Alaska Legislature votes to repeal five defunct programs, including one left from the Exxon Valdez oil spill

• News Home
• More from News of the North

Thursday, May 11, 2023 at 2:03 PM

By James Brooks/Alaska Beacon

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Whatsapp

Sen. James Kaufman, R-Anchorage, speaks Friday, April 28, 2023, on the floor of the Alaska Senate. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Juneau, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) - Several defunct state programs, including a fund established as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, would be scrubbed from state law under a bill that passed the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday

The Alaska House of Representatives voted 40-0 to approve Senate Bill 25, authored by Sen. James Kaufman, R-Anchorage. The bill previously passed the Senate by a 19-0 vote on March 31.

If the bill passes a procedural vote in the Senate and is approved by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, it would require the director of the Legislative Finance Division — the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget analysis team — to regularly examine state law for inactive accounts and recommend their deletion to the Legislature.

Five state programs have already been identified for deletion in SB 25. One, established in 1981, provided loans to rural electric utilities to build out their power grids. That program has since been superseded by others.

A program that was established in 2018 to review school curriculum — but never funded — would be repealed, as would an emergency fund intended to allow the governor to pay for fuel in communities running short. 

An account that accepts donations for the Alaska Historical Society would be dissolved, as would a fund that distributed Exxon Valdez oil spill penalties to unincorporated rural communities.

Kaufman, in a written statement, said SB 25’s passage will reduce the administrative burden of maintaining accounts that are inactive but remain in state law.

More from News of the North

• Last-minute Anan Wildlife Observatory permits available at the end of June

  Wrangell, Alaska (KINY) - Visitors will soon be able to submit requests for the last four daily permits to Anan Wildlife Observatory, which are meant to accommodate last-minute planning and need to be requested in person at the Wrangell Ranger District, up to one week in advance

• Alaska Delegation frustrated by interior’s delay of the Ambler Access Project

  Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-Alaska) and U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola (D-Alaska), today released the following joint statement after the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced an up to six-month delay for the finalization of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) for the proposed Ambler Access Project (AAP).

• Dozens evacuated from small cruise ship in Alaska after engine room fire

  Juneau, Alaska (AP) — A fire in the engine room of a small cruise ship in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve prompted the evacuation of dozens of passengers and crew on Monday. No injuries were reported, and the fire was extinguished, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

• CCFR on scene on Fritz Cove Road fire

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - CCFR responded to a fire toward the end of Fritz Cove Road at 2:31 AM.

• Murkowski leads bill to invest in blue cconomy, spark innovations in coastal communities

  Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Ocean Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act (Ocean ROI Act), legislation that would require the Secretary of Commerce to establish a federal strategy for investing in the nation’s ocean-based economy with “Ocean Innovation Clusters” (ocean clusters).

• Water & Sewer Utility Rates To Increase July 1

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - CBJ wants to remind citizens that there will be a utility rate increase effective July 1. The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly, in August of 2019, approved increases to both the water and sewer utility rates. The 2% rate increase will go into effect July 1.

• Comments exceed 100 in effort to shape future of integrated forest management on the Tongass

  Ketchikan, Alaska (KINY) - A public outreach designed to compile as much local input as possible to shape the future of integrated forest management on the Tongass National Forest is proving to be successful and there is still plenty of time to comment.

• Sitka Salmon Derby comes to a close

  Sitka, Alaska (KINY) - Yesterday, saw the 68th Sitka Salmon Derby come to a close. News of the North has the scores

• Brett Gilbert sentenced for 2017 hatchet murder

  Fairbanks, Alaska (KINY) - Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle sentenced 55-year-old Brett Gilbert to 75 years in prison for the murder of Mark Mitchell on July 30, 2017. Gilbert was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree earlier this year.

• A study to monitor the potentially imperiled Aleutian tern kicks off in Alaska

  Yakutat, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) - Researchers fear the uncommon bird may be in severe decline

• Juneau Symphony closes their 60th season with epic 'Showdowns'

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Juneau Symphony's theme for their 60th season was 'Epic' - and their final performance for the season went above and beyond.

• United Fishermen of Alaska announces support for Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Late last week, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at supporting rural fishing communities.