Generated: 2026-02-13 11:13:30 | Sources: KTOO Gavel, Alaska Legislature
231
Total Meetings
194
Transcripts
164
AK Leg Matches
122
Unique Bills
1,884,445
Total Words
Meetings by Week (last 12 weeks)
Week 02 (Jan 15)
2
Week 03 (Jan 23)
41
Week 04 (Jan 30)
58
Week 05 (Feb 06)
63
Week 06 (Feb 13)
67
Top Committees
House Finance Committee
19
Senate Finance Committee
15
Senate Floor Session
12
House Floor Session
11
Senate Resources Committee
9
Senate Labor & Commerce Commit
9
House Labor & Commerce Committ
8
House Education Committee
7
Senate State Affairs Committee
7
House State Affairs Committee
7
▶
2026-02-13
House Education Committee
akleg
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Education Committee. Date: 2026-02-13.
(No transcript available)
▶
2026-02-12
Joint Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill12K words
The Joint Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-02-12. The committee heard SB 74 (Obstruction of Certain Public Places).
Bills Heard
SB 74 — Obstruction of Certain Public Places
Key Topics
the distribution of money Department Health Through Chair Rural Health Health Transformation Madam Chair
Speakers (30)
Representative Fields(10)
Senator Claman(9)
Senator Myers(6)
Commissioner Hedberg(5)
Senator Giessel(5)
Representative Prax(5)
Ms. Martin(4)
Representative Gray(4)
Chair Mina(2)
Chair So(2)
Chair Dunbar(2)
Chair Senator(2)
Representative Ruffridge(2)
Chair Representative(2)
Senator Kiehl(1)
Senator Clinton(1)
Mr. Olson(1)
Commissioner Has(1)
Commissioner Heberg(1)
Commissioner Is(1)
Notable Points
The Department of Health, I thought, did a remarkable job gearing up to the COVID response.
I believe that the expansion at ANTHC for the emergency room is $251 million is the cost, something like that.
So to expand, to add some beds, and to create a new emergency bay, is about 450 million dollars.
Transcript: 12,596 words
This joint meeting of the House and Senate Health and Social Services Committees will now come to order.
It is 3.32 PM, Thursday, February 12th, 2026 in Davis 106.
Members present are Senators Myers, Clayman, Giesell, Dunbar,
and Representatives, Refrage, Meers, Gray, Prox, and
myself and Representative Feels has also just joined us.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones for the duration of the meeting.
Staffing the committee today, we've Andrew Gionati as Health and Social Services Recording Secretary and Zach Lawhorn, our LIO moderator.
Katie Giorgio is my committee aide and if you need anything during the meetings, please don't hesitate to get her attention.
Today, We have presentation about the Alaska Rural Health Transformation Program.
And we wanted to take this opportunity to really talk about the
possibilities that can be done with funding from RHTP.
Today, we have Monique Martin
from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium,
Nancy Mirriman with the Alaskan Primary Care Association,
and Jared Kosen with
the ALASCA Hospital and Healthcare Association
to talk about the RHDP.
These organizations were part of the application
and development of RHP,
and we are looking forward to hearing of their work
with RHDP
and how this will impact Alaska.
So to our presenters, please come to the presenter's table,
put yourself on the record, and begin your presentation.
Thank you so much to chairs Dembar and Mina for scheduling this meeting to help share information on the Rural Health Transformation Program.
For the record, my name is Monique Martin.
I serve as the Vice President of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
Thank for your record.
My name's Jared Kosen.
I am President and CEO of the Alaskan Hospital and Healthcare Association and appreciate the opportunity to be here.
And thank you for the record.
My name is Nancy Merriman and I am the CEO
of the Al
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2026-02-12
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills9K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-12. Bills discussed included SB 103 (CNA Training), SB 203 (Prohibited Weapons/Firearm Convert Device). Public testimony was taken with 27 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 103 — CNA Training
SB 203 — Prohibited Weapons/Firearm Convert Device
Motions
Next we'll go ahead and move to Anchorage and where we have Mr. Rick McClure. to his name and identify himself for the record.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
3 testifiers (able
to just provide, the language they proposed, the daughter of)
5 testifiers (Louis Flora Staff to, hoping works, directed to mr, Captain Scott and Bart, Captain Scott Bartlett again)
8 testifiers (curious about the magnitude, Captain Scott Bartlett, personally only aware or, only where when our, not aware of like, Captain Scott Bartlett, for us, going to start at)
2 testifiers (for us, going to start at)
Key Topics
this bill on both sides that are not trackable 3D printing demonstrates that and raises additional concern Senate Bill Senate State State Affairs State Name Law Enforcement
Speakers (30)
Senator Tobin(9)
Chair For(9)
Mr. Chairman(7)
Senator Wielechowski(6)
Senator Bjorkman(5)
Chair Kawasaki(4)
Mr. Flora(3)
Senator Wieckowski(3)
Vice Chair Senator(2)
Senator Lukey(2)
Mr. Haslett(2)
Senator Greg(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Senator Luki(1)
Representative Or(1)
Senator Luke(1)
Mr. Scott(1)
Mr. Bhutan(1)
Mr. Rick(1)
Notable Points
Not surprisingly, it has fire reaching consequences, possibly unintended.
This uncautified section specifies that the changes made by the Act apply only to offenses committed on or after the effective date of The Act.
Transcript: 9,262 words
Okay, I'd like to call the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order.
Let the record reflect that it is Thursday, February 12th.
Time now is 3.31 PM.
We are in the senate state affairs committee room in The Belts Committee Room in June, Alaska.
We have with us today Vice Chair Senator Bjorkman, Senator Wielikowski,
Senator Greg Jackson, senator Tilton, and myself, Chair Kawasaki.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
I'd like to thank Carri Tippo from Senate Records and Kyla Tuppo as moderator with the Legislative Information Office.
We have one item on today's agenda.
I just wanted to say that we did talk about perhaps moving Senate Bill 71 and Senate bill 126 out today.
We are going to hear back from the sponsors of the bill, both the Governor's Office and Senator Yunt on some potential amendment to his bill.
before we bring those two forward without without those 2 items we just have one item on the agenda
this is Senate bill 203 prohibited weapons slash firearm conversions it is sponsored by senator
luki gail Tobin of the anchorage downtown area she is here in the room and if you and your staff
We have a brief at ease
Okay, the Senate State Affairs Committee is back to order
Representative or sorry, it's as representative senator Lucie Tobin is before us. I'd like to welcome you to the committee
Thank you. Thank You, mr. Chairman for the record
My name is Luci Gail Toban, and I have the pleasure and privilege of representing
Senate district I here in the Alaska state legislature
I'm Louie florist staff to senator luke gale Tobon. So I am going to talk a little bit about why
why this bill is so important to me and why I have chosen to introduce it here in the Alaska
state legislature for consideration. At the core Senate bill 203 is a preventive
public health measure that really empowers local law enforcement to act before tragedy strikes.
And my impetus in introducing this Bill really came from two events. The first was speaking with
places where they h
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2026-02-12
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill16K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-12. The committee heard HB 124 (AIDEA). Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 124 — AIDEA
Motions
Representative St: Madam Chair, I move amendment number two.
chair story: So that brings us to amendment number three, also known as N.21, and I'm going to move amendment number 3, and we'll look for objection for discussion, thank you.
Representative McCabe: Thank you, Madam Chair. I move amendment six which is yes, N dot five.
Representative McCabe: Thank you, Madam Chair. I move amendment, number 7, N dot six.
Representative McCabe: How convenient. I move amendment eight.
Representative McKabe: Um, I'm going to move to table the amendment then with the intention to bring it back up during this hearing today.
But I I'm going to move to table it so that we don't tie up time on the phone with an additional counsel person And I would ask the clerk to call the roll on tabling amendment number eight Representative Hymshy, yes Representative Holland.
representative McCabe: Thank you madam chair. I move amendment Number 9 If you will bear with me, I'm going to go through amendment number nine section, subsection by subsection.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (sensing that the objection, an object for discussion, opposed to amendment four)
1 testifier (guessing the objection is)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the revolving fund Amendment Number Representative Mccabe Madam Chair Representative Holland Representative Clair
Speakers (30)
Representative McCabe(55)
Representative Holland(23)
Representative St(20)
Vice Chair Story(20)
Representative Vance(19)
Representative Himschoot(10)
Chair Carrick(9)
Chair Merrick(5)
Director Raro(4)
Director Of(3)
Representative Him(3)
Representative Sinclair(3)
Representative McKay(2)
Chair While(1)
Director Rooraro(1)
Chair Decides(1)
Chair And(1)
Chair Yes(1)
Chair If(1)
Chair May(1)
Notable Points
Start wrapping up debate on this amendment representative McCabe and then Saint Clair Yeah, so so who determines the expertise so once again, you know, there are a number of ways you can determine expertise There's really no defining Thing in here and a speaker can Pretty much say if he's gonna be appointing I Question thi
Bills are subject to veto by a governor creating even more opportunity for politics to decide the outcome of a project, Most project sponsors will just simply not use eta due to the uncertainty Uncertainty created by this new regulation in fact if I was a business owner starting a brewery or Starting an interior gas utility
I just had to get that in there I certainly wouldn't go to etah If if I thought that it was going to take the legislature two years of a single session to get it through to a governor Who may not be politically aligned with the Legislature and then veto it so? I'm sorry, but this piece of the bill is extremely ill thought out Thank you representative McCabe do we have discussion on amendment number nine representative aitz I am in support of this amendment for a lot of the reasons that were ment
Just imagine what it would be like If we went into the Ada right now, just like we did last year When we tried to go into ADA, fortunately, it was vetoed.
The fiscal notes on the bill alone are huge and I am given to understand there are new fiscal notes coming out that are going to be significantly.
Transcript: 16,650 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House State Affairs Committee to order.
The time is 3.19 p.m. on Thursday, February 12th, 26th.
We are here in room 120.
Please silence your cell phones today.
Members present are including Representative St.
Clair, Representative McCabe,
Representative Vance,
Representative Holland,
Representative Hymshoot, Vice Chair Story, and myself, Chair Kerrick.
Let the record reflect we have a quorum to conduct business.
And I'd like to thank our support staff, our record secretary,
Cecilia Miller,
our moderator from the Juna LIO, Renzo Moises,
and the committee aid for today's hearing,
my staff Stuart Relay.
Thank you all for helping us today.
On today agenda, we had one item,
consideration of amendments to House Bill 124
on the Alaska Industrial Development
and Export Authority from my office.
This is the one item on our agenda today for consideration.
And this is our sixth hearing on this bill.
At our last hearing, on February 5th, I set an amendment deadline for February 10th at 5 PM.
We have received 20 amendments for committee members.
Information today, we do have Randy Raro, the executive director of the Alaska Industrial and
Development and Export Authority online for questions.
We also have a couple other staff with the, with Ada,
we have the Chief Financial Officer, Gene Cornmuller,
and it looks like also General Counsel for Ada Kent Sullivan,
are available.
We do have lot of amendments today,
so I would kindly ask members to please keep your comments
concise, if possible.
And also, when moving your amendment,
reference both the amendment number that's on your packet as well as the n.number in the top
corner so that we can keep track of where we're at and what amendment we are looking at.
It's also my intention to chair while we take this bill up today and be as
If that appears like it'll be a challenge,
then we may take a brief at ease
to change up the chairmanship,
but hopefully we can make it work today.
So with that, we cou
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2026-02-12
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill2K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-02-12. The committee heard HCR 27 (Supporting State Energy Development). Public testimony was taken with 1 testifiers. 3 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
HCR 27 — Supporting State Energy Development
Votes
Are there any further objections? Seeing no objections, that Amendment 1 is now adopted.
So Having either of those names is is appropriate and There's no objections from the committee.I will Remove mine any further Seeing no objections this amendment is adopted Brief it is I'm just clarifying we've got somebody We are back on the record in house energy.
There's any objection We're taking over Seeing no objection H.A.R. 2734 dash LS0973 backslash I moves from committee with individual recommendations and the ability for leg legal to make any conforming and technical changes.
Motions
Madam chair, I move amendment one work order 34 dash LS 0 9 7 3 backslash I dot 3 and I'll object for purposes of discussion representative Holland and staff.
chair potential: Did we move amendment one? Yes, okay Thank you Did anyone object I did Well, I was really not paying attention to that.
Co-chair Holland: We do have motion. I move amendment 2.
I may have a motion to adopt the resolution as amended co-chair mirrors I move the HD that HD are 27 37 Dash LS 0 9 7 3 backslash.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (the resolution second hearing)
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
Speakers (11)
Co-Chair Holland(7)
Representative Cop(3)
Co-Chair Mirrors(3)
Representative Reference(2)
Representative Costello(2)
Co-Chair Mears(1)
Representative Paul(1)
Chair Let(1)
Representative Ajman(1)
Chair Potential(1)
Mr. Hall(1)
Notable Points
You've also mentioned establishing a task force Is there any concern that they may that might attach a fiscal note to this? Do we need to have that in there? I was just Just wondering especially if it's a government related tax force.
Yes, from the perspective of the speaker's office, in terms of referring bills and bills, picking up a fiscal note during the course of hearing process, I would, you know, I think it's in solid ground to opine that this is just an advisory vehicle, and it proposes to do something putting into law that something is being done so in my view it wouldn't pick up a fiscal note.
t this is just an advisory vehicle, and it proposes to do something putting into law that something is being done so in my view it wouldn't pick up a fiscal note. Thank you representative Ajman. Mr. Chair do you have anything to add to that? I'll just say that when we requested this language from the legislati
Coach, your mirrors, I move that HDR 27. dash LS0973 backslash I as amended with individual recommendations and I'll finish the thought by saying moves out a committee with a company fiscal notes but there are no fiscal modes with technique with oh boy it's not in the script but it should be I will do that part he said he Yeah, as amended with technical and conforming changes.
Transcript: 2,735 words
Good afternoon. This is the House Energy Committee. Thank you for joining us.
Today is February 12th and the time is
138 p.m. Members presents are represented Edgman representing cops represented Costello
Representative reference coach here nears and myself coach your Holland. Do you have a quorum to conduct business?
I'd like to remind members and staff that we're allowing members to use electronic devices
during the committee meetings, but please silence your cell phones as a reminder.
Staff and members of the audience may now approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to committee members, please get the attention of my
committee aides and through over here in the corner, and he will take care of it.
Before we get started, I would like
to thank recording secretary Kayle Brown and Renzo Moises.
in the back from the Gino-LIL for technical support.
