Ken Fate of Sitka’s Legislative Information Office joined KCAW’s Erin Fulton in the studio to discuss how Sitkans can keep track of what’s happening at the state government level. Fate outlined tools Sitkans can use to track bills, and discussed upcoming opportunities to give testimony at the LIO.

Please note: Opinions expressed in commentary on KCAW are those of the author, and are not necessarily shared by the station’s board, staff, or volunteers.

My name is Jeff Budd and I am very concerned for Sitka and the rest of Alaska’s communities given the governors budget and it implications, and the huge PFD.

At Tuesday’s city assembly meeting, Mayor Paxton reminded Sitkans that passing a state budget is a process that takes several months to complete. Governor Dunleavy’s budget is still a proposal, not a finished product.

As a longtime Sitkan who is deeply concerned with the potential damage that the governor’s proposed budget would do to our community, I take heart in Mayor Paxton’s words. I’m also reminded I have the right and responsibility to participate in my government when I see an administration with ideas that I feel are harmful.

I believe the oversized PFD payments the governor proposes will harm Alaska. These back payments from previous years will come at the expense of our schools, ferry system and other essential resources we can’t do without.

The meeting of the State Senate Affairs Committee on Thursday, February 28 is open to public testimony from all Alaskans. At 6 p.m., offices around the state, including the Sitka office, will provide a live feed allowing citizens to address lawmakers directly.

Ken Fate at the Sitka LIO can provide more information on public testimony about Governor Dunleavy’s proposed supplemental PFD payments. His number is 747-6276. Additional information is available at www.akleg.gov. Please find time to be at the LIO in Totem Square on the evening of Thursday, February 28 at 6 p.m.

Alaska’s state capitol building in Juneau. Sitka LIO staff member Ken Fate says that working with the legislature is not meant to be a one-way street. (KTOO Digital Services)

Sitka’s Legislative Information Office is kicking into high gear for the start of the 2019 legislative session in Juneau. The LIO can connect residents to the legislature in a variety of ways, from scheduling committee testimony to tracking bills. LIO staffer Ken Fate explains how it all works. Learn more at the legislative website.

Downloadable audio.

Sitka’s Legislative Information Office (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

Downloadable audio.

Alaska State Ombudsman Kate Burkhart will hold office hours in Sitka on Friday, May 11 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Legislative Information Office at Totem Square. Walk-ins are welcome. Burkhart was joined over the phone by Sitka’s Legislative Information Officer Ken Fate.

The ombudsman helps people who have complaints or problems with our state government. “If the complaint is about a state agency, we have the ability to look into it and if we document a problem, to recommend a solution.” This week, Burkhart’s office released a report on the state’s backlog of requests for public assistance.

Call the Sitka LIO at 747-6276 for more information.

Ken Fate is no stranger to being a megaphone for public information. The former general manager for Raven Radio took over for longtime Sitka LIO Marie Murray last year. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

With the legislature in session, Alaskans need not fly to Juneau to participate in government. Scattered throughout the state are nearly two dozen Legislative Information Offices – or LIOs – where citizens can watch, listen, and testify during public hearings.

Ken Fate knows a thing or two about being a megaphone for public information. He’s the former general manager of Raven Radio and now, the information officer for Sitka’s Legislative Information Office.

Downloadable audio.

(Music from “I’m Just a Bill”)

For children of the 1970s, there is one song from the educational series “Schoolhouse Rock” that stands the test of time. 

“I’m just a bill, sitting on capitol hill,” Fate croons in homage to the tune, “I’m Just a Bill.” “[Bill] is all sad. He’s not law yet, but spoiler alert, but by the end he becomes a law!”

The Sitka LIO is a spacious building where citizens can listen to government meetings and testify on bills. Fate can be found fielding phone calls and questions there, five days a week.

“I’m drawn to helping community. Broadcast was a way to do that all at once. The Legislative Information Office is a way to do that one person at a time,” Fate says.

Fate compares the LIO job to that of a librarian. He hasn’t “memorized all the books,” but knows where to find them and most importantly, is undaunted in the search.

“[A person may] look at what you need to do and have no idea where to begin. I don’t necessarily either. But if someone comes in and has a question, I can help and we’ll figure out what to do,” he said.

Sitka’s Legislative Information Office. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

The questions Fate receives are a mixed bag. Some days he will be tracking down a birth or death certificates and other days permanent resident applications. The offices provides permanent fund dividend (PFD) assistance for those in need, but the LIO’s primary mission is to help citizens track those bills on capitol hill. The Legislature’s website is akleg.gov. Much like locals call his former place of employment KAY-CAW instead of K-C-A-W, Fate is hesitant to correct those who say “A-K Leg” for short. 

FATE: It should be pronounced “A-K ledge dot gov”

KWONG: What do you say?

FATE: “A-K leg” (Laughs) It’s easier to say and sticks in the head better!

