Spotlight on Juneau

March 8, 2002

Hello Taxpayers,

The legislature appears to be backing off on the tax bills for now, but they will no doubt try to slip something through before this session ends. We'll be keeping an eye open for this move, and issue an "alert" when they do.

To further discourage them, we should all send a POM for each of the TAX bills listed below. It is important to send a POM for EACH bill, as this will lend more weight to the statistical data distributed to the legislature. You are welcome to send the same message on each POM. Just cut and past from the word document used to create the original message. A sample POM follows:

Please do NOT seriously consider HB 10, or any new funding source (TAXES) until all public funds given to private businesses, individuals, and special interest groups have been completely eliminated. Use OUR public funds for constitutionally mandated government services such as schools, roads, public health & safety ONLY.  Thank you.

It will take about 15 minutes once you compose the message. Of course you should change the bill number for each POM sent. Remember to select "OPPOSE", as their default window is still favor!

HB 10 Income TAX Bill Sponsored by Representative MOSES.
HJR 36 Amend Constitution to cap new TAXES Sponsored by Representatives CROFT, and Hayes.
HB 199 Another Income TAX Bill Sponsored by Representatives HUDSON, and Scalzi.
HB 229 Education TAX Bill Sponsored by Representative Stevens.
HB 258 A 2% TAX on Gross Business Receipts Sponsored by Representatives SCALZI, and
Hudson.
HB 303 Sales TAX Bill Sponsored by Representatives WHITAKER, Fate, and Lancaster
HB 413 Income TAX Bill Introduced by the House Rules Committee (RLS): KOTT, Kohring, McGuire, Morgan, Porter, Berkowitz, and Joule, by request of Governor Knowles.

FYI, I have also attached the sponsor's names, as we all need to remember who wanted these new taxes in the first place. This information will come in handy later. If you need detailed instruction for sending a POM, go to the "Action Page".

In last weeks "alert" we talked about four supplemental appropriation bills. This week we will send some POM's! We need to kill these overspending bills, and request the legislature be more responsible in supervising our Governor's poor spending practices. The bills and sample POM follow:

I am opposed to HB 414 requesting supplemental appropriations. Governor Knowles poor management skills and demonstrated fiscal irresponsibility must NOT be supported by this legislature. With a 30% cut in total spending coming soon, there is no time like the present to prioritize state spending! Thank you.

HB 414 Supplemental Appropriations: fast track” SPENDING bill Introduced by the House Rules Committee (RLS): KOTT, Kohring, McGuire, Morgan, Porter, Berkowitz, and Joule, by request of Governor Knowles.
HB 415 Supplemental Appropriations SPENDING bill
Introduced by the House Rules Committee (RLS): KOTT, Kohring, McGuire, Morgan, Porter, Berkowitz, and Joule, by request of Governor Knowles.
SB 291 Supplemental Appropriations: “fast track” SPENDING bill
Sponsored by the Senate Rules Committee (RLS): PHILLIPS, Cowdery, Halford, Therriault, and Ellis, at request of Governor Knowles.
SB 292 Supplemental Appropriations SPENDING bill
Sponsored by the Senate Rules Committee (RLS): PHILLIPS, Cowdery, Halford, Therriault, and Ellis, at request of Governor Knowles.

Visit our website for additional details on these and other bills. There is a lot of good information on our "statistics page". If this doesn't get your blood boiling nothing will!

If there is a tax or spending bill you love to HATE, send a copy of your POM, email, letters to the editor, or written committee testimony, and we will post it in future editions of the "alerts" and also on our "opinion page".

Until the next time remember to keep those POM's and Letters flooding into Juneau. We must keep up the pressure now, or pay a BIG bill later. The choice is clear, we must manage the legislature, not the other way around!

Please forward this message to concerned family members, friends, neighbors, and business associates.  Ask them to do the same. If they choose to join, we will add them to our mailing list and they will automatically receive future issues. Together we CAN and WILL make a difference!
 

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