John Harris (born October 15, 1957, in

Glennallen, Alaska Glennallen (''Ciisik’e Na’ '' in Ahtna) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Copper River Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 439, down from 483 in 2010 ...

) is an American politician and member of the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

. He served as Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2008. He was first elected in 1998 and represents the 12th district, as a member of the Republican Party. He was the mayor of Valdez from 1992 to 1996 and a member of the Valdez City Council from 1990 to 1998. John Harris attended Lincoln Electric Welding School in Cleveland, Ohio and Spartan School of Aeronautics in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. He is the owner of Valdez Industrial Supply, and has been a board member of Horizons Unlimited, Resource of Alaska, and

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

. He is Chair of the House Committee on Committees and was Co-Chair of the Finance Committee. He is a member of the Armed Services Committee, the ASC Subcommittee on Homeland Security, the Rules Committee, the Legislative Council Committee, and the following Finance Subcommittees: Court System, Governor, Legislature, and University of Alaska. He was a member of the Ethics Committee, the Finance Committee, the Legislative Budget & Audit Joint Committee, and the Finance Subcommittees for Health & Social Services and Corrections. Harris contemplated running for Alaska governor in 2010 but dropped out of the race over fundraising concerns.

Political views and proposals

Harris has asked

Ben Stevens Benjamin Aavan Stevens (March 18, 1959 – October 13, 2022) was an American politician and political advisor who served as the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy. He previously served as the President of the Alaska State S ...

, former Alaska state senator and son of

Ted Stevens Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left ...

, to resign from his position on the Republican National Committee. Stevens is under investigation for his ties to the oil field services company Veco Corp. In 2002, Harris offered an amendment that would have stopped an increase in state alcohol tax. In 2001, due to legal problems posed when pilots fly into

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, he introduced a bill to change the law requiring pilots to carry a gun as part of their survival kit. He opposed a bill that would have stopped the minimum wage from increasing with inflation.

References

External links

John Harris
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, John Living people 1957 births Alaska city council members Republican Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives Businesspeople from Alaska Mayors of Valdez, Alaska Speakers of the Alaska House of Representatives 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians