Latest news with #HouseBill116
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alaska Legislature makes progress on aid package for ailing seafood industry
Commercial fishing boats are lined up at the dock at Seward's harbor on June 22, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) To help pull the struggling Alaska seafood industry out of its tailspin, state lawmakers passed some bills aimed at lightening the financial load on harvesters and advanced others that are intended to help businesses and fishery-dependent municipalities. The bills stemmed from recommendations made by the Joint Legislative Task Force Evaluating Alaska's Seafood Industry, which was created by lawmakers last year and which completed its work with a report at the start of this year's session. Lawmakers passed two task force-related bills, giving unanimous or near-unanimous support. One of them, House Bill 116, allows Alaska fishing organizations to establish their own insurance cooperatives. The other bill, Senate Bill 156, shores up the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank with a long-term loan from the state to keep the cooperative organization in business. The bills pose little to no costs to the state, according to legislative analysis. And they are only incremental steps toward addressing the big problems facing a major Alaska industry. Multiple and often interrelated forces have dragged down nearly all sectors of the seafood industry: low fish prices resulting from glutted world markets, high operating costs, financial turmoil among processing companies, labor shortages and numerous stock collapses or poor returns tied to a variety of environmental conditions, including climate change. While Alaska produces about 60% of the nation's seafood, that volume is overwhelmed by international supplies and global economic forces, limiting lawmakers' options to respond effectively, said Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau. 'Our role is not as big as we imagine. That means the Legislature has only so many tools,' said Kiehl, who served on the task force. 'But you see us, I think, turning the knobs.' Beyond the bills passed this year, other bills resulting from the task force recommendations have advanced far enough to be approaching full floor votes; the Legislature works in two-year cycles, and bills introduced this year carry over to next year. Those remaining seafood task force bills carry price tags for the state, however. They will get some extra scrutiny next year, given the state's dire fiscal condition created by reduced investment earnings and lower oil revenues, task force members said. 'We are in new and unusual times where, you know, we have to look at every issue and try to decide if it's worth the additional cost,' said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, who served as the task force's chair. One bill, Senate Bill 135, would increase local governments' share of seafood taxes that are currently split with the state government. Currently, fishery business and seafood tax revenues are split evenly between the state and local governments; the bill would allow the local governments up to 75% of those revenues. Some fishing communities endured steep losses from the industry's woes. The island community of St. Paul, for example, saw a drop of nearly 90% of its tax revenue in 2024 after key crab harvests were canceled, according to legislative information. To Stevens, the sacrifice of state revenue through a smaller cut of fish taxes seems justified. Local governments' troubles are likely to continue, he said. 'I think that it'll be even more apparent that we need to give those fellows a break,' he said. Another important bill that resulted from the task force's report would broaden the state tax credit granted to companies that invest in equipment to create new seafood products, adding value to the fish they process. The two versions of the measure, Senate Bill 130 and House Bill 129, both had been sent to their respective bodies' finance committees prior to last week's adjournment of the session. The annual cost to the state would range from $930,000 to $4.2 million a year, depending on different scenarios, according to the state Department of Revenue's analysis of the Senate version. That might be seen as considerable, Stevens conceded. 'But I think it's a fair cost,' he said. It could improve the fortunes of the processing sector and potentially result in more revenues ultimately to the state, he said. Kiehl has high hopes for the bill. It will encourage the development of high-end products, key to the industry's recovery, he said. 'As much as our seafood as we can put into a premium space, that will help,' he said. Differentiating Alaska salmon, for example, as a premium product is critical when competition comes from huge amounts of cheap Russian salmon harvested by fish traps rather than by small family businesses, he said. At the same time, there are opportunities for Alaska fish oil and fish meal to be molded into new products like nutritional supplements, Kiehl said. Those opportunities could be explored by companies investing in equipment to add value to the raw fish they process, he said. The budget that lawmakers passed also reflects task force recommendations for boosted state marketing efforts. The budget includes a $10 million allocation for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the state agency that promotes Alaska fish products domestically and internationally. Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a similar amount from last year's budget but has expressed support for the ASMI funding this year. An estimated 70 percent of Alaska's fish is sold outside of the United States, according to ASMI. To Kiehl, that shows the importance of the organization's international marketing. 'I don't see a point in the next several decades when Americans buy all of our fish,' he said. 'Americans aren't eating salmon roe or herring roe. Americans don't eat sea cucumbers.' Not in the budget, however, is any significant increase for Alaska Department of Fish and Game fishery research, Stevens said. That may be possible in the future if the state manages to bring in more revenue through tools like changes in oil taxes, he said. More ominously, the Trump administration has slashed positions and fisheries research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with potentially dramatic impacts to Alaska. 'That's really shocking,' Stevens said. 