Alaska House Republicans outline vision, principles in declaration

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - On Thursday, March 11th, the 18-member House Republicans group in the Alaska State Legislature released a declaration of their principles and their vision for Alaska.

They held a press conference later that day, during which they addressed the state’s budget and other topics.

First, they outlined their principles of governing, with Cathy Tilton, Republican Representative for District 12, saying, “Responsible government means a state government that operates transparently, and is accessible to Alaskans. It means thoughtful budgeting and prioritizing needs over wants.”

George Rauscher, Republican Representative for District 9 said, “This resolution implores that the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management honor the recent coastal plain oil and gas leasing program, and proceed with permitting in the 10-02 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve.”

Tilton added, “Alaska needs to be open for business, and for us, that means heavy reliance on resource development.”

Majority Caucus member Adam Wool, Representative for District 5, provided a reaction to the announcement and subsequent press conference. “I think the state has a lot of serious budgetary issues and economic issues that aren’t going to be solved by people saying ‘Open for business. Let’s extract more resources,’ because I think it’s more complicated than that.”

Wool said oil revenues have been in decline for a long time, which he attributes to less output from Prudhoe Bay. “Between price and production declines, that’s been our major problem with supporting Alaska services.”

“ANWR’s at least 10 years out. Even if they got the green light to start doing some seismic work right away, it’ll be awhile before there’s any state money out of it,” Wool explained.

Other topics addressed included the state’s vaccination campaign and recent controversy regarding mask policies at the capitol.

Representative Tilton mentioned elections integrity and ANWR development as legislative priorities of House Republicans in the current session.

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