State Government

Government, business and tribal leaders gather in Juneau this week for the Southeast Conference’s Mid-Session Summit.

They’re discussing energy issues, resource development, tourism and plans for a regional landfill. Sessions will also cover job development in the mining, timber and maritime industries.

Congressman Don Young will address the summit Wednesday.

The 54-year-old organization holds its annual meeting every fall in a Southeast or nearby community. The late-winter mid-session summit updates members on regional issues and provides a chance to meet with lawmakers. It takes place Tuesday through Thursday at Juneau’s Centennial Hall.

Event and organizational information is at the conference’s website.

A lawsuit stemming from a fatal shooting amongst a group of Juneau teenagers almost four years ago appears headed for the Alaska Supreme Court. A deadline was set for late February for the attorneys to attempt a settlement and the voluminous case file is already on its way for review by justices. No date has been set yet for oral arguments.

14-year old Aiden Neary was killed and Chase Schneider, also 14 at the time, was injured when 15-year old Kevin Michaud fired a gun that he took from a locked cabinet. Two other boys at the Michaud family home in the valley were in a different room and did not witness the shooting.

Michaud in July of 2009 was sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility for criminally negligent homicide and assault. He was originally charged with second degree murder in December of 2008.

The parents of Neary and Schneider filed suit against the Michaud family, First Student bus company, and United Services Automobile Association (USAA) which was the Michaud’s homeowners insurance carrier.

A trial in the case was scheduled for last April. Then a closed-door settlement conference was held last May before former Juneau Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins. Terms were not disclosed. Sitka Superior Court Judge David George issued a final judgment in December and presided over a subsequent hearing on January 6th for possibly apportioning the settlement from USAA. He closed the hearing and asked a reporter who was present to leave because essentially Schneider was still a juvenile. But that was after Judge George openly mentioned that the settlement could be “at least 300-thousand dollars, perhaps much higher.”

Electronic court records indicate that $366,435.88 in settlement funds were deposited with the court system in December and then disbursed in February to a trust account held by the law firm representing the Schneiders.

According to court documents, the dispute under appeal is only between the insurance company and the victim’s families. It centers on interpretations of each ‘occurrence’ specified in the Michaud’s insurance policy and the number of claims that would be covered. Essentially, would an occurrence include the single firing of a weapon? Or were there two separate occurrences of a single bullet striking two different boys? Attorneys for the Schneiders and Nearys claim it’s the latter and they dispute a ruling that was issued by Judge George last June that preferred the former interpretation.

All of the attorneys involved in the case – representing plantiffs, intervenors, and defendants – either declined to answer questions about the case or did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Among the earlier arguments made by plantiff’s attorneys was whether First Student had a contractual duty to make sure that Juneau-Douglas High School students Neary and Schneider got off at their own bus stops, instead of Michaud’s. But First Student did not remain as a defendant in the case.

Even though Alaska has thousands of miles of shoreline, it’s the only state without a coastal management program. The program expired last year after the state legislature and the Parnell administration failed to reach a compromise on how much input communities should have over nearby projects on federal lands. But as KUCB’s Alexandra Gutierrez reports, supporters of coastal management are working on two separate ways to reinstate the program.

The state House of Representatives has opened consideration of a bill to revive Alaska’s coastal management program.

On Friday, Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell certified a citizen’s initiative allowing local input on projects like offshore oil drilling. But sponsors of a bill with a similar objective are hoping to reinstate the program through the legislative process instead.

Rep. Bob Herron of Bethel is a supporter of the coastal management program, and believes that passage of the bill would prevent an expensive fight over the ballot measure. He says the initiative may have popular support in coastal areas, but opponents of the program have more financial resources at their disposal.

“The part that I have a problem with is the financial campaign, whether you’re for or against it,” said Herron. “And I would say that the people that are against it will carpet bomb the airwaves, and it will be difficult for people that would support it to have that financial ability to compete.”

Proponents of the initiative, like Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho have also said they prefer going through the legislature, because it would get the coastal management program up and running more quickly. When he testified before the House Resources Committee, he told them not to worry about whether any legislative changes are “substantially similar” to the initiative.

“If it is a good bill, and it incorporates among other elements the local voice, I suspect our party would not actively campaign for the initiative,” Botelho said.

One of the major differences between the previous program and the initiative is what’s called a D-E-C carve-out – a section changed in 2003 that took the Department of Environmental Conservation out of the process for Coastal Management activities. Botelho says it was added back in as part of the goal of offering a greater consolidation of coastal review.

If the carve-out is added back in and the bill passes, the lieutenant governor will have to decide whether that makes the bill so different that the initiative should still be put on the ballot.

Not every coastal legislator is offering immediate support for the bill. Last year, Rep. Bill Thomas of Haines voted against keeping the program alive, saying it gave too much weight to local knowledge, and there are other ways for communities to weigh in on nearby projects. He favors letting the initiative onto the ballot.

“I’m one of those that believe that the people want it, let them vote on it,” Thomas said. “See if we put it on the ballot. I think to play the political game in here, it’ll happen just like last time. Things’ll get pulled out, and tweaked out, and pulled around, and basically you won’t have the same bill.”

