We are close to the end of the year, so first things first! Please allow me to offer my sincere wishes to all for a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully Happy New Year in 2022. I hope the new year is filled with happiness and opportunity for all.

As for 2021, it was one very eventful year for many us, and particularly so for me!

I experienced the rare honor of being sworn into office as a state representative for my district, one of just 40 people every two years. Imagine what it feels like to travel to Juneau, get your office up and running, take the oath of office, and become an elected official with your name tag on a desk on the house floor, on state directories, websites, and other locations for the first time.

And what a crazy year it was to be a member of Alaska’s 32’nd Legislature! We had the regular 90-day legislative session, the 30-day extended session, and then an unprecedented 4 special sessions that the governor called to address the major aspects of fiscal policy that have been building up for the last few decades. Some say that nothing happened, but I think that many of these issues are so huge, complex, and interrelated that it will just take more time and effort to resolve issues that have been building for decades. I am hopeful and confident that material progress can be made in the upcoming session.

Many have asked me about my experience, what my biggest impressions are, and I can say that there are a couple of things that really stand out.

One of them is the weight of the office, the feeling of representing more than 17,000 constituents in your district and in the bigger picture, the hopes, and dreams of more than 700,000 Alaskans across our massive and diverse state.

It’s a part of the job that you may understand intellectually going in, but you really feel it on a deeper level when you are the one participating in the legislative process and making challenging decisions. One of my sayings is that “We don’t get to vote on perfect around here” and every push of the red or green button on the floor and votes in committee must balance campaign promises and personal principles with the reality of what is beneficial and what is not.

The other big impression is that what seemed like a target-rich environment of stuff that needed fixing from the outside looking in, is even more ripe for improvement when viewed from within. There are incredible improvement opportunities in every aspect of how we do work in state government. The trick is to get others onboard and willing to pull in the same or at least similar direction towards a common good that may not be readily apparent. It’s not easy, but I will persist.

One of my contributions to improving our fiscal policy included fulfillment of one of my core promises was to create a better spending cap. Many of you are familiar with it and have voiced your support and I thank you! For those that have not seen the details and how it works, click here for more information.

There were also wins in other key policy areas; including my promise to use my knowledge of quality management processes to improve government operations. As a member of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, I sponsored and was able to get unanimous committee support for a new process to seek resolution of audit findings. The background on this is that state audit findings have been increasing and accruing over time, and there was not a defined process for pursuing correction and closure. There is now! More information can be found here: Click Here! and another blog post is on its way on this issue.

Another opportunity for making important improvements came to us in the form of HB 63 a bill to revamp oversight of the Alaska Marine Highway System. I didn’t like the original bill, but I saw an opportunity to revise it in a way that would create a board that could drive improvement in AMHS operations. It was essentially our heavily amended version of the bill that passed the House, and then my office worked with the Senate to get it passed and signed into law. Hopefully a step towards better operations, although more may need to be done. The bill can be found here: Click Here! and a blog post will be forthcoming about that experience. ​Not bad for starters

The coming 2022 legislative session will include continuation of our efforts on our existing resolutions and bills, plus a few new initiatives, all of which will be keeping us incredibly busy.

I will continue to push for our spending cap which I believe is the foundational piece of legislation required for any comprehensive fiscal policy. There are other spending cap proposals, but I believe that the one that we have proposed will just plain work better than the other proposals, and I think that I can prove it, so I will continue to put it forth for consideration.

Our document reduction bill (HB 187 link) passed out of the State Affairs Committee and is currently in the House Finance committee, I will do my best to get it moving and passed. It’s a commonsense, cost-reducing reform that has received bipartisan support.

Our license plate bills, one is HB-201; https://www.senatorkaufman.com/remember-the-fallen/ and the other, is HB-200 (Click Here!) to reduce the cost and complexity associated with the process of approving future commemorative license plates. HB-201 has tremendous community support, it might have a chance of passing, so you never know!

There is also new legislation coming that we have been working on. This will include bills that will create a much better connection between what we spend and what we get for the money we spend. I’m not going to go into too much detail quite yet but will provide much more information shortly after we get into the ’22 session.

Note: Some might wonder why I sometimes say “I” and sometimes say “we”, so I will explain. When it comes to getting things done, it takes a team which includes my staff and sometimes others, including a cast of characters including those that have co-sponsored my legislation, members of the public, technical contributors, and others. When it’s my personal thought or task to do, I try to use “I”.

So, this update is getting long, and I don’t want to wear out my welcome and I better draw this to a close.

I wish everyone the very best, health happiness and good fortune. Thank you for allowing me to represent you as “Representative Kaufman”, it is a high honor that I value highly!