capital focus

JUNEAU — Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, a Republican from Kodiak, announced Wednesday that she would not raise money for her congressional campaign during the legislative session in Juneau.

In a statement issued to the media, LeDoux noted that U.S. Rep. Don Young, a fellow Republican whose seat she is seeking, is allowed to raise funds year-round whether or not Congress is in session.

” … Fundraising is part of political reality,” she said. “However, I have stated that we must avoid even the appearance of impropriety and I have searched my own conscience.

“I have decided that if I want to continue to talk about a new way of doing things, then I need to actually cease business as usual myself,” she said.

In the statement, LeDoux mentioned a Jan. 22 Anchorage newspaper editorial critical of her fundraising.

House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, also criticized LeDoux’s fundraising last week, and the Republican caucus in the House was scheduled to discuss the issue Wednesday. They didn’t meet in light of LeDoux’s announcement.

Fundraising for federal office during the legislative session is legal for state lawmakers, but a bill that would block the practice is moving quickly through the House.

CON bill introduced

A bill introduced at the request of Gov. Sarah Palin eliminating the state’s certificate of need program for new health care facilities is scheduled to get its first hearing today in the House Health, Education, and Social Services Committee.

The bill, HB 337, would eliminate the controversial certificate of need program, which is aimed at avoiding the duplication of health care services and requires health care providers to demonstrate a need before building certain new facilities.

Critics have long argued that the program reduces competition in the market and drives up prices.

Palin herself criticized the program during her recent state of the state address, saying it put health care in the hands of “lobbyists and lawyers” because of the numerous lawsuits filed by health care providers in relation to the program.

Palin’s bill would also establish the Alaska Health Care Commission — consisting of state officials, members of the public, and state lawmakers — to develop a statewide health plan encouraging healthy living, increasing access to health insurance, and providing quality, affordable health care.

It would also set up a health care information office that would collect and make available to the public information about all health care facilities in the state.

A companion bill in the Senate, SB 245, is scheduled for a hearing Friday.

K-12 money

Lawmakers and the governor are both looking for ways to give school districts more certainty in their yearly budgeting, but there’s some disagreement in the capitol over the best way to do that.

One of the tools at hand is the state’s public education fund, which can be used as a savings account of sorts for public education. Palin has proposed putting nearly $2.6 billion into the fund as a way of demonstrating that the money will be there for her three-year K-12 funding proposal.

But some lawmakers question whether that’s the best way to do things.

On Tuesday, Sen. Bert Stedman, a Republican from Sitka and co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he would rather use the fund as a backup for years when the state doesn’t bring in enough money to fund education as much as lawmakers want.

Another idea is to pay for education each year out of the fund, then replenish it each year.