Dear Jess,

Alaska Common Ground’s winter newsletter allows us an opportunity to reflect on our efforts from the past year, share plans for the year ahead and our genuine gratitude for you - our members, supporters, volunteers, guest speakers, moderators, sponsors, partners, and everyone who attended an event! We value your engagement in policy discussions around the important and complex issues affecting Alaskans and for your support of our vision of an engaged Alaskan democracy - one that is built on a foundation of thoughtful, civil dialogue and finding common ground, regardless of political leanings.

From all of us at ACG, we wish you and yours a healthy, happy, and peaceful New Year and look forward to seeing you in 2025!

It's been another active year for ACG! We presented a variety of free in person and virtual events focused on fiscal policy, renewable energy legislation, and other important topics, as well as moved our operations forward. To follow are the highlights! In 2024, ACG…

• Kicked off, and is in the final stages before launching, a website redesign to improve its functionality and accessibility. Look for the announcement that it's live very soon!
• Held Updates on Renewable Energy Legislation in Alaska on March 26, a mid-session overview of how the bills discussed at our Renewable Energy Legislation in Alaska event in December 2023 were progressing in the Legislature at the time. Senator Löki Tobin spoke about the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards; Senator Bill Wielechowski addressed the Community Solar bill; and Chris Rose of REAP, spoke on the Green Bank legislation. (Notably, the latter two bills passed and were signed by the Governor.) View the event here.
• Hosted The Future of the PFD: Options and Choices on April 11 highlighting divergent points of view for consideration and moderated by Gunnar Knapp, Professor Emeritus of Economics at UAA, and Tom Hewitt, Opinion Editor for the Anchorage Daily News. Alexei Painter of the Alaska Legislative Finance Division provided a history of the PFD and Brad Keithley, Managing Director of Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets; Larry Persily, journalist; and Angela Rodell of Rodell Consulting provided the options and choices. View the event here.
• Held our Annual Meeting on May 9 and a Conversation on Public Education Funding in Alaska moderated by Brendan Wilson (Anchorage School District principal on Special Assignment). Senator Löki Tobin shared her perspective on what was an evolving issue in the final days of the legislative session. Representative Justin Ruffridge was unable to participate as planned due to proceedings on the House floor, but we look forward to hearing from him in the future. View the event here starting at approximately minute 18.
• Hosted Alaskans for Fair Courts on September 17 for a discussion about Alaska’s robust judicial selection and retention system laid out in our Constitution. It is recognized as the gold standard around the country for the way our judges are selected, evaluated and retained based on their performance, ethics, and ability to follow the law - not on political grounds, as is the case in many states. Watch the discussion here.
• Held a forum on October 20 to discuss Ballot Measure 2: “An Act Restoring Political Party Primaries and Single-Choice General Elections" with panelists on both sides of the issue. Read the details directly below! Watch the discussion here. 

Recap of Forum on Ballot Measure 2 to Repeal Ranked Choice Voting

ACG has a long tradition of hosting public forums on ballot initiatives. On October 20, 2024 we hosted an event at Anchorage’s Loussac Library to discuss Measure 2: “An Act Restoring Political Party Primaries and Single-Choice General Elections" which was on the November 5 General Election ballot. If approved, it would have repealed Alaska's Ranked Choice Voting system adopted by voters in 2022. Information about the bill can be found here.

ACG invited panelists to make their case for "Yes: Repeal Ranked Choice Voting" and "No: Keep Ranked Choice Voting." Aidan MacKinnon and Jay McDonald spoke in favor of repealing it and Scott Kendall and Juli Lucky spoke in favor of retaining it.

Ultimately, Ballot Measure 2 failed to pass, and the Division of Elections conducted a recount and confirmed the result. The next Statewide Election in 2026 will retain the Open Primary and Ranked Choice Voting system.

