ANCHORAGE - The state is picking up the airfare tab for legislators who attended a conference at a resort in Hawaii.
Eight lawmakers attended the annual Pacific Conference. They can bill the state for their travel, and half have already done so.
The host companies, which this year included BP, Conoco Phillips and AT&T, among others, paid for legislators to stay at a Maui resort during the five-day meeting.
Legislators argue that it's actually a useful, informative conference well worth the state's money and their time.
"One thing you need to recognize is, is Hawaii is part of the 50 states and they're one of our sister states," said Rep. Norman Rokeberg, an Anchorage Republican who attended the Dec. 10-15 meeting. "This is a very good conference. The speakers and the presenters at it were very high caliber."
Rokeberg is not returning to the state House. He lost a run for the state Senate in the Aug. 22 primary. His request to attend the Maui conference was dated Oct. 13.
Legislators traveling to the conference are required to attend daily meetings in the morning on topics such as pension funding and immigration. They have the afternoons off before gathering again for dinner, said coordinator Teresa Goodman.
The Hawaii gathering targets lawmakers from a five-state geographic region - Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington - to compare notes and trade ideas, said another lawmaker who went, Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks.
As for potential pressure from corporate lobbyists, Guttenberg said he never felt any. "Certainly a lot less than walking around Juneau," he said.
Other Alaskan lawmakers who attended this year were Sen. Bettye Davis, D-Anchorage; House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez; Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla; Rep. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, and Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka.
This year, Alaska lawmakers represented almost a third of the 26 legislators who attended the conference at the Sheraton Maui Resort.
A group of 22 companies and associations sponsored the meeting by paying registration or sponsorship fees to a nonprofit that hosts the event.
Each sponsor pays at least $5,500 for the opportunity to send one person to join the politicians on Maui, Goodman said. The groups and companies included Tesoro, Boeing, Coca-Cola, the American Chemistry Council and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
