamline the state’s permitting process will also be signed by the governor.  

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News: 

Office of the Governor
www.gov.state.ak.us

Vote Yes! Repeal the Oil Giveaway

Alaska Democratic Party

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