Greetings and Salutations Friends, Neighbors, and Alaskans!
After a hectic and overloaded final week, the second session of the 32nd Alaska State Legislature has finally come to an end with a few major policy wins and some unfortunate misses. Before I provide a rundown on what happened within the closing days of this session, I wanted to make mention of how honored I was to serve the people of District B and Alaska in the 32nd Legislature. This job has been humbling, challenging, and more often than not frustrating but it has been an experience. With my freshman term in office coming to its close I have much to ponder in terms of how to move forward with the policy goals that I ran on within the unfortunate political realities of Juneau. I also want to thank my wife Dawna and my family for the sacrifices they have made in the past two years in supporting me in my service to the state.
LEGISLATIVE WINS: Within the last few weeks both chambers of the legislature were able to pass several positive pieces of legislation including SB 81 Village Public Safety Officers Grants, HB 347 Confidentiality of Animal Records (which I carried the Senate companion for), and SB 177 Microreactors. Another major legislative victory was the Alaska Reads Act which was unanimously passed by the Senate and was finally made law after 4 years when it was rolled into HB 114. The Alaska Reads Act is a major step forward toward improving education outcomes in our state. A special congratulations to Senator Holland, Hughes, and Begich along with Governor Dunleavy for seeing years of hard work come to fruition.
BUDGET BONANZA: Once again the legislature waited till the literal 11th hour to pass the state's budget. While I did vote for both the Senate version of the budget and voted to concur with the final product produced by the budget conference committee, I still hold a good deal of reservations about both the size of the budget and the process by which it was produced. The Senate budget was really three budgets in one as both the capital and supplemental budgets were jammed into the House operating budget HB 281 to form a so-called “turducken” budget. While this type of action is not unprecedented it is still a move that lacks transparency and goes against the spirit of bicameral legislative procedure. The budget the Senate produced was not perfect and was frankly bloated in many areas, but the budget we passed on the floor had key investments in our state and an approximately $4,300 statutory amount dividend along with a one-time energy rebate of $1,300, making the total approximately $5,600 per Alaskan. Unfortunately, the House failed to concur with the Senate's budget leading to a conference committee that inevitably cut the dividend.
According to some, the budget that the Senate passed last week was too big. Instead, the budget that came out of the conference committee was basically the same but with a smaller dividend. I voted yes because I knew that if there was another round from a conference committee would have just cut the dividend even more. While the final budget is too large and the $2,550 dividend and a $650 relief assistance bonus are insufficient this budget is better than any product continued to debate with this legislature’s makeup would of led to. To watch my floor speech on the conference committee budget, click here.
I want it to be clear that moving forward I will continue to fight to reduce the size of our behemoth state government and will never give up on fighting for a meaningful PFD for the people of Alaska.
Always advocating on your behalf,
Robb
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SB 136 LIMITATIONS ON FIREARMS RESTRICTIONS - SB 136 is a bill that my office worked on in collaboration with House Republicans and trade associations to establish that during a declaration of a disaster emergency, neither the state nor a municipal agency may not forbid the possession, use, or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory, ammunition, or another weapon for personal use. SB 136 received bipartisan support in both bodies but unfortunately was not able to overcome the disfunction on the House as it died on day 120 when members of the House coalition prevented it from moving to final passage.
SB 168 DONATIONS/GIFTS FOR DOT&PF SIGNAGE - SB 168 provides receipt authority to the Department of Transportation that it needs to be able to collect donations for signage. On 5/5/22 SB 168 became my first piece of legislation pass the full legislature. A special thanks to Representative George Rauscher who carried SB 168 and its companion in the House.
