 May 18, 2005
House Bill 32, sponsored by Rep. Vic Kohring, appropriates $1.3 million to Arctic Power for promoting opening of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration. Arctic Power will use the funding for marketing purposes to help secure the necessary votes in Congress to authorize exploration, drilling and production of oil and gas in ANWR. HB 185, sponsored by Rep. Mike Chenault, requires postsecondary educational institutions to provide written notice containing information about immunization against meningitis to students living in campus housing. Dormitory life in campus housing is more conducive to meningitis outbreaks than many other living arrangements. HB 219, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hawker, permits felony prosecution for an assault involving strangulation or suffocation. These types of assaults often don't leave visible injuries, so many cases are tried as misdemeanors even though the victim was minutes from death. SB 51, sponsored by the Gov. Murkowski, codifies in statute the temporary assistance for needy families pilot program that was established by Ch. 96, SLA 2000. This program authorizes the Department of Health and Social Services to allow all 13 Native organizations in the state to receive funding and operate their own TANF programs for their members. SB 105, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Seekins, exempts flight crews from overtime payments, retroactive to January 1, 2000. This eliminates air carrier liability for paying overtime to flight crews, nullifying three pending lawsuits. SB 124, sponsored by Gov. Murkowski,
deals with problems experienced last summer with Woodbine-Egegik
and with Wild Alaska Seafood-Ekuk fish processors. It requires
a person to pay all outstanding fisheries business taxes, ASMI
assessments, ESC taxes and OSHA fines as a condition of obtaining
and maintaining a fisheries business license. It also prevents
the use of real property in lieu of a bond if a processor or
buyer has been subjected to an increased bond-posting requirement,
or if a final judgment has been obtained against the bond in
the last five years. Further, it allows the Department of Labor
to file a claim and collect against the bond instead of being
required to obtain a final judgment from a court.
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