Photo of the Month GAVEL ALASKA: Live coverage of the Alaska legislature, including committee meetings, Alaska senate and house floor sessions, press conferences and other legislative events. In addition, oral arguments before the Alaska Supreme Court are covered, administration press conferences and briefings, general government activities, and other meetings about legislative issues or of political interest.Watch Live or Watch Archives 360North.org Alaska Legislature - Schedule, live meetings, archived videos, documents. - Click here... Ketchikan: Public Meetings Ketchikan: Upcoming Events Historical Ketchikan June Allen Dave Kiffer Louise B. Harrington Ketchikan Weather Ketchikan's Forecast May: Daily Records 2019 Ketchikan April 2019 Data Ketchikan March 2019 Data Ketchikan Feb. 2019 Data Ketchikan Jan. 2019 Data Nat Weather Service KTN Ketchikan Tides & Currents Sunrise - Sunset Ketchikan Search the News Ketchikan Alaska

Alaska: Legislature's Budget Heads to Governor's Desk With No Action on PFD By MARY KAUFFMAN - The Alaska Senate on Monday voted unanimously for the smallest operating budget in 15 years, resulting in a $600 million surplus according to a Alaska Senate Majority news release; however, the budget did not include a 2019 Permanent Fund Dividend. 

Governor Michael Dunleavy posted a written comment Monday on FaceBook regarding the Legislature's budget: "In the coming days, I will review and scrutinize the budget passed by the Legislature and determine the best path forward, including options to accept the budget as passed, to veto the budget in its entirety, or to veto portions of the budget to better align expenditures and revenues. I am absolutely determined to address the budget issues that have haunted Alaska for years."

The budget provides $4.4 billion in unrestricted general funds for agency and statewide operations – a reduction of $190 million over last year – and transfers $10.5 billion from the Permanent Fund’s earnings reserve account into the fund’s constitutionally protected principal. 

“This budget delivers real reductions, keeps Alaskans safe and protects the Permanent Fund for our descendants,” said Senator Bert Stedman (R-Sitka), co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

Stedman said, “Today [Monday] we made the largest ever transfer to the Permanent Fund’s constitutionally protected principal in history. Within 15 years, we can expect the fund’s principal to be about $100 billion.” 

Currently $19 billion of Alaska’s $65.3 billion Permanent Fund sits in an earnings reserve account that can be spent by the Legislature with a simple majority vote. To protect these funds, the Legislature’s proposed budget moves over $10.5 billion from the earnings reserve into the constitutionally protected corpus, which cannot be accessed without amending the state’s constitution. This does not affect the ability of the fund to pay dividends, according to a Senate Majority news release. 

“The people of Alaska sent us here to make the hard decisions for the long-term benefit of all Alaskans,” said Senator Natasha von Imhof (R-Anchorage), co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

“Today [Monday] locked away more than $10 billion into the Permanent Fund’s principal, taking more than half the earnings off the table, forcing all state spending to be in line with our annual revenues and protecting our savings accounts for emergencies,” said von Imhof.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Begich  (D-Anchorage) issued the following statement Monday: “It is important that we pass the operating budget to prevent disruption in government services for all Alaskans. This is a budget that works for Alaska within our current fiscal climate, and I am pleased to support it."

Begich said, “We realize the amount of the Dividend prevented the passage of the budget, and the best way to finalize the Dividend is through a special session solely devoted to the matter. But ultimately, the Dividend must be protected through a constitutional amendment. Until then, the legislature will continue to debate its size, preventing us from concluding our work on behalf of Alaskans.”

The Legislature’s proposed budget is the smallest since fiscal year 2005, adjusted for inflation and population. 

“This budget is good for Alaska’s families and businesses,” said Senate President Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage). “Government spending has been reversed by 15 years – that’s a significant achievement, one that we can all be proud of.” 

As of Monday afternoon, the bill was on its way to Governor Mike Dunleavy’s desk for his signature.

Sunday, with just a few days left in the first special session, the Alaska House Majority Coalition passed the House's budget which was then sent to the Alaska Senate for concurrence with the changes to the operating budget made by the conference committee. However, according to the House Minority members(Republicans), that budget was bloated and without an answer to one of the most pressing questions: the Permanent Fund Dividend.

