Special Edition

In Your Mailbox

Annual Print Newsletter Mailed

June 23, 2010

Yesterday, I dropped my annual print newsletter off at the post office. Most of district 3 will receive a copy in their mailbox today or tomorrow. If you don’t live in district 3 or prefer to read it in electronic format, here’s a link to the PDF version. Read on below for the html version.

Dear friends and neighbors,

Thank  you for allowing me the opportunity to represent Juneau; it is truly an honor and a pleasure serving you.

2010 was my twelfth session with the Alaska State House of Representatives and fourth year as House Minority Leader. My seniority and leadership position in the Legislature have allowed me to strengthen and protect Juneau’s interests as I work to help improve our community and our state.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. I hope you will find it informative and  interesting. If you would like to get regular news updates from me, you can also subscribe to my e-newsletter (email me at Rep.Beth.Kerttula@legis.state.ak.us to sign up).

I always enjoy hearing from you, so please stop by the office, call, write or email if you need assistance or have comments, questions or concerns.

On the House Floor.

On the web

To read an electronic version of this newsletter with active links or my e-newsletters, please visit www.akdemocrats.org/kerttula.

In your email

If you would like to receive news from me by email, please let me know at Rep.Beth.Kerttula@legis.state.ak.us.

Learn more about the Legislature

Visit www.legis.state.ak.us for more information about the legislature, including links to our bill tracking system, contact lists, schedules, and individual legislators’ information.

Because of high oil prices, the FY2011 Alaska budget is healthy, to say the least. The Legislature passed a $8.2 billion operating budget and a $3 billion capital budget along with a $2.5 billion supplemental budget for FY2010. This includes two years worth of public education funding and a full repayment of the Constitutional Budget Reserve. While there is concern about the sustainability of such large budgets, they contain a lot of good (and overdue) things.

Governor Sean Parnell vetoed about $36 million from the operating budget, all of which was for legislation that did not pass or was  vetoed. One of the vetoes is particularly disturbing: the cut of $2.9 million (mostly federal) intended to increase income eligibility levels for Denali KidCare. This would have provided medical care for an additional 1,277 children and 218 pregnant women. His reasoning was that the program must cover medically necessary abortions as mandated by the Alaska Supreme Court. However you feel about abortion, it is wrong to jeopardize the health and welfare of 1500 Alaskans to make a political statement, particularly when there are very few abortions performed under Denali KidCare and they must be deemed medically necessary by a doctor.

The governor also cut about $300 million from the capital budget. These cuts especially affected rural areas, including most of Southeast Alaska, where every project represents an improvement in quality of life, public safety and/or employment opportunity. The Renewable Energy Grant program appropriation was reduced by $25.25 million (about half), cutting funding for 46 projects that could have reduced energy costs for Alaskan communities.

The Legislature has the opportunity to override appropriation vetoes with a three-quarters vote and I strongly support an override.

Celebrating Elizabeth Peratrovich Day with Harvey Marvin and Morgan Fawcett.

Juneau’s portion of the capital budget totaled about $70 million this year, and $9.6 of that was vetoed by the governor. The whole list is too long to print in this newsletter, so it can be found with the online version of this newsletter or by contacting my office. 

Highlights of funded projects:

· Public use cabins

· Playground equipment and improvements

· AWARE Extended Stay Shelter

· Juneau Youth Services facilities

· Bring the Kids Home building design

· Affordable housing

The governor vetoed the following projects:

· Centennial Hall Emergency Relief Center ($1.2 million cut)

· Southeast Alaska Solid Waste Authority start-up ($125,000 cut)

· Governor’s House maintenance ($250,000 of $1 million cut)

· Sewage system repairs/maintenance ($1.5 of $3 million cut)

· New state office building design ($3 of $5 million cut)

The governor also vetoed $1.5 for the State Library Archives & Museums (SLAM) facility, but $18.5 million for the project was included in the general obligation bonds package that will come before the voters on November 2.

The House Democratic Caucus: Top Row: Les Gara, Max Gruenberg, Harry Crawford, Pete Petersen, Scott Kawasaki, Chris Tuck, Neal Foster; Bottom Row: Mike Doogan, Sharon Cissna, Lindsey Holmes, Beth Kerttula, Berta Gardner, David Guttenberg, Woodie Salmon; Not Pictured: Bob Buch.

Early this year, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that allows corporations to make expenditures to influence individual campaigns. I believe the decision hurts the individual voter by giving too much power to companies to influence elections. Elections should be about individuals and groups of individuals making informed decisions about who represents them, not about corporate influence.