Today's agenda, we have one item on our agenda.
We'll be hearing public testimony and entertaining amendments
on House Joint Resolution 27 supporting state energy development
sponsored by myself, co-chair Holland.
This is the resolution second hearing.
We had previously advertised a second hearing of House Bill 252,
but have had to push it as the draft of additional changes to the bill are not yet available for us.
So I will now pass the gavel to co-chair Mears.
Thank you, co chair Holland.
First, we'll take up HCR 27, supporting state energy development, and
we will open up the resolution for public testimony.
First off, is there anyone in the room
who wishes to testify?
Steering and hearing none,
is, there, anyone on the phone?
There is not.
Thank you very much for that quick
and efficient public testimony.
With no one in a room or online,
I will encourage folks to always keep in mind
any time of day on our email, which is house.energy at akaledge.gov, but for
this resolution public testimony is now closed. And now we'll pick up the
amendments we received. We do have two amendments.
Madam chair, I move amendment one
▶
2026-02-12
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg4 bills16K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-12. 4 bills were discussed, including HB 274 (State Agency Review by Lb&a Committee), HJR 30 (Const. Am: Permanent Fund), SB 113 (Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business), and others. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 274 — State Agency Review by Lb&a Committee
HJR 30 — Const. Am: Permanent Fund
SB 113 — Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business
SB 138 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
Votes
And what, the intent of this whole bill is to do, it'd be nice, kind of nice to know and understand what that contingency would be, assuming that this all passed as a package, and then the constitutional components failed.
Key Topics
what would happen if you used a single sales factor overall, if you were to use a single sales factor mining industry Through Chair Income Tax Corporate Income Chair Representative Production Tax
Speakers (30)
Chair Foster(12)
Mr. Stickle(12)
Representative Bynum(10)
Chair Representative(10)
Representative Stapp(9)
Chair To(9)
Representative Josephson(8)
Representative Galvin(6)
Director So(6)
Representative Hannan(5)
Mr. Spanos(5)
Commissioner Mears(4)
Mr. Stickel(4)
Mr. Coacher(4)
Chair Mr(4)
Representative Moore(3)
Representative Jimmie(2)
Mr. Williams(2)
Chair And(2)
Commissioner Of(2)
Notable Points
Alaska was flush with oil money, debate over how to tax oil companies and share wealth with people.
It was definitely out in the news when that veto was held and so I'm just thinking that people are probably wondering, you know, how do we reconcile these two things? So can you talk, speak to that? Sure.
So it changes the sourcing from cost to performance to market-based sourcing and that That's most of what SB 113 was, which is the bill that the governor vetoed.
And so for those reasons, he vetoed SB 113, but he did see the value.
And I believe in the letter that he wrote with his veto, he mentioned that there were parts of 113 that he liked that might propose in a future bill.
Transcript: 16,168 words
Okay, I'm going to call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order.
Let the record reflect that the time is currently 1.33 p.m. on Thursday, February 12th, 2022.
And present today, we've got Representative Allard, Representative Stapp,
Representative Moore,
Representative Bynum,
Representative Schraghi,
Coachere Schraghi.
Representative Coachier, Joseph Sinner,
Representative Jimmy,
Representative Galvin,
and myself Coaching Foster.
And did you have a question or up to them by them?
No sir.
Oh, okay.
I thought you had a technical something maybe.
Oh no sir, but maybe I'll let you take over today.
No chance.
Before we start, folks could please mute your cell phones.
We do have one bill for us today and that's the continuation of House Bill 284.
The bill was introduced last week, and we made it through the first section, which is the sales tax portion.
The Department of Revenue has returned today to finish walking the committee through
the rest of the bill.
We have the entire committee time to finished this presentation.
and we'll jump right into it if we could have up at the table Commissioner Janelle Earls
administrative services director as well for the Department of Revenue and also Brandon
Spanos acting tax director Department
of revenue and finally Dan Stickel chief economist department of
If you could put yourselves on the record and we do have a fairly dense slide deck.
So if maybe we could hold questions until after this next section on,
I believe it's the corporate tax portion.
If we can hold the questions till the end of that and then we'll go to questions
and go the next session.
And then I think there are other two other sections in there that was the fiscal
Note section if anyone had any questions on that if we have time
And that I I
Think we're doing a pretty good job of hitting the high points on the bill
But I know that there is a sectional analysis and if there were questions there happy to jump into that
But, I don't think
Okay, so with th
▶
2026-02-12
Senate Arctic Affairs Special Committee
transcriptakleg8K words
The Senate Arctic Affairs Special Committee met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
Work Doing Circumpolar North Hand Corner
Speakers (15)
Ms. Anderson(5)
Senator Kawasaki(3)
Senator Giessel(2)
Director Of(2)
Dr. Jimmie(2)
Dr. Hannan(2)
Senator Wielechowski(1)
Vice Chair Senator(1)
Dr. Seuss-Looking(1)
Dr. Santosh(1)
Dr. Jesse(1)
Dr. Kiehl(1)
Dr. Erin(1)
Senator Or(1)
Dr. Kenneth(1)
Transcript: 8,946 words
I call the Senate Artic Affairs Committee to order.
Today is February 12th, 2026,
and the time is 3.32 p.m.
We...
are here with the Arctic Affairs Committee members present, Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Wilakowski, Vice Chair Senator Stevens, and myself,
Senator Giesle. We have a quorum to conduct business.
Thank you, Julie and Kayla for, or Kyla for helping us with
the audio and keeping the records.
So today we're having a presentation from the Institute of Agriculture,
Natural Resources, an extension from
University of Alaska Fairbanks.
We had a presentation last year.
It was so good, so we're pretty excited
to have Jody Anderson back, who is the director
of the Institute.
So welcome, Jodi, Ms. Anderson, Director Anderson.
Thank you, Senator.
For the record, my name is Jodie Anderson
I'm with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
I am the Director of the Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Extension.
I live in Palmer, Alaska as a full-time resident.
I really appreciate the invitation, Chair.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to share the-
the great work that we're doing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks within our Institute with regard to
the development of not only agriculture, but forestry research and how we are working
at that circular level and so understanding the importance of
Arctic within the Special Committee
Our focus today will be really looking at what we've done
where we're going and why we are doing what we
are going. We are really excited today. I represent
an amazing group of researchers,
technicians, staff, and faculty
that all work to enrich the lives of Alaskans
every day.
Today I'd like to share with you some of the work
that we're doing for circumpolar connections
and in addition to that strengthening
our Alaska food system.
We are a federally funded component
of The University of Alaska Fairbanks.
We're part of land grant university system
and so we are obligated to
share a notice of non-discrimination
at all of our presentat
▶
2026-02-12
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg5K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
Health Transformation Rural Health Transformation Program Health Care Department Health
Speakers (12)
Commissioner For(3)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Senator Stedman(1)
Senator Kaufman(1)
Senator Kiehl(1)
Commissioner Emily(1)
Commissioner Earlier(1)
Director Of(1)
Commissioner Noted(1)
Chair So(1)
Notable Points
In the cooperative, we do have other cooperative agreements within the department, public health emergency preparedness, hospital prepared-ness program, the epidemiology and laboratory capacity, the state opioid response.
We know that seniors don't have adequate access to primary care, and as our populations ages, we want to make sure that they can access primary care to avoid unnecessary emergency remutilization and hospital readmissions.
Yeah to the chair so compact licensing does require a conversation with the legislature looking at the five different types of licensed health care providers, physicians, physician assistants, psychologist, emergency medical services, and nursing.
It's not exhaustive, but it is meant to give a sense of the type of applicants that we expect to see, including healthcare providers, tribal health organizations, emergency medical services, schools, local governments, community organizations and non-profits.
Chair Specifically, I'm looking at EMS does that go to volunteer EMS and and how could that help our volunteer? MS that serve everybody out there, right? But with very little funding Through the chair, Senator, I am personally really excited about the work that we can do strengthening the emergency medical services across the state.
Transcript: 5,901 words
Good afternoon everybody, I'd like to go ahead and call the Senate Finance Committee to order for the afternoon meeting of Thursday, February 12th, 2026, with me today as Senator Olson.
Senator Merrigg, Senator Cronk, and Senator Stedman here.
Senator Kauffman and
Senator Keel are off at another meeting.
So, we have one item on the agenda this afternoon, and we're going to talk about the Rural Health
Transformation Program overview by the Department of Health.
And before I get into that, I need to correct a warning record.
We had a hearing concerning Monashkum High School and a pet rat that was mislabeled.
Not twinkle toes. I guess it degraded the rat. It's tip toes
The name of the pet rat is tip tose fat Mount Edge comes gymnasiums until such time they catch him in the trap
Then they might have another name for him
but with that
I'd like to have Heidi Hittberg come forward to Commissioner. She's got some trusty aids to help her. This is a
Very large significant multi-year challenge
Emily Riese, Deputy Commissioner, Betsy Wood,
Associate Director, Office of Health Savings.
And welcome to Senate Finance.
If you can introduce yourself
and walk us through your presentation, please.
Good afternoon for the record.
My name is Heidi Hedberg,
Commissioner for The Department of health.
So I'm going to start with just a brief high-level overview of the Rural Health Transformation Program on slide two and then I'll transition to slide three and four and just talk about what is this federal grant opportunity and
then we'll transitioned to Deputy Commissioner Emily Ritchie and to Betsy Wood, Associate Director for the Office of Health Savings that will provide more details of
So on July 4th HR1 was signed into law and it created the Rural Health Transformation Program is a five-year federal investment
to improve the care delivery models,
to improved health outcomes,
and to stabilize our workforce across Alaska.
And as I describe, or you hear in future conversations,
provider sta
▶
2026-02-12
Senate Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg14K words
The Senate Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
their perspective on the project what's happening here the comments Cascade Point Through Chair Ferry Terminal Chair Senator Marine Highway
Speakers (24)
Senator Kiehl(16)
Senator Tobin(16)
Mr. Chairman(13)
Senator Bjorkman(9)
Chair To(5)
Mr. Breen(2)
Ms. Epstein(2)
Senator Russia(2)
Dr. Senator(2)
Director Of(2)
Director Tornga(2)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Mr. Bream(1)
Mr. Brin(1)
Director Goins(1)
Director Go(1)
Director Taranga(1)
Chair In(1)
Director Goings(1)
Chair Or(1)
Notable Points
They do, the people deserve that respect on this, especially as controversial as it is.
And then the governor vetoes those funds.
The governor vetoes those funds, does that mean that they are restored to the original place where the money was taken from? That's an open legal question that I believe the legislature will pursue and that the department needs to plan contingencies for about what you all will do.
The vetoes were in place.
We knew the veto's were place, and we were moving forward, knowing, believing that the funding was there.
Transcript: 14,799 words
Good afternoon
Let's call this meeting the Senate transportation committee to order at 1 37 p.m. We're in budget room 205
Here in the nation's most beautiful capital city of June, Alaska today is Thursday February 12, 2026
Members present today are senator keel senator Tobin senator Rauscher and myself senator borkman
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business
Welcome, everyone, to Senate Transportation.
I'd like to remind everyone to please turn off
or silence your cell phones and join me
in welcoming our recording secretary, Heather Ramseth,
and our LAO moderator, Susan Quigley.
Today, we are discussing the Department
of Transportation Project at Cascade Point
in June of Alaska.
We will hear from Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
regarding their perspective on the project,
and then we'll hear
from the department of transportation
and public facilities.
First up today,
we have from this Southeast
Tyler Breen and Lois Epstein
Mr. Bream is Epstein if you could please join us at the table. I believe we have a miss Epstein on the phone
Please state your names and affiliation for the record and begin your presentation
Good afternoon for The Record my name is Tyler brain
I am the policy analyst with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.
Thank you for having me here today to speak.
I want to walk through a timeline for the Cascade Point Project because
the order of decisions matters in determining whether the state has committed funds for
a project in advance of the public process and permit application analyses
meant to inform project direction.
the timeline I'm about to present and tends to show the related actions pushing
cascade point towards production before the procedural steps necessary to
inform its necessity its impacts or its alternatives. On March 9th, 2023, the
governor and department of transportation and public facilities signed a memorandum
of understanding with Goldbelt to pursue development at cascade
point. That agreement
▶
2026-02-12
House Finance: Environmental Conservation Subcommittee
transcriptakleg7K words
The House Finance: Environmental Conservation Subcommittee met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
our current budget status, FY26 Through Chair Madam Chair Make Sure General Fund Administrative Services
Speakers (30)
Representative Costello(4)
Ms. Kohler(4)
Director For(3)
Co-Chair Holland(3)
Commissioner Designee(2)
Mr. Bates(2)
Representative Hannan(2)
Representative Thomas(2)
Co-Chair And(2)
Representative Meir(1)
Director Megan(1)
Director In(1)
Representative Reference(1)
Co-Chair Andy(1)
Representative Tomaszewski(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Commissioner How(1)
Chair It'S(1)
Chair Mr(1)
Representative Home(1)
Transcript: 7,717 words
I gavel this meeting of the House Finance Department of Environmental Conservation Subcommittee
to order at 1234 on Thursday, February 12th, of 2026.
I'm going to remind everyone to make sure that their cell phones are muted.
Present today are Representatives Holland, Representative Meir, representative Costello,
And just in case anyone's wondering we do not have to have a quorum because we are not taking actions that are binding and
because, we're constrained at this lunch hour time frame and many of us have
Committees that start at 1.30. We're going to try and hold to a brisk start time
Our LIO operator today, assisting us, is Jude Augustine.
I'd like to welcome everybody and look forward to a collaborative and productive process with the full membership.
The purpose of the subcommittee is to review and discuss the agency budget transactions with
the goal of 40 recommendations to the Full Finance Committee.
These transactions can include increments, decrements, transfers, new positions or
Fund source changes and more.
Please bear in mind that our work will be focused on the number section of the operating budget only.
Issues in the language section the bill are the purview of full finance committee.
Our evaluation will often be based on comparisons between the FY 25
base budget and the FY 26 governor's request.
While our recommendations are not binding, they are helpful to the full finance committee's process of creating a committee substitute as we move forward.
Today we will receive a mid-year FY26 status report and overview of the department's FY27 request from commissioner designee Randy Bates and administrative services director Megan Kohler.
For those watching remotely, the PowerPoint presentation can be found under today's meeting documents on basis.
The legislature's online headquarters at www.akleg.gov.
Mr. Bates, Ms. Kohler, please come forward and begin your presentation.
And a good afternoon in Juneau style.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here wit
▶
2026-02-12
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg8K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-12. Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers.