'I am really concerned when the federal government talks about cutting science and research and all the things that they do right now to protect our fisheries.' The state cannot replicate that work by NOAA and its National Marine Fisheries Service, he said. 'The assumption that some people make, 'Oh, the feds can't do it, the state will,' However, we don't have the money to do all these things,' he said. Beyond fisheries, Stevens worries about deep cuts to federal social programs like Medicaid. 'It's going to be an enormous problem, maybe $1 billion, that the feds walk away from. We can't fill that gap.' Other fishery-related bills in addition to those recommended by the task force are also pending. One of them, House Bill 125, would reconfigure the state Board of Fisheries by designating two seats each to the commercial, sport and subsistence sectors, with the seventh seat to represent the science community. Sponsored by Rep. Nellie Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay, the passed the House on May 17 by a relatively close 22-17 vote. It now moves to the Senate. A bill introduced by Dunleavy would expand ASMI's authority, allowing it to market mariculture products. The idea has received a mixed response from the mariculture industry; some kelp harvesters are receptive, but many key shellfish growers oppose it. The Senate version of the measure, Senate Bill 131, had reached that body's finance committee by early May. The bodies' finance committees are usually the last stops for bills before they put up for floor votes. The House version, House Bill 135, had not seen action since March.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC GOP lawmakers want to make Johnston County, other school board elections partisan
Republican state lawmakers want to make Johnston County school board elections partisan over the objections of the district's education leaders. In April, the school board rejected the Johnston County Republican Party request to ask the General Assembly to make its elections partisan. But this week, the state Senate added partisan school board races in Johnston and Gaston counties to a bill that would make Columbus County school board elections partisan. Sen. Benton Sawrey, a Johnston County Republican, said the entire county legislative delegation requested the change. All the Johnston County state lawmakers are Republicans. 'Adding partisan labels on the ballot has widespread support in the county,' Sawrey said in an interview Wednesday. 'This change gives all voters consistent information about party affiliation and allows us to conduct elections in the same manner that we elect our county commissioners.' House Bill 116 was passed Tuesday by the Senate Elections Committee and Wednesday by the Senate Rules Committee. It will go to the full Senate for a vote before seeing if the House will support the changes to the bill it previously approved. If adopted, it would go into effect for the 2026 school board elections. Johnston County is North Carolina's seventh-largest school district. It has more than 36,000 students. In recent years, the district has made headlines for how Ronald Johnson was convicted of extortion charges and removed from the school board. School board chair Lyn Andrews did not immediately return a voicemail message and email on Wednesday from The News & Observer requesting comment on the legislation. Andrews, a registered Republican, was one of the members who voted down the resolution requesting the election change. School board member April Lee called it 'underhanded' how the election change was inserted into a separate bill. Lee, who is registered as unaffiliated but was supported by Democrats, had voted against the resolution. 'Even if you agree that our Board of Education elections should be partisan, do you agree with how this is being done?' Lee said in a Facebook post Tuesday. 'I know as a voter, I don't. Sneaking things in shouldn't be the way we do things.' The change is opposed by groups who say school board elections should be nonpartisan. 'What this bill does, it injects state and national politics into our school boards,' Mark Swallow, a member of the liberal activist group Democracy Out Loud, said at the Senate Elections Committee meeting. 'They do not need this poison. It does does not help our students' education.' The Republican-controlled General Assembly has sharply increased the number of partisan school board elections. State lawmakers have focused on making school board elections partisan in Republican areas, including Catawba, Craven, Henderson and Union counties. Prior to 2013, only 10 of North Carolina's 115 districts had partisan school board elections, according to EducationNC. But 52 school districts held partisan elections last November. The Johnston County Republican Party has promoted the switch to partisan elections as a way to win all seven school board seats. In an April Facebook post, the Johnston County GOP pointed out that the only non-Republicans elected countywide sit on the school board. Five of the school board seats are held by registered Republicans. One seat is held by a Democrat. One seat is held by an unaffiliated voter. 'Recent polling data from Differentiators Data, a premier North Carolina-based data and political intelligence firm, shows that 85% of all Johnston County General Election Voters prefer to have partisan labels on the ballot for County School Board Races,' the Johnston County Republican Party said in a Facebook post Tuesday. 'Further the data shows that Republicans prefer partisan labels by 86% and UNA by 87%.' Differentiators Data is a conservative consulting firm that has worked with dozens of powerful Republican political and business clients. Johnston County school board elections have been nonpartisan since state lawmakers passed legislation in 1997. According to a 1997 News & Observer article, school leaders hoped the change away from partisan elections would lead to the election of more minorities. 'Johnston County has grown from 80,000 people to 240,000 people since we made the change from partisan to nonpartisan several decades ago,' said Sawrey, the lawmaker. 'We owe it to our voters to make sure that they can easily identify some of the core values of a particular candidate.' But Swallow of Democracy Out Loud pointed out that neither Gaston County's school board nor Johnston County's school board had requested a move to partisan elections. Swallow said the change is likely to result in the election of more Republicans and fewer women to the school board. 'We all know school boards are to oversee and guide public education, ensure that schools are well run, resources are used wisely, high standards of academic performance are met while representing the whole community, and encourage the hire and retention of good teachers,' Swallow told lawmakers. 'This bill doesn't help with any of that.'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill seeks to exempt Alaska commercial fishers' insurance pools from tighter regulation
