Vetoes with an olive branch
April 4, 2008
Fort Mill Times:
Gov. Sarah Palin signed a hotly disputed state supplemental budget bill Thursday, using her line item veto pen to strike more than 80 percent of $70 million in capital projects that were inserted by lawmakers.
But it’s not all bad news for them. She’s recommending that most of those vetoed projects be funded in the 2009 capital budget instead, using this year’s surplus revenues from high oil prices. That’s a promise legislators are banking on.
Certificate of need bill pits hospitals against ’boutique’ clinics
March 14, 2008
Alaska Journal:
Proposed legislation to repeal the state’s certificate of need program for equipment in major health care facilities is being eyed cautiously by many facility representatives who feel the program is key to the financial stability of community hospitals.
“(The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association) recognizes the need to meet the challenges and issues facing the health of our communities, which is exactly why this program is so important,” said Rod Betit, president and chief executive officer of ASHNHA. “An overabundance of medical infrastructure would deny our community hospitals the revenue to provide needed care to everyone who needs it.”
Pebble Mine questions state Habitat Division move
February 7, 2008
Juneau Empire:
The Pebble Mine’s would-be developers are concerned about the state Habitat Division’s current home in the Department of Natural Resources, according to a letter they wrote to Gov. Sarah Palin. “There is a perception that Gov. (Frank) Murkowski weakened state regulatory oversight when he moved the Habitat Division out of the Department of Fish and Game and into the Department of Natural Resources,” wrote Bruce Jenkins, interim general manager of Pebble Mines Corp., which wants to open a multi-metal mine in the Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska. Murkowski’s administration moved the Habitat Division to promote development of natural resources. In her election campaign, Palin criticized the move, but she has not restored the division to Fish and Game. House Bill 41, proposed last year and now being considered by the Alaska Legislature, would return the Habitat Division to its former home.
Read the rest here: Juneau Empire
Legislators to decide handling of school cost factors
February 6, 2008
Gov. Sarah Palin is leaving the contentious school funding issue of district cost factors up to state lawmakers.Two bills in the Legislature would set up temporary work groups to study the issue and develop updateable models to help the state account for differing costs of education in different areas.
One bill calls for an 11-member group comprised mostly of lawmakers appointed by legislative leaders. The other, sponsored by Sen. Gary Wilken, R-Fairbanks, calls for an eight-member group appointed by the governor and including only two lawmakers. At a hearing on the two bills Wednesday morning, Eddy Jeans, director of school finance for the state’s Department of Education and Early Development, said the administration preferred the legislative group.
…
The Senate Special Committee on Education, which heard the proposals, held both bills for further consideration. The bills are SCR 16 and SB 219. Members of the House Finance Committee on Wednesday discussed a separate bill that would implement recommendations of the task force dealing with district cost factors, the base student allocation, and funding for students with intensive needs. That bill is HB 273.
Read the full story here: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Alaska fights to keep wolf program
January 30, 2008
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is supporting state legislation to end lawsuits by groups opposed to the shooting wolves from planes.Supporters said the bill would simplify the language in Alaska’s predator control laws, aimed at boosting moose and caribou populations for hunters. Critics such as the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife said the legislation would allow predator-control expansion across the state, the Anchorage Daily News said Wednesday.
“It gives carte blanche for the Board of Game to move ahead based on a hunch,” Tom Banks of Defenders of Wildlife told the newspaper. “Based on a belief, really, that killing wolves in a particular area would be helpful.”
The aerial predator control program has resulted in the death of more than 700 wolves in the program’s five years. While it is mostly aimed at wolves, it has also included bears, the newspaper said.
Source: United Press International