Motions
Representative Mina: move to the next testimony, but mr. Green Rep.
Okay, thank you, would like to move to the second invited, has to fire. That's Ms.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (Tyler Bream, interested to know
Why)
2 testifiers (Lois Epstein and, an
Alaska licensed engineer)
Key Topics
previous projects Through Chair Cascade Point Chair Representative Representative Nelson Point Project
Speakers (30)
Representative Nelson(8)
Co-Chair Representative(8)
Representative Stutes(7)
Representative Mina(6)
Representative McCabe(5)
Mr. Mills(4)
Ms. Epstein(3)
Co-Chair To(3)
Co-Chair Represent(2)
Mr. Breen(2)
Mr. Co-Chair(2)
Mr. Coachear(2)
Representative Carrick(2)
Commissioner At(2)
Mrs. Lois'S(2)
Representative Eischeid(1)
Mr. Tyler(1)
Co-Chair Ayeshide(1)
Chair Aishide(1)
Representative St(1)
Notable Points
I do not have knowledge that he's no longer in this business but with technology it's remarkable that if people want to participate they can despite being in another state.
controversial as this project has been so Representative Mina and then I would like to move to the next testimony, but mr.
Transcript: 8,007 words
This meeting of the House Transportation Committee will now come to order
Time is 12 36 p.m. On Thursday
February 12th in Capra room 124
members present
represent Stutes
represent McKade
represent Mina
represent Saint Clair
Co-chair represent Kariq and myself co-chare
Representative Aisheid, that the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones for the duration of the meeting.
Thank you for that.
Before we begin, I would like to thank Jordan Nicholson from House Records,
as well as Chloe Miller from the Juno LIO for staffing the committee today.
Our committee aides are Meredith Trainer and Stafford Griffin-Sakeo.
thank you all for your assistance. On today's agenda is a continuation of the
committee's February 10th meeting on the function of
the Alaska Marine Highway Operation Board, Cascade Point overview and update.
Today we're here invited testimony from the Southeast Alaska Conservation
Council on this topic.
So I'd like to welcome those two folks welcome to the house transportation committee
Mr. Tyler Breen is in the room and miss Lois Epstein
Epstein my apologies if I mispronounce that is online, please
approach a dice and begin your remarks and
For context because I did ask the two testifiers about how long they would be speaking
They thought about five minutes each, so I would like take questions after each
person has a chance to present. And Mr. Breen, go ahead and put yourself on the record and
thank you for being here.
Thank you, Co-Chair Ayeshide. For the
record, my name is Tyler Bream, policy analyst with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.
I would like to walk through a timeline for the Cascade Point project because the order of decisions matters in determining whether the state committed funds in advance of public process and permit application analyses meant to inform project direction.
On March 9th of 2023, the governor and the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
si
▶
2026-02-12
Lunch and Learn: From Investment to Impact: Youth Mental Health in Alaska
transcript5K words
The Lunch and Learn: From Investment to Impact: Youth Mental Health in Alaska met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
Behavioral Health Mental Health Substance Use Little Bit Level Care
Speakers (6)
Director Executive(1)
Director Of(1)
Representative Josephson(1)
Senator Sullivan(1)
Senator Murkowski(1)
Commissioner Ricci(1)
Notable Points
Is the adult population My opinion Yes Thank you so much for sharing your story very remarkable, and I'm so impressed by you And I just you know wish you all the best whatever you do My question is, you talked about the continuity of care and from partial hospitalization to inpatient and what have you.
And so when you don t have outpatient, an intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization, if you do not have those community based services, then an emergency arises and you are going into the hospital.
Transcript: 5,972 words
Good afternoon everyone. Happy Thursday. We're just afternoon. So I said good afternoon
I hope you have a good lunch. I'm Andy Josephson from House District 13 and
I am the sponsor of today's lunch and learn with the good folks from
Volunteers of America. This is Julia Louie. She's the director executive director of
VOA and I've been working with her for
Several years, but but a couple successful years
on expansion of the state's participation in the Continuum of Care grant.
And my memory of this is not what it was a year ago, but
I know that it allows you to have on-site psychiatric providers.
And we are thankful to the Governor for twice really allowing these funds to go through.
And with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Julia and she can introduce her folks.
Hi, good afternoon, everyone.
Again, my name is Julia Louie, and I serve as the president and CEO of VOA Alaska.
And I am joined by one of my team members, Alyssa Bish.
She's up here helping run the tech.
And then we were here a couple of years ago.
We facilitated a lunch and learned, but this one is super, super special because we have
one the youth that we serve that went through our programs.
And so you'll hear directly from Brianna, who's also joined us here today.
So thank you so much for coming.
to be here with you all.
So, VOA Alaska, yes, we are volunteers of America.
Our organization is a national entity.
Started 125 years ago back when volunteer
meant to serve as a vocation.
We are not volunteers.
We're a collective group of professionals
who provide behavioral health services
to youth, young people, and their families.
We have a mission to empower Alaskans and uplift the human spirit and help them realize their
potential and stand and walk alongside them every step of the way. We
have our mission, our vision, and our core values, but really why we exist is to eliminate the
suffering that so many of our young people experience that has been exacerbated by substance use and
mental heal
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-12
Alaska Supreme Court: Fred W. Triem v. Alaska Judicial Council and Alaska Court System, et al.
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Alaska Supreme Court: Fred W. Triem v. Alaska Judicial Council and Alaska Court System, et al.. Date: 2026-02-12.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-12
Senate Minority Press Availability
transcript4K words
The Senate Minority Press Availability met on 2026-02-12. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
So it was quite an honor to have the first bill that was voted on, well, resolution, the 1st item that was voting on in the Senate was that resolution and it passed unanimously that day with many, many co-sponsors.
Key Topics
Little Bit Gas Line
Speakers (10)
Mr. Kaufman(5)
Senator Rauscher(4)
Senator Tilton(2)
Senator Cronk(1)
Senator Kathy(1)
Vice Chair Of(1)
Chair Energy(1)
Senator Rice(1)
Senator Coughton(1)
Senator Myers(1)
Notable Points
I'm curious, for your assessment of, does it solve the process issues that we have with the budgets, the debates over the PFD, and then like...
Transcript: 4,379 words
All right, welcome everybody to the first Republican Senate Minority Caucus meeting here.
And I just want to quickly, we have a very hard cut off at 11.30, so I want make sure
that we get everything covered.
I have to go a little bit before that.
Okay, so yeah, I just wanna do a quick introduction.
I'll keep myself simple.
It's simple, Senator Micronk.
I represent District R, which is
you know, pretty much about a third of the state of Alaska,
lots of rural communities, and West Fairbanks.
And, you now, it's really an honor to be the minority leader,
but as I always refer to it, we're all leaders,
we are all elected people here,
and each and every one of us has our own leadership qualities
that we bring to the table.
And I look forward to working together with each of our members
and using those leadership quality.
So with that, I'll turn it over to whoever wants to.
cut in and introduce themselves.
I think we have two new members, Senator Tilton
and Senator Rauscher, so I
think that we should probably let
them one of those two go first and
introduce themself.
Well, I guess we'll do ladies first today.
Hi, everybody.
I'm a.
Senator Kathy Tilton, I'm just getting used to saying Senator.
I've been in the house for 11 years, so I am pretty a mess of memory at saying I have a house member,
but have been here on the job in this Senate for four weeks, appointed by the governor.
And that was quite an honor to have your district back you for that.
kind of getting our feet on the ground here in the Senate. It is a little bit of a different body
with a bit different culture, but I'm really enjoying the time here. My first
bill that I did was actually a resolution.
It was SR-4 and the resolution was to honor the semi-quincentennial
of the United States of America,
which is the 250th anniversary of
the signing of The Declaration of Independence.
So it was quite an honor to have the first bill
that was voted on, well,
resolution, the 1st item that
was voting on in the Senate was
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-12
Alaska Supreme Court: Petersburg Medical Center v. Page Parish
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Alaska Supreme Court: Petersburg Medical Center v. Page Parish. Date: 2026-02-12.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-12
House Fisheries Special Committee
transcriptakleg6K words
The House Fisheries Special Committee met on 2026-02-12.
Motions
Um a big part of our programs are to promote sustainable salmon runs and Scott, if you want to move to the next slide. I'm on slide two.
Key Topics
Pink Salmon Aquaculture Association Years Ago Scott Wagner South Central
Speakers (14)
Mr. Wagner(6)
Chair Stutes(4)
Mr. Fairbanks(4)
Representative Elam(3)
Representative McCabe(3)
Mr. Banks(3)
Representative Him(2)
Director Of(2)
Representative Vance(2)
Representative Himschoot(2)
Ms. Fairbank(1)
Ms. Mina(1)
Chair And(1)
Representative Ants(1)
Transcript: 6,027 words
Good morning everyone meeting a house special committee on fisheries. We'll come to order the time is 1005 Thursday, February 12th
2026 already
members present are
speaker edgement
Representative him shoot
representative
Elam representative McCabe and my soft chair stutes.
We do have a quorum to conduct business
I'm going to ask everyone to please silence your cell phones and we are asking that you
please do not approach the table here if you want to pass a message if
you would get a hold of my staff. Jane Pearson should be delighted to help you
out in passing that message. I'd like to thank Andrew Magnuson from the House
Fisheries Committee's secretary. Nice to see you again Andrew as usual. And we
have Kyla.
Tupon from the Juno-LIO helping us today.
Thank you, Kyla.
At today's meeting, we'll be having a presentation
on the PNP Hatchery Program, including an update
of McDowell Group's Economic Impacts of Salmon Hatcheries
presented by the Alaska Regional
Aquaculture Association.
Presenters today are in person, Scott Wagner.
and general manager of the Northern
South Eastern Regional Aquaculture Association.
And online is Tina Fairbanks,
Executive Director of
the Kodiak Regional Aqua Culture Association,
with that, Mr. Wagner,
if you would please come to the table,
put yourself and your affiliations on the record
and Ms. Fairbank, you can also place yourself.
and your affiliation on the record once Mr. Wagner has completed that and to keep everything
straight although there won't be too much question I ask that you please identify yourselves
before speaking each time.
Vistries will be back on record.
To the committee members, we have plenty of time today,
so feel free if you have a question
to ask it as the presentation proceeds.
So with that, thank you.
Mr. Wagner, it's up to you!
All right, well good morning.
My name's Scott Weiner, General Manager
for NSRA out of Sitka.
And online, We have Tina Fairbank.
She's gonna take over the first half of the
presentation and
▶
2026-02-12
Alaska Supreme Court: Fred W. Triem v. Kake Tribal Corporation, Arlene Hanson, et al.
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Alaska Supreme Court: Fred W. Triem v. Kake Tribal Corporation, Arlene Hanson, et al.. Date: 2026-02-12.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-12
House Finance: Corrections Subcommittee
transcriptakleg7K words
The House Finance: Corrections Subcommittee met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
Through Chair Chair Representative Department Corrections Those Individuals Representative Prox
Speakers (30)
Chair To(20)
Director Of(9)
Representative Prax(8)
Representative Allard(8)
Representative Holland(6)
Representative Hall(4)
Ms. Wilkerson(3)
Mr. Worley(3)
Director Welch(3)
Representative Nelson(3)
Chair Yes(2)
Representative Himschoot(2)
Representative St(1)
Representative Garrett(1)
Commissioner April(1)
Director Kevin(1)
Director Health(1)
Commissioner Dibert(1)
Director And(1)
Mr. Fields(1)
Transcript: 7,628 words
I'm going to call this meeting of the house finance department of corrections subcommittee
to order at 902 on Thursday, February 12th, 2026.
I am going remind everyone to mute their cell phones.
Present today are representatives Hymn Schute, representatives Mere, representative Hall,
representative Holland, Representative St. Clair, and representative Garrett Nelson and
And Jude Augustine, who is our LIO moderator for today.
Today, Deputy Commissioner April Wilkerson and Administrative Services Director Kevin Worley will present DOC's FY27 budget request.
They have some lifelines in the room, Zane Neiswanger, Director of Institutions, Travis Welch,
Director Health and Rehabilitation Services, and Dusty DeMont, director of pretrial probation and parole.
And we also have lifelines who are online and can be called on Jake Whitecroft,
who's Deputy Commissioner, Jeff Edwards, Executive Director of the Pro Board.
Representative Prox is with us.
The presentation was delivered to your offices by my staff and sent by email.
For those watching remotely, the presentation can be found under today's meeting documents on basis.
Ms. Wilkerson and Mr. Worley, please come to the table, introduce yourselves, and begin your presentation.
Good morning for the record. My name is April Wilkerson Deputy Commissioner Department of Corrections
Kevin Worley director of administrative services
Thank you for
Having us today, we are going to go over a department overview with the FY 27 budget starting on slide two
This is the slide represents the overall structure within the Department of Corrections
It does reflect the four divisions within
The department that make up the over all budget and then we also have the parole board
Which is housed within The Department Of Corrections, but really is
associated with
within the governor's office.
The Board of Pearl is housed
budgetarily and administratively within
the department, but it really is autonomous
within its actions.
The executive director an
▶
2026-02-12
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg17K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-12.
Motions
And in 2023, I came to the department as a Director of Finance and Support Services, and I served that position for almost a year, and then I was asked to move to become the Deputy Commissioner. Thank you.
Key Topics
Mount Edgecombe Through Chair Edge Come
Speakers (29)
Senator Stedman(24)
Mr. Chairman(21)
Chair To(12)
Mr. Langford(9)
Senator Kiehl(6)
Senator Kaufman(6)
Commissioner Of(6)
Senator Hoffman(5)
Commissioner And(4)
Senator Cronk(3)
Commissioner Bishop(3)
Senator Olson(2)
Senator Shower(2)
Senator Stevens(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Commissioner The(1)
Commissioner For(1)
Mr. Langfford(1)
Mr. Kleinford(1)
Senator Brought(1)
Notable Points
debate, state debate tournament in Anchorage.
They were going to send the 30 students of the debate team there with, you know, kids and... chaperones, and we had to narrow that to who is competing in the state meet and we have to narrowed down to the competitors in this state to do that.
Thank you senator Kauffman We can move on to the next page if we're done with page six Thank You sir, and i will move through this very quickly These are on the operating side critical positions filled one thing that did happen that was unexpected once Superintendent Langford was hired.
And so we know exactly what we are dealing with But when you reference something like didn't get through the process, those issues where somebody watching at home wouldn't understand what you're saying, they were vetoed by the governor.
Those appropriations were put in at this table because of the need at Mount Itchcombe and they were vetoed.
