Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Things have been rockin’ and rollin’ this past week in the people’s branch and there’s no stopping the momentum this coming week.
Before delving into my update, I want to thank all the new subscribers (existing subscribers, I love you too!). Many of you don’t live in my district, and I’m honored you’ve chosen to read, review, scan (yes, I understand time is a premium) my update each week during the session.
Perhaps you want to know what the Senate Minority thinks about the proposals rising to the top here in Juneau. After all, when 65% of voters in November indicated a preference for a right-of-center state senate majority, it’s no wonder a large number of you are interested in what the Senate Minority has to say about what’s happening in the Capitol building.
And, you won’t have to worry about being bored! Remember, my hashtag is #Telling_it_like_it_is. You will learn things here you will not find in other media venues.
Will I strive to give factual information? Absolutely. Will my perspective impact the presentation? Undoubtedly it will, but please know my perspective is impacted by you. Yes, you. I receive a plethora of input from constituents in District M and Alaskans statewide. I review and consider your input seriously along with researching issues, reviewing data, and learning all I can about the subject at hand.
Although not yet a top hot issue, one that bubbled up this past week was the question of a sustainable fiscal plan. The Alaska State Chamber mentioned during its recent visit to Juneau that for 20 years it has had as its top legislative priority, a sustainable fiscal plan. The proposal by the bicameral Fiscal Policy Working Group (FPWG) in 2021 for such a plan disappointingly never received a fair vetting in the legislature; it was never heard by the Finance Committee in the Senate and only given minimal acknowledgement in the House.
Interestingly, many of the new legislators sworn in last month campaigned on moving a fiscal plan forward. Many returning legislators continue to support the concept.
Rep. Ben Carpenter, current Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee scheduled a hearing last Wednesday to discuss the 2021 FPWG Report. He asked five former members of the FPWG who presented if the proposal was still relevant. All five agreed it was: I was one of the five along with Senators Kiehl, Kawasaki, Shower, and former Rep. Kreiss-Tomkins. Two other former FPWG members were on the Ways and Means Committee and were supportive as well: Rep. McCabe and the Chair, Rep. Carpenter.
When large spending proposals are being discussed and revenue proposals are being considered, it is time to put on the brakes and first put in place the framework for a sustainable fiscal plan. The two pieces of the plan that are the bookends must go in the constitution: amendments to fix the spending cap and settle the PFD. Growing the budget and going after new revenues – like what are currently being discussed in the legislature – will not solve our problem. They will exacerbate it. We could use a little more common sense in Juneau, folks! It was at least nice to see it alive and well in the House Ways and Means Committee last week.
One of the hot issues clearly surfacing so far is K-12 public school funding: do we increase it and if so, how much? I have additional critical questions considering the fact that Alaska ranks at the bottom of the barrel in the nation for academic scores.
- How can the legislature hold districts accountable for the funding they receive as far as student learning outcomes?
- How can state funding be tied to ensuring academic objectives are being met in classrooms across Alaska?
- Certainly, inflation and healthcare costs have decreased dollars directed to the classroom, but how can we be sure new funding will be targeted to classrooms where it does make a difference in learning outcomes and not to administration where it doesn’t?
I’ll be looking to educators to answer these questions as they make their request for $1000 more per student. Be sure to scroll down in this newsletter to see the alert about your opportunity this week (Wednesday) to weigh in on increasing the Base Student Allocation (SB 52)
The second big issue bubbling to the top thus far pertains to whether the state should return to defined benefits (DB) retirement plans for public employees which were eliminated in 2006 due to the multi-billion-dollar unfunded liability burden. Some legislators support returning to DB for first responders, some support it for certain other public employees in addition such as teachers, some support it for all public employees, and others are greatly concerned about the costs and risks to the state. See my article below on this topic.
Thank you again to everyone who has weighed in on the PFD, carbon credits, the budget, DB, school funding, and other issues. Hearing your thoughts on policies, your suggestions for solutions to challenges, your ideas about what is working well and what isn’t helps me do my job better.
Please note that there are a multitude of ways to weigh in: from social media to email, or by simply picking up the phone and calling my office. My staff and I work hard to review all the input and respond to as many of you as we can. However, with the volume of connections I receive daily, the best way to ensure you get an answer to a question, the feedback you need, or assistance addressing a problem is to call my office (scroll down for numbers).
My responsibility to you has been and will continue to be at the forefront of the work I do, on and off the Senate floor. I want to be as available to you as possible, from sunup to sundown, so please continue to reach out; I’m listening.
I look forward to meeting more of you in the following months at future Coffee Chats and Town Hall meetings as well as here in Juneau when some of you come for a visit. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at AKShelleyHughes. You can also email me at Sen.Shelley.Hughes@akleg.com or call my office (907)465-3743. Let’s stay in touch!
Working on your behalf,
