What are we doing to bring the community in to say it is okay to rent a home to this individual, it is okay to take a chance, give this individual a second chance by hiring him and at a time when, you know, I don't want to take the risk.

As we talk about how we deal with the issues of recidivism, of reentry, of rehabilitation, what I've heard from all of you, whether it's the state approach or tribal or here in Anchorage, it's this community based justice.

Today, because of leaders like yourself, Senator Murkowski, Senator Coghill, Governor Walker, the discussion is able to move forward as tribes offer innovative ways in which tribal programs can work with State and Federal programs in order…

I'm struck that we have a conflict, an approach almost because of our geography, because of where our people are situated around an enormous state that is challenged by distance and cost.

We don't want to be number one in the nation for the number of people that we have incarcerated.

AVCP thanks Senator Murkowski for supporting H.B. 2822 and we urge this commission to recommend that the Alaska Native Tribes receive a majority of the proposed funding through that bill.

What is needed is federal legislation which recognizes the authority of our tribal governments to deal in the first instance with issues of local domestic violence, sexual assault, and substance abuse.

Our justice system is not viewed as a path of hope. If anything, it is viewed as just a revolving door of commitment to despair.

Today, because of leaders like Senator Murkowski, the discussion is able to move forward as tribes offer innovative ways...

Alaska has the 11th fastest prison population growth in the entire country.

Strengthening Alaska Native families is essential to reducing recidivism and improving reentry outcomes.

I understand you actually had a hearing just a couple days ago on the issue of tribal courts, recidivism and how we deal with the reentry issues.

There's a movement in the Commission around Ban the Box----so that when you first make your application for employment, the first thing they see is a box that says yes, I'm a felon.

Thank you to Senator Murkowski for her hard work and leadership in including $10 million in the Senate version of the FY 2016 Interior Appropriations bill for training and technical assistance for tribal courts.

This moving of the regulatory goalpost has a serious, chilling effect on project development and it limits the growth of our economy.

Like many Alaskans, my concern about Federal overreach has grown dramatically over the years.

I would appreciate it because it is something that as we listen to some of the on-the-ground examples of what we are dealing with, whether it is Wainwright or Nuiqsut or out in Craig.

I think, in my professional opinion, these most recent proposals that we have seen do not add to the health and welfare of the Alaskan people.

if there is one unifying theme amongst Alaskans... a concern consistently is we see ongoing, rapidly developing, encroachment, overreach and overregulation that is stifling us.

We have brought our committees to Alaska to examine the regulatory practices that impact and often delay or prevent development in our state.

The regulatory scheme within the Department of the Interior has significantly departed from the fundamental principle of multiple use as defined in and required by law.

How the Federal Government chooses to approach those rules has a big impact on our daily lives and our ability to grow as a state.

This is laid out in Federal statute that is unique to Alaska.

The Federal Government, is sort of a gatekeeper and a landlord here in Alaska.

Are we to believe that we are not able to move on anything up in the North Slope because we do not have a place to even bank it if we can agree that a two-to-one mitigation ratio is reasonable and not extortion?