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Legislative Alert: PSP Funding
March 3, 2008There’s been a fair amount of talk surrounding the PSP funding issue and now there’s going to be some action.
The governor is releasing her final recommendations on Wednesday. The House finance subcommittees plan to close their budgets by the end of the week and forward them to the full finance committee for adoption. The House DEC finance subcommittee will close out its budget on Thursday.
It’s unclear what the subcommittee will do with PSP funding. Last year the committee provided one-year funding for PSP testing, a recommendation that eventually was adopted by the full legislature. Rep. Kevin Meyer, chair of the subcommittee, was getting plenty of pressure from other lawmakers but was playing his cards close to his chest.
Things appear to be in better shape on the Senate side which initially adopted an operating budget that included ongoing funding for the program by placing it in the “budget base.” However, the Senators were waiting for the House to make the first move and nothing is ever certain in the political process.
A resolution by the Southeast Conference and an editorial in the Ketchikan Daily News both supported ongoing funding for PSP testing programs, and some lawmakers have been hearing from individual farmers. During a joint meeting of the House and Senate DEC subcommittees, DEC was put on the defensive by some lawmakers who asked why aquatic farmers and shellfish divers were threatened with user fees while DEC had no plans to impose lab fees on dairy farmers.
The bottom line at this point might be: SPEAK NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE. If you haven’t yet contacted legislators about the importance of funding PSP testing please do it now. Email or write now. We can’t afford to lose this battle.
