More and more, the agency is becoming the most powerful branch of the governor’s office, one that operates with little or no legislative oversight.

Read More

A patsy parade of 20 Republican legislators sided with Gov. Mike Dunleavy in blocking the bipartisan education bill that most of the 20 voted for last month.

Nearly two-thirds of the Legislature voted to override the veto of the bipartisan education bill, one vote shy of the margin needed to enact the measure into law. The vote was 23-16 in the House and 16-4 in the Senate.

Read More

Erin McKittrick of the Alaska Energy Blog convincingly dismantles the recent report by Frank Paskvan, who has a contract with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, that claims a new coal-fired power plant is a surefire solution to many of our energy woes:

“These days in Alaska, it’s fashionable to claim any project you want to build will solve both the Cook Inlet Gas crisis and climate change. The West Susitna coal plant idea claims to do both, and would actually do neither,” she writes.

Read More

In November, before Gov. Mike Dunleavy concluded that the state school board should be allowed to authorize charter schools, Education Commissioner Deena Bishop praised the current system in which school districts are central to the process.

One of Dunleavy’s major complaints about the bipartisan education bill he vetoed is that it did not allow the state school board—whose members serve at the pleasure of the governor—to create charter schools in local districts.

Read More

Ranting and raving at another unhinged press conference, Gov. Mike Dunleavy aired his usual grievances about legislators, school board members, PTAs, superintendents and teachers who supported the education bill he vetoed.

Every legislator except for Reps. Mike Prax and David Eastman and Sen. Shelley Hughes supported the bill. Legislators will consider an override Monday. At least some of the Dunleavy Republicans in the House will go along with the veto.

Read More

With no public notice and little discussion, Republican legislators who identify themselves as conservatives slipped $300 million in borrowing authority for AIDEA and $58 million in borrowing authority for the Alaska Railroad into a bill.

The $358 million in borrowing authority was added to a bill that would also allow the railroad to borrow $90 million more to rebuild the Seward passenger dock and terminal. It is House Bill 122.

Read More

Regarding the Cook Inlet natural gas situation, they suggest that conserving natural gas with more efficient use of natural gas would be simple and effective and they provide this clear-headed statement about the way forward:

“Don’t panic, build an import facility, move forward with renewable projects already in the pipeline, and make our homes and businesses more efficient.”

Read More

There are assumptions piled on assumptions and monumental subsidies in a so-called University of Alaska Fairbanks study proposing a coal-fired power plant in Southcentral Alaska to replace natural gas.

I say so-called because on page 2 of the report, it says the document was prepared by the Energy & Environmental Research Center of the University of North Dakota. It says that “economic results were developed by UAF with guidance from EERC,” the research center of the University of North Dakota.

Read More

Armed with the David Eastman playbook, right-wing Reps. Jamie Allard and Sarah Vance attacked two people who have served the state well for decades—ethics committee volunteers Joyce Anderson and Dennis “Skip” Cook.

Anderson and Cook deserve an apology for the confirmation hearing, in which Allard and Vance, acting as if they were auditioning for “Law & Order,” embarrassed the Alaska Legislature.

Read More

The new Anchorage office of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, located just across from the Memorial Park Cemetery on Cordova Street, should be shut down to save about $170,000, according to draft budget language moving through the Legislature.

The proposed intent language from lawmakers is aimed directly at the trustees of the fund:

“It is the intent of the Legislature that the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation will not establish or maintain new office locations without corresponding budget increments for that purpose. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation shall provide a report to the finance committee co-chairs and the Legislative Finance Division by December 2024 that details any actual expenditures to date related to the Anchorage office.”

Read More