The Skagway News will publish election information each issue as we near the Oct. 1 municipal and the Nov. 5 general election.  In both the state senate and house races for Skagway, the incumbants are running unopposed. Both candidates completed the questionaire provide to the by the Alaska Beacon. Their answers will be published here. 

The state primary election is scheduled for August 20 where the top four vote getters in each race will advance to the general election. Publication schedule for answers to the Alaska Beacon questions and those the SN asks our local candidates.

Aug. 9 – Sentate District B

Aug. 23 – House District 3

Sept.13 – Local candidates for assembly, school board 

Sept. 27 -U.S. Congressional candidates

 

State House District  3 

Juneau, Haines, Skagway, Gustavus

Andi Story – Democrat – Incumbant

Running unopposed

Education: What do you think should be done to improve public education in the state?

AA permanent significant BSA increase should be passed early in the next legislative session. Early in the session because early, reliable and adequate funding matter. Why? There is much evidence about what conditions and investments in staff result in youth being ready to be successful after high school. Early, reliable, and adequate funding matter. Why? Education is an economic issue. It is a well known that families /businesses are looking at their state, or a state they are considering moving too, that has an education system that is valued and doing well. The headlines in our state have been all about crisis. Our education funding policy sets our state up for poor public confidence and poor student performance. How? Since for the past eight years, the state has not permanently increased funding (except for a $30 dollar per student increase in 2024) and uses one-time funding that is appropriated, AFTER their school budgets are due to their municipalities (by statute), and budget cuts have to be projected and perhaps made. Districts had to rely on federal COVID dollars to maintain some of their staff and instructional needs, rather than supplement them, as the state did not increase our funding.

There has been high inflation so fixed costs increased, salaries and benefits increased to keep staff, there are new student needs, and not many decreasing ones. Having to make budget cuts causes conflict among parents, staff, communities and school administrations. It causes the headlines to be negative to the public. It does not allow for evidenced based targeted interventions to happen. Less personal attention is given to students. Families do not want this in their child’s educational experience. Early, permanent funding would allow staff to focus on their student relationships, instruction and increasing student learning and not what to cut and how to get by on less. Investments in Early learning (Pre-school, Parents As Teachers, Headstart are key supports for children so they are entering kindergarten whether in their neighborhood school, or home or correspondence school, and ready to learn). The state should increase the Career Technical factor in the foundation formula, so as to offer more hands on learning classes, career guides and internships with local businesses in their 10th/11th/12th grade years. Professional development for staff on best instructional methods and a return to a defined benefits pension will helps us retain quality teachers/staff after we have trained them. The State should fund the Reads Act so as to be able to afford to provide the teacher/staff training on the Science of reading, student tutoring, interventions, and summer school promised to children who are working on catching up on their reading skills and promised to their families.

Fish industry: What, if any, change would you make to state law to support the fishing industry and Alaskans who are dependent on fish harvests?

I am going to be looking to the recommendations of the legislative task force that was created at the end of this session, to address Alaska’s fishing crisis. They will be meeting over these next few months and their report and priorities are due at the end of January. I would reinstate the Nutritional Alaska Foods in Schools (NASF) program of the 2013 to 2016 school years and make it permanent. This is where districts were able to buy fresh Alaskan seafood and be reimbursed by the state. This will help with support the fishing industry and has the added benefit of good nutrition for our children and youth.

Permanent Fund dividend: How should the state set the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend each year?

I believe the Permanent Fund statute needs to be changed as it has not been followed in quite some time. This has been difficult to officially do. The Legislature and Governor, with citizen input, should revise the PFD formula. The formula should provide for a reasonable and permanent dividend. Revising the PFD is one part of the Tri-partisan 2021 Fiscal Working Group’s finalizing a state fiscal plan to stabilize and grow Alaska’s economy. A new working group and/or Finance Committee’s deliberations in a process to educate, review various proposals of a PFD revision and gain public input, should take place this year and until acted upon.

Energy: What should be done to address the pending energy crunch along the Railbelt?

The state passed legislation to establish the framework for energy transmission improvements in the Railbelt and carbon capture and storage (with royalties from carbon storage going into the Permanent Fund). Oversight will be needed and state budget investments to complete the energy transmission improvements. The State needs to fund $200 million to get the total federal match for this effort. This budget year we put $32 million towards this as it can be funded in increments. The State must fund the total federal match over the next couple of years, to take full advantage of the 600 million federal GRIP award. Renewable energy standards should be set that require public utilities over time, to increase their use of renewable energy. I am pleased that the Legislature also this year, established the framework for community energy facilities, which allows rate payers to pool their resources together to create community energy. This should help the Railbelt and any changes needed to these policies I am open too.