Transcript: 17,011 words
All the Senate Finance Committee meeting to order.
Today is February the 12th,
we're in the senate finance room.
Please silence your cell phones.
Present today, we have Senator Stidman, Senator Olsen,
Senator Keel,
Senator Merrick,
Senator Kauffman.
Senator Cronklin, myself,
Senator Hoffman.
I just came back from getting my blood drawn
contrary to popular belief I do have a heart.
With that, we have, with that we
have one item on today's agenda.
We're going to have a presentation regarding Mount
Edgcombe.
Four of the members of this committee
went to Mount Edchcombe, there's been a big drop off
I'm sure if there was a 25% drop in enrollment in Anchorage, Fairbanks or
Juneau, there'd be alarm bells going off.
That is what's happening in Mount Edgecombe.
So we went to Mount edgecombe and we've invited the Department of Education to come forward.
and superintendent of Mount Edgecombe, David Langford,
please come forward, identify yourselves
and proceed with your presentation.
Before you proceed
with our presentation, I would like,
if you could give a brief summary of your experience
in education for the committee
and for listening audience.
Thank you sir. My name is Dina Bishop and I am the Commissioner of Education for the Department of
Education and Early Development. And I came to Alaska in 1990 after graduating college with a
degree in education. I worked in Copperworth School District for a couple of years. The
majority of my career was spent in Matt Sue Burrow as a teacher, I was a math teacher. Teacher,
I worked in district office, assistant superintendent,
and I was a superintendent in Metzoo
after an untimely death of the superintendent at the time,
so I as thrust in there pretty quickly.
And I've also served as the Superintendent
of Anchorage School District.
So at this point in time 36 years in education,
I retired in 2022 from the superintendent in Anchorage,
took care of my ailing husband and came back to work.
for the state in August of 2023 as the Commis
▶
2026-02-12
House Tribal Affairs Special Committee
transcriptakleg11K words
The House Tribal Affairs Special Committee met on 2026-02-12.
Key Topics
Food Bank Little Bit Through Chair Bank Alaska Rural Alaska
Speakers (23)
Chair Dibert(5)
Mrs. Miller(5)
Mr. Reiner(5)
Chair For(3)
Representative Carrick(2)
Representative Story(2)
Representative Merrick(2)
Representative Schwanke(2)
Chair We(2)
Representative Ruffridge(2)
Mr. Reinhardt(2)
Mr. Reinert(1)
Ms. Caret(1)
Ms. Van(1)
Senator Murkowski(1)
Chair So(1)
Representative Reffrich(1)
Chair And(1)
Mr. Wannard(1)
Representative Reference(1)
Notable Points
I was more actually just considering the fact that when food is purchased in bulk, and if it is bulk purchases of dried foods in particular or combination like soup packages, kind of things that are dried that can just be heated, and it's a nutritious meal that's just you know, a wide variety of foods in one package.
And then the food items we focus on lower no sugar options, which are surprisingly challenging. in the packaged food space, and then we split our boxes into three different menus that rotate.
And that is kind of commonly known as the Senior Box Program, and its nutrition We operate commodity food programs, TVAP being one of them, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, where we actually bring commodity food up into Alaska and then ship it out to our network of about 65 partners.
And through the chair, I just wanted to ask about the emergency food assistance program a little bit more.
And then, I guess, can you give me just a general sense? I know it probably looks different in each of those 60 communities, but just the general the fresh produce and food is received in those communities on the whole that's coming from the emergency food assistance program.
Transcript: 11,891 words
Okay. Good morning everyone. This hearing of the House Tribal Affairs Committee will now come
to order. The time is 8.04 a.m. Thursday February 12th, 2026 and Capitol Room 106. Members present
Representative Carrick, good morning, and myself, Chair Dibert.
Let the record reflect that we do have a quorum to conduct business.
And a quick reminder to please silence your cell phones.
Before we begin, I would like to thank Jordan Nicholson, the Tribal Affairs Secretary from Records.
And Emily Mech from the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today and keeping us going smoothly.
Before we get into our agenda, I'd like to remind the committee that we will have a hard stop today at 9.30
For another meeting that I need to go to
Introductions, we have one item on the agenda today
We will be hearing a presentation from the food bank of Alaska
We're joined in the Committee room today by chief advocacy officer Rachel Miller
and Chief Programs Officer Anthony Reinart, who will be providing an update on the food
banks, statewide services, and rural programs.
Mrs. Miller and Mr. Reinert, welcome to the Tribal Affairs.
Please join us at the table and put yourself on record and proceed with your presentation.
Good morning. Good Morning
Thank you for having us for the record. My name is Rachel Miller. I'm the Chief Advocacy Officer for Food Bank of Alaska
Thank You so much for The record my name, is Anthony Reiner Chief Programs Officer at Food bank of, Alaska
This go time it is yeah, and your only thing on the agenda so I think we'll have plenty time for
For questions as we go along
All right, perfect. Please proceed. Great. Well, good morning again. Thank you for being here
and thank you, for your interest in our anti-hunger work across the state. Food Bank of Alaska has
been working in the State to end hunger since 1979 and we are still here, which means there's
still work to do. So this morning we'd like to share with you what we do at Foodbank of
Alaska, how our model works. We
▶
2026-02-11
Joint Armed Services Committee
transcriptakleg14K words
The Joint Armed Services Committee met on 2026-02-11.
Key Topics
Civil Disturbance's procedure Law Enforcement National Guard Active Duty Insurrection Act
Speakers (30)
Chair Kawasaki(13)
Ms. Story(10)
Representative Gray(9)
Mr. Maurer(9)
Senator Dunbar(7)
Representative Nelson(5)
Representative Holland(3)
Senator Kiehl(3)
Representative Dibert(2)
Co-Chair And(2)
Ms. Doc(2)
Ms. Slaba(2)
Ms. Smart(2)
Ms. Perot(2)
Senator Wielechowski(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Representative Stutes(1)
Representative Andrew(1)
Senator Lisa(1)
Notable Points
So what it looked like, in essence, was a muscular, additional show of force by the federal government to back up ICE, knowing that ICE was engaging in very controversial protest, let's put uniform troops out there as a kind of a screening mechanism, as a block, as as the protective perimeter of sorts.
When it has been invoked, it hasn t really been controversial in a negative way.
That itself is very controversial and those tactics that they're using are very controversial.
I dare say it is an unprecedented situation, certainly given that the frequency number of times he is threatened to use the insurrection act and then not used it.
Typically, National Guard, as you know, are used for state national or natural disaster emergency responses and often to backfill active duty when active-duty deploys, or even to deploy overseas themselves under Title X orders.
Transcript: 14,136 words
All right, I'd like to call the Senate State of,
I'm sorry, the Joint Armed Services Committee to order.
It is Wednesday, February 11th,
the time's now 1732.
We are in the senate finance committee room
in Juneau, Alaska.
And today's, sorry the timeframe, 17th area, okay, here we are.
We have members present in co-chair,
Representative Gray, we have Senator Wielikowski,
Senator Merrick, Senator Dunbar,
Senator Rauscher.
Representative Dibert, Representative Holland,
Representative Nelson,
Representative Stutz is excused in my self-chair Kawasaki.
I'd like to thank Marilyn Kawakami from Senate Records,
as well as Susan Quigley, the moderator
with the Legislative Information Office today.
We have several things on the agenda,
and I know that everybody else has
potentially some other things to be at,
so we're gonna try to speed through these
as most efficiently as we can.
We have five people who volunteered to be on the agenda
and we thank them all in advance for being here.
First, I will just go right into the presentation.
We've Dan Maurer, he's an associate professor of law
at Ohio Northern University.
He has a presentation on Civil Disturbance's procedure.
I'm sorry, that's, well,
he will be talking a little bit
about civil disturbance procedures.
Dan is, teaches at the National Security Law Criminal Law, White Color Crime, Military
Justice and Criminal Procedure at Ohio Northern University, Pettit College of Law.
His research and scholarship focuses on the intersections of military criminal law, congressional
and presidential war powers, the law of armed conflict, and civil military relationships
with publications in the Harvard National security journal and the Journal of National
and policy, among others, he has been appeared multiple times on MSN, MSNow, CNN, and NPR and has
been quoted in the national and international media, including the LA Times, New York Times
the Atlantic, BBC, the Economist, NCBS. And he is online right now and joining us, I believe,
Prof
▶
2026-02-11
Legislative Council
transcriptakleg2K words
The Legislative Council met on 2026-02-11. 5 votes were recorded.
Votes
Is there any objection? Seeing no objection, the Minutes are approved.
Can you call the roll or can you do a roll call vote? On the Motion, please? Representative Carrick, Representative Edgman, Representative Cop, Representative Schraghi, Representative Stoots, Senator Clayman.
You'll take a roll call vote on the motion to again what we are doing is Authorizing this budget to be sent to the finance committees of each body for approval Miss Truett go ahead Representative Carrick yes Representative Edgman, yes Representative Cobb.
I'm going to call this meeting in the legislative council back to order We'll have a roll call vote to re-establish quorum, but first for the record.
Truitt to take a roll call vote on the motion.
Motions
Senator Geesell: Madam Chair, I move that legislative council go in to executive section under uniform rule 22B1. The discussion of matters, the immediate knowledge of which would adversely affect the finances of a government unit.
Key Topics
the council's executive order 137 litigation the Governor's issuance of Executive Order 137 Legislative Council Madam Chair Senator Giesel Chair Hannon Here Senator
Speakers (29)
Senator Giessel(14)
Chair Hannan(9)
Representative Carrick(7)
Senator Claman(7)
Senator Kiehl(7)
Representative Cop(6)
Representative Schrage(6)
Representative Stutes(6)
Representative Edgmon(5)
Representative Johnson(5)
Senator Gray(5)
Senator Tobin(5)
Ms. Mears(4)
Senator Hoffman(2)
Senator Stedman(2)
Vice Chair Stevens(2)
Senator Gray-Jackson(2)
Chair It(1)
Chair Senator(1)
Mr. Ut(1)
Notable Points
Or the special session contingency in those years where there were no special sessions.
That practice is no longer sustainable, hence the increment request to ensure adequate funding for a regular sessions There is also a $35,000 in additional receipt authority requested for the legislative lounge. $750,000 to restore special session contingency funding that was reduced or vetoed in the FY26 request.
Transcript: 2,975 words
I call this meeting of the Legislative Council to order at 5.21.
It is February 11th, 2026.
Can we have the recording secretary call the roll, please?
Representative Carrick.
Here.
Representative Edgman.
Here
Representative Johnson.
Representative cop
Representative Schruggie here representative Stutes
Senator Klayman here
Senator Giesle here Senator Grey Jackson honored to be here senator Hoffman
Senator Keel here
Senator Steadman
Senator Tobin here
Vice Chair Stevens
Chair Hannon here
11 members present.
So with 11 member present,
we do have a quorum to conduct business.
The first item is approval of the agenda.
Senator Giesel, do you have emotion?
Madam Chair, I move and ask unanimous consent
that the legislative council approve the
agenda as presented.
I'll briefly object, are there any changes to the
agenda?
Seeing none,
I'm going to remove my objection.
And the Agenda is approved.
Our next first action item is approval of minutes
from the December 16th, 2025 meeting, Senator Giesel.
Madam Chair, I move and ask unanimous consent
that the Legislative Council approve the minutes
dated December, 16, 2025 as presented.
Is there any objection?
Seeing no objection, the Minutes are approved.
That brings us to
sanctioning of charitable events, Senator Giesel, the motion.
Madam Chair, I move and ask unanimous consent that the Legislative Council
ratify the Chair's sanction of the following charitable
events per AS246080A2B.
Number one, Juno Animal Rescue, 2026 Fundraiser.
Number two, Juneau Dance Theatre, twenty-six fundraisers.
And I'm going to object for purpose of discussion.
The 501c3 status of both the Juno Animal Rescue and the Juneau Dance Theater have been verified.
We'll also note that Senator Keel was the auctioneer and
I believe that at the Geno Animal rescue and
that they are satisfied with his actions on their behalf and
may ask him back for another round.
Are there any other things under the sanctioning?
If there is none, I will remove my objection.
And th
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Education Committee
transcriptakleg13K words
The Senate Education Committee met on 2026-02-11. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
As a- running a business for thirty years and uh... being a former educator often had educators ask me you know i had i want to get into the business of consulting i wanna do what you're doing and they inevitably failed not because they were good knowledgeable or good people they had no business since they only understood at one half the quit the equation and that is spending money So, a good business knows you got to recruit, you gotta go out, you've got bring customers in, you have to have a p
Motions
Oh, I apologize any Additional comments Just Just the idea that we are dealing with a lot of situations that is not just last year or this year, but maybe a decade worth of neglect that has things have not been taken care of and moved to the next level. So we're moving as fast as we can to make changes and update the school and it starts with.
Key Topics
dual enrollment Mount Edgecombe Edge Come Last Year Madam Chair Mount Edge
Speakers (30)
Mr. Langford(14)
Senator Bjorkman(8)
Senator Tobin(5)
Senator Kiehl(4)
Commissioner And(4)
Commissioner To(4)
Commissioner Of(3)
Director Morrison(3)
Chair Senator(2)
Senator Stevens(2)
Director Has(2)
Commissioner For(2)
Senator Keoh(2)
Senator Keon(2)
Vice Chair PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(1)
Senator Lucie(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Dr. Mina(1)
Commissioner Karen(1)
Director Super(1)
Notable Points
We tried to keep these far away from students as possible, but trips where 30 students might have gone, it was, there were times that the whole team say for an event like debate could go down or travel with the team to cheer them on when it were state level.
Oh, there's the debate team.
Remember to identify yourselves every time you got my name is getting across and in the bottom left, there is a debate team in Melacalla competing.
Commissioner that that veto happened in FY 24 and we never saw another ask and don't actually understand why it was vetoed.
So in so far as vetoes, I'd have to get more information. part of what needed to be done is really to.
Transcript: 13,084 words
Good afternoon, everyone. I call this meeting of the Senate Education Committee to order.
It is 3.31 p.m. here on Wednesday, February 11th, we are meeting in the Belts Committee
room here in The Beautiful State Capitol building located in
the heart of downtown Juneau.
I just want to ask folks who are here
in this room if they could please mute their cell phones.
