Alaska News

Legislators see big turnout at Anchorage listening session

State legislators got an earful on issues ranging from Medicaid expansion to education funding to honeybees during a listening session in Anchorage on Saturday.

With the regular legislative session in Juneau hitting the halfway mark, turnout to address the lawmakers was big, and roughly 150 people signed up to testify at the Loussac Library. People packed around the edges of the auditorium seats and spilled out into the lobby. The four-hour session was extended another 45 minutes to give more people a chance to testify, and at the end, people were still waiting to speak.

A particularly large crowd turned out to support Medicaid expansion, a proposal from the administration of Gov. Bill Walker that was dealt a blow late last week. On Friday, a House subcommittee removed items related to expansion from Alaska's health department budget, but representatives said they would examine the issue in its own bill.

During her testimony, Jessie Menkens, program coordinator with the Alaska Primary Care Association, asked members of the audience to stand up if they supported the expansion. Most of the room stood, prompting a burst of applause.

"This is not the time to play politics," Menkens told the legislators. "People's lives are literally on the line. They're hanging in the balance."

Tara Devlin, 26, came to the meeting to tell legislators that she opened a preschool last year and, because of the up-front costs, did not make enough to qualify for health care subsidies through the Affordable Care Act. She said she does not currently have health insurance but would qualify for Medicaid if it were expanded.

"I'm that person in that donut hole that they don't think exists," Devlin said, standing in the lobby outside the chambers.

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Ceezar Martinson, 23, a political science student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, did not testify but said he came to listen. On Medicaid expansion, Martinson said he hopes the Legislature will "seriously look at the full cost" of expansion before making a decision.

At the same time, he said he wants the Legislature to avoid pushing decisions on issues too far down the road.

"My big thing is, we need the Legislature to be bold to look at these areas of the budget where we're having problems, and make the tough choices," Martinson said.

A number of people also testified about cuts to education funding, including members of Great Alaska Schools, a coalition of teachers and parents that advocates in favor of increased school funding. Alison Arians, a member of Great Alaska Schools, said in prepared testimony that the organization wants the Legislature to keep school funding constant for another year instead of making cuts.

Anchorage School Board member Tam Agosti-Gisler was among those sporting a range of different stickers on her jacket that separately supported education funding, smoke-free workplaces and Medicaid expansion.

"I think people are waking up that there are about to be some dramatic changes that they don't necessarily support," Agosti-Gisler said of the turnout to the listening session. "Cutting education funding is one of them."

Others testifying said they opposed a bill that would repeal the state's film production tax credit program, calling it a serious blow to Alaska's film industry. A number of people supported funding for an Anchorage center to provide services to the deaf community. At least two people asked lawmakers to protect honeybees from pesticides.

Lawmakers said they didn't hear too many surprises in the testimony but were generally impressed by the turnout.

"Obviously, the budget that we're going to be passing is going to be impacting a lot of families, a lot of communities," said Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage. Sen. Berta Gartner, D-Anchorage, said a constituent meeting she held that morning was one of the best-attended that she'd ever seen.

Sen. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, said Medicaid expansion stood out as an issue because, under former Gov. Sean Parnell, it was off the table entirely. He added that while the turnout to the listening session was good from an Anchorage-wide perspective, lawmakers will also need to return to their districts and listen for district-specific issues.

The Anchorage caucus will be taking a second round of testimony on the state budget between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the downtown Anchorage Legislative Information Office.

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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