Alaska Senate adjourns 31st Legislature sine die

• News Home
• More from News of the North

Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 6:05 PM

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Whatsapp

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The Alaska Senate adjourned sine die after it approved the House’s CARES Act funding ratification on Wednesday morning.

The Senate passed House Bill 313 on a 19-1 vote. Sen. Lora Reinbold was the sole "no" vote.

The bill is now on its way to Governor Mike Dunleavy to be signed into law. The bill has an immediate effective date and is retroactive to May 1, 2020.

The bill includes $568.6 million for community assistance; $290 million in grants for small businesses; $51.6 million for statewide aviation, rural airports and the Whittier Tunnel; $50 million in grants for the fishing industry; $45 million for K-12 education; $42 million for child nutrition programs; $29 million for rural transportation costs, including the Alaska Marine Highway System; $10 million for homeless assistance; $5 million for University of Alaska and its students; and $3.6 million for state and local law enforcement.

Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka spoke on the floor in support of the ratification.

"It may not be what everybody likes, it may not be what any any of us like, and I don't think any of us like the virus issue facing the state, the country and the world," Stedman said. "It's just what times we live and we have to adapt and address it head on. And this is the most effective, head-on and hard-hitting way the legislative body can do it."

Sen. Tom Begich of Anchorage also spoke after the vote on the issue of the governor’s re-opening of businesses this Friday.

"I am clear that the economic impacts of the hunker-down and the closure have been tremendous to the state," Begich said. "But so is the meaning of our system and its ability to uphold itself when under pressure, medical pressure. And the pressure of potential loss of life that's unnecessary, and the potential spread of this particular virus that I believe is now going to happen. I don't know what the driving force behind that decision is except for that we seem to have control today over this."

Begich says it’s too soon to open just yet. He cited the case totals in the multiple thousands in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and other small-population states.

Those states did not do strict stay-at-home or hunker-down orders like Alaska did.

"North Dakota now nears 2,000 cases and South Dakota has over 4,000 cases today," Begich said. "These are states that are similar populations to our own state. And yet we have now had a full re opening declared by the governor, without fully understanding what the implications of that re-opening will be."

All businesses, with few exceptions, are allowed to re-open at 8 a.m. Friday morning.

 

More from News of the North

• Last-minute Anan Wildlife Observatory permits available at the end of June

  Wrangell, Alaska (KINY) - Visitors will soon be able to submit requests for the last four daily permits to Anan Wildlife Observatory, which are meant to accommodate last-minute planning and need to be requested in person at the Wrangell Ranger District, up to one week in advance

• Alaska Delegation frustrated by interior’s delay of the Ambler Access Project

  Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-Alaska) and U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola (D-Alaska), today released the following joint statement after the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced an up to six-month delay for the finalization of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) for the proposed Ambler Access Project (AAP).

• Dozens evacuated from small cruise ship in Alaska after engine room fire

  Juneau, Alaska (AP) — A fire in the engine room of a small cruise ship in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve prompted the evacuation of dozens of passengers and crew on Monday. No injuries were reported, and the fire was extinguished, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

• CCFR on scene on Fritz Cove Road fire

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - CCFR responded to a fire toward the end of Fritz Cove Road at 2:31 AM.

• Murkowski leads bill to invest in blue cconomy, spark innovations in coastal communities

  Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Ocean Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act (Ocean ROI Act), legislation that would require the Secretary of Commerce to establish a federal strategy for investing in the nation’s ocean-based economy with “Ocean Innovation Clusters” (ocean clusters).

• Water & Sewer Utility Rates To Increase July 1

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - CBJ wants to remind citizens that there will be a utility rate increase effective July 1. The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly, in August of 2019, approved increases to both the water and sewer utility rates. The 2% rate increase will go into effect July 1.

• Comments exceed 100 in effort to shape future of integrated forest management on the Tongass

  Ketchikan, Alaska (KINY) - A public outreach designed to compile as much local input as possible to shape the future of integrated forest management on the Tongass National Forest is proving to be successful and there is still plenty of time to comment.

• Sitka Salmon Derby comes to a close

  Sitka, Alaska (KINY) - Yesterday, saw the 68th Sitka Salmon Derby come to a close. News of the North has the scores

• Brett Gilbert sentenced for 2017 hatchet murder

  Fairbanks, Alaska (KINY) - Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle sentenced 55-year-old Brett Gilbert to 75 years in prison for the murder of Mark Mitchell on July 30, 2017. Gilbert was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree earlier this year.

• A study to monitor the potentially imperiled Aleutian tern kicks off in Alaska

  Yakutat, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) - Researchers fear the uncommon bird may be in severe decline

• Juneau Symphony closes their 60th season with epic 'Showdowns'

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Juneau Symphony's theme for their 60th season was 'Epic' - and their final performance for the season went above and beyond.

• United Fishermen of Alaska announces support for Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Late last week, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at supporting rural fishing communities.