Presentations for today have been uploaded to basis they have also been distributed to members and additional copies are available for folks right there by the door
Members present today are vice chair president Steven senator keel my self senator Lucie Gail Tobin
Senator yunth is excused
Please let the record reflect. We do have a quorum to conduct business
I want to thank Susan from the june i Juno lio for moderating today's meeting and mary
Gwen from senate records as always for being with us today
On the agenda today, we will have a presentation from the Alaska Department of Education and Early
Development on the status of Mount Edgecombe High School. Joining us for the presentation today
are the commissioner of education and early development. Dr. Dina Bishop,
we also have with us the deputy commissioner Karen Morrison. I believe here in person we
also had Mount Edgcombe high school superintendent David Langford. We are also joined in-person
Hanish, like we also have with us online are several folks from Mount
Edgecombe joining us by teleconference is Mount Edgecomb High School advisory
board member Howard Amos. We also
have two students in the room with
us from mount Edgecom as well as several
folks online from Nana Regional Corporation who are currently the
operators of the dorms and food services.
All right. I want to welcome everyone here to the Senate Education Committee today.
I did make no earlier. We are in a bit of a time limit as we have some things that are happening.
And so while we want make sure we've a robust conversation and that we are able to get to
questions from committee members, I
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg12K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-02-11. 2 votes were recorded.
Votes
A little bit different, you know, we talked about kabata over this time and I know some of us do remember kobata but it was all about whether this bonding from bonding mechanism through the federal government was going to come back due to us as a state in case that bond failed and i'm just a little curious because we had competing memos back and forth about weather whether the liability of the kabbata was gonna become the liability the state someday and im just curious if there's legal opinions
And I I almost think by default we should say no because I do not believe that we would not be held accountable or should I say that if the project failed that Alaska would be not held accountable.
Motions
And, you know, we look forward to. working with all of the different stakeholders to move that forward and just really with that just a very much appreciate your time. It's enjoyable to come to the legislature and actually talk a little bit about railroad stuff sometimes, too, and that's been good today, so thank you.
Key Topics
Alaska Railroad Through Chair Chair Senator Little Bit Gas Line
Speakers (26)
Senator Wielechowski(17)
Senator Kawasaki(12)
Senator Myers(9)
Senator Dunbar(5)
Senator Claman(5)
Chair Giessel(5)
Chair Of(5)
Senator Rauscher(4)
Mr. Hop(4)
Mr. O'Leary(3)
Director For(2)
Senator Wieckowski(2)
Commissioner Crowther(1)
Senator Dan(1)
Senator Sullivan(1)
Mr. Kopp(1)
Mr. Mears(1)
Senator Kostake(1)
Senator Kleinman(1)
Senator Foster(1)
Notable Points
special session what Sort of thoughts on that through the chair of senator Wilakowski, I think it's a great question I'm I I thank it say as I mentioned and you know, it is a marvelous tool that would be purely But my opinion on this would be great to have in place at this point, but no decision.
I feel more comfortable if we got some sort of legal advice on that about the obligations to the railroad obligations as a conduit and then to actually assume that and just I thought it was very funny because the I'm reading the preparation of the fiscal note drafted in 2002.
Transcript: 12,473 words
I call Senate resources committee meeting to order.
Today is Wednesday, February 11th, 2026.
And the time is 3.30 PM.
Members present.
Senator Rauscher, Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Myers, senator Dunbar,
Senator Clayman, Vice Chair,
Senator Wilakowski, and myself, I am Chair Giesle.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
Thank you to Heather and Kyla who are keeping the minutes and running the audio for us.
Today we have a presentation from the Alaska Railroad as they prepare for a possible Alaska
natural gas pipeline.
call with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and this is relevant to the Resources Committee.
The National Science Foundation is offering a critical mineral accelerator grant.
accelerate the development of critical minerals.
And so last year, I sent a letter of support.
I believe this committee actually signed on to that letter.
And, so I was asked to speak to the visiting group.
Today, the National Science Foundation
is at the University of Alaska Fairbanks doing a site visit
investigation kind of thing.
Acting Commissioner Crowther is speaking to them right now
Senator Dan Sullivan just spoke to him and
Mike Srega
Is, is he the, he's the guy in charge at UAF?
I'm not sure what the word is for that.
He's, He is the new chancellor.
Thank you, chancellor, all right.
So anyway, pretty exciting.
And I really hope they, they get that grant.
Cause we have, as Senator Sullivan said,
we had all of these critical minerals.
And so it'd be a great place for
that granted, be administered.
So, anyway.
But back to the railroad.
who could transport some of those critical minerals.
I would welcome to the table, the president and CEO
of the Oscar Railroad, Mr. Bill O'Leary.
Clark Hop is the chief operating officer
for the railroad, and Meghan Clemens, of course,
visits us often here as the external affairs director.
So welcome all of you.
Yes, Brian Lindemood is online. He's the chief engineer at Alaska Railroad
So I know you guys will call on him as needed soon
Welcom
▶
2026-02-11
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript3 bills8K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-11. Bills discussed included HB 195 (Pharmacist Prescription Authority), HB 210 (Peace Officers/Firefighters: Disability), HB 293 (Genetic Couns: Licensing; Advisory Cncl.). Public testimony was taken with 28 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 195 — Pharmacist Prescription Authority
HB 210 — Peace Officers/Firefighters: Disability
HB 293 — Genetic Couns: Licensing; Advisory Cncl.
Votes
But together we see a system that has completely failed our people.
Motions
Chair for: Mr Chairman, I move amendment A1-34LS-0938 I apologize for missing the initial presentation by the firefighter, but this amendment I'm offering today clearly falls within the title and the intent of the bill.
Representative Hall: Okay, so with that explanation, Representative Hall, would you like to make a motion to adopt the proposed CS? Mr.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (aware of, robert teal and, not just)
4 testifiers (the fire chief in, Happy to take any, going to close public, Bob Williams and)
3 testifiers (gonna open public testimonies, Justin Mac about representing, offering today clearly falls)
2 testifiers (Justin Mac about representing, offering today clearly falls)
2 testifiers (offering today clearly falls, going to the Finance)
Key Topics
controlled substances House Bill Representative Sadler Collaborative Practice
Speakers (29)
Representative Saddler(11)
Chair Of(5)
Chair Fields(4)
Representative Hall(4)
Mr. Williams(3)
Mr. O'Connor(3)
Representative Cop(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Mr. Lanier(2)
Dr. Brandi(2)
Representative Chekkop(1)
Representative Kopp(1)
Mr. Mac(1)
Mr. Coachella(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Representative Combside(1)
Representative Sailors(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Representative Clum(1)
Representative Carrick(1)
Notable Points
Is there further? debate before taking action on the amendment, or would you like to offer closing comments or representatives? I appreciate Mr.
Okay So it looks like representative sailors was drawn as amendment as they're further debate on the underlying bill Cheers the department here department administration Who did the fiscal note? Doesn't look like it.
I want to make sure firefighters in these situations are covered my my concern is the cost and The fiscal notes indeterminate it also says in there that They're going to revise it because they they weren't sure first there's a cost to the department and then obviously there're more benefits going out and we got we're in a tight fiscal situation and I'm just I guess I Guess I could ask the bill sponsor Do yo
I move to report HB 210 version LS0938 backslash A out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note.
And section 13 updates the effective date to January 1st, 2027.
Transcript: 8,476 words
I call the House Labor and Commerce Committee to order at three, no, 425 on February 11th.
Members, President of Representatives, Colomb, Freer, Fields, and Hall, we have a quorum.
Thank you, Andrew Magneson, the LNC Committee Secretary and Jude Augustine from the LIO for
Tech and Teleconferencing.
Support first up on the agenda is House Bill 210, Peace Officer, Firefighter Disability
by Representative Cop.
We have an amendment for consideration
if Representative Sadler gets here
and we will take public testimony.
So since first I wanna ask,
do members have any questions for either
Representative Chekkop or Bob Williams,
Chair of the Alaska Retirement Management Board,
both of whom are available for questions?
Do members that questions
for Either Representative Kopp or Mr. Williams?
Okay, seeing none, I'm gonna open public testimonies.
Is there anyone in the room who wishes to offer public testimony on house bill 210 come on up
Okay, start yes, sir. Go ahead. My name is Justin Mac about representing the Alaska professional firefighters and
Rising in support of HP 210
The Alaska Professional Firefighters represents over 500 professional fire and EMS workers across the state.
HP 210 recognizes the challenging work that our public safety members are asked to do.
As a 15 year firefighter with the Anchorage Fire Department and President of the
Anchorage firefighters union, I've seen several of our members have career ending injuries both physical and mental health related.
We're asked to respond to dangerous and unstable conditions with limited information.
While we do train for these emergencies, we know that there will be injuries.
Sometimes those injuries are career ending.
This bill adjusts occupational disability from 40% to 75%.
We recognize that Tier 4 has limitations as far as retirement, born in things that is
less widely known is
What care for does and the reduction for disability benefits for injured workers?
Firefighters work long hours made more challenging
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
-- Canceled -- House Finance Committee
akleg
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: -- Canceled -- House Finance Committee. Date: 2026-02-11.
(No transcript available)
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg4 bills8K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-11. 4 bills were discussed, including SB 140 (Fire Station Grant Program), SB 23 (Civics Education), SB 140 (Fire Station Grant Program), and others. Public testimony was taken with 10 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 140 — Fire Station Grant Program
SB 23 — Civics Education
SB 140 — Fire Station Grant Program
SJR 2 — Const. Am: Votes Needed for Veto Override
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (so glad you, focused on, mainly focused on the, to Facebook first one)
2 testifiers (the first hearing on, Matt Playman)
2 testifiers (Matt Playman, representing myself
Just to)
2 testifiers (so darn apologetic, trying to tell you)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Senate Bill Two Thirds Civic Education High School Fire Station
Speakers (30)
Senator Stedman(10)
Mr. Chairman(10)
Senator Kiehl(8)
Senator Stevens(6)
Senator Kaufman(4)
Senator Claman(4)
Senator Olson(3)
Senator Gray(3)
Senator Hoffman(2)
Senator Crocken(1)
Senator 140(1)
Mr. Ferguson(1)
Mr. Rideen(1)
Senator Greg(1)
Dr. Sean(1)
Dr. Hall(1)
Senator Joye(1)
Ms. Obamire(1)
Chair To(1)
Mr. Copeland(1)
Notable Points
The only reference that I can find anywhere to the concept of a barrier of three quarters is a debate at the U.S.
SB-140 reflects something powerful and important, for listening statewide support for our last state emergency service being discussed.
They house emergency medical services, exact response, capability, wildfire response assets, community and regional operations.
This bill strengthens emergency services capability across Alaska, and ensures we can continue protecting our communities today for generations to come.
Boats needed to veto override.
Transcript: 8,786 words
call the Senate Finance Committee back to order.
It is 1.30, we're in the senate finance committee meeting,
present Senator Stidman, Senator Olson,
Senator Keel, St. America,
Senator Kauffman Senator Crocken, myself Senator Hoffman.
We have three items on the agenda.
The first is Senate Bill 140,
Fire Station Grant Program by Senator Steadman.
Invite senator stedman and or a staff to the table to introduce the bill
We have Margot
Yuntberg young work
Youngberg close to The Table he's introduced yourself and tell us what the Bill does
Margo Youngburg staff, to Senator studman
SB 140 is an absolute, let me start again, in our state.
It is absolute necessity that firefighters across Alaska have functional facilities to
ensure that they can respond to emergencies swiftly and safely.
Regrettably, numerous fire stations in the state are in critical need of repairs and modernization.
Investing in these fire stations means supporting the dedicated individuals who consistently
stand by our communities during times of our greatest need.
Many stations are nearing the end of their useful lives, and each one serves an essential
role in protecting their communities.
Each new year brings innovation in technology and updates to best station design practices
coupled with regular wear and tear from daily use.
And it is inevitable that existing fire stations eventually become outdated.
SB 140 establishes a matching grant program that provides funding for
up to 50% of the total project cost for your constructing or renovating firestations.
This program would allow the structure of others, this program.
would follow the structure of other successful infrastructure investment programs already established in our state.
One notable example is the Harbor Matching Grant Program, which is awarded approximately $118 million to 57 harbor projects over the past two decades.
A decade ago the legislature appropriated substantial funding to construct or replace a dozen fire stations across Alaska.
A
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg4K words
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-11. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
And so if you never, if get charged but never convicted, you wouldn't have, and you'd never come to a correctional facility, we wouldn t count you as having failed.
Key Topics
Criminal Justice Little Bit People Who Law Enforcement Senator Tobin
Speakers (5)
Senator Tobin(5)
Senator Claman(3)
Director Of(2)
Senator Tilton(1)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Notable Points
And you can see, and maybe this isn't surprising, considering the data I just showed you, that court felony and misdemeanor filings have been going down.
I am up in Senate finance momentarily And so I Think we have one slide left But what we I'll leave it to the other members of the committee We can we can start with a 30-minute break and come back and and have discussion after that if you'd like Or we could recess for the day and get her back on the phone today But come back today in 30 minutes.
Transcript: 4,463 words
The Senate Judiciary Committee to order the time is now 1.33 p.m. on Wednesday, February
11, 2026. Before we begin, I want to thank Julianna Singh, the Senate
Judiciary Secretary, who makes sure we have a transcript of our meetings and Doug Bridges
from the Juneau LIO who make sure you have sound. At this time, we want
to remind committee members and those in the room to please silence your
cellphones. President, today we've Senator Tilton, Senator Tobin, and myself,
Senator Clayman. We have the quorum to conduct business. The first and only item
On our agenda is a presentation on the Alaska Criminal Justice Data Analysis
Commission's 2025 report here to present that report is Suzanne D Pietro,
Executive Director of the Alaskan Judicial Council and the Judicial
Council staffs the alasky criminal justice data analysis commission.
Ms. D. Pietra, if you would please come forward, put yourself on
the record you can begin your presentation.
And I would note if, you do have questions, get my attention.
we figure we can interrupt her as needed.
Thank you, Chair Klayman.
My name is Suzanne DiPietro.
I'm the executive director of the Alaska Judicial Council
and by virtue of that role I serve as staff
to the Alaskan Criminal Justice Data Analysis Commission.
The commission was created 2022,
and the commission really is,
the purpose of commission is to look at trends
efficiencies and procedures in the criminal justice system and report those to the legislature and the governor and
the public and every year in November the commission submits an annual report which was submitted to you
and Chair Klayman has asked me to come and tell you a little bit about what's in that annual
report. So I'm going to have to figure out how to work these slides. Okay great.
So, as I mentioned, the Commission is established in statute.
There are 16 members.
I want to tell you that the commission is really a very, it's a
very interdisciplinary commission.
