Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sarah Palin will call the Legislature into a special session this summer meant to provide Alaskans some relief from the soaring cost of energy.

Palin will announce Thursday what sort of short-term cost relief she has in mind. Her spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow, said Palin's energy team is close to a plan.

Palin has already called a special session to start June 3 on the proposed natural gas pipeline. Leighow said the energy-cost special session would likely follow it.

Steve Haagenson, the governor's energy coordinator, sent an e-mail to state commissioners last week asking for ideas on what should be in the cost-relief plan.

"The governor wants something she can announce next week, so I am moving very quickly," Haagenson wrote the agency commissioners. "Our goal is to help as many Alaskans as possible and minimize the portion of the benefit that goes to the IRS in the form of individual income tax payments. For that reason (and other policy reasons), a direct cash payment to Alaskans is not preferred."

State lawmakers debated sending every Alaskan a $500 "energy rebate" check but decided against it during the regular legislative session that ended in April.

House Speaker John Harris, a Valdez Republican, said Monday it's worth looking again at some kind of program to provide direct cash help to Alaskans.

"I don't know what the right answer is, but I know we need to sit down and think about it really quick and see if we can find out," Harris said. "A lot of people are hurting."

Another option could be trying to do something for energy companies, he said.

Harris wrote Palin a letter Monday saying Alaskans are getting hammered by the rising cost of gasoline, home heating oil and electricity. Meanwhile, the high price of oil is fattening the state's treasury through taxes and royalties.

Lawmakers approved money for weatherization and low-income assistance programs in the recent legislative session. But it's clear that the rising costs require more action, Harris wrote the governor.

Harris asked Palin to add energy-cost relief to the upcoming gas pipeline special session. But Palin has resisted mixing topics, saying the gas line deliberations are weighty and there shouldn't be other issues on the table at the same time.

Adding a separate session frustrates Harris. He said he doesn't want to wait to tackle the energy costs. He also said it's easy for the governor to call the Legislature into multiple special sessions because it doesn't disrupt her life the way it does part-time legislators.

"Legislators have to change their lives around completely," he said. "Many of us have other lives that we're living."

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.

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