State Government

Gov. Sean Parnell says an education funding bill that recently passed the Senate is the “ultimate giveaway,” because it doesn’t require results.

SB171 increases the Base Student Allocation over the next three years. That’s the amount the state pays local districts for each student.

The governor says he doesn’t favor formula increases, but would cover specific one-time needs. During a news conference yesterday, he expressed his message to local districts this way:

“Come in and justify your increases. Come in and tell us what you’re going to do with this money,” Parnell said. “I can understand it when you say we have increased heating costs and I can write a check out of the state treasury and the people know what they’re getting. They’re buying increased heating costs and they’re also buying greater instruction in the classroom because the school district doesn’t have to pay that increase in heating costs, they’re paying for increased instruction in the classroom.”

As the House takes up SB 171, there also doesn’t appear to be much support among majority Republicans — though there’s no loss of lobbying by school board members from across the state in Juneau this week to push for more money.

Juneau School District Superintendent Glen Gelbrich says a one-time infusion of funds does not resolve the fact that education costs increase annually, even if districts hold the line on spending.

It would take a BSA increase of about 84 to 86 dollars (per student) just to get to the level we have this year,” Gelbrich says.

The district is projecting about $5.8 million in cuts next year, but a hopeful budget committee Tuesday night asked Gelbrich to outline his plan for adding back programs and positions, if more money becomes available.

A revised budget proposal includes restoration of four of the six nurse positions that are on the current cut list. Gelbrich also says it restores elementary music min-grants by using activity funds.

“This proposal identifies items that would be added back to the budget if additional funds are allocated by the legislature,” Gelbrich says. “Those items include adding back cultural para-educators, elementary specialists, reducing the pupil teacher ratio, (restoring) middle school counselors, and the high school drug testing program.”

Public testimony will be taken during the school board’s meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 21) in the Juneau-Douglas High School Library, at 6 o’clock.

A state Senate panel has advanced a bill giving Alaska’s public employees a choice of retirement systems.

Senate Bill 121 lets state and municipal workers choose either a defined benefit plan – also known as a traditional pension – or a defined contribution plan, like a 401(k) retirement savings account.

During the Murkowski administration the legislature did away with the state’s defined benefit program for all new hires since July 2006. The Parnell administration opposes the current bill.

Casey Kelly has more.

Senate Bill 121’s primary sponsor, Juneau Democrat Dennis Egan says public employees deserve a choice of retirement plans.

“Personal accounts are great for recruiting researchers, military spouses, or corporate retirees to state and local government,” Egan said. “And pensions are great for keeping those who spend their lives teaching our children, patrolling our prisons and managing our fisheries.”

The Alaska Public Employees Retirement System currently has an unfunded liability estimated at $11-billion due to several factors, including the stock market crash, rising health care costs, retirees’ longer lifespans, and accounting mistakes made by the state’s actuaries.

Egan says his goal is to make sure the legislation does not increase state spending or the unfunded liability. He believes that was accomplished last week with an amendment making employees who choose a defined benefit share the risk of increased health care costs in the future.

“It shares the risk between employees and employers,” said Egan. “And it adds nothing – not one red cent – to the unfunded liabilities from the past.”

In fact, an actuary’s analysis shows Senate Bill 121 would save the state 49-million dollars in the first five years. But Deputy Administration Commissioner Mike Barnhill testified to the Senate State Affairs Committee Thursday that there’s no way to guarantee cost savings with a defined benefit system over time.

“Put a 20-year-old in in 2013, they will retire in the 2050s, 2060s. Over that time period we can have investment loss, over that time period we can have health care cost growth that is out of line with our projections, over that time we can have mistakes, other things – people could end up living longer,” said Barnhill. “It is for these reasons that the administration strongly opposes enactment of this bill.”

State Affairs Committee Chairman Bill Wielechowski – an Anchorage Democrat – accused the administration of purposely trying to inflate the bill’s costs over the long term, and dragging its feet on the new cost estimate – or fiscal note – accounting for last week’s health care amendment.

Barnhill said the state’s actuary only had a week to review the new version of the bill, leading to a testy exchange between the two.

“I would further submit, Mr. Chair, that the people of Alaska, who are going to bear the brunt of the promises that this bill makes, that successive generation of Alaskans – our children and grandchildren – are entitled to full actuarial vetting,” Barnhill said.

Wielechowski responded: “Thank you, Mr. Barnhill. You’ve had one year to get this fully actuarial vetted. And we get fiscal notes turned around in days in this building. We get fiscal notes on oil tax bills that are billions and billions of dollars, projected over decades, turned around in days. You have an outside company at your disposal, whose expertise is in this area.”

Anchorage Republican Kevin Meyer voted to advance the bill. But said he hoped it would get a thorough vetting in the Finance Committee, where it goes next.

“I truly think letting the employees have a choice between a defined benefit and a defined contribution is the best policy, and it’s the best way to attract employees, the best way to retain our employees. Now whether or not we can afford that, I think that’s a question for the Finance Committee,” said Meyer.

Anchorage Republican Cathy Giessel also voted to advance the bill.

