ACMP hearing set; state still counting

The Alaska Legislature’s House and Senate Judiciary committees will hold a joint hearing on a ballot initiative for re-establishing the state’s coastal management program Feb. 6.

The state’s program died last year when the House and Senate could not agree on a bill continuing the Alaska Coastal Management Program, or ACMP.

A legislative hearing is a requirement for ballot initiatives.

Sponsors of the initiative petition, the Alaska Sea Party, turned in signatures for “an act establishing the coastal management program” before the Legislature gaveled in on Jan. 17; the Alaska Division of Elections is in the process of verifying whether enough signatures were collected.

As of Feb. 1, out of 33,039 signatures, 22,170 were qualified, most of those from initial computer qualification. The division is now doing a manual search of the voter registration system for each petition signer not qualified in the computer qualification phase.

The initiative would go away if “substantially similar” legislation passes this session.

Senate President Gary Stevens said in a Senate Bipartisan Working Group press conference Jan. 31 that he was going to talk to House Speaker Mike Chenault about whether the House would be interested in revisiting the coastal management bill passed by the Senate last year in special session, but then defeated in the House.

Stevens had said at a Jan. 26 Senate majority press availability that since the Senate passed a coastal zone bill, any new legislation should begin in the House.

Chenault said in a Jan. 30 House Majority press availability that the House “did their job last year. They passed a bill, sent it to the Senate and they passed something back that the House members couldn’t agree to.”

Legislators have requested a legal opinion on the meaning of “substantially similar,” but the program described in the ballot initiative appears to be substantially different than legislation considered last year.

—Kristen Nelson