Sunday, in a vote along caucus lines (with Anchorage Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux voting alongside the House Republicans), the Alaska House Minority said the operating budget was forced through alongside a larger-than-necessary transfer of funds from the Permanent Fund’s Earnings Reserve Account (ERA), in order to pay for the extra layers of government spending that the leaders of the budget conference committee refused to cut from the budget.

Quoting a news release from the House Minority, the Alaska House Majority also voted to pass House Concurrent Resolution 101 – despite it not carrying a clear tie to the purpose of the first special session – attempting to defer conversation on the Permanent Fund Dividend to a later date – presumably in hopes of avoiding the conversation and the required payment of a dividend altogether. 

“What we have seen today [Sunday] is an attempt to avoid answering the toughest questions facing Alaskans,” said House Minority Leader Lance Pruitt (R-Anchorage). “At this point, it is clear that the House Majority is completely unwilling to have the tough, voter-mandated conversations, and plans to dictate to the people what will happen with the PFD, regardless of what the law says.”

“This lack of leadership on these issues should be unacceptable to Alaskans,” added Rep. Cathy Tilton (R-Chugiak/Mat-Su), and member of the budget conference committee. “We have a legal obligation to pay a dividend and do as the law says. We cannot just pick and choose which laws we want to follow and which ones we wish to ignore.”

House Bill 39 passed the Senate 20-0 on Monday and the House 22-15 on Sunday, for a combined vote of 42-15. The bill will not become law until signed by the Governor. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 11, 2019

Although children of the late 1960s were less likely that than their 1950s cohorts to have frequent "duck and cover" exercises in school, there was still concern about handling a nuclear attack, even in out of the way places like Ketchikan.

In July of 1969, the borough and city governments produced - with help from the Alaska Disaster Office - a "Community Fallout Shelter Plan." Most of those plans are long gone, but lifelong Northender Dennis Northrup recently came across a copy of the 1969 plan that his late father Walt had saved for nearly half a century.

The plan was signed by the first Borough Chairman, Don King and the Ketchikan Mayor at the time, Oral Freeman. The idea behind the plan, according to the pamphlet was educate Ketchikan residents on what to do and where to go in the event of a "nuclear attack."

First it defined "fallout."

"If a nuclear weapon explodes on or near the ground, tons of earth are drawn up into the fireball produced by the explosion. They mix with the radioactive materials produced by the explosion of the nuclear weapon , and eventually fall back on the ground as particles of fallout."

The pamphlet goes on to note that the fallout pattern depends on the prevailing winds and that fallout could come down as far as several hundred miles from the explosion. It could arrive anywhere from several minutes to several hours to several days after the explosion.

"You can protect yourself from fallout by getting heavy material (shielding) between yourself and the fallout particles giving off gamma rays. The heavier the construction of a building you may be in, the better protection it gives you."

As a result, most of the identified fallout shelters for Ketchikan, were large concrete buildings like government buildings and apartment buildings. Oddly enough, two of the most solidly constructed buildings in Ketchikan at the time, White Cliff School and Main School are not on the shelter list, even though both those building had the familiar "fallout shelter" signs on them, according to students who attended those schools in the 1960s.

"There are 10 buildings in Ketchikan which provide protection 'radioactive fallout.' They have available space for all inhabitants in the borough. There are approximately 11,256 resident people with shelter space available for 11,526." - More...
Tuesday AM - June 11, 2019

Fish Factor: Fishermen Still Waiting For Disaster Relief Funds for 2016 Pinks By LAINE WELCH - Alaska fishermen are still awaiting disaster relief funds for the 2016 pink salmon run failure, which was the worst in 40 years.      

Congress approved $56 million that year for Alaska fishermen, processors and communities hurt by the fishery flop at three Alaska regions: Kodiak, Prince William Sound and Lower Cook Inlet. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries finalized plans and procedures for payouts last August. Since then, the paper push has stalled on various federal agency desks. 