Protecting the Permanent Fund: Board of Trustees' Recommendation for a Rules-Based Permanent Fund Endowment Model

This event is being hosted in partnership with Institute of the North

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

5:30-7:30 pm

49th State Brewing & Online

Livestream Available on our YouTube Channel

The Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) was established to save and invest some of the revenue the State receives from oil and other mineral resource development so that there would be funds available for future state expenditures, including for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). Today the State receives much less revenue from mineral development, and the APF is the primary source of funds for operation of State government, capital projects, and the PFD. But the current structure of APF creates a risk that insufficient funds will be available in any given year to pay for these things, which would result in an immediate fiscal crisis for the State and a host of negative repercussions for Alaskans.  

For more than 20 years the APF Trustees have recommended making a structural change to the APF to avoid this risk, and to modernize the APF into a “Rules-based Permanent Endowment.” The Trustees can recommend them, but it takes action by the Alaska Legislature to make changes to the APF and may involve a constitutional amendment.

Featuring:

• Deven Mitchell, CEO and Executive Director, APF Corporation
• Steve Rieger, Former State Senator and former APF Trustee
• Penny Gage
• Bert Stedman, State Senator and co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee

This event is free and no registration is required. If you can't join us in person, it will be livestreamed and posted to our YouTube Channel.

We invite you to support Alaska Common Ground and Institute of the North with a donation at the door or online.

THANK YOU to 49th State Brewing for supporting this event! We encourage you to support their business by enjoying some food and drink before, during, or after the forum.

REAP (Renewable Energy Alaska Program) recently held a series of forums on Railbelt  Energy issues and the need to align around a collective energy vision for the future. You can watch the series here, and be sure to check out REAP’s website for a host of other resources on renewable energy in Alaska.

The Alaska Legislature convenes a new session on January 21, 2025. Our opinions are important to those we elect to represent us, yet a number of legislators have told ACG in recent years they receive few public comments on pending legislation from constituents and that these can influence their positions. So, we have compiled some helpful information for how to contact legislators and provide thoughtful comments: 

• Find Information about Legislation: There is a wealth of information for constituents on the Alaska Legislature’s website. 
• Find your State Legislators: To determine who your Senator and Representative(s) are, submit your street address and city in the “WHO REPRESENTS ME?” link on the lower right-hand corner of the Legislature’s homepage. 
• Track Legislation: To find the status of specific legislation, use the search box at the top of the Legislature’s homepage. For Senate Bills, type in SB and the bill number. For House Bills, type in HB and the bill number.
• Find Committee Meeting Schedules: Committees are where legislation is reviewed and amended and where the public can provide testimony. Meeting schedules for the following week’s committee hearings are released on Thursday evenings.
• Prepare your Comments: When contacting your legislators to either voice an opinion or weigh in on legislation, be clear at the start of your message what you are advocating for, such as “please support …” or “please vote yes/no on [insert name or number of bill].” Include a short explanation as to why you oppose or support it. Keep your message short and to the point, but elaborate if you have personal or professional knowledge of the subject. Be polite. 
• Send Public Opinion Messages: You can send 50-word messages to any or all legislators or to all members of a committee through the Alaska State Public Opinion Message System. This is a useful tool to reach committee members especially late in the session when things are hectic and legislators are extremely busy. 

Member Highlight: Gunnar Knapp

Thank you to our Sponsors!

Thank you to the following businesses that supported our efforts in 2024. If your business is interested in being a corporate supporter of ACG or sponsor for a specific event, please reach out to us!

We’d also like to thank Scott Jensen with Tudor Road Studios for supporting our events with fantastic audio visual services and helping us stream and post our forums. Thank you, Scott!

Help Advance an Engaged Alaskan Democracy

If you value ACG’s efforts to provide respectful and relevant events and information on policy issues of importance for Alaskans, please become a member or make a one-time year end donation today. Only together can we advance an engaged Alaskan democracy. Please be sure to check out all the ways to support ACG here. As always, we are honored to receive your support!