Legislative Update
Teamster Legislative Update January 31, 2012
STATE – Juneau
Session has started and it has been busy here in Juneau. As mentioned previously, our most important issue in Juneau this session is the Oil/Gas tax. Last year the House passed House Bill 110 and sent it to the Senate where it currently sits in Senate Labor & Commerce. The committee held several hearings related to non‑resident hire on the North Slope related to oil industry jobs. On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, the committee heard a presentation by Jim Calvin with McDowell Group. His presentation focused on the results of their study of employment on the North Slope. The report titled,“Gas Industry Employment on Alaska’s North Slope” is available at Local 959. Unfortunately, the report did not provide any new information. It concluded on what we have known for years--that there are a lot of non-Alaskans working on the slope. Your Secretary/Treasurer, Rick Boyles, continues to meet with the oil industry representatives and discuss our concerns. He has made it clear that we do not want any hand outs. He has stated that our members are experienced, skilled professionals in their trade and can compete with the best. Some industry representatives have listened and contracts are being reevaluated. We do believe there is a need to change the current oil/gas structure and will continue those discussions with the legislators. A long-term plan that provides jobs and protects our States overall economic future should be included in the change. An adjustment to the progressivity would be a step in the right direction. To that end, Senate Bill 85 may become the Senate’s response to the Governor’s House Bill 110. We may see that bill reintroduced as a Senate committee bill as early as February 7, in the Resource Committee.
In addition to the oil and gas tax issue, the Film Industry Tax Incentive Program still remains another priority for us. We continue to reinforce the importance of passage of this bill. Mr. Boyles included this in his discussions with legislators as well.
The annual AFL-CIO conference was held in Juneau last week. It was well attended by Labor Representatives around the state, including Secretary/Treasurer, Rick Boyles. While Rick’s time was short, he was able to meet with Senator’s Stevens, Stedman, Hoffman, Paskvan, Thomas, McGuire, Wagoner, Coghill, Ellis, Menard and Speaker Chenault and Representative Stoltz. He also was able to spend time with Commissioner Bishop and discussed with him among other things the needs for our Training Trust.
Some of the highlights of the conference included Commissioner of Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Click Bishop, who welcomed us and gave an update on labor issues his department has been working on. Redistricting was another topic that was very informative. The Redistricting Board is currently waiting for Judge McConahy’s decision before proceeding with their current proposed plan. The judge’s decision is expected sometime between January 31 and February 10. While not final, we have included on our website a list of the current and new districts with representatives for those who may be interested. Also, the Redistricting Board has all of the maps on their website as well.
Other presenters at the conference included Neal Fried (Economist with DOL), our Labor Caucus, Senator’s Joe Thomas, Bill Wielechowski, Representative’s David Guttenberg and Chris Tuck. Senator Ellis presented an update from the Rules chair and various bills were discussed as well. We spent the better part of the afternoons and evenings meeting with many of our elected representatives to discuss those issues of concern impacting each of you.
Other Bills of interest to date:
· Senate State Affairs heard on January 26, Senator Egan’s bill, SB 121, Teachers and Public Employee Retirement Plans. We went on record supporting this bill which would give new hires the choice of a defined benefit or defined contribution plan. The actuary hired by APPC, which we are a member, and the States representatives have been in discussion for many months. We believe that the bill as presented is a cost “neutral”. As many will remember the PERS/TRS defined contribution plan was put in place, after a huge fight, in 2004. We lost the defined benefit plan by “one” vote on the House floor. We will continue to lobby the passage of Senate Bill 121.
· Senate Education committee heard Senate Bill 171, Increase the Base Student Allocation. This bill moved out of committee on Monday, January 30, and now is awaiting hearing in Senate Finance. This bill seems to be moving fast and may be over on the House side soon. Education funding will be a big issue also.
· Senate Finance committee heard Senate Bill 167 this year’s Oil/Gas tax “decoupling” bill on January 27. Two years ago when this legislation was introduced it became very controversial and died. This bill will change the allocation of cost under the state’s net-profits production tax. Currently oil is more valuable than gas. This bill would “decouple” (separate) them and tax them separately. The problem is that they share the same wells. We see many hearings in Finance regarding this legislation.
· Senator Myers Senate Bill 38 Police and Fire Death Benefits bill was heard and held in Senate Finance February 1. The bill provides a $100,000 benefit to the family of those killed in line of duty.
Lastly, next week a Pupil Transportation bill should be introduced. We are not taking a position on this legislation until we review. We are still considering whether it is a good idea to separate the funding of pupil transportation from the rest of the school budget. We look forward to reviewing and making our comments known.
FEDERAL – Washington, D.C.
· FAA Reauthorization - House & Senate leadership reached an agreement regarding the union election dispute. The new rule allows a union to be certified as a bargaining representative if a majority of workers who vote in the election approve a union, instead of the majority of all eligible voters. Before the rule those who did not vote were considered a “no” vote.
The agreement reached, maintains the new rule but increases the threshold for calling a vote. Currently, 35% of all eligible workers must petition for a vote to be held, the new threshold would increase to 50%. There are still a few other issues to be resolved before this issue moves forward.
· Keystone XL Pipeline Project - On January 18, the Obama administration announced a denial of permit to Keystone XL, stating that the 60-day deadline that was part of the payroll tax cut extension did not allow enough time for a full assessment of the project. TransCanada (Keystone Project owner) was surprised when the 60-day limit was included in the legislation that mandated the payroll tax cut extension. The Company stated they were not ready to proceed for at least a year. The administration has allowed for reapplication. TransCanada will reapply and hopes they will get an expedited application process that will allow for an in-service date sometime in late 2014. TransCanada is continuing to work with Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to find a route that avoids the Sand Hills region of the state.
· SAFETEA-LU (Named after Congressman Don Young’s late wife) according to a summary of the bill it would reauthorize highway and transit programs for another 5 years at $52 billion a year for a total of $260 billion. Revenue is coming from new oil and gas production. The Committee is intending to hold a mark up on Thursday, February 2. The state of Alaska receives a large share compared to other states of equal population. We are encouraging our delegation to keep up the good work and bring home the bacon. Currently, we do not have a statewide transportation program.
If you have any questions, I can be reached via email at bhuff@akteamsters.com or phone 907-227-4572. To get more detail on specific bills, track their movement, watch committee hearings, etc., log on to www.legis.state.ak.us.
Rick Boyles
Secretary-Treasurer
Events and Meetings
- 29th Annual Retirees Reunion The Alaska Teamsters 29th Annual Retirees Reunion is being held February 27th through March 1st in 2012.
- Membership Meeting Schedule
Monthly:
Anchorage:
February 2, 2012Fairbanks:
February 7, 2012Quarterly:
Clear - TBD
Healy - TBD
Kenai - TBD
Kodiak - TBD
Juneau - TBD
Valdez - TBD
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