Today, Rep. Les Gara launched the Summer Foster Youth Laptop Drive designed to pair foster youth with laptop computers donated by generous Alaskans.
“Past holiday drives were very successful, so we’re hoping to spread that success throughout the year,” said Rep. Gara, whose office started this effort with foster youth advocate Amanda Metivier two years ago.
“We need to take charge to guarantee Alaska’s housing market stays strong”
This afternoon, the governor signed HB 269, a bill by Representative Lindsey Holmes (D-Anchorage) that ensures housing projects in the state can keep moving forward.
Before this fix, an unintended glitch in state law could cause projects to stall out if their timeline ran a little too long. The obsolete provision was adopted in 1986 but has been updated nationally since 1994. HB 269 updates Alaska’s law to the national standard. The bill is widely supported by banks, trust companies, and homebuilders in Alaska.
It’s been almost a month since my last e-news and a lot has happened in that time. My office grew by two members: Anna White joined my staff during the special session and early this month, she gave birth to baby boy Quinlan. My husband Jim Powell received his PhD from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Natural Resources and Sustainability in mid-May. I am immensely proud of all the work he put into achieving this goal.
Because it’s been a while since my last newsletter, I’ll catch you up on the major legislative events that have occurred in the meantime. After a particularly exciting few days during special session, it finally ended with a whimper rather than a bang early Monday evening. Also, the governor released his line-item vetoes of the capital and operating budgets and I’ll share more detail below.
