KTUU 2
Today, the group Alaskans for Bristol Bay announced that it has gathered enough signatures for a local ballot measure that the group says could put the brakes on the proposed Pebble Mine. The move would put an inititative on the Lake and Peninsula Borough’s ballot in October.
A controversial issue from the August primary ballot made its way into court Friday. Ballet Measure 2, which passed, and is now the parental notification law, would require minors under the age of 18 to notify a parent or guardian before getting an abortion.
The group behind Ballot Measure 1, Clean Team Alaska, and one of its largest financial backers have been fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Ballot Measure 1 is an initiative that would prohibit the use of public funds to lobby or campaign, and also prohibit holders of government contracts and family members from making political contributions. Clean Team Alaska closed its doors in June, after Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell changed the language of the ballot initiative.
The Anchorage School Board voted Monday to oppose the anti-corruption initiative expected on the ballot this August. School Board President John Steiner says the initiative would make it harder for the district to explain its concerns and needs to lawmakers because it would bar, in part, government from paying lobbying groups.
A statewide ballot initiative is getting some attention from Fairbanks politicians and union leaders who are opposed to it. A rally was held Saturday at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers headquarters in Fairbanks to oppose Ballot Measure 1. The ballot initiative aims to tighten restrictions on campaign contributions and publicly funded lobbyists. Opponents say it goes too far, impeding free-speech rights and important government functions.
Alaskans can find out who’s financing ballot initiative organizers far sooner under a bill the Legislature passed late Sunday. Rep. Kyle Johansen’s bill now goes to Gov. Sean Parnell. The Ketchikan Republican says past initiative campaigns had been heavily financed by out-of-state interests. They didn’t have to report their finances until after the question had been certified for the ballot.
A campaign finance disclosure bill for those organizing and influencing Alaska ballot initiatives is headed to the House floor. The House Finance Committee passed Rep. Kyle Johansen’s bill Tuesday. Current law requires disclosures, but a Johansen aide says that’s after a process that can take up to a year and includes having the ballot question’s language certified and cleared by the attorney general; signatures gathered and the measure approved for the ballot.
An Alaska judge has ordered the lieutenant governor to rewrite ballot language for a proposed abortion initiative. But Superior Court Judge Frank Pfiffner stopped short of ordering the measure be kept off the ballot this year. Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and ACLU of Alaska argued the language used in circulating petitions for the parental consent initiative was misleading.
A bill that could change the ballot initiative process in Alaska is making its way through the legislature. House Bill 36 was the topic of discussion at the Anchorage Chamber’s Make it Monday forum this week. Industry leaders spoke in favor of the bill that claims to create an open and transparent process, but opponents say it would make it harder for individual Alaskans to enact legislation that concerns them.
Alaska voters in Fairbanks and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough rejected sales taxes Tuesday while measures that could lead to increased availability of booze were winning in Bethel and Kotzebue. The Fairbanks 3% sales tax proposal was tied to a measure to reduce property taxes. The plan could have increased spending on roads, police and fire protection by $8 million. Former Mayor Steve Thompson, a supporter, said critics used scare tactics to defeat the measure.
The Alaskans for Parental Rights campaign began Thursday night, a quest to place the issue of parental consent for minors to have an abortion before Alaska voters. The event kicked off minus one of the star speakers that had been advertised for weeks — former Gov. Sarah Palin. But a very vocal right-to-life advocate made her pitch to Alaskan voters at ChangePoint Church — Star Parker, a nationally known crusader, was here to stir the faithful. “I was using abortion as my birth control,” Parker said.
Mat-Su Borough Mayor Talis Colberg exercised his veto power Wednesday morning, turning down a ballot measure for a new borough sales tax. The borough Assembly voted Tuesday night to put a measure on the October ballot to increase the borough sales tax.