Besides Egan, SB 121 has nine co-sponsors, including Republicans Linda Menard and Lesil McGuire.

Alaska is the only state in the union that offers only a defined contribution plan to public employees. Most states have a hybrid system, similar to the one offered in Egan’s bill.

Kokayi Nosakhere says he’s been without food for nine days. The Anchorage man and self-described community activist is on a hunger strike.

“We have three options: they schedule the bill, the session ends, or I die,” said Nosakhere.

“Do the right thing. Stop playing.”

Nosakhere is trying to call attention to a bill that would provide a state match for a federally-funded school meals program. It’s expected to allow expansion of the Alaska program so at least 22,000 students have a school breakfast.

The sponsor of the legislation, Anchorage Democratic Senator Bill Wielechowski, said that would include over 6,800 children from low income families which already qualify for free or reduced price meals.

Nosakhere said he was formerly a food stamp outreach coordinator at the Food Bank of Alaska. He pointed to two centuries of research and evidence which show that children succeed in the classroom when they are not malnourished.

Nosakhere said this is at least the second time in three years that the measure has become mired in the House Finance Committee.

“Alaska is one of twelve states that does not provide matching funds from the state towards the school nutrition program,” said Nosakhere.

At the request of his family, Nosakhere said he’s on a one-hundred calorie liquid diet to make sure he keeps up on basic nutrient intake.

Nosakhere said he doesn’t know why Senate Bill 3 is languishing in the House Finance Committee and he declines to speculate. But in an earlier blog entry he noted an opinion piece in the Seward Phoenix Log newspaper that tied the House Finance Committee’s inaction to a House version of an oil tax bill now in the Senate. Wielechowski opposes the measure because it provides billions in tax breaks to oil companies without accountability.

Nosakhere says he was essentially denied a meeting this week with Representative Anna Fairclough, a finance committee vice chair, after meeting with her staff.

Kokayi Nosakhere’s blog is here.

Alaska lawmakers yesterday (Wednesday) passed a bill exempting political candidates who don’t have a computer or Internet access at home from the state’s electronic campaign disclosure requirement.

House Bill 311 also delays implementation of the rule for one year – until February 2013 – and prevents the Alaska Public Offices Commission from changing reporting requirements during a campaign cycle. A Senate amendment exempting anyone who has previously filed under different reporting requirements did not make it into the final bill.

By passing the legislation on Wednesday, lawmakers were trying to avoid costly fines for being out of compliance with the rule. Yesterday was the deadline for candidates to file year-end disclosure reports for 2011 and year-start reports for this year. Several lawmakers have complained that APOC’s electronic reporting system is slow, cumbersome, and hard to use.

Anchorage Republican Representative Mike Hawker says the bill also fixes deficiencies in the reporting requirement that could prevent some people from running for office.

“The bill makes certain that every Alaskan has an equal opportunity to run for office. It makes certain that we don’t have a technology test, a literacy test. It makes certain that we don’t impose a wealth requirement; we don’t disenfranchise the more impoverished people in our community,” Hawker says. “And it also makes certain that we don’t disadvantage rural and pioneer lifestyles, by saying that if you don’t have an Internet connection, you can still run for office and file reports. We don’t make you go out and get an Internet connection in order to run for office.”

Members of the Public Offices Commission came out against House Bill 311 on Tuesday, saying it would reduce transparency. APOC Executive Director Paul Dauphinais was already on record with his staff’s concerns.

Under current statute any candidate can apply to the commission for a waiver from the electronic reporting requirement. Candidates for municipal office in communities of less than 15-thousand people are automatically exempt from the rule.

Lawmakers mandated electronic reporting in 2007 in response to a federal corruption probe that ensnared some members of the legislature. However, it hasn’t been enforced while APOC was working to get its online system up and running.

Dauphinais says the agency has spent about 1.5-million dollars on the system. Lobbyists have been required to submit disclosure documents electronically for over a year. Political advocacy groups are also being required to submit their reports online.

House Bill 311 now heads to Governor Sean Parnell for his signature.

Rebecca Braun of the Alaska Budget Report discusses education funding, the continuing oil tax debate, a potential return to a defined benefit retirement system, and legislative travel and moving expenses.

Governor Sean Parnell says he’s in favor of letting a citizen’s initiative to restore the Alaska Coastal Management Program go to voters.

The program, which gave the state and local communities greater input into federal permitting decisions, closed last year after the administration and legislators failed to reach an agreement to reauthorize it.

A group calling itself the Alaska Sea Party collected signatures for the initiative, which legislators can pre-empt by passing substantially similar legislation this session.

Parnell says lawmakers had their chance.

“My position has been, let the people decide,” the governor told reporters in Juneau today. “This has been something that has been worked diligently in these halls. Now our constitution provides a mechanism by which the people can have their say. It’s been certified. I say let it go to the people.”

Technically, the Division of Elections is still reviewing signatures for the initiative. But Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell – whose office oversees elections – said last week that sponsors had collected enough qualified signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho is prime sponsor of the initiative and chairman of the Alaska Sea Party.