Here is a sampling of Alaska editorials:
July 17, 2017
Ketchikan Daily News: Another step closer
Alaska inched closer to eliminating its budget deficit over the weekend with the House and Senate agreeing to end cash payments to oil companies.
The numbers added to the sense of encouragement in the realization of an agreement, with the Senate voting unanimously, 18-0, and the House, 33-6.
The Legislature has been meeting since January in attempt to address the $2.5 billion deficit.
The oil-tax legislation will eliminate cash payments made at a rate of 35 percent of companies’ losses as of July 1, if Gov. Bill Walker signs the bill. The bill affects companies producing less than 50,000 barrels of oil daily.
The effect of the bill is about another $150 million to the state coffers, while the companies instead rely on tax deductions. Tax deductions take effect after a company begins producing oil, an economic incentive in itself. Over time, those tax deductions are reduced, as stipulated in the legislation.
The bill will be sent to Walker, while lawmakers will continue to discuss a capital budget. Legislators passed an operating budget before the end of June, but are approaching a month late with the capital budget.
But, such things will come to pass - probably when it’s least expected. Kind of like cash payments.
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July 19, 2017
Alaska Journal of Commerce: McConnell, GOP should have listened to Murkowski
The only conclusion that can be drawn from watching D.C. Republicans vomit all over themselves in their pathetic efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare is that they were just as surprised as Democrats when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
After spending the past seven years campaigning and fundraising on promises to scrap the widely unpopular law - and being rewarded with total control of all three branches of government - the GOP has found out what it’s like to be the dog that catches the car.
The destructive fallout from Obamacare isn’t the only thing that can be traced back to 2010. Just as the law laid the foundation for the Democrats’ decimation from the local to the national level over the next two midterm cycles, another event that year set the stage for the Republicans’ embarrassing self-inflicted defeat this past week in Congress.
After Joe Miller’s stunning upset of Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Republican primary, she decided to run as a write-in candidate and eventually triumphed to seal her status in the state’s political history alongside Rep. Don Young and the late Sen. Ted Stevens as virtually untouchable.
Before refusing to support the Republican nominee, Murkowski was one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s favored lieutenants in his so-called “kitchen cabinet.”
Once she decided to go it alone without the party’s support, McConnell was forced to remove her from that inner circle status, although he allowed her to keep her committee seniority in a move that has paid dividends since the GOP took over the Senate in 2014 and landed her the chairmanship of Energy and Natural Resources.
Now it is clear that McConnell would have benefitted from having Murkowski’s advice, not just on the flawed process on repealing and replacing Obamacare, but general best political practices.
When the GOP took over the Senate in 2014, helped by Sen. Dan Sullivan’s defeat of Mark Begich in Alaska, Murkowski tempered her literal chair-wielding enthusiasm with the best way forward.
“If Republicans fail to govern, if we say our responsibility is just to win the next cycle, we won’t win,” she said at Sullivan’s victory party. “We will not be in charge. We will not be setting the agenda. We will not be legislating.
“We have our chance now. This is our time and if the American public doesn’t see us doing the hard work, then we’re going to be shown the exit just as the Democrats have been this cycle.”
As the unbelievable news was sinking in this past November with Trump winning and the GOP holding the Senate, barely, Murkowski echoed her 2014 comments.
“This isn’t Christmas,” she said. “We still have to govern.”
She warned early on in the repeal-and-replace process that closed-door meetings would not produce a victory, and she was proven right yet again.
Murkowski’s bipartisanship and care to craft sound policy are so rare in D.C. that she probably qualifies for an Endangered Species Act listing.
The GOP could start listening to her for a change, or the entire party is going to be on a milk carton come 2018.
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July 18, 2017
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Last-minute agreement by Legislature helps ease fiscal crisis
It’s rare for the Legislature to provide a welcome surprise these days, but one came Saturday with the passage of a compromise deal on oil tax credits that is forecast to save the state hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Although the legislation passed at the end of the group’s second special session doesn’t go all or even most of the way toward closing Alaska’s multibillion-dollar budget gap, it is at least a good step in that direction and a hopeful sign that compromise - even on consequential, complicated revenue solutions - is possible for legislators. Legislators should build on this progress.
Where lawmakers ended up on oil tax credits wasn’t too far from Gov. Bill Walker’s compromise plan put forward in early June, but there were many roadblocks along the way. The Senate’s leadership wanted a relatively straightforward end to cash payments of tax credits without any guarantee of production. The bipartisan House majority coalition also favored an end to cash payments, but also favored revisions to the overall oil tax scheme that they said gave the state a fairer share of revenue. Detractors of the House approach said it was unwise to revamp oil taxes again after several recent changes, accusing the House of trying to soak the industry in a manner that would have a serious chilling effect on oil and gas development.
Ultimately, the Legislature settled on an approach that would require companies to produce oil from sites where they’re attempting to claim credits - a step up from the current system, which rewards exploration regardless of whether it ultimately leads to production. Although the state Department of Revenue doesn’t estimate the move will save money this year, the savings add up quickly in the years to follow - $85 million in fiscal 2019, $185 in fiscal 2020 and a total of almost $1.5 billion during the next decade. It’s the kind of a credit system that makes more sense for the state, one that ties credits to actual increases in production. It should help ensure that firms don’t exploit the system to take fliers on long shots with little chance of development.
Regardless of what revenue philosophy you support, the compromise on oil tax credits is a hopeful sign with regard to unraveling the state’s fiscal crisis. An average of about $150 million per year over the next decade is by no means chump change - it’s almost half of the state’s general fund allocation to the University of Alaska, to give a sense of scale. If lawmakers can come to terms on one revenue measure, there’s no reason further progress isn’t possible, such as the Alaska Permanent Fund earnings restructuring plan that both majority groups agree is worthwhile and necessary to any balanced budget plan.
For the moment, however, the most pressing short-term priority is the passage of the state’s capital budget, which will allow progress on crucial road projects and other items. There are already hopeful signs that legislators are working together to iron out differences and get that budget passed before the end of this month. If legislators can maintain their focus and continue the progress they’ve developed, this year could prove productive for the state. That would be a welcome development, since compromises may be in short supply next year with elections looming.
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