So if we've got members of the judiciary, w
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript11K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-11. Public testimony was taken with 8 testifiers. 2 votes were recorded.
Votes
But there's a lot of failed cooperative models, and so there is a hesitation or a lack of trust in making those work.
There is no technical assistance for the farmers to prepare for audit and if you fail, you can't get any feedback on why you failed.
Public Testimony
8 testifiers (Amy Seits, the Policy Director for, joined today by Margaret, hearing about, sure in this slide, sure we missed something, going to try to, going to try to)
Key Topics
Through Chair
Speakers (16)
Senator Dunbar(10)
Mr. Chairman(6)
Senator Gray(5)
Senator Bjorkman(2)
Director For(2)
Director Scorsby(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Ms. Seitz(1)
Senator Jackson(1)
Mr. Coffee(1)
Chair The(1)
Chair Ken(1)
Senator York(1)
Chair As(1)
Ms. Longacre(1)
Notable Points
Where is that land? Our land currently right now is in the hands of an aging population and that aging population is seeing the most unprecedented increase in valuation of their farmland and so the farmland trust works to restrict those farms and egg easements to bring down the farm land value but even still we're looking at insane prices per acre so it is really really hard for an anywhere between 40 to 75,000 per acre for their open lands b
Transcript: 11,683 words
Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting and the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order in the time is 133 p.m.
We're in belts room 105 of the Thomas Stewart building in
the nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska today is Wednesday February 11th
2026 members present are
Senator great Jackson
Senator Dunbar and myself, Senator Bjorkman.
Senator Merrick is at finance and Senator Yunt is excused for today.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Welcome everyone to Senate Labor and Commerce.
I would like you to please turn off or silence your cell phones and
join me in extending a warm Senate labor and commerce.
Welcome to our recording secretary, Carrie Tupoe and our LAO moderator, Susan Quigley.
Today, the committee will take a break from hearing legislation and instead we will hear
all about Alaska's agricultural industry.
We have invited representatives from the Alaska Farm Bureau, The Alaska Farland Trust as well.
We also have other invited testifiers who will provide us with testimony about farming
across the state as a representative from The Division of Mining Land and Water with
the Department of Natural Resources.
with the Alaska Farm Bureau.
And joining her at the table, Margaret is my support.
Margaret adds it.
Very good.
Ms. Seitz, Ms Addson, please put your name on the record
and your affiliation and begin your presentation.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
For the Record, my name is Amy Seits.
I'm the Policy Director for the Alaska Farm bureau.
And as I also wanted to point out,
I am a third-generation farmer.
my family's still farming on our my grandparents homestead in Saldatna. So I'm also a farmer as
well as focusing on policy issues. I am joined today by Margaret Azet which you'll she'll introduce
herself here in a bit from farmland trust as well. As we have three of our farmers from around the
state Emily Garrity, Tarned Coffee and Ken Hoffman who will also introduce themselves
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill3K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-11. The committee heard HB 213 (Data Sharing; Social Security). Public testimony was taken with 7 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 213 — Data Sharing; Social Security
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (Rachel Gunn, staff representative Nellie Nugget, Hayden Johnson, Dustin Brown, the head of legislative)
1 testifier (not seeing anyone from)
1 testifier (not seeing anyone from)
Key Topics
data sharing, for example Social Security Through Chair House Bill Security Card Tribal Ids
Speakers (21)
Mr. Groh(14)
Representative Gray(6)
Representative Mina(5)
Representative Costello(3)
Chair To(3)
Representative Eischeid(2)
Mr. Johnson(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Ms. Rodford(2)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Vance(1)
Representative Jimmy'S(1)
Representative Nellie(1)
Representative Senators(1)
Representative Our(1)
Representative Vats(1)
Chair Yes(1)
Representative Nelly(1)
Representative Question(1)
Ms. Ratford(1)
Notable Points
Though I have enjoyed watching the last three and a half hours of floor debate from Washington, D.C.
And then Section 4 simply says that the effective date is immediate under Alaska statute 1.10.070.
Transcript: 3,326 words
This meeting of the House Judiciary Committee will now come to order.
The time is now 4.27 p.m. on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026.
We are meeting in the Grunberg room, Capital Room 120.
The following members are present.
Representative Costello, Representative Mina,
Representative Underwood,
Representative Eisheid,
Representative Vance, and myself,
Representative Gray Chair.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business.
I would like to recognize the staff supporting this meeting.
We have Sophia Tinney from House Records,
Rinso Moises from the Genoa LIO,
and my committee aide, Dylan Hitchcock Lopez.
We possibly have two items of business on today's agenda.
We will first be hearing an introduction of House Bill 213,
data sharing, social security,
and second, we will be continuing public testimony
on House bill 136, rehabilitation utility corridors.
I apologize for the delay due to our long floor session.
We'll now go at the at ease
until we have our first presenter ready.
At ease.
Back on the record, we will now hear our first item of business.
We will take up House Bill 213 data sharing,
Social Security for its first hearing on our committee.
At this time, I would like to invite
Representative Jimmy's staff,
Hayden Johnson, and Rachel Gunn to the witness table.
Please put yourself on
the Record and begin your introductory remarks.
Thank you, Chair Gray, members of the committee?
Um, today we're presenting House two-third-
Can you please put yourself on the record?
Oh, sorry, yeah.
It's been a while since I've done this.
Um.
Thank you, Chair Gray, members of the committee.
My name is Rachel Gunn.
I'm staff representative Nellie Nugget-Jimmy.
And today, we are presenting house bill 213,
which would allow Alaskans to apply for
replacement Social Security cards online.
Currently, 49 states allow for online replacement,
and we were the last to hold out.
The process of replacing a Social security card is difficult,
especially for those living in rural a
▶
2026-02-11
-- Canceled -- House Resources Committee
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: -- Canceled -- House Resources Committee. Date: 2026-02-11.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
Lunch and Learn: Regional Grid Planning and Standard Development on Alaska's Railbelt
transcript1 bill6K words
The Lunch and Learn: Regional Grid Planning and Standard Development on Alaska's Railbelt met on 2026-02-11. The committee heard SB 32 (Allowed Costs in Electric Coop Rates).
Bills Heard
SB 32 — Allowed Costs in Electric Coop Rates
Motions
move that power from that to everywhere else it needs to go. So we model those And the scenarios as they're modeled, they come up with various results and we compare those results to come with a preferred portfolio that ends up before the public again for final comments and then on to the regulatory the board and the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
Key Topics
Integrated Resource Rail Belt Resource Plan Regulatory Commission Transmission Line
Speakers (3)
Chair Of(2)
Representative For(1)
Representative Following(1)
Notable Points
And it is a remarkable process that is bringing together all the utilities in order to align the standard and to align some of the longer term planning.
And the work products that are developed are debated in that working Group so that we can bring things forward then to a recommendation by the Technical Advisory Committee up to And to move something through the board to the regulatory commission there's 13 voting members it takes nine voting member to pass anything.
We looked at standards from Australia where they have similar systems to some degree to what we have in Alaska. which also has is similarly situated to some of the system Alaska and we make recommendations to the working group the work in group then debates those based upon their stakeholder interests and We develop the standards Across the region with input from all regional entities to ensure that once we're done We in general have a consensus document that can go to The RCA And we can walk th
And it is a significant time saving and cost saving at the end of process when we don t have do debate things and illegal hearing in front the rca.
It wasn't possible 10 years ago to go through. 50 resources and take every single combination and just run them through a program to evaluate them Anything else Thank you 15 megawatts You know, there's a lot of debate about that number when the utilities were developed, you know working with this legislation It's really looking at what's the smallest size of General utility generation that typically runs on the rail belt so Small units 40 megawatts basically to 60 megawatts when you add the stea
Transcript: 6,472 words
Good afternoon, I'm Kai Holland. I am the representative for House District 9
Thank you for joining us today to learn more about the Railboat Reliability Council and the work that we're doing I
am
Representing House District 9, which is the area of South Anchorage,
that includes some of the higher communities like Glen Alps,
Bachelors, Suckin Heights, Bear Valley,
but also all the way down to Gerdwood and out to Whittier.
And that concludes the new transmission lines
that have been upgraded that we've been looking at
and a number of issues of concern to our district about energy
and how we're managing the energy challenges
and the future and affordability of energy.
Today, we have an opportunity to get an update
the rail belt, reliability council.
This work to me is really important because it's addressing two really fundamental issues
about the standards and the planning related to our rail belt utilities.
And it is a remarkable process that is bringing together all the utilities in order to
align the standard and to align some of the longer term planning.
That work is important not only for all of us who are rate payers and concerned about
down the road but this is also looking down
the Road towards the ensuring that we have
the energy that
we need it's affordable and this issue
while it might seem is strictly a
rail belt issue to me is
also a statewide issue because of how
our state is structured with energy
and energy policy around PCE where the
railbelt utilities go so does the impact
rural utilities through the transfer of that.
So it's important to all of us in the state
that we have a strong, reliable, affordable energy system.
It benefits all us to improve that coordination.
And this work has been instrumental in bringing
those utilities together to develop that foresight
of where we're going in future.
And we are also making sure that some
of the newer legislation that were working on
will be designed to complement this effort
so that the new legislation
n
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
State of the Judiciary Address
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: State of the Judiciary Address. Date: 2026-02-11.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-11.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-11.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-11
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg5 bills4K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-11. 5 bills were discussed, including HB 263 (Approp: Operating Budget;amend;supp), HB 265 (Approp: Mental Health Budget), HB 283 (Approp: Supplemental), and others. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 263 — Approp: Operating Budget;amend;supp
HB 265 — Approp: Mental Health Budget
HB 283 — Approp: Supplemental
HB 289 — Approp: Supplemental
HB 263 — Approp: Operating Budget;amend;supp
Votes
Is there a further objection? Seeing and hearing none, version I, as in Igloo, will be our working draft adopted unanimously. for the mental health budget CS for House Bill No. 265 Finance.
Key Topics
Page Line Adjusted Base Committee Substitute House Bill Through Chair
Speakers (27)
Mr. Schroeder(7)
Representative Stapp(5)
Co-Chair Foster(4)
Chair Schrage(4)
Chair Josephson(4)
Representative Bynum(3)
Representative Moore(2)
Representative Hannan(2)
Representative Galvin(2)
Representative Jimmie(2)
Chair To(2)
Chair Representative(2)
Representative Allard(2)
Representative Tamashevsky(1)
Mr. Coacher(1)
Chair Mr(1)
Co-Chair Believes(1)
Mr. Shorter(1)
Chair The(1)
Chair Really(1)
Notable Points
For context last year the legislature funded school aid for cost of school construction at 75%, the governor vetoed the REAA deposit down to seventy five percent to match the school The next change is on page 98, line 17 through 21.
Transcript: 4,895 words
I'll call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order.
Let the record reflect that it is 9.05 AM on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026.
Present today, our representative staff, representative Moore,
representative Bynum,
representative Hannon,
representative Tamashevsky,
representative Galvin,
representative Jimmy, co-chair Foster,
co chair Schruggie, and myself,
co Chair Josephson.
Also present today are House finance committee staff committee assistant Helen Phillips.
Page to Lula Lostovka, Secretary Brie Wiley,
Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have moderator Emily Mesh
from the Legislative Information Office.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
At this meeting, the committee will be introducing
and adopting committee substitutes for House Bill 263
and House bill 265,
the FY27 operating and the mental health budgets.
In committee members packets are the following.
HB 263, work draft version G.
HB263, red line comparison between governor and version g.
HB
agency summary totals UGF only the legislative finance division is in the
room for any technical questions during this meeting so with that do I have a
motion on the first committee substitute for HB 263 version G mr.
Coacher I move that the house finance committee adopt committee
substitute
for house bill 263 finance work draft
34-GH2498G as in golf.
Mark's dated February 6th, 2026 as our working document.
Okay. I'm going to object for the purposes of an explanation
and call my staff, Mr. Schroeder, forward to explain the changes in version G.
Mr Schroder, please come to the table, put yourself on the record and tell us
about this proposed operating budget version.
Good morning members of the House Finance Committee.
For the record, my name is Alexander Schroeder, staff to co-chair Josephson.
Through the chair, before the committee is proposed committee substitute for House Bill 263, the operating bill.
Work draft 34 GH2498 backslash G.
Also called House Committee substitute 1 or HCS 1.
Also includ
▶
2026-02-11
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill11K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-11. The committee heard HB 53 (Approp: Operating Budget; Cap; Supp). 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 53 — Approp: Operating Budget; Cap; Supp
Votes
I don't think that we've failed on those measures, and I think the analysis that's been done that argues that have is faulty analysis, but I look at our passive benchmark, and we beat it on five and 10.
Key Topics
last year's operating budget, HB 53 Permanent Fund Through Chair Senator Keel Statutory Net Net Income
Speakers (20)
Mr. Chairman(18)
Senator Kiehl(14)
Senator Stedman(12)
Chair Senator(6)
Mr. Mitchell(4)
Director Of(3)
Senator Kaufman(3)
Senator Hoffman(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Carcman(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Mr. Echlund(1)
Mr. Eklund(1)
Ms. Mears(1)
Chair Mr(1)
Chair It(1)
Senator Teal(1)
Senator Koffner(1)
Chair Center(1)
Chair Ballpark(1)
Notable Points
And so that, that is the debate in 1976 and the corporation and the permanent fund dividend program were created subsequent to that in 1980 and Ultimately the program that wound up paying money in 1982 and the permanent fund the first permanent Fund dividend distribution On slide three we show some of the history of The Fund's de
We have the first item is Senate Bill 213, the operating budget, Senate bill 215, the mental health budget explanation of the veto of repealed appropriations by alleged legal and the presentation of Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, which is probably the most important item on the agenda.
I'll just say ditto on this Committee substitute technical and conforming changes Now we'll remove my objection is there further objection to the adoption of the CS seeing none That CS is adopted The third item is the veto of repeal appropriations.
So, just a short brief summary is Article 2, section 15 of the Alaska Constitution grants the governor the power by veto to strike or reduce items in appropriation bills.
And we generally refer to this as the Governor's light item veto power. previously enacted appropriations.
Transcript: 11,790 words
Call the Senate Finance Committee to order.
Today's February the 11th couple of minutes after 9 a.m.
Please silence your cell phones present today.
Senator Stedman, Senator Olson, senator Keel,
Senator Carcman Senator Cronk, and myself Senator Hoffman, we have a
form to conduct business today's agenda.
We have four items on the agenda today
It shouldn't take too long.
