04/07/1998 03:05 PM House HES

HJR 58 - CONST AM: EDUCATION FUND                                              
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN BUNDE announced the next bill on the agenda was HJR 58,               
Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska                
relating to the education fund.  He asked Representative Cowdery,              
the bill sponsor, to come forward.                                             
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN COWDERY, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor,                
said HJR 58 would place a constitutional amendment on the ballot               
that would designate 40 percent of revenues from Arctic National               
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) lease sales and royalties to fund education.            
He said the intent of this bill is twofold.  First, he thinks it's             
in the best interests of Alaska that our natural resources be                  
developed reasonably and responsibly.  The current status of the               
ANWR is contrary to the well-being of Alaska's economy and                     
consequently Alaska's ability to fund education.  Some years ago,              
he met with a number of people involved with the permanent fund to             
discuss the criteria needed to spend the permanent fund when the               
time came.  Even at that time when there was lots of money                     
available to spend, the group was unable to come to a decision.                
Therefore, the intent of this resolution is twofold - to get people            
thinking about ANWR again and to help stabilize educational                    
funding.                                                                       
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN BUNDE asked if Representative Cowdery would be interested             
in expanding this to PET-4 as well.                                            
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY said he would consider that as a friendly               
amendment, but he had been thinking along the lines of a separate              
piece of legislation for that.                                                 
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER said, "Are we not greatly restrained from                
revenue in PET-4 as opposed to what we would be in ANWR?"                      
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY directed the committee's attention to the               
chart depicting potential state ANWR revenues.  He viewed this as              
a type of mini permanent fund for education for the future.                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE KEMPLEN commented he favored the idea of an                     
education fund.                                                                
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN BUNDE asked Representative Cowdery to do research                     
regarding the PET-4 revenues and come before the committee at a                
later date for further discussion.                                             
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER understood the state's potential from revenue            
and taxation is grossly less in PET-4 because it is a naval                    
petroleum reserve outside the normal federal distribution.  He said            
the motivating thing about this resolution is that it doesn't do               
anything unless ANWR works and that is at least half of his                    
interest in the bill.                                                          
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN BUNDE offered that PET-4 is far from a done deal.                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY said in terms of ANWR, he thought if all the            
communities would get behind the development of ANWR, there may be             
more support for this.                                                         
                                                                               
WILLIE ANDERSON, Representative, NEA-Alaska, testified in support              
on this constitutional amendment.  He said HJR 58 is a forward                 
looking bill and NEA-Alaska offered their help in getting this                 
piece of legislation passed.  He said having a dedicated fund for              
education is good idea that's long overdue.                                    
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN BUNDE remarked that HJR 58 would be held in committee and             
heard at a later date.