The passage of SB 284 makes sure corporations are required to report campaign expenditures. The bill also requires a “paid for by” statement on any elections communications and advertisements paid for by corporations. I hope that Congress will correct the overall problem that led to the decision, but in the meantime, the Alaska Legislature passed legislation to minimize the impact on the Alaskan voter.

Your 2010 Session District 3 Team: Top Row: Samantha Englishoe, Hannah McCarty, Beth Kerttula, Aurora Hauke. Bottom Row: Ron Clarke, Alexei Painter.

As I write  this newsletter, oil continues to gush from an exploded well in the Gulf of Mexico. 21 years after the Exxon Valdez,  the environmental and economic consequences have not been resolved. It is unthinkable that our country should have to face these issues yet again. I feel more determined than ever to be certain Alaska and all states have strong regulatory oversight to make sure this never happens again.

The gulf oil spill is also a reminder that we need to look to the future and develop more renewable and alternative energy sources.  This session, legislation passed that will promote and encourage this development so Alaska can be a leader in the field of renewable energy as well as fossil energy.

It is my pleasure to serve on the Bush Caucus, working with other legislators from rural Alaska.

Alaska’s redistricting process has begun. We won’t know what the final districts will look like until the census numbers come in and the Redistricting Board has picked a plan. But we do know that the rural areas of the state will be adversely affected by redistricting because of a declining rural population.

One solution to this problem is to add extra districts to the Legislature to keep individual districts smaller. That’s why the Legislature passed SJR 21, which will put the question before the voters. If the constitutional amendment passes, the size of the Legislature would increase from 60 to 66 members, 44 in the House of Representatives and 22 in the Senate. 

Senator Dennis Egan and I were proud to congratulate Douglas resident Claudette Curtis, who received a well-deserved First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year Award.

One of the most talked about issues before the Legislature this session was whether we should separate oil and gas taxes (aka “decoupling”). SB 305 passed the Legislature (I voted against it), but was later vetoed by the governor.

This is a bad time to change our tax structure because we’re entering into the first open season on our gasline. The uncertainty of a new system would be complicated by the inability to develop regulations with the details about the tax fast enough for the open season so companies know what they would be paying before they bid.

Another concern I had about decoupling was the potential for confusion and game-playing over the separation of tax-deductible expenses. For instance, both resources come out of the ground together, so how do you accurately separate the extraction costs? The bill provided no guidance on how to do this and an army of auditors would have been required to make sure everything stayed above board.

House Democrats huddled during last year’s veto override special session. It is my hope that we can successfully override parts of this year’s vetoes.

At some point in our lives, most of us will be called to our civic duty of serving on a jury. Sometimes trials expose juries to traumatizing and disturbing evidence and testimony. A very courageous friend told me about her experience and suggested that counseling would have helped her after she sat on a difficult trial. So I introduced and with her help successfully passed legislation to provide up to ten hours of post-trial counseling in trials with extraordinarily graphic, gruesome or emotional evidence or testimony.

The right to be judged by a jury of our peers is critical to our democracy and jury duty is our opportunity to participate in that judicial system. Most of us would be unprepared for the emotional consequences of a difficult trial. As a former public defender, I know how true this is. Counseling helps people cope with their normal reactions to abnormal events and provides tools to help adapt to those reactions. I believe government has a duty to improve the jury experience and providing counseling is one way to do that.

Russadell Buzard, Nicole Nelson and Anna Graceman will be the Grand Marshals of the 2010 Fourth of July Parade, themed “America’s Kids.”

I was privileged to carry and pass a resolution encouraging more federal funding for crime victims’ services.

Since 1984, the Crime Victims Fund has provided critical funding for victim compensation and services, helping over four million Americans annually, including victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse and drunk driving, along with family members of homicide victims. The fund is financed through collection of criminal fines, forfeitures and special assessments. Only a certain portion of the fund is used each year and the maximum amount was capped by Congress in 2000.

The problem is that now the cap is too low to provide adequate funding for services across the country, which is especially frustrating because the fund has grown and can definitely support more services. Legislation is pending in Congress to raise the cap on withdrawals from the fund. The passage of HJR 48 shows that Alaska formally supports that legislation.

Alaska’s network to help victims, including the Violent Crimes Compensation Board and the Office of Victims Rights, would be able to restore and expand services if the federal legislation passes. Without a funding increase, many victims will go without advocacy, medical assistance, mental health services and/or legal services, all of which are crucial.

Each Tuesday, I chair the House Democratic Caucus press availability featuring different members of the caucus. In February, one panel included Fairbanks Rep. David Guttenberg and Anchorage Reps. Chris Tuck, Berta Gardner and Pete Petersen.