We have the first item is Senate Bill 213,
the operating budget, Senate bill 215,
the mental health budget explanation of the veto
of repealed appropriations by alleged legal
and the presentation of Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation,
which is probably the most important item on the agenda.
So the first item, adoption of CS0 for Senate Bill 213,
appropriations, operating budget, amendments, and
supplemental, Senator Stedman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I move that the Finance Committee adopt the committee substitute for
Senate bill 213 Finance, 34-GS 2249-8
and I'll object for an explanation and invite Pete Ecklund to explain the CS, Mr. Echlund.
Good morning, Mister Chairman, thank you for the record.
My name is Pete Eklund, the staff to Senator Hoffman and the Senate Finance Committee.
The committee's substitute you have in front of you, mr. Chairman is referred to as CS 0.
It is simply put into the format of legal and
alleged finance, technical and informing changes.
The substance is the same as the governor's introduced budget.
With one exception this year, Mr. Chairman, we do have a unique situation.
Where the Governor has introduced a Department of Agriculture.
There is ongoing litigation, as you are aware, there was an executive order issued
the Department of Agriculture, the legislature filed a suit about that and disputed whether
that was a legal creation.
So far in the lower court courts, they have ruled in favor of the Legislature.
And so for the purposes of this committee's substitute, we have rolled in,
the department of agriculture back into, as a division, into the
Department on Natural Reso
▶
2026-02-11
House Education Committee
transcriptakleg16K words
The House Education Committee met on 2026-02-11. Public testimony was taken with 2 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Three could not graduate because they had failed too many classes.
Motions
So we can move to the next slide. So, as always, with the Department of Education, we like to keep our mission vision and purpose before us and many of you participated in creating this mission, vision, and purpose with a State Board of education.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (your budget and you, familiar with what the)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
you know the budget the withdrawals Mount Edgecombe State Board Advisory Board School Board Through Chair
Speakers (30)
Mr. Langford(10)
Co-Chair Story(5)
Representative Frier(4)
Commissioner And(4)
Commissioner Bishop(4)
Co-Chair Him(4)
Representative Elam(3)
Representative Dibert(3)
Representative Schwanke(3)
Representative Eischeid(3)
Representative Underwood(3)
Commissioner Of(3)
Co-Chair Himschoot(3)
Co-Chair To(3)
Commissioner Mina(2)
Commissioner Karen(2)
Chair Hymn(2)
Dr. Miranda(2)
Co-Chair Yes(2)
Dr. Baca(2)
Notable Points
debate mock trial these different AP classes and access to all these lawyers and attorneys over in Sitka.
I'm curious, well, I think because we need to wrap up, you know, the condition of the buildings, the legislature has funded a number of different upgrade opportunities, and they have consistently been vetoed.
Transcript: 16,328 words
Good morning. I'm calling the House Education Committee meeting to order. It is Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 and the time is
8 or 4 a.m. Right on time. Sorry
Okay, members present are representative elum. So sorry
Do I need to repeat all that?
Okay great
Members present are Representative Elam, Representative Dibert,
Representative Schwonke,
Representative Ischeid,
Representative Underwood, co-chair Story,
and we're joined today by Representative Freer,
who is an alum and has a student currently at Mount Ojcom.
Thank you for joining us.
And I am here.
I'm co chair Rebecca Hymshoot.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
I would like to remind members and folks in the audience
to silence your cell phones.
Committee Room 106 in the State Capitol Building in June of Alaska.
The documents for today's meeting have been distributed to members,
are available on the table outside the door and are on basis.
We did have an updated slide that came in at 8.01.
It came this morning and so we've provided that to
members.
It's on a table, outside and has been or will be updated on
basis, okay, and it just had one small change to it.
I'd like to thank our recording secretary, Kayle Brown, and our moderator from the Juneau LIO, Doug Bridges.
And our committee aids Tammy Smith and Ella Lubin.
Grateful for all your help today.
Our agenda today is one item.
We're going to get a status update from Mount Edgecombe High School.
We will hear from Commissioner Dina Bishop, Deputy Commissioner Karen Morrison online.
and Director Don Hanish with the Department of Education
and Early Development, Manajkam High School Superintendent
David Langford, advisory board member Howard Amos,
and current students Caden Cross,
and I hope I say this right, Ilana Kalki.
There will be one slide deck,
you have copies of the slide and the one side
that was switched out.
I would also, before we begin, like to read some comments
that I wrote to kind of frame this meeting.
That I can't find right now. We have a
▶
2026-02-10
Alaska Children's Caucus
transcript4 bills8K words
The Alaska Children's Caucus met on 2026-02-10. 4 bills were discussed, including HB 141 (Public Buildings: Changing Facilities), HB 246 (Special Education Service Agency Funding), HB 39 (Education for Deaf & Hard of Hearing), and others.
Bills Heard
HB 141 — Public Buildings: Changing Facilities
HB 246 — Special Education Service Agency Funding
HB 39 — Education for Deaf & Hard of Hearing
SB 178 — Expand Early Intervention Services
Key Topics
Infant Learning Early Intervention Learning Program Last Year Special Education
Speakers (21)
Director Of(5)
Senator Dunbar(5)
Director Newman(3)
Ms. Burton(3)
Senator Giessel(2)
Representative Dibert(1)
Senator Tobin(1)
Senator Forrest(1)
Representative Story(1)
Ms. Amy(1)
Mrs. I'M(1)
Representative Galvin(1)
Senator Gisa(1)
Representative Josephson(1)
Representative Mina(1)
Chair User(1)
Ms. Simpson(1)
Mr. Seville(1)
Mr. Mike(1)
Senator Lukey(1)
Notable Points
I wanted to assure all the advocates here that we are hoping that bill will pass and I was also disappointed with that veto.
vetoed or funding doesn't pass or a smaller income it passes.
We really appreciate that, I think the veto from last year is kind of on the forefront of all our minds and we really are hoping that when this passes, that it is. relatively soon so that if the veto happens again there's time to come back and hopefully deal with that so at least have an opportunity to deal with it so we're really hoping thi
Unfortunately, of course that was vetoed.
Transcript: 8,051 words
Good evening, everyone. I call this meeting of the Alaska Children's Caucus to order.
It is 6.01 p.m. here on Tuesday, February 10th.
We are in the belts committee room here in
the beautiful state Capitol building located in
the heart of downtown Juneau.
I just want to remind folks who are joining us here today.
If you could please ensure your cell phones are muted.
documents for today's meetings have been distributed to lawmakers.
They are also uploaded to basis and additional copies are available for folks right there by the door.
We have members present today, co-chair, Senator Giesel,
co chair.
Representative Dibert, my self-coach here, Senator Tobin,
and we are also joined by Senator Forrest Dunbar.
I want to thank Susan from the Juneau LIO
for moderating today's meeting
and for staying up late with us on the agenda today.
We have a focus on early intervention and infant learning.
We will begin with a presentation
from The Alaska Department of Health,
and then we will go on to a Presentation
from Interagency Coordinating Council
about the need to expand infant-learning programs,
The very brief update on the piece of legislation that was introduced from the Senate Health
and Social Services Committee to expand the eligibility for the infant learning program.
All right, we have folks here with us at the dais.
If you guys know the drill, if you could please identify yourself as the record and begin
your presentation when you are ready.
Thank you.
So first, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to come today and share important
program updates about the great work happening within the ILP program. It's funding and
projected funding for FY27. We know that the infant learning program supports early childhood.
in a way that's important, right?
The earlier that we identify developmental disabilities
and delays and get support in place,
not only supporting children,
but their families and their caregivers
makes a long-term difference on outcomes,
not just in thei
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-10
Senate Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill12K words
The Senate Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-02-10. The committee heard HB 27 (Medical Major Emergencies). Public testimony was taken with 13 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 27Heard
Motions
So for those on PBS, it has not been clear what the mechanisms are. to move to to do a change in scope or any of those things. So a lot of our I'll just kind of boil boil it down to our recommendations.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Lukey Gail Tobin, Staff to Senator Luke, Happy to why don)
1 testifier (Happy to why don)
2 testifiers (Happy to why don, nothing about required to)
6 testifiers (James Biela, testifying today
in support, the Vice Chair
for, on the front line, serving as first, setting an amendment deadline)
1 testifier (setting an amendment deadline)
Key Topics
medical care for major emergencies, which you heard last week Behavioral Health Safe Storage Guide House Cost Reporting Senator Myers
Speakers (28)
Senator Myers(14)
Senator Tobin(13)
Senator Claman(11)
Director For(10)
Mr. Chairman(8)
Commissioner Ricci(4)
Director Of(4)
Mr. Flora(3)
Chair Dunbar(1)
Vice Chair Giessel(1)
Commissioner In(1)
Senator Toga(1)
Ms. Payne(1)
Chair Senator(1)
Senator Stoltman(1)
Director At(1)
Senator Cleanly(1)
Chair Center(1)
Chair I'D(1)
Chair That'S(1)
Notable Points
And then medical transportation, we're looking at both emergency, medical, transportation and non-emergency.
emergency personnel is not needed but that's the only option and so we're looking at ways to make that a little more flexible as well as escorts used during travel and in order to kind of streamline the process where we've noted that the state ought to look at its definitions for what a travel event is which
emergency medical transportation So before we go to the final slide.
So did you finalize the report for emergency medical transportation or is this just non-emergency and urgent transportation? To the chair.
This transportation report is for emergency and non emergency.
Transcript: 12,626 words
This hearing of the Senate Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order.
Today is Tuesday, February 10th, and the time is 3.31 PM.
We're hearing a bunch of it's room 205.
Members present are Senator Myers, Senator Tobin, myself, Chair Dunbar.
Vice Chair Giesell is excused and I expect Senator Klayman shortly.
So let the record reflect, we have a corner to conduct business.
Before we begin, I would like to thank Mary Gwen Kawakami, the Senate Health and Social
Services recording secretary, and Susan Quigley from the June LIO for staffing the committee
today.
We have two items on our agenda this afternoon.
First, a presentation from Guide House on Medicaid Rate Reports, then an introductory
hearing on Senator Tobin's Senate Bill 206, an act relating to school suicide policies
and firearm storage.
So we'll begin with our presentation from Guide House.
The folks would like to come and sit.
We have Emily Ricci, the Deputy Commissioner,
Department of Health,
Coy Jones, Project Director from
Guidehouse and Claire Payne Behavioral Health Lead
from guide house.
If you guys would'd like come forward.
We also have in the room for questions,
Poona Suresh, Long-Term Services and Support Lead
and Liz Barabbas.
project manager and federally qualified health center lead.
So thank you all for being here today.
When you're ready, please put yourself on the record
and begin your presentation.
Hi, good afternoon.
For the Record, my name is Emily Ritchie
and I am Deputy Commissioner in the Department of Health.
And I just want to thank the committee
for hearing today's presentation,
as this committee is well aware Alaska's Medicaid program
is a joint federal state program
providing health insurance to low income Alaskans.
As of December 2025, Medicaid covered over 210,000 Alaskans or 1 in 4.
Medicaid provides critical services and essential revenue to healthcare providers,
but it is also a large budget component with a combined federal and state spend of over 3 billion
do
▶
2026-02-10
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills4K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-10. Bills discussed included HB 35 (Prisoners: Electronic Devices, Id Cards), SB 126 (Correctional Facilities; Placement). Public testimony was taken with 13 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 35 — Prisoners: Electronic Devices, Id Cards
SB 126 — Correctional Facilities; Placement
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (Mike Garvey and, policy Director for
We, Adam Barber and, representing myself, calling from Casa Grande)
6 testifiers (not sure that we, sympathetic to their concerns, Kevin Worley, the admin services director, only
dealing with municipal, working on other legislation)
1 testifier (going to have to)
1 testifier (going to have to)
Key Topics
Senate Bill Department Corrections State Affairs Senate State Prisoners State
Speakers (26)
Senator For(4)
Chair Kawasaki(3)
Senator Bjorkman(3)
Senator Yundt(3)
Commissioner The(2)
Senator And(2)
Mr. Warley(2)
Vice Chair Senator(1)
Senator Greg(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Senator Wielechowski(1)
Senator Rob(1)
Senator 71(1)
Senator Dibert(1)
Commissioner To(1)
Senator Young(1)
Mr. Mckee(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Mr. Mike(1)
Mr. Garvey(1)
Transcript: 4,362 words
Okay, I'd like to call the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order.
It is February 10th, Tuesday, February, 10, the time now is 3.30 PM.
Present today, Vice Chair Senator Bjorkman, Senator Greg Jackson,
Senator Tilton, my self-chair Kawasaki, we are expecting Senator Willakowski to be here on his way.
I would like thank Kerry Tippo from Senate Records and Zach Lawhorn from the Legislative Information Office.
Today's agenda we have two items on today's Agenda
We had originally
planned to discuss with the Department of Corrections a couple issues related to
deaths and jails we are going to have to
Table that issue until a later time due to the fact that they're currently an ongoing litigation
that's nothing that there's something that just probably shouldn't be discussed in public,
but we do want to make sure that they do have an opportunity to come forward at maybe a future
time along with one of the one the attorneys from law maybe at some point.
to address some of these issues
that they are able to do on record.
We're gonna go ahead and hear first then,
we have the second hearing on Senate Bill 126,
Correctional Facilities Placement.
It is sponsored by Senator Rob Yunt.
We have a second, hearing, on Senator 71,
pre-trial services, Supervisions, Agreements.
It's rules at the request of the governor.
I'd like to welcome Senator Robert Ynt
and staff to Senator...
Ryan McKee to come up and present the bill, we heard last year at this time, so.
Yeah, for the record, and thank you, Mr. Chair for having us today.
So for record my name is Rob Yunt, I'm the Senator for
the Wassell area from Metal Lakes to the North Lakes and Colony area.
So SB 126 directs the Department of Corrections to look at two cost cutting measures.
and any savings that could create, the second would add a section to the powers given to
the commissioner to give them the ability to look at out-of-state options for housing
inmates who have seven years or more remaining on their sentence.
Should
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-10
House Finance: Health & Social Services Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill14K words
The House Finance: Health & Social Services Subcommittee met on 2026-02-10. The committee heard SB 95 (Child Care: Assistance/Grants).
