Alaska's lawmakers reconvened in Juneau Jan. 21, with 17 newcomers among the 60 members of the state House and Senate. As has been anticipated, Rep. Pete Kott, R-Eagle River, became Speaker of the House and Sen. Gene Therriault took over as Senate President.
The first days of any legislative session are occupied by unpacking and hooking up telephones and computers.
Legislators waited with anticipation to hear newly-elected Gov. Frank Murkowski spell out his ideas for reinvigorating the state's economy in his first State of the State speech. Murkowski was to give a combined State of the State and budget message on Jan. 23.
There were few new business-related policy initiatives in bills prefiled before the session by lawmakers. Most proposals were retreads of bills that reached advanced stages of consideration in the 2002 session but failed, for one reason or another.
Two proposals that are new were in bills introduced by Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Kenai and Sen. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak.
House Bill 57, sponsored by Chenault, would change the way state oil and gas royalties are calculated for resources used in "value-added" manufacturing.
The bill is intended to help the Agrium Corp. fertilizer plant in Nikiski, near Kenai, by allowing state gas royalties to be calculated on actual prices paid for the gas rather than higher prices paid under other gas sales contracts in the region.
Agrium, a substantial employer in Chenault's district, is being hit by shortages of gas and higher prices at the same time that its ammonia and fertilizer products compete in export markets against products made with cheaper gas.
Austerman's Senate Bill 18 would lift the ban on fish farming in the state, except for salmon. Under Austerman's bill farmed fish would have to be raised in enclosed water bodies, not coastal waters or waters with access to the ocean.
The proposal is sure to ignite debate. Commercial salmon fishermen and fisheries biologists are fiercely opposed to salmon farming in the state mainly over concerns for disease spreading to healthy wild stocks of fish.
Austerman's proposal may be seen by some as a "camel's nose under the tent," or as the start of a series of changes that, over time, will lead to salmon farming.
One proposal among pre-filed bills of interest to business, and resurrected from last year, is a plan that would allow small employers to form insurance pools to get better rates on health insurance coverage for their employees.
There are three pre-filed bills sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, two in the Senate and on in the House, that would accomplish insurance pooling for small employers, indicating that the idea has strong bipartisan support this year.
In the House, freshman Cheryl Heinze. R-Anchorage, and veteran Rep. Norm Rokeberg, R-Anchorage, have co-sponsored House Bill 10.
In the Senate, Sen. Gretchen Guess, D-Anchorage, sponsored Senate Bill 19. Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, sponsored similar legislation in Senate Bill 28.
A prohibition against credit-scoring by insurance companies selling home and auto insurance is also proposed in several bills, with both Republican and Democrat sponsors.
Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage, and Rep. Harry Crawford, D-Anchorage, sponsored prefiled bills which would make it illegal for insurers to consider the credit history of policy owners when setting insurance rates. Both sponsored similar bills last year. Cowdery teamed up on his bill, Senate Bill 13, with Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, who also sponsored similar legislation last year.
Crawford's bill prohibiting credit scoring is House Bill 5. Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Kenai, also introduced a bill banning credit-scoring in House Bill 47.
