Treadwell certifies oil tax referendum

Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell has certified an application for a referendum seeking to repeal Senate Bill 21, the bill changing Alaska’s oil production tax. The bill cut oil industry taxes to encourage oil development in hopes of boosting future oil production.

People who support the bill view it as essential to ensuring that Alaska can compete for oil investment dollars, while opponents characterize it as a giveaway to the oil industry.

According to an Associated Press report a group called “Vote Yes — Repeal the Giveaway” is promoting the referendum. And the referendum, if passed, would presumably revert the tax laws to those of the Gov. Sarah Palin-era tax, known as Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share, or ACES.

The referendum petition is being sponsored by Jim Whitaker, Victor Fischer and Bella Hammond. Whitaker is a previous mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough; Fischer was a member of the convention that drew up Alaska’s state constitution; and Hammond is the widow of former Gov. Jay Hammond.

Former Anchorage Mayor Jack Roderick, author of a “Crude Dreams: A Personal History of Oil and Politics in Alaska,” has also expressed his support for the referendum, according to the Associated Press.

According to a statement from Treadwell, the referendum petition needs signed support from at least 10 percent of the people who voted in the last general election, who are resident in at least three-quarters of the state’s House districts and who are equal in number to at least 7 percent of those who voted in the general election in each district. And the petition must be filed by July 13, if the referendum is to be included in a state ballot. The state Division of Elections will prepare petition booklets for gathering the required signatures with, according to Treadwell’s statement, the need for more than 30,000 signatures for petition approval.

—Alan Bailey