Items of Interest in this E-News:
  • The Budget
  • Updates to Image and Reflection Drive
  • HB 29: Insurance Coverage for Telehealth
  • Recent Capitol Visitors
  • Meet the Team: Introducing Miranda Dordan
  • Upcoming Community Councils for District 16
The Budget
Thank you to everyone who came out last Sunday to testify to members of House Finance and Anchorage legislators about the Governor's budget. Approximately 100 people testified and many more submitted written testimony.

If you are interested in finding out more about how the budget makes its way through the legislature, there is a handy guide to the budgetary procedure online right here . You can also keep up with the process here in the House Finance Committee. Usually, the budget is approved near the end of session after subcommittee recommendations have been submitted to the House and Senate Finance Committees.

I encourage you all to continue to engage with your government as this process unfolds. Your elected officials want to hear from you.
Updates to Image and Reflection Drive
The MOA is planning to update the Image and Reflection Drive area in the near future. You should expect to see survey, AWWU, and drilling crews in this area during the month of March. Check out the project website for a detailed overview here .
HB 29: Insurance Coverage for Telehealth
HB 29: Insurance Coverage for Telehealth had its first hearing on Tuesday, March 26th in House Health and Social Services Committee. My Legislative director Bernice Nisbett and I presented this bill and highlighted why it will be helpful for Alaskans. HB 29 will provide the advantages of telehealth, including better access to healthcare and reduced travel costs to save Alaskans money and time. You can get the details of the bill here.
Recent Capitol Visitors
This week I had a great time discussing issues that affect women in Alaska with the Alaska Women's Lobby. I enjoyed meeting with Ellie, who has a podcast in which she explains "kid words" to adults and "adult words" to youth. I have been meeting with education leaders in the last week including representatives from the North Slope Borough School District. We discussed upcoming legislation related to education and potential effects of the governor's budget on the education system in Alaska.

If you're a District 16 resident and want to talk but can’t make it to Juneau, let’s schedule a call at your convenience. If you're coming to Juneau, be sure to schedule a visit. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you!
Meet the Team: Introducing Miranda Dordan
Meet Miranda Dordan, our University of Alaska intern. The Ted Stevens Internship program at UA is an amazing nonpartisan opportunity for young Alaskans to experience working in the legislature. My office is proud to have hosted interns annually since 2017. Miranda was born and raised in Anchorage and is a senior at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She will be graduating on May 5th, 2019 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in French.

Miranda is very interested in behavioral health in our state and is working to become a Licensed Professional Counselor in Alaska. She applied for the internship through UAA because she wanted to learn more about how the legislative process works.
Upcoming District 16 Community Councils
The most local form of government we have in Alaska is the  Community Council.   We have three in our district. You can find the agendas and more information on the individual community council websites we have linked below. If you don't know which one is yours, call our office at  (907) 465-4940  and we will help you figure it out!

  • Russian Jack - Second Wednesday of the month, next one is April 10th, 6:30 pm at Wonder Park Elementary School.

  • Northeast - Third Thursday of the month, next one is April 18th, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Muldoon Community Assembly Youth Facility, 1005 North Ermine St.

  • University Area - First Wednesday of the month, next one is April 3rd, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the University Baptist Church on Tudor Road.
I'll send out email updates fairly frequently during the legislative session. Please let me know if you want to know about anything that I don't cover in the updates. You can reply to this email or give me a call!

Keep in touch!
Phone Number: (907) 465-4940