One of the few non-budget items on Gov. Bill Walker’s special-session agenda received its first hearing in the Alaska Senate on Wednesday afternoon.
House Bill 200, which passed the House on April 15, would make it easier for a family member to adopt a child that is in state custody as a result of a “Child in Need of Aid” court case.
The bill is seen as particularly important for adoptions of Alaska Native children; it streamlines the process of adoption for adoption within the same Native tribe, and it consolidates adoption and Child in Need of Aid cases under a single judge. Currently, both matters usually move separately through the court system. That can result in a child being placed with a foster family for a time, then being displaced again, this time to a family member.
Speaking in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was hearing the bill, committee chairwoman Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, said her intent is to pass the bill out of committee by Friday and on to the Senate floor.
The bill has had a large amount of support from tribal and child-welfare organizations, and the committee heard extensive public testimony in favor on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
In one letter of support from Nome, Traci McGarry wrote, “Please understand how important it is to our families that the state doesn’t make it so complicated for a family to take care of its own relatives in situations when (there) are good family members ready to adopt.”
Tax skepticism from Senate, too
A day after members of the Alaska House Finance Committee held its first hearing on House Bill 4001, an omnibus tax measure, the Alaska Senate Labor and Commerce Committee took its first look at the companion bill in the Senate.
If either bill passes the Legislature and is signed into law, state taxes on gasoline, tobacco, alcohol, fishing and mining would rise. Alaska would have an income tax for the first time since the 1980s.
Members of the House reacted negatively to that idea, and so did members of the Senate.
“Despite the comprehensive nature of the bill, it addresses a mere 5 percent of our $4 billion deficit, so my question is why bother?” asked Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage.
“It’s just a lot of small pieces adding up to a substantial amount in the end,” said Revenue Commissioner Randall Hoffbeck. “The governor wanted to spread the burden of balancing the budget in as many ways as he possibly could.”
Hoffbeck said the tax bill is envisioned as part of a comprehensive solution to the deficit. It’s not seen as a solution on its own.
In response to questioning from the Senate panel, however, he said he hasn’t spoken to a single legislator who is willing to vote in favor of the omnibus tax bill.
“No, I can’t tell you that there’s anybody out there,” he said.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.
