Huggins speaks for revision of oil tax in SB-242

Huggins told the committee that the cap on operating expenses and retroactive effective dates were never debated in Senate committees when the bill was worked on during the Legislature’s special session last fall. The provisions were adopted in the House and came to the Senate in the final days to be adopted by a floor vote. The way the language was adopted, without full discussion in the senate, cuts against the goals of transparency in government legislators should adhere to, Huggins argued.

In closing comments at the end of the committee hearing on SB 242 Huggins said the Legislature is supposed to be "relieving the taint" of improper actions in past sessions. The late-hour adoption of the so-called standard deduction — a cap of oil producers' operating expenses and the July 1, 2007, retroactive date in the tax bill — was disappointing to Alaskans, Huggins said.