Anchorage – Today, Alaska Governor Bill Walker signed legislation into law to help Alaskans improve their commercial fishing businesses. House Bill 56, sponsored by Representative Dan Ortiz (I-Ketchikan), updates the state loan fund to account for increasing costs for permits, vessels, and equipment.
Read More →Ketchikan – Earlier this week, Alaska Governor Bill Walker signed a bill into law to help the valuable geoduck, sea cucumber, and sea urchin fisheries in Southeast Alaska. House Bill 354 updates the protocol used by the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association to charge an assessment to its members. The old assessment method that required a vote by a majority of all permit holders to authorize an assessment change was difficult to achieve because many permit holders no longer participate because their permits are nontransferable. HB 354 changes the threshold to change assessments to a three-quarters vote of the Board of Directors and a majority vote of permit holders participating in the election.
Read More →Ketchikan – Alaska Governor Bill Walker signed legislation into law on Monday adding the Race to Alaska to the list of events eligible for a “race classic” game of chance permit. House Bill 18 will allow the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce to offer a “race classic” contest based on people guessing the winning time of the 750-mile Race to Alaska, which is a human-powered boat race from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska. Similar “classics” are offered by the Chamber’s of Commerce in Juneau, Fairbanks, Kenai, Seward, Petersburg, Delta, and Big Lake.
Read More →Ketchikan – Alaska Governor Bill Walker signed legislation into law today to help participants in Alaska’s growing mariculture industry get access to capital. Representative Dan Ortiz (I-Ketchikan) sponsored House Bill 76 after learning that many of the small businesses in Alaska’s mariculture industry were having trouble securing financing for improvement projects through private lending institutions. HB 76 changes the Alaska Mariculture Revolving Loan Fund to allow up to 40 percent of the fund to be used for loans to help pay for shellfish and sea…..
Read More →Now that session is over and interim is underway, I will have less pressing legislative news to share with you. You may not hear from me regarding legislative updates for a few months, but I want to impress on you that I am always a phone call or an email away. Feel free to reach out at any time:
Read More →Session has ended, and I am happy to be back in the district! One of my primary goals during interim is to hear from YOU. I want to hear how you think I am doing, what I can do better, and ideas for future laws. I work to write, sponsor, and pass legislation that I think will be beneficial to District 36, and your suggestions guide me to do that.
Read More →Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D-Sitka) and Representative Dan Ortiz (I-Ketchikan) welcome news that Alaska, including Southeast, will receive $56 million in federal fisheries disaster relief funds. The 2016 pink salmon fishery’s devastatingly low revenues were felt throughout the state, but the initial request for disaster relief funds was…
Read More →Anchorage – Today, 21 members of the Alaska State Legislature sent a letter to President Donald Trump thanking him for responding to the wishes of the American people by pledging to end the practice of separating children from families that illegally cross the southern border of the United States. The President has confirmed that he will use his executive order authority to stop the practice, which his administration implemented earlier this year. The lead author of the letter is long-time State Representative David Guttenberg (D-Fairbanks) who notes that the policy was an inappropriate and ineffective use of government resources and taxpayer dollars.
Read More →Anchorage – Several Alaska lawmakers have sent a letter to Alaska Governor Bill Walker stressing the need for action to protect the watersheds of Southeast Alaska from the negative downstream impacts of large-scale hard rock mining in British Columbia. The ten lawmakers are urging the Governor to develop partnerships with other states that border British Columbia to demand binding international agreements mandating a transparent environmental review process for mining projects. In the letter, the Alaska lawmakers insist the environmental review process satisfy the concerns of U.S., Canadian, and Tribal governments.
Read More →On Saturday, May 12th, the 30th Legislature adjourned Sine Die. For the first time in many years, the Legislature was able to pass a budget in less than 120 days, thanks to bipartisan, bicameral collaboration. As a member of the House Finance Committee, I had the opportunity to be a key player in creating the budget, particularly the Fish & Game and Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) budgets because I am the Finance Subcommittee Chair for both of those departments. In this newsletter, I will highlight a few key points from the operating and capital budgets we passed this year.
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