05/09/2022 01:00 PM House RESOURCES

        SJR 23-SUPPORTING NAMING MTN AFTER GAIL PHILLIPS                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
1:20:39 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced  that the first order  of business would                                                               
be SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO.  23, Expressing the support of the                                                               
Alaska State  Legislature for naming  the mountain  between Cedar                                                               
Ridge and Hope Peak south of Anchorage after Gail Phillips.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
1:21:13 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
BRIX   HAHN,   Staff,   Senator  Donald   Olson,   Alaska   State                                                               
Legislature, introduced SJR 23 on  behalf of Senator Olson, prime                                                               
sponsor.   She presented the  sponsor statement [included  in the                                                               
committee packet],  which read  as follows  [original punctuation                                                               
provided]:                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
     Born in Juneau and raised  in Nome, the late Speaker of                                                                    
     the House, Gail Phillips, was  an Alaskan at heart. She                                                                    
     left  an   impression  on   the  political   minds  and                                                                    
     philanthropic hearts of Alaskans.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
     In  her lifetime,  she spent  years  working for  local                                                                    
     airlines, teaching,  serving on  the board  of Iditarod                                                                    
     Trail  Race Committee,  owned  a  sporting goods  shop,                                                                    
     lead  the Homer  Chamber  of Commerce,  was elected  to                                                                    
     Homer's City Council, served on  the board of the Kenai                                                                    
     Peninsula  Borough  Assembly,  mined for  gold  on  the                                                                    
     Seward Peninsula  and, of course, served  in the Alaska                                                                    
     House of Representatives.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
     She  brought  together   urban  republicans  and  rural                                                                    
     democrats to form  a coalition that she  led as Speaker                                                                    
     of the  House for two consecutive  terms. Following her                                                                    
     political career, Gail worked  as executive director of                                                                    
     the   Exxon-Valdez  Oil   Spill   Trustees,  and   upon                                                                    
     retirement   she   mentored  future   politicians   and                                                                    
     consulted for natural resource development in Alaska.                                                                      
     Upon her death, she was  actively serving on the boards                                                                    
     of the  Iditarod Trail Race  Foundation and  the Alaska                                                                    
     Aviation  Museum.  She  was  involved  in  her  church,                                                                    
     Anchor  Park United  Methodist and  all her  grandsons'                                                                    
     activities.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
     She  was a  daughter,  sister, wife,  mother, aunt  and                                                                    
     grandmother.   Her  leadership   was  not   limited  to                                                                    
     politics alone,  her entire family benefitted  from her                                                                    
     guidance that she  learned at the knee  of Alaska State                                                                    
     Territorial Representative, L.E. Ost, her grandfather.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     Mountains are  stable, strong and brave,  Gail Phillips                                                                    
     lived her life with these defining attributes.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
     Her  family and  I are  now advocating  for one  of her                                                                    
     favorite mountains  on the Kenai Peninsula  to be named                                                                    
     in her honor.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR PATKOTAK  announced that the  committee would  hear invited                                                               
testimony on SJR 23.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
1:23:51 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
ROBIN PHILLIPS provided invited testimony  on SJR 23.  She stated                                                               
she is  representing the family  of Gail Phillips which  hopes to                                                               
have this mountain named federally as well [as by the state].                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
1:24:53 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS  asked why this  mountain was one  of Gail                                                               
Phillips' favorite mountains on the Kenai Peninsula.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MS. ROBIN  PHILLIPS replied  that Gail  grew up  loving mountains                                                               
and was a  representative of the Kenai Peninsula.   She said that                                                               
upon her retirement Gail moved to  Anchorage and had a home built                                                               
that  overlooked the  mountains  of the  Kenai  Peninsula.   Gail                                                               
loved  the  drive  between  Homer  and  Anchorage,  Ms.  Phillips                                                               
continued,  and the  family looked  for  an unnamed  peak on  the                                                               
Kenai Peninsula  that Gail would have  been able to see  from her                                                               
home in Anchorage.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
1:26:16 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR PATKOTAK opened public testimony  on SJR 23, then closed it                                                               
after ascertaining that no one wished to testify.                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
1:26:45 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  HANNAN stated  she has  no objection  to honoring                                                               
Ms. Gail  Phillips but that she  will be a  no vote on SJR  23 on                                                               
the House floor because she  is philosophically opposed to naming                                                               
natural  features with  human  names.   She  further stated  that                                                               
Alaska has returned to Indigenous names, such as Mount Denali.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
1:28:00 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS  related that  a few years  ago he  had the                                                               
honor of  talking with  the former  Speaker of  the House  at her                                                               
Anchorage  home and  he appreciates  Senator Olson  carrying this                                                               
joint resolution forward.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
MS.  HAHN offered  her understanding  of Representative  Hannan's                                                               
statement.   She  noted that  SJR 23  doesn't guarantee  that the                                                               
mountain will be named, it just supports it.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
1:28:55 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  HOPKINS moved  to  report SJR  23 from  committee                                                               
with  individual  recommendations  and  the  accompanying  fiscal                                                               
note.  There  being no objection, SJR 23 was  reported out of the                                                               
House Resources Standing Committee.