Fate wants citizens to bookmark this website. On the homepage is a link that lists all public testimony opportunities available that day, everything from net neutrality to plastic bag fees.

Peering over the tops of his glasses, Fate motions to a glass door behind us. “That room right there where the teleconference is happening, that puts you right there into a committee meeting. That allows you and your voice to be heard in this governmental process,” he said.

He then scrolls to the bottom of AKLeg website. There’s a number to text (559-245-2529) that will enroll your cell in updates on any particular bill. For those true legislative diehards, there’s even an Alaska Legislature app for iOS devices. You can stream a meeting of the House Finance Committee with the tap of a finger.

The abundance of tools is a far cry from the early days of Sitka’s LIO. For over 17 years, Marie Murray was its steady guide and oversaw the renovation of the building. Fate tips his hat to his predecessor.

“[Marie] taught me to be curious in many different directions and to have confidence of the office,” Ken says. “I remember the first time she saw me after I was hired full time she said, ‘Ken, you’re now an officer.'”

With a few months on the job, Fate said the deepest rewards come from helping citizens untangle the knots of bureaucracy and realize their dreams. Recently, he helped an individual acquire a state business license for the first time. They stood together for the final step, watching the license come out of the printer.

“It was kind of like the business was born that moment: the certificate is printed and comes out and held with two hands and looked at. It’s like, “Wow, this is happening.” And it’s really cool to help people move forward with projects or ideas, or sometimes struggles,” Fate said.

Sitka’s Legislative Information Office (LIO) is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Alaska Legislature will be back in session on January 16 (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

The Alaska State Legislature enters session on January 16th. Ken Fate of the Sitka Legislative Information Office joined us in the studio to talk about the services available for citizen testimony.

Downloadable Audio

School Board President Lon Garrison testified before the Senate Finance Committee, along with School Board member, and Chamber of Commerce director, Jennifer Robinson. (Photo courtesy of Gavel to Gavel)

The Senate Finance Committee is piecing together its take on the state operating budget, in the face of a $3.5-billion deficit. This week, the committee is taking testimony from the public on its work so far.

On Monday night (3-30-15), it was Sitka’s turn, as lawmakers heard from communities throughout Southeast and Coastal Alaska. Residents urged  legislators to roll back proposed cuts to K-12 education, the Alaska Marine Highway System, domestic violence prevention, and public broadcasting.

Sitka School Board members Lon Garrison and Jennifer Robinson traveled to Juneau to testify in person. Garrison said he was there to “implore” lawmakers to restore $32-million in one-time school funding promised during the last legislative session.

“For Sitka, that amounts to just over $362,000 dollars, or 3.5 teachers in our district,” Garrison told the committee. “The Sitka School District is currently facing an unprecedented $2.7-million shortfall out of a $20-million budget.”

“We are working to find ways to fill that gap,” he said, but “unfortunately with the magnitude of the cuts currently proposed, we will see higher class sizes, loss of programs, and the closure of facilities such as our swimming pool and our  performing arts center,  and the loss of programs such as our community schools program.”

Meanwhile, more than a dozen Sitkans gathered in the Legislative Information Office in town and waited through nearly two hours of testimony for their chance to speak.

Vicki D’Amico, the Executive Director of Sitkans Against Family Violence, asked the Senate to reinstate $1.5-million in domestic violence prevention programs.

D’Amico said that in more than 25 years of working at the women’s shelter, she never had much hope that the number of victims would decline, until she saw the prevention programs that have begun in Sitka in recent years.

“We continue to seek alternative sources of funding, and we won’t need funding indefinitely, as we will for shelters and response services if nothing is done to reduce victims’ numbers,” D’Amico said. “We in Sitka are right now on the cusp of change…our prevention plan is a well-oiled machine. A train, if you will, that prevention funds designed and built. It’s a moving train, very close to its destination. Pulling the funds now is the equivalent of derailing this train.”

Several Sitkans also spoke against a proposed 100% cut to statewide funding for public broadcasting.

Speakers pointed out that the cut would dismantle the statewide satellite network, leave some rural communities with no radio or TV signal, and interrupt emergency alert systems. It would also devastate local stations.

KCAW, for instance, receives $137,000 in state funding out of an annual budget of $668,000.

Rich McClear, a former general manager of KCAW, added that many stations would also lose their federal funding, which requires a state match. (In KCAW’s case, that’s an additional $10,000.) He recalled the arguments made by former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens when public broadcasting was up for debate in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s.

“With reporters in so many local stations, public broadcasting is the only institution that can provide coverage of the whole state, rural and urban,” McClear said. “It [was] essential then, it’s essential now. It knits our state together. And heaven knows, we need to be together [now] more than ever before, with this fiscal crisis.”

The Senate Finance Committee is working on the state operating budget this week. The budget will then go to the full Senate for approval. The state House passed its version of the budget earlier this month.