NOAA Fisheries missed a promised June 1 sign off deadline and now says the funds will be released on the first of July, according to Representative Louise Stutes of Kodiak who has been tracking the progress. 

“It affects all the cannery workers all the processors, all the businesses in the community,” she said. “This has a big trickle-down effect.” 

The draft spending plan awaiting approval provides for funds in four categories. Coastal communities that would have gotten 1.5 percent of the landed value of the foregone pink catch would receive $2.43 million. Just over $4 million was set aside for pink salmon research, and processors would get $17.7 million for lost wages as a result of the humpy bust. 

Alaska fishermen would get the biggest chunk at $32 million. The funds would be distributed using a calculation to restore lost dockside value equal to 82.5 percent of their five even year averages. 

As for the July 1 promise, Stutes said she “is not holding her breath because of the fed’s current track record in adhering to its own timelines.”  

“They know I’m a squeaky wheel and my job is to keep this moving in a forward direction,” she said.

 Season of uncertainty:

Fisheries are always fraught with uncertainties, but there is an added element this year: trade tariffs on Alaska’s largest export: seafood. 

“The industry is accustomed to dealing with uncertainty about harvest levels, prices and currency rates. The trade disputes just add another layer to that,” said Garrett Evridge, an economist with the McDowell Group. 

Tariffs of up to 25 percent on U.S. seafood products going to China went into effect last July and more are being threatened now by the Trump administration. China is Alaska’s biggest seafood buyer purchasing 54 percent of Alaska seafood exports in 2017 valued at $1.3 billion.  

“It’s important to remember that a tariff is simply a tax and it increases the prices of our products,” Evridge explained. “As Alaskans we are sensitive to any increase in the price of our seafood because we are competing on a global stage. And right now we have tariffs imposed on seafood from the Chinese side and the U.S. side.”  

In terms of Alaska salmon, the new taxes could hit buyers of pinks and chums especially hard. Managers expect huge runs of both this summer and much of the pack will be processed into various products in China and then returned to the U.S. - More...
Tuesday AM - June 11, 2019

DANNY TYREE: Are Four-Day School Weeks the Wave of the Future? - According to NBC News, a growing number of school districts (especially in rural areas) are experimenting with a four-day week.

In many cases, school boards can't raise the funds for competitive salaries and improvise by using the nontraditional schedule as a perk to attract and retain high-quality teachers. Applicants who would otherwise go for the biggest bucks appreciate having an extra day each week for preparing lesson plans, grading tests, taking "Meth-Head Parent As A Second Language" courses, etc.

(Other perks that were considered but ultimately put on the back burner included "Flunk a jock: we'll get you off with temporary insanity," "No more paying for school supplies out of your own pocket; our band geeks make a great distraction for snatch-and-run operations at Costco," "Whatever extracurricular club you're stuck with sponsoring, feel free to improvise! Did somebody say, 'mixed martial arts chess'?" and "Background check? Do you IDENTIFY as needing a background check?")

Students and teachers seem to respond enthusiastically to the new schedules, but parents who work Monday-Friday lose sleep worrying over (a) affordable daycare for their younger children and (b) unsupervised mischief by their older offspring. ("This is Mrs. Brown on Second Avenue. I'd like to report a kitten in the top of the big oak tree. But it IS a matter for 9-1-1! The kitten is on the hood of a police car!")

Of course, states still require a certain number of classroom hours per school year, so the remaining four days must be lengthened. With students already running a sleep deficit, this could really change the nature of the forbidden public displays of affection. ("Awww...she's tucking him into his locker for a nap. Aren't they the cutest couple?")

Yes, longer days and final period can be a real recipe for disaster. ("No, that's not an example of a dangling participle. Looks more like a dangling thumb! Did you just come from dissecting frogs, Ethan?")

At least the real estate market will benefit from a four-day schedule. ("You say your 16-year-old will be spending the extra day off studying hard and feeding the homeless? I've got a real deal on oceanfront property in Arizona...") - More...
Tuesday AM - June 11, 2019

Political Cartoon: Impeachment Divide
By Bob Englehart ©2019, Middletown, CT
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.