Possible Ferry Cancellations - Alaska

Hard to say what is going to happen and when. A bit of a side issue in that the legislature is now beyond the statutory law limit of a 90 day session limit passed by the voters of the state, by 5 days. However the Alaska Constitution allows for a 120 day limit. The voters didn't vote on a constitutional change but just a statute change. But technically the legislature is in violation of Alaska statute law. I don't find any info saying they officially adjourned on Sunday night and then reconvened the following day.

Talk on the street is that a part year budget will be passed, requiring only a simple majority of votes and then adjourn. Most likely the governor would call the legislators back for a special session to deal only with the budget. So it may be mid to late May, if then, before the state departments and agencies will know their next years budgets. I am not reading of any great concern being raised over cutting the ferry budget for next year. The Alaska House has 40 members, 28 of them are from the Railbelt areas, Fairbanks down to Anchorage and on to Homer on the Kenai. That leaves 12 members representing the remainder of the state.

For those that are wondering about their ferry reservations...there is an article today in the on-line Alaska Dispatch News...

http://www.adn.com/article/20150424/how-democrats-alaska-legislature-suddenly-became-relevant

The pertinent info is about half-way down the text. The bottom line is...maybe.



Gary Haupt

Yep...that's it. and yes, brother owns it.

IIRC, the old man traded a 170 and $10,000-ish to the dealer for the 180 but that's what I heard, not what I saw.

"..survive that long in Alaska..."? Hmm. We need to define "survive".

- 1 pretty aggressive ground loop (I was a passenger) when a tire went flat on a long river bar somewhere near Illiamna. No (apparently) major issue and it was "fixable" in the field (thank goodness for goop and a bike pump, don't ask me how we had that with us), but when back in Anchorage (at Wilbur's Air for another name from the past) had the gear torn down, inspected, and the legs re-sprung (re-arched ?) after that trip.
- 1 complete flip (yep, ended up on the back) (I was a passenger) at the cabin. One of those proverbials: 1st mistake won't get you: Crappy weather, tired pilot, late evening flight, "Dad, I dunno, looks wet"....went off into the toolies and had to walk out.....that one pretty much resulted in a complete teardown of the airplane
- 1 gentle nose over when the old man tried to impress a couple of folks by landing at a construction site. I wasn't along, but he was carrying two pax and figured if he'd had the 3rd that was originally going to go along, the plane wouldn't have gone over...hit a chuckhole at just the wrong time during rollout. Turns out nothing was damaged except the prop, but that was only after the obligatory teardown and inspect.
- Brother plowed it in near Peters Creek (near Los Anchorage, not near the mining district) when he let the carb ice up. No big deal, just an unpowered landing that turned out fine in a snow covered meadow, but involved a rescue mission with sno-goes and 3 sleds to pull it to a "take-offable" road. That event brought to mind the proverbial story of the monkey and the oblate spheroid.
- While I only had/have 20 - 30 hours at the controls, I never had the slightest problem with the 180...so I learned my lesson: If I'm a passenger, bad things happen. If I'm PIC, nothing happens. So I fly the -12 :)

The 180 may be destined for out-of-Alaska in the next generation. My nephew (brother's oldest son) lives in Ohio. My other nephew (brother's #2 son) just graduated from High School, but has expressed a dislike of cold weather....so who knows where the bird will end up?

We may have met in Alaska travels.....the most brilliant and precocious of the old man's kids......who somehow ended up being old and spending too much time in Texas.

PA12DVR, while prowling around the internet I ran across a photo of your Dad's 1957 Cessna 180, that he bought new as I remember. When checking the FAA registration on the plane currently, I see it is owned by your brother (?) in Anchorage. That has to be some sort of record for a Cessna 180 to survive that long in Alaska and to only have two owners, father and son. Fifty eight years in the same family. Oh, the sights that have been seen out of those plane windows.

Just as an FYI, as far as I know I have never met PA12 but did meet his father on several occasions as he was very involved in state level politics. Most of us that flew the bush, in the 60s and 70s, ran into each other from time to time, figuratively speaking at different airstrips around the state. It was a much smaller world back then in the north country, before the pipeline days and the large military buildup in the urban areas.

I suspect that all state agencies are gong to take a cut in their budgets, including the AMHS, ferry system. I doubt the cuts will be even across the board, as special interest groups still wield power in Alaska. The Alaska Constitution requires a balanced budget, so the revenues the state gets is what they have to spend.

