April 6, 2009 - Delivered by Jason Brune, RDC Executive Director via phone
On behalf of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, Inc., (RDC), I am testifying today in support of HB36.
RDC is a statewide, non-profit, membership-funded organization founded in 1975. The RDC membership is comprised of individuals and companies from Alaska’s oil and gas, mining, timber, tourism, and fisheries industries, as well as Alaska Native corporations, local communities, organized labor, and industry support firms. RDC’s purpose is to link these diverse interests together to encourage a strong, diversified private sector in Alaska and expand the state’s economic base through the responsible development of our natural resources.
Although we sometimes may question the appropriateness and the role of the petition process as a means of governing, RDC appreciates the democratic rights of Alaskans to change state law through the initiative process. However, as we have seen over the last several years, a number of proposed initiatives have been brought forward that do not have the best interest of the state nor its people in mind. Furthermore, tactics are often used in the signature gathering process that mislead the public and misconstrue the issues and impacts at play.
RDC believes that openness and transparency must be at the forefront of good government.
This bill will require both public and legislative hearings for initiatives. This is a good idea. The process each of you as legislators go through to pass laws is extremely thorough. Unintended consequences of a piece of legislation are usually vetted through the numerous committee hearings, public testimony, and floor debates that a bill requires.
Each of you who generously give of your time to make laws for this great state are required to disclose how you raise money and how you spend money. Why shouldn’t we hold those who are attempting to change state law through the initiative process to that same standard? And, why wouldn’t we make them disclose the source of their funds while they are collecting 30,000 plus signatures statewide. This openness and transparency will bring into the light of day the agendas, hidden or not, of the initiative sponsors.
In response to Rep. Lynn’s question from this morning, we very much would oppose an amendment that prohibits “foreign” contributions to this process. There is a large number of these so called “foreign” companies that invest in Alaska, that employ Alaskans be it in the oil and gas sector, mining, fisheries, tourism, etc. By doing business in Alaska, they demonstrate that they have a dog in this fight and they should be allowed to participate in the process.
If I could encourage you to add a different amendment, it would be to require signature gatherers to tell the truth. Sadly, this does not always occur.
Let’s take the cruise ship initiative for example, many petition signers were told this issue was a head tax. It clearly was much more than that which has been demonstrated by the fact that Since its passage, the legislature has already passed two laws to clean up items that were not “head tax” related. Amazingly, initiative signature gatherers aren’t even required to carry the complete initiative with them. HB36 would put that requirement in place. We must bring openness and transparency back to this process.
HB36 will also limit signature gatherers to only collecting signatures for 1 initiative at a time. I have seen signature gathers first hand blur the lines between different initiatives for which they are collecting signatures. It’s easy to do, and frankly, it’s a disservice to the general public. HB36 would prevent intentional muddying of the waters.
In conclusion, the statement was made this morning in previous testimony that the signature gatherers police themselves. I am not confident in this self-policing. Standards must be put in place to ensure a candid process and we applaud the bill’s author and co-sponsors for introducing the bill. This is one of the most important bills to my members and to the state of Alaska. I urge your support of HB36.