Party differences: How would you work with legislators of different political parties to get things done in the Legislature?

I believe in bi-partisan, tri-partisan coalitions and was part of one for all six years of my service. I believe in working “across the aisle” and always being respectful of my colleagues. I will collaborate on legislation and understand that it necessary to moving a bill and budget amendments forward. I try and listen and understand where that person is coming from, what their constituents may want which may be different or similar from mine, and why they are voting the way they are. I look to identify what elements we have in common, and what can we work on in smaller steps. This willingness to work together is critical to moving Alaska forward.

Public employees: What should the state do to improve retention of public employees, including teachers?

In looking at the continued high public employee turnover rates, vacancy rates, and poor delivery of services to Alaskans, that affect public safety, public education and public services, a return to a defined benefit pension program is urgent. Much work has been done on this in the Senate, in SB 88. The proposed pension reform has identified an affordable, cost saving path forward. This involves a hybrid plan of shared risk to the state and employee if our unfunded liability falls below 90 percent. This should be the foundation of a plan moving forward. Bonuses while helping recruit, do not retain employees with experience for a longer time. An adequate pension will help in this goal, as has been verified in the past. State investments to provide housing for public employees should continue. This year we appropriated 7.5 million to develop new housing in rural areas for public workers. We passed legislation that allows communities that build housing for public workers to get up to $700,000 (out of 40 million appropriated). State investments need to continue until housing is more available and affordable. The commissioned state salary study is due soon. The legislature should act upon it’s recommendations in this next legislative session. Our teacher’s salaries need to be competitive with the lower 48, as adjusted for the geographic cost factors, in Alaska. This involves a permanent increase to the BSA.

Tribal-state relations: How and where should the state work with tribal governments?

The state should work with tribal governments in all ways as we are government to government entities. Tribal compacting in education is occurring in pilot projects and we should adopt those recommendations. The recommendations of the state’s Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council should be followed. Law has concurrent jurisdiction over family matters, and many tribal courts handle juvenile offenses and hearing minor criminal offenses. I think this should be explored and expanded to other matters, including the Department of Corrections. A task force to look at our justice system would be an important first step. Investments in Murdered and Missing Indigenous People and cultural training in all government systems is critical. The Department of Education needs to have a Cultural Education department as it needs more involvement with tribal governments. Health care, land agreements, subsistence rights, protection of our resources, transboundary issues, resource development and cultural tourism are examples of areas that collaborative work should happen.

Budget cuts/revenue: When you look at the state budget, what’s the No. 1 thing you’d like to see cut or reduced, and what’s your No. 1 preferred way to raise new state revenue?

When I look at the budget, I would like to see reductions in the Executive Branch and in legal expenses for the Executive Branch. We have made significant cuts in the state budget since 2018. To raise new state revenue, I would like to see the state reduce the tax credit for oil producers from 8 $ per barrel of oil to 5 $ per barrel.

Health: What should the state do to safeguard and improve Alaskans’ health?

Support prevention programs, like Parents As Teachers, which is a child abuse and prevention program that provides health screenings. Start early!!! Provide local access to health care, including mental health and addiction treatment services. Expand treatment beds. Expand telehealth. Implement policies that keep our community hospitals in our rural areas. Support community-based services that keep seniors and people with developmental disabilities in their own homes. Support community outpatient treatment programs. Support crisis now programs. These programs saves the state in the long-run from paying MORE for inpatient programs and at the worst incarcerating people with substance abuse or mental health conditions. Expand the workforce with training programs for community health aides and other needed health professionals. Expand the WWAMI medical program ten doctors more, to 40 total. Identify Medicaid waivers that benefit Alaskans health and implement them. Address issues that impact health, such as basic needs for adequate housing, clean water and sewer access. The State should take the lead on conversations between public, private and tribal health providers and how entities can partner on working together.

Biggest need: What’s the biggest need in your district, and how would you address it?