SB 170 MARINE HIGHWAY CORPORATION - SB 170, sponsored by the Senate Transportation Committee, would transition the AMHS into a public corporation to stabilize the management structure, foster greater alignment between management and labor, limit exposure to political influence, and stabilize the finances of the system. After eight hearings the Senate Transportation were able to produce a bipartisan product that will hopefully serve next year as a starting point for continued work on improving our broken state ferry system
SB 190 EXTEND REGULATORY COMMISSION OF ALASKA - SB 190 is a simple bill that extends the termination date of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) in accordance with the recommendation of the Legislative Auditor. After a prolonged and drawn-out journey SB 190 was finally passed by the House on the last day of session.
SB 223 CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANIMAL RECORDS - SB 223 would make selected information that livestock producers must disclose to the State of Alaska confidential and not subject to public disclosure (except in case of an outbreak) resulting in protection for livestock producers’ proprietary business interests. On 5/17/22 I presented the House companion bill HB 347 by Representative Rauscher on the Senate floor where it was unanimously passed. The bill is now on it's way to the Governor for signage.
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A Bittersweet Goodbye to Michaella
Unfortunately this year we must bid farewell to our office's amazing Chief of Staff Michaella Anderson. For the last two years Michaella has been the glue that held our office together and a major driver of our legislative success. We wish her great success as she transition to her new role as Government Relations Manager for the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. Congratulations Michaella! We will miss you dearly!
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Transportation: It was an honor to serve as the Senate Transportation Committee chair for the 32nd Legislature. This year our committee was busier than most Transportation committees in the past decade. Over the past few months, our committee worked diligently on major pieces of legislation including SB 166 G.O. Bonds for Infrastructure Projects and SB 231 Ak Railroad Corp; Exec Budget Act both by request of the Governor. The committee also committed a great deal of time to work on SB 170 Marine Highway Corporation seeking input from stakeholders and working towards bipartisan improvements to the legislation. The hard work done by the committee can not be understated and I would like to thank committee members Vice-Chair Senator Shower, Senator Bishop, Senator Micciche, and Senator Kiehl for their contributions in moving transportation issues in our state forward.
For Information on past and present bills in Senate Transportation Committee click here.
Community & Regional Affairs: This session I once again had the pleasure to serve as Vice-Chair of Senate Community & Regional Affairs (C&RA). In this last session, C&RA spent time reviewing a wide array of issues from Micronuclear reactors with the Governors SB 177 to Disaster Emergency Proclamations with Senator Reinbold’s SB 144 and Food Strategy Task Force’s with Representative Snyder’s HB 298. I would like to thank Chair Hughes and other members of the committee for their work on these issues.
For Information on past and present bills in Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee click here.
Senate Judiciary Committee: This last session has been filled with a fair degree of drudgery for the Senate judiciary committee. Under the stewardship of Chair Holland, the committee worked on a number of crime bills as part of the Governors overall crime/sexual assault prevention indicatives. These bills we worked on included SB 187 Harassment; Sex Offenders & Offenses, SB 189 Crime Of Sex/Human Trafficking by request of the Governor, and HB 325 Domestic Violence by Representative Rasmussen. While the work in committee was not always easy or pleasant given the topics we covered it was important that we took the time to address the sizeable issues of crime and sexual assault within our state and I thank the other members of Senate Judiciary for all their work.
For Information on past and present bills in Senate Judiciary Committee click here.
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Meet My Awesome Staff!
For further information, responses and feedback please contact my office anytime. Below you can find contact info and committee/bill assignments for each member of team Myers.
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Dawson Mann- Legislative Aide
- Senate Transportation Committee Aide
- Senator's Aide for Community & Regional Affairs Committee
Dawson.Mann@akleg.gov
907-451-2157
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About Me
Senator Robert Myers was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. He spent much of his young childhood at the Salchaket Roadhouse which his parents owned. Growing up, Robb developed a passion for Alaska. He attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he studied philosophy, political science, and history. During college he drove for a tour company where he was able to share Alaska with countless people. He currently drives truck and travels the Haul Road frequently. He ran for office because he wants an Alaska his children will choose to make their home down the road. When Robb isn’t working, he enjoys reading, history, board games, and spending time with his wife Dawna and his five kids.
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