The legislature would need to act on the measure before the end of the session if they want to prevent the initiative from being put on the August ballot. The committee held the bill for amendments, and it is not scheduled for another hearing at this time.

The FBI says four Alaska school districts received letters containing a suspicious white powder this week.

Juneau’s came in the mail to the school district central office on Wednesday. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez says Thorne Bay, Tanana and Chugach school districts also received similar letters.

“These letters are typically addressed to administrators or the principal, coming from Texas without a return address,” Gonzalez says.

Like Juneau, the buildings where the letters were received were evacuated and haz-mat teams called in to test the substance, or send it to the state crime lab in Anchorage.

Dr. Bernard Jilly is chief of the Alaska Public Health Laboratory. He says tests show the powder is not infectious or toxic.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Thorne Bay envelope had not been received at the lab. Juneau’s Capital City Fire and Rescue hazardous materials team went to that Prince of Wales Island community on Thursday to help.

Jilly says his office receives several pieces of suspicious mail each year for testing.

The FBI’s Gonzalez says school districts in the Lower 48 this week also received suspicious letters containing a white powder.

Mediated negotiations between the state and the owner of the Alaska Department of Labor building in Juneau have ended without a deal to extend the state’s rental agreement.

The state will soon start looking for office space for Labor Department employees.

“We weren’t able to come to terms on the Juneau Labor Building. Our plan now is to put out a competitive solicitation for replacement space for that lease,” says Vern Jones, Chief Procurement Officer with the Alaska Department of Administration, which negotiates leases on behalf of other state departments.

Jones says the main sticking point was over the length of a new deal. The owners wanted a 10-year extension, while the state wanted no more than 5-years. He says Administration Commissioner Becky Hultberg wants more flexibility as the state explores its office space options in Juneau.

“Our commissioner has said all along that she wants to preserve the option of a new state office building,” Jones says.

That’s good news to members of Juneau’s legislative delegation, who have pushed for a new state-owned office complex in the Capital City.

The Labor building has been plagued by numerous structural and air quality issues in recent years, and many employees say it’s causing their lingering health problems.

Juneau Democratic Senator Dennis Egan says something had to be done to improve conditions for those workers.

“You wouldn’t believe the emails that we get from employees,” Egan says. “And it’s not two or three employees that are disgruntled and then other employees think, ‘Well, I don’t feel well either.’ There are a lot of employees that are directly affected and I applaud the administration for getting them out of there.”

If the state decides to build new office space, Egan says the delegation would like to see it located downtown, near existing state offices and the Capitol.

“It’s more convenient, it’s in the core area of government and that’s where government ought to be. Directors and financial people; people that directly relate to the legislature,” says Egan.

In the meantime, Jones expects the request for proposals for office space to go out in the next two months.

“We’ve done some preliminary work and we know that there is space available,” he says. “Maybe not all in the downtown area, but area-wide we think there is sufficient space available. So, we’re hoping for good competition.”

The state’s lease at the Labor building expires at the end of June. Jones says it’s unlikely all of the employees will be moved out by then, but the current lease allows the state to stay in the facility on a month-to-month basis.

As we reported Monday, work began over the weekend to identify and remediate any mold in Room 210 of the building. Jones says the end of negotiations between the state and owner should not affect that work, which had already been agreed to and is being paid for by the owner.

Department of Labor officials involved in the lease negotiations were not available to comment by air time. But Labor spokeswoman Beth Leschper says there are absolutely no plans to move employees outside of Juneau.

U. S. Senator Mark Begich says Alaska’s future is in the development of natural resources in the Arctic — and increasing U.S. presence there.

Begich spoke Monday to a joint session of the Alaska House and Senate at the state capitol. It was his fourth speech to the legislature since he took office in 2009.

He said Alaska has the resources, people, ingenuity and location to make things happen.

“What we have is an enormous potential for us as a state. The question is, are we going to grab it and are we going to move it forward?”

Begich said the federal government is beginning to recognize its part in developing the Arctic. And although the state faces its share in federal budget cuts, it still is the highest recipient of federal investment – per person – of any state. He said a recent report showed that for construction, road and port maintenance, and defense, Alaska’s income jumped $4 billion in the past three years.

“Nowhere do we enjoy new opportunities more that with Alaska’s Arctic resources, oil and gas, minerals, fisheries, tourism, transportation, the list goes on and on. We can best seize these opportunities by working together to invest in our facilities and our education and our work force,” he told lawmakers.

Begich called for a combination of state, federal and private resources to develop the Arctic economy from Alaska rather than cede the leadership position to Russia, China or Canada.

“These countries are investing right now in deep water ports, ships, resources, mapping and more,” Begich said.

Even though China is not an Arctic nation, “they are busy acting like one,” he said. “They are seeking participation in the Arctic Council and building new vessels to supplement the Ice Dragon – their current icebreaker. Meanwhile, the United State still has not ratified the Law of the Sea, which provides us international framework to exercise our rights in the Arctic.”