The biggest need in my district continues to be a healthy economy. This is directly linked to not having adopted a fiscal plan to provide stability for a healthy economy (trained workers for jobs, business investment, population stability) and reliability for essential services (education, ferries, housing, public health and safety). To address this, legislative work needs to be done on the 2021 Fiscal Working Group components of a fiscal plan. At the same time, investments must be made in our workforce. A return to a defined benefit pension system, adoption of the recommendations for the upcoming salary compensation study, and investment in essential services, like a permanent increase to education investment, including to career tech. This is critical to the success of both the private and public sectors.

Elections and voting: What, if any, changes does the state need to make to its elections and voting system?

I would like to see changes where citizens receive a “curing notice” if for any reason their ballot was rejected, so they have an opportunity to resolve any issue that could deprive them of their vote. Another priority is to eliminate the witness requirement signatures for voters. Even when you get a witness signature, the witnesses authenticity is not verified, so it seems an unnecessary step as the person’s voting eligibility is verified in other ways (verification through your DMV signature). To encourage maximum voter participation, same day registration is also legislation I would like to see happen. To encourage youth participation, I would like to legislate, like 23 other red and blue states, for 16 year olds to be eligible to pre-register to vote. They would still wait for their 18th birthday to vote, but they could register before that. Early registration in other states has proven to heighten youth awareness of the importance of exercising their right to vote, and also for their families.

Oil: How long will oil be central to Alaska’s economy, and what, if anything, should the state government be doing now to prepare for a post-oil future?

I believe oil will be central to Alaska’s economy for quite awhile. Adopting state renewable energy standards that require public utilities over time, to increase their use of renewable energy, is a step that will help diversify our energy resources. Public policies that incentivize energy efficiencies by individuals and homeowners helps us prepare for a post-oil future. Allocating resources for renewable energy research and projects; hydro, solar, geothermal, wind, and tidal are worthwhile to address this and climate change issues. Critical minerals mapping is central to identifying potential of sources of minerals that are used to manufacture products like solar panels.

Population: What, if anything, would you like to do to address Alaska’s dwindling working-age population?

Provide affordable housing, an excellent University and career technical school systems to keep young adults in our state’s post-secondary system, provide an excellent education for their children. Provide adequate transportation infrastructure and broadband to keep rural communities having access to families in other parts of the state and lower 48. Work on lowering the cost of living, through energy investments.

Ballot measures: What do you think of this year’s ballot measures, and do you intend to support or oppose them?

I am in favor of ballot measure 1 that supports workers. I believe this will also be helpful to employers when employees are compensated well, there is not as much turnover. I do not support ballot measure 2 – I think the Open Primary System is good for all states to consider adopting as well as keeping it in Alaska. I hear from a majority of Alaskans that they want their elected officials to work together on issues and not work for a particular party only. We need an election system that is not polarizing. I support Rank Choice voting, where candidates seek to listen and are willing to collaborate.

Domestic violence: How would you like to see the state address Alaska’s high rates of domestic and sexual violence?

I think Alaska needs to put more resources into education, prevention efforts and outreach to communities on how they can support individuals and families in stress. Education on healthy relationships that are included in Bree’s law, should receive more time and discussion in our education system. Education on coping skills to anger and stress is a part of the schools healthy lifestyles curriculum that does not get as much time as is needed.

Boys and Girls on the Run programs need community volunteers. Parents as Teachers is a child abuse and neglect program that focuses on supporting the parents and educating them on child development. Unfortunately, an increase to Parents as Teachers was vetoed this year. The State needs to be putting efforts into preventing stress, through prevention programs like Parents as Teachers. Housing supports are needed so people can afford to leave the domestic violence situation. The state needs to maintain it’s support for domestic violence programs. Often times this includes supportive housing and access to services and through it’s public health programs, do outreach and prevention work. Educating the public on the effects of colonization and efforts to take to promote healing should be accessible to all. Crisis Now programs should be supported as well as Mental health and addiction treatment services to address the causes of domestic violence. Our education systems need to prepare youth well for work and life after graduation and a career that makes a livable wage. Our re-entry programs need to have strong training programs so citizens who have been incarcerated have the skills needed for the current labor shortage. Lack of resources cause stress. However, as we know, domestic violence occurs at all income levels. This issue needs multiple efforts.Still, the way to prevent it from happening in the first place is to have fewer desperate Alaskans without housing, fewer people addicted to drugs. We need places where desperate Alaskans can get a warm bed, food, and treatment without being preyed upon. When there are more opportunities to get help, we’ll have fewer victims.