The new governor made campaign promises to add some expansion to some programs, such as expanding Medicare in state. If he is able to push this through, where will the money come from?
Some other programs will have to be cut even deeper.
I believe the article mentioned above said the AMHS is currently looking at a budget reduction of approximately $11 million that could bleed into about $25 million in the end. The ferry system is a state subsidized operation and has never turned a profit, now was it ever expected to be profitable.
It was put in for SE residents to have low cost transportation throughout SE Alaska.

bob_nestor wrote:

PA12DRVR wrote:

Alaska's in trouble but maybe something like this will finally stop the spend cycle.

...and pigs will really fly.

The real problems for Alaska started in 1959 with Statehood when the population of lawyers started to exceed the population of moose.

I grew up in Anchorage in the early '60's and lived in Alaska my entire life except for college and the recent debacle of chasing dollars in Ewe-stun. I walked to elementary school; walked to junior high; rode the bus to high school for 3/4 years;

I shoveled not only my driveway of snow, but also the sidewalks in front of the house. For about 10 years, I helped the neighborhood group put up a temporary structure at the local elementary school that was flooded and became a hockey rink.

When I went for a tumble when flying with my old man (no injuries except to the plane), the trapper in the next valley over came over to check on us after a couple hours....'cause he knew the plane and knew it always flew out after flying in.

Why mention this? Because (for a variety of reasons good or bad), all of that has changed. Kids no longer walk to school, they're either driven or bussed, the MOA plows sidewalks in several parts of the city, there's about 5 levels of SAR over much of Alaska...and it goes on and on.

In 1976 (IIRC and I may very well not), the court system in Anchorage decided that it wasn't appropriate to simply issue Anchorage-based lawyers a key to the law library.

I point this out to simply state that many things have changed in Alaska in the past 50+ years...all costing more and most of those changes either driven by or creating an entitlement mentality.

....and there are still more moose in Alaska than lawyers (although the ratio is inverted from what it should be in the 3rd Judicial District). I chase one of those and am one of the others:)....and FWIW, I'd argue my Alaska credentials against anyone on this forum with one possible exception.

Tee Jay wrote:
The latest report from the Alaska Journal of Commerce is Here.

The AMH is prepared to re-book everyone, but it won't be pretty or quick. The session lasts until Sunday, and may be extended. The reporter in the story has a pretty good record of getting it right.

I am having trouble believing that they are going to do this. The lost revenue is so huge, it is hard to fathom. But..once the cupboard is bare..it's done.


Gary Haupt

The latest report from the Alaska Journal of Commerce is Here.

The AMH is prepared to re-book everyone, but it won't be pretty or quick. The session lasts until Sunday, and may be extended. The reporter in the story has a pretty good record of getting it right.

joe b. wrote:
[1] A large number of folks have always lived out of state, worked for an out of state company, and commuted to work in Alaska. Usually these companies had contracts with the federal government so the state never knew they were working in Alaska. . . .

[2] The fishing fleet is much the same but many of the cannery employees are foreign citizens, brought over just to work the summer and the go back home.

[3] Unless new revenue sources develop, such as a new oil field or two, a natural gas pipeline south to the Lower 48, within just a few short years, Alaska is going to be in a world of hurt.

[1] Yep, that was me for 3 decades.
[2] Yep, many years ago I flew from Seattle to Anchorage on an Alaska Airlines redeye where I was the only American onboard besides the crew. Everyone else was from Mexico, the Philippines, or Taiwan and headed to the canneries . . . . in JANUARY!
[3] And that, folks, is why Alaska politicians will never stop trying to get oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

I believe I paid Alaska Income tax and School tax from the first summer I worked in Nome, 1962 till about 1974. Not sure of the ending date of the income tax but early 70s sometimes. Because so many seasonal jobs exist in Alaska, it was always difficult for the state to know who was working there or not.

A large number of folks have always lived out of state, worked for an out of state company, and commuted to work in Alaska. Usually these companies had contracts with the federal government so the state never knew they were working in Alaska. Hard to get those people on the tax lists, even when the state had an income tax. The fishing fleet is much the same but many of the cannery employees are foreign citizens, brought over just to work the summer and the go back home. Approximately 95% of all the Alaska canneries are now foreign owned and operated.

Very few Alaska residents are employed in the Alaska tourists industries. The cruise ships are a good example, they are owned and headquartered out of state, all fuel, food, etc., are purchased in their headquartered state, usually Washington. The hotels they own, the employees of those hotels , bus drivers, etc are seldom Alaska year around residents. Many of the tour bus drivers and guides may have been in Alaska less time than you have driving your RV.

Unless new revenue sources develop, such as a new oil field or two, a natural gas pipeline south to the Lower 48, within just a few short years, Alaska is going to be in a world of hurt.