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, speaks to the Alaska House of Representatives on Friday, April 25, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) To avoid high insurance costs, some groups of commercial fishers in Alaska have formed cooperatives to collectively pay liability and damage claims themselves. A bill passed April 25 by the Alaska House of Representatives would exempt these cooperatives from regulation under the state's insurance laws. The House voted 37-0 to pass House Bill 116, which now goes to the Senate for consideration. The bill was carried on the House floor by Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, but came from the ideas of a legislative task force assigned to study the commercial fishing industry, she told the House. The three insurance cooperatives already operating in the state are organized under Washington state law, she said, and cover about 840 vessels. The legal change would allow Alaska fishers to organize other pools locally. 'This bill comes at no cost to the state and supports our fishing industry by simply allowing Alaska-based commercial fishing insurance cooperatives to form,' she said. 'Rising premiums and availability of insurance serve as a barrier to operating for Alaska's aging commercial fishing fleet. Underwriters have been raising premiums on individual vessels and have become increasingly selective of which vessels they choose to ensure.' Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said that insurance is now required in order to enter Homer's small boat harbor, and she's heard from fishers in other communities who now wonder whether they can afford to fish. 'I think this is a wonderful opportunity to allow a free market,' she said. 'They take the risk, but it just says, hey, we want to no longer restrict you if this is something that you want to take on and be able to form a group for yourself.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Paying with cryptocurrency? Ohio takes step toward accepting Bitcoin for state fees
Want to set up a new business or pay another fee? You might be able to pay in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency as soon as this fall. Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose will ask a state panel next month to approve the use of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, to pay for state fees and services. If approved, the state would find a company to convert cryptocurrency into cash that the state can use. Customers would pay a fee for the transaction, similar to when they use a credit card. Then, each agency and department would decide whether to accept cryptocurrency. That process could take months, but LaRose wants to be the state's first adopter, accepting Bitcoin to pay for business filing fees. "I don't anticipate that there will be hundreds of thousands of Ohioans that are immediately starting to pay their fees on the Ohio Secretary of State's website in Bitcoin, but there will be some," said LaRose, who said he owns about $10,000 in Bitcoin. "What this does is signal that Ohio is near the forefront of embracing this financial technology." The move comes as the popularity of cryptocurrency, especially among Republicans, is increasing. During Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential bid, the Ohio governor candidate was bullish on cryptocurrency, introducing a policy to curb the overregulation of it. Both Sprague and LaRose have endorsed Ramaswamy's 2026 bid to replace Gov. Mike DeWine. Meanwhile, Ohio lawmakers are pitching the Ohio Blockchain Basics Act, also known as House Bill 116. The proposed law would prevent state and local governments from charging additional taxes and fees on cryptocurrency, among other changes. Another proposal, Senate Bill 56, would allow Ohioans to pay taxes and fees with Bitcoin. And House Bill 713 would create a cryptocurrency reserve − an idea that Sprague said he still has questions about. Former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate, was an early adopter of Bitcoin. He wanted Ohioans to be able to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency, setting up But Sprague canned the idea, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost later said that Mandel hadn't set it up properly. Sprague said this new idea is different because it follows the right process. He also added that the federal government is much more supportive of cryptocurrency and limiting its regulation than it once was. "This has come and if you don't go out in front of it, you'll get dragged behind the bus," Sprague said. State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@ or @jbalmert on X. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio takes step toward accepting Bitcoin, cryptocurrency for fees Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill would allow the Ten Commandments in Kentucky schools
FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — A new push in Frankfort could bring the Ten Commandments into Kentucky classrooms. House Bill 116—filed by Rep. Richard White, of Morehead—would let local school boards allow teachers or administrators to post or read excerpts of the Ten Commandments in classrooms or at school events. Bill would allow the Ten Commandments in Kentucky schools Man arrested in connection with deadly shooting near Lexington laundromat Lexington lawmaker wants 'slavery' out of Kentucky's constitution Unlike laws in other states, this bill wouldn't require schools to display the commandments—it simply gives them the option. This comes as an 18-state coalition, led by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, appeals a decision blocking a Louisiana law requiring all schools to display the Ten Commandments. In November, a federal judge blocked a similar law in Louisiana, calling it 'overtly religious,' but Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is leading an 18-state coalition in support of the law. Lawmakers introduce bill for moment of silence, prayer, pledge of allegiance in Kentucky schools Supporters argued the commandments hold historical value, while critics said the bill violates the separation of church and state. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
