About 700 Haines voters signed a petition for a voter initiative on repealing Alaska’s oil tax law, SB 21.
Statewide, the petition has at least 15,000 signatures more than the required amount of 30,169, said Deborah Vogt, a former assistant attorney general for Alaska, who helped circulate the petition here.
The petition is awaiting certification by the lieutenant governor.
According to Vogt, the Division of Elections has already qualified more than enough signatures and districts to put the measure to vote on the next ballot. Local signature gatherers accumulated an estimated 800 signatures from residents, as well as visitors to the Great Alaska Craft Beer and Homebrew Festival and the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, Vogt said.
“Almost everyone we approached wanted to sign,” she said. “Even the last few days before we turned in the signatures, people were still saying ‘I’ve been looking for a place to sign.’”
Vogt’s main area of expertise is in oil tax laws and she says that they need to be reviewed every few years.
“I believe SB 21 is a deeply flawed bill,” she said. “This legislation throws out a very healthy baby with the bath.”
The question will go on the next statewide election, said Vogt, appearing on the ballot a year from now during the primary in August 2014.