Juneau – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation sponsored by Congressman Don Young to allow a land exchange as part of the effort to build a road to connect the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. Speaker of the House Rep. Bryce Edgmon (D-Dillingham) released the following statement upon learning the results of today’s vote.
Anchorage – With the passage of legislation last week to reform Alaska’s oil industry subsidies, the attention of the Alaska Legislature turns to the Fiscal Year 2018 Capital Budget. That budget needs to pass before the start of the federal fiscal year in October in order to prevent the loss of over a billion dollars in federal funding. The Alaska House Majority Coalition hopes to negotiate a compromise with the Alaska State Senate and Governor Walker to pass the FY 18 Capital Budget before returning lawmakers to Juneau for final action. To this end, the Co-chairs of the Finance Committees in the House and Senate have already started meeting to discuss the details of a Capital Budget compromise.
Juneau – Tonight, the Alaska Legislature passed a compromise version of legislation to reform Alaska’s system of subsidizing the oil industry on the North Slope with tax credits. House Bill 111 ends Alaska’s unique cash for tax credits system and strengthens the four percent minimum tax to ensure Alaska receives some production tax revenue in times of low oil prices. Tonight’s compromise was brokered by House Resources Committee Co-chair Representative Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage), who served as the Chair of the HB 111 Conference Committee.
Anchorage – Representative Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage), Chair of the House Bill 111 Conference Committee, is calling the committee together for a meeting in Anchorage Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. to discuss a proposed compromise to end the unaffordable practice of paying oil companies on the North Slope cash for tax credits. The HB 111 Conference Committee is tasked with working out the differences between the competing versions of the bill passed by the Alaska House of Representatives and the Alaska State Senate.
I’m pleased to write this after having worked hard to negotiate a compromise bill to end oil and gas cash subsidy payments. When asked about these subsidies in a recent budget survey, 93% of respondents in our area said they needed to end. I listened and worked with my colleagues, and as the Chair of the Conference Committee on HB 111, to make that a reality.
The legislative per diem system should be fixed, in part because we can't send mixed messages about the worst fiscal crisis in Alaska history. Our bi-partisan Alaska House Majority Coalition came together and took hard votes to fix this crippling, harmful deficit. Some more conservative legislators so far have blocked that effort.
This past weekend the House and Senate formed a compromise on HB 111 to eliminate cash credits to oil companies. The House passed the bill by a vote of 33-6 and Senate passed it 18-0. After weeks of negotiating, the bill is estimated to save the state about $200 million per year over the next 10 years. With some limitations, companies can instead claim tax deductions after they start producing oil, which makes a lot more sense than handing money over with no way to tell if it is resulting in increased production.
Late July 15th, the legislature passed a landmark bipartisan reform eliminating cashable oil and gas tax credits. The compromise legislation ends Alaska’s cash for tax credits system and strengthens the four percent minimum tax and was passed with broad support.