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Two in-state gas pipeline bills move
Two bills related to an in-state gas pipeline — both sponsored by House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Kenai — have passed the House, one without opposition and the other with only a few nay votes.
House Bill 189, which provides some housekeeping fixes for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., is in Senate Resources after passing the House 36-0 on March 28. This bill provides AGDC with the ability to enter into confidentiality agreements to acquire information necessary for its work.
AGDC President Dan Fauske, the executive director of the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., told House Resources when that committee heard the bill in March that the ability to sign confidentiality agreements would allow AGDC to get information it needs from other agencies and private companies in order to complete the report it will present to the Legislature July 1.
The bill also makes changes to the in-state gas team, allowing the Alaska Railroad Corp. to be represented by the chair of the board or by a designee and removing the Alaska Natural Gas Development Corp. from the team.
In-state gas fund House Bill 203 establishes the in-state gas pipeline fund within the general fund. The in-state gas pipeline fund will be managed and invested by AHFC. No money has been appropriated to the fund.
That bill passed the House 34 to 4 April 5 and is now in the Senate.
Chenault told House Finance at an April 1 hearing that the state has invested millions of dollars for in-state gas pipeline development over the years, with the money going to various places — the departments of Natural Resources, Law and Revenue, and to the governor’s office.
A single fund eliminates the need for multiple appropriations, Chenault said in a sponsor statement, and makes it easier to account for expenditures made for in-state gas pipeline purposes.
Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, a former co-chair of House Finance, said the bill allows AGDC to open a bank account and is an important step toward assuring AGDC’s operations are as transparent as possible.
He said it also promotes a degree of accountability, and noted he’d spent the better part of two years trying to figure out how much money has been spent on other projects and what it was spent for.
—Kristen Nelson
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