Muñoz talks special session, Permanent Fund & gasline at Chamber lunch

Juneau Rep. Cathy Muñoz  speaks at the Chamber of Commerce lunch in the Alaska Room of the Juneau International Airport. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
Juneau Rep. Cathy Muñoz speaks at the Chamber of Commerce lunch in the Alaska Room of the Juneau International Airport. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)

Juneau Rep. Cathy Muñoz says to expect a special legislative session sometime in the fall, this time in the capital city. The Republican lawmaker spoke at Thursday’s Juneau Chamber of Commerce lunch.

The legislature met in Anchorage for the last special session. Muñoz says it would’ve been difficult to have held it in Juneau due to seismic retrofitting work being done on the Capitol building.

“It was very noisy and there was a lot of construction work, but now that that’s done we are ready, and I have confidence that the special session will be held in Juneau,” Muñoz says.

By early fall, Muñoz says the governor plans to hold a series of public meetings across the state, including in Juneau. She says community members will be asked to weigh in on new revenue ideas for the state, like the possibility of managing the Permanent Fund as an endowment. She says the fund generates $3-4 billion a year and the dividend equals $1.3 billion.

“So it’s possible if we were to manage the earnings of the fund where a portion of the earnings could go toward public education or transportation, and maintain the dividend at a level that Alaskans have come to be accustomed to. We can do both and it would significantly help address our revenue problems,” Muñoz says.

One thing Muñoz doesn’t want to talk about during the special session is the next phase of the gasline project.

“I don’t believe we’re ready yet. I think there’s been a lot of going back and forth and potential changes (in) direction with the new administration,” she says.

Muñoz says gasline issues that still need to be resolved include size of the pipeline, route and ownership.

Muñoz thanked Chamber members for weighing in during the last session on issues like eliminating daylight saving time and the Juneau Access project. She says the daylight saving bill may come up again in the next session.

On the road, Muñoz says the state is close to having enough matching funds to secure federal money for moving forward.

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