As time ticks away, gas hogs the spotlight

As the 90-day legislative session hits the halfway mark this week, bills are piling up in committee while big issues enjoy hours of debate.

While it's too soon to declare any bills dead, those without momentum may not stand much chance of making it to a floor vote, let alone the governor's office, as focus shifts to a fresh issue -- whether to change the state's gas tax, and whether that must be done by May 1.

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the gas tax is the most important matter on the table this session, and he's likely to refer a committee bill to hearings before only one committee, instead of the typical three.

But that could feed bottlenecks in Senate Finance, which pushed most other matters aside to spend the better part of the last two weeks in detailed oil and gas tax overviews. Emphasis on a gas tax could also redirect the spotlight from a couple of controversial bills to sweeten the tax deal for oil companies, an issue creating partisan divide.

The gas tax debate could turn partisan, depending on what sort of bill the Senate Finance Committee rolls out. Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, sits on the committee and said he would likely support a simple plan breaking oil and from gas for tax purposes, but could shy away from supporting a complete restructuring of a gas tax.

"If we do this, the thing that concerns me, is what else is going to get done?" he asked. "We'll be sitting in Senate Finance and working really hard ... but when we're working on this, we're not solving any of the people's legislation."

House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said a gas tax could trump other business, but it will depend on a couple things.

"Some of us think there is an issue there -- how big of an issue that is, we don't know," he said. "The administration and the Department of Revenue don't see a problem. But as legislators who are responsible for the money, we can see the potential for a problem."

At this point, 100 bills are stacked up before Senate Finance. Another 76 are before House Finance, and many of the other hundreds of bills that involve money are headed to those committees once other hearings conclude.

House Minority Leader Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, said she's not so sure lawmakers should mess with the tax just yet, especially if doing so could put gasline negotiations at risk.

"I think the public is smart, and I think they want a gasline," she said. "Nobody wants to sell the farm ...But the last thing I'm going to do is go jump off the cliff."

She said the debate that's likely to come could throw a twist into the game.

"Does it put an intense and crazy spin on the session?" she said. "Yes."

A shift could be good news for politicians as the session ends and campaign season approaches. All 40 House seats and half the Senate's 20 seats, plus the governor's job, are up this fall. Lawmakers may be focusing more on bringing home capital spending for their districts and ushering through smaller, less controversial bills with local impact.

The 26th Legislature closes at midnight April 18. Any bills left on the table during this second session die then. So far, 714 bills have been introduced since January 2009. Only 63 have passed. Another 141 resolutions have been introduced, with 44 passing.

"The chances a lot of those pieces of legislation have that haven't been heard and still have a lot of committee assignments, and haven't passed through to the other side, it makes it less likely," Chenault said. "But there's really no bill out there that's dead."

The load is nothing new, and neither is the slow movement. Chenault said the process is at work, and the bills with merit will move. By his take, the operating and capital budgets are the only real business that must be stamped and delivered.

Just the same, at the midway mark his caucus has narrowed its priorities somewhat. Gov. Sean Parnell's initiatives related to domestic violence and sexual assault are a caucus priority, Chenault said. So is passing bills on K-12 education and funding.