Bills Heard
SB 95 — Child Care: Assistance/Grants
Key Topics
funding for the last several years Through Chair Chair Representative Fiscal Year Representative Gray Child Care
Speakers (30)
Chair Representative(20)
Representative Gray(13)
Representative Mina(12)
Chair To(10)
Representative Prax(9)
Ms. Meek(6)
Director Etheridge(6)
Director Of(6)
Chair Josephson(5)
Representative Fields(5)
Director For(4)
Representative Reference(4)
Representative Ruffridge(4)
Director Through(4)
Director Newman(4)
Representative Schwanke(3)
Ms. Kirk(3)
Director Deb(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Director Caroline(2)
Notable Points
My understanding is that we appropriated 7.5 but then we went ahead and increased to 7,725 and then the governor vetoed 1.857.9 million out and it said it's a quote, setting the base increment below historical funding levels.
Then as fiscal notes for legislation, my observation as the department has gotten better and faster every year. getting the maximum benefit.
This is an increment for the senior benefit payment program, representing the third year of the Fiscal Note implementation.
Transcript: 14,049 words
Good afternoon everyone. I call this meeting of the House Finance Department of Health subcommittee to order let the record reflect
it is
321 to be precise
Here in Juneau on Thursday February 10th, 2026 present today are representative schwonke
Representative mirrors representative Mina representative Gray
Rep. Prox was with us. He'll return and myself chair Josephson also present. Today our LIO moderator
Houdet Augustine, Jude, apologies, I took a chance.
From, didn't go over.
From the Legislative Information Office,
Valerie Rose Analysts from Legislative Finance Division
and Committee Aid Aaron Page.
As always, please remember to mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear a budget presentation
from the Department of Health.
First up is the Division of Public Assistance
presented by Director Deb Etheridge
and Administrative Operations Manager, Sierra Meek.
A Director Etherige and Miss Meak,
please come to the table,
put yourself on the record and begin.
Thank you committee for the record. My name is Deb Etheridge. I'm the director for The Division of Public Assistance with me today
Is Sierra meek my administrative operations manager for someone to thank you for
the opportunity to present on the Division Public assistance FY 2027 budget as you know the division of public assistance is really the
front door to essential services for Alaskans to promote self-sufficiency
In fiscal year 2025, the division served more than 426,000 Alaskans,
which is nearly 58% of the state's population.
That scale underscores the importance of our work and the breadth of services we deliver.
At this point, I will transition to the budget portion of this presentation, and I'll turn it over to CRMEC.
Yes, all right, Ms. Meek.
For the record, my name is Sierra Meek and I'm the Administrative Operations Manager
for the Division of Public Assistance. And I apologize, I am having some technical difficulties
with the slide. I don't know how to advance right now. Okay, let's see if
▶
2026-02-10
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills13K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-10. Bills discussed included HB 180 (Electronic Driver's Licenses), HB 250 (Law Enforcement; Concealing One's Face), SB 194 (Mobile Sports Wagering; Tax). Public testimony was taken with 25 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 180 — Electronic Driver's Licenses
HB 250 — Law Enforcement; Concealing One's Face
SB 194 — Mobile Sports Wagering; Tax
Public Testimony
1 testifier (going to be brief)
2 testifiers (Ken Alper, actually an error)
4 testifiers (Ken Alper, actually an error, certain that she is, generally not earned on)
9 testifiers (Ian Foxmanick, on the Leslie, actually seeing, confident that time is, raising this issue to, seeing that would fix, looking at my hours, confused by some
notes...)
9 testifiers (Ian Foxmanick, on the Leslie, actually seeing, confident that time is, raising this issue to, seeing that would fix, looking at my hours, confused by some
notes...)
Key Topics
peace officer face masks from Representative Hannon House Bill 250 on Peace Office surface masks from Representative Hannon Law Enforcement Through Chair Chair Representative House Bill Madam Chair
Speakers (30)
Representative Hannan(17)
Representative McCabe(14)
Representative Vance(10)
Representative Holland(8)
Chair Merrick(8)
Representative St(7)
Mr. Allard(7)
Chair Representative(7)
Chair Carrick(7)
Representative Of(7)
Vice Chair Story(5)
Representative Josephson(3)
Representative Himschoot(3)
Chair For(3)
Chair Karak(3)
Mr. Alper(3)
Chair And(2)
Chair Character(2)
Chair Care(2)
Representative Hymn(2)
Notable Points
I m curious, you know, having seen the news and the pictures, it is surprising to see the masks in many of the operations that have been in the news.
But I also think there are times, there may be times as we're seeing in my home state as well, of Minnesota, where Things get a little heated and things get little violent and maybe the officers don't want their families exposed They don t I mean that they don' t want the hotel room that.
With the committee through some fiscal notes and then the intention today will be to set the bill aside after that I'd like to welcome our Division of Motor Vehicles director Kathy Wallace who is a testifying from Anchorage today To introduce House Bill 180.
We before we get to committee questions and discussion I would like to invite our committee to the table to walk through The fiscal notes on this legislation And just a brief note on fiscal note.
Yes, thank you madam chair for the records to her relays to f for representative Carrick the two fiscal notes provided by the Department of Administration and the Department Public Safety are both zero fiscal votes.
Transcript: 13,376 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House State Affairs Committee to order.
The time is 3.17 on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026.
We're here in room 120 of Alaska State Capitol.
Please mute cell phones today.
Members present include Representative St. Clair, Representative McCabe,
Representative Holland, Vice Chair Story, and myself, Chair Kerrick.
Let the record reflect we have a quorum to conduct business.
And I'd like to thank our support staff, including our record secretary, Cecilia Miller, our moderator from the Juno LIO, Renzo Moises, and our committee aid for today's hearing, my staff Stuart Relay, I thank you all for helping us today.
I also want to note that Representative Vance has just joined us.
Today we have three items on our agenda. They're all first hearings.
First, we have an introductory hearing on House Bill 250 regarding peace officer face masks from Representative Hannon.
Following that,
we had a hearing about House bill 180 on digital driver's licenses from the administration,
and then finally an introduction hearing of House by 130 on flexible time credit from representative Josephson.
We do have to adjourn by five o'clock today.
keep ourselves on pace with our bills this afternoon.
First item on today's agenda is House Bill 250 on Peace Office surface masks from Representative Hannon.
I'd like to welcome Representative Handen to the State Affairs Committee and your staff, Tim Clark.
And if you'd to put yourselves on the rec and begin your introduction of House bill 250.
Thank You madam chair and members of the state affairs committee. Thank you for having us today and hearing House bill 250
I do represent
House district for what you're sitting in here in Juneau
House Bill 250 law enforcement
would make it a crime for peace officers in Alaska to wear facial coverings in the performance of their duties.
Hospital 250 is a pro-law enforcement piece of legislation.
It promotes and secures public trust and the dignity and integrity of peace
officers
▶
2026-02-10
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg10K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-02-10. Public testimony was taken with 6 testifiers.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (referring to the the, hoping that that will, Ben May)
3 testifiers (referring to the the, hoping that that will, Ben May)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Through Chair Net Metering House Bill
Speakers (30)
Mr. May(9)
Mr. Erickson(7)
Chair To(6)
Representative Costello(5)
Representative Ruffridge(5)
Co-Chair Mears(5)
Co-Chair Holland(5)
Representative Eischeid(5)
Mr. Callahan(5)
Co-Chair Mirrors(3)
Representative Of(3)
Representative Aishide(2)
Representative Cop(2)
Mr. Thayer(2)
Ms. Vogler(2)
Representative Edgmon(1)
Representative Camp(1)
Mr. Co-Chair(1)
Representative Ted(1)
Representative Johnson(1)
Notable Points
Again, that requires that ADA would administer and service to fiduciary to fund and it would authorize ADA to make payments subject to those regulations set forth by the RCA and that Section 4 establishes an effective date This bill is in direct support in alignment with the governor's priorities as said forth and recommended in the Alaska security energy task force, which is multi stakeholder task force as created by the Governor, the final report published in December 2023.
Transcript: 10,955 words
Good afternoon, I'd like to call the House Special Committee on Energy to order.
Today is February 10th, it is 134, and members present.
We have representative Edgman, representative Camp,
representative Costello, Representative Ruffridge, co-chair Mears,
and myself, Co-Chair Holland, so thank you all for being here.
I'd like to remind members and staff that we're allowing members to use electronic devices
during the committee meetings, but please silence your cell phones as a reminder.
Staff and members of the audience may not approach the table if you need to pass a note
to committee members.
Please get the attention of my committee aide, Tim Truer, who's up here in the corner.
We're going to let him sit today, and he will take care of it.
Okay, got missed by some folks, you'll have to go back and see the recording.
Before we get started, I'd like to thank our recording secretary, Andrew Magneson, and
Kyla Tubo from the Juno-LIO for the technical support in the room.
Thank you both for being here.
We have two bills on our agenda today.
First, we'll be hearing House Bill 257, portable solar energy generation devices.
This is sponsored by Representative Eishein,
and this is the bill's first hearing.
Next, we'll be hearing a brief reintroduction of House Bill 164, Net Meetering Program
and Fund, by the request of the governor, followed by testimony, invited by myself.
Co-Chair Hollandis is the bill's second hearing, following its introduction to the committee
on April 8, 2025.
If you want to go back, you'll find that recording available on the Committee Basis website.
So proceeding, we'll first take up House Bill 257,
portable solar energy generation devices sponsored by Representative Eyshide.
Representative Esheide, would you and your staff please approach the bench,
introduce yourselves to the record and begin your overview for the committee.
We'll take a brief at ease while we get the presentation ready.
Back on the record for the House
Special Energy Committee,
▶
2026-02-10
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills13K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-10. Bills discussed included HB 265 (Approp: Mental Health Budget), HB 283 (Approp: Supplemental). Public testimony was taken with 37 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 265 — Approp: Mental Health Budget
HB 283 — Approp: Supplemental
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (Anita anita Halderman here, my second year as)
7 testifiers (going to go to, going to make sure, going
to go online, Cody Omen, representing the Alaska Labors, Katie Kaposi and, testifying today to urge)
8 testifiers (going to go to, going to make sure, going
to go online, Cody Omen, representing the Alaska Labors, Katie Kaposi and, testifying today to urge, going to just briefly)
8 testifiers (going to go to, going to make sure, going
to go online, Cody Omen, representing the Alaska Labors, Katie Kaposi and, testifying today to urge, going to just briefly)
9 testifiers (going
to go online, Cody Omen, representing the Alaska Labors, Katie Kaposi and, testifying today to urge, going to just briefly, Paul Swollen, Falls Swolling...)
Key Topics
the veto of repealed appropriations Through Chair Mental Health Trust Land
Speakers (30)
Ms. Wilson(21)
Representative Hannan(9)
Co-Chair Josephson(8)
Representative Bynum(5)
Chair Foster(5)
Chair Of(5)
Representative Jimmie(5)
Representative Stapp(5)
Representative Moore(4)
Representative Galvin(4)
Chair To(3)
Ms. Johnson(3)
Co-Chair Justin(2)
Ms. Warner(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Chair We(2)
Representative Chomsky(1)
Chair Schrage(1)
Representative Yes(1)
Chair Really(1)
Notable Points
So you're unexpected, unexpended funds.
emergency situations.
Then we will hear from legislative legal services regarding the veto of repealed appropriations.
Transcript: 13,375 words
Okay. Call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order. Left the record reflect
that it's 1.34 p.m. on Monday, February 10th, 2026. Present today are Representative Moore,
Representative Bynum, Representative Hannon, and Representative Chomsky, President Galvin.
And three of our co-chairs are here, co chair Schruggie, Co chair Foster, myself cochair
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff,
Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Tallulah-Lestofka, Secretary Brie Wiley,
Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator Emily Mesh
from the Legislative Information Office with us.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear the Alaska Mental Health Trust
present on its FY27 governor's budget overview,
then beginning at 2.30.
We will hear public testimony on House Bill 289, the Governor's supplemental bill.
With us today from the Mental Health Trust is Brent Fisher, Board Chair, Mary Wilson,
Chief Executive Officer, and Katie Baldwin, Johnson, Chief Operating Officer.
We have other members of the board with us as well.
If the three of you will please come forward and put yourselves on the record, we can begin
your presentation.
Hi, Mary Wilson CEO of the trust see you
Brent Fisher chair of board of trustees for the Trust
Hello, Katie Baldwin Johnson chief operating officer for The Trust great to see
Okay, take it away. Thank you the chair. I will start Mary, Wilson
so
Thank you very much to all of you for the opportunity to present.
I think we already introduced Brent Fisher, our Chair of the Trustees in Katie.
I also have on the line Julie Farley, who's our CFO, and
Justy Warner, whose our Chief Executive Officer for
the trust land office.
And then Allison is behind me,
who is our chief communication officer.
And you've got a couple board members in addition with you. Yes, we do. I want to introduce them real fast
Yeah, so this is Anita anita Halderman here who's one of our board Members in Kevin, Finean. Grea
▶
2026-02-10
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg13K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-10. Public testimony was taken.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
this as well Cascade Point Through Chair Gold Belt Ferry Terminal
Speakers (30)
Representative Stutes(10)
Representative McCabe(10)
Co-Chair Carrick(10)
Chair Merrick(5)
Representative Nelson(5)
Representative Mina(4)
Representative Himschoot(4)
Director Tornga(4)
Representative Stedman(4)
Chair To(4)
Director For(3)
Mr. King(3)
Director Goens(3)
Co-Chair Ayeshide(2)
Commissioner Anderson(2)
Commissioner Of(2)
Representative Him(2)
Chair Eischeid(2)
Commissioner Ryan(2)
Mr. Goins(2)
Notable Points
So we really welcome the debate on this because I do think this is something, you know there's been a lot of work done in the past.
I believe he was trying to represent this well and I can tell you each one of those points that we're on that were heavily debated and challenged in our discussions through this process.
So we're going going go to recess this meeting today to Thursday, February 12th at 1230 PM, so it's a little bit different.
So with no further discussion, this meeting is recessed at 2.59 until PM right now until Thursday, February 12th at 12.30 PM.
Transcript: 13,663 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House Transportation Committee to order.
It is now 132 on Tuesday, February 10th in room 124.
Members present include Representative Stutes, Representative Garrett Nelson,
Representative McCabe, representative Mina,
representative St. Clair.
Co-chair Ayeshide will be here fairly soon, and myself, co- chair Kerrick.
And we've also been joined today by Representative Hymshoot.
for who represents Southeast Alaska and so welcome to our conversation today.
Let the record reflect. We have a quorum to conduct business and please take this time to
silence your cell phones. Before we begin, I'd like to thank Jordan Nicholson from House Records
and Doug Bridges from the Juneau LAO for staffing our committee today as well as our
So on today's agenda, we do have a continuation from the committee's February 5th presentation on the function of the Alaska Marine Highway System
operations board
Primarily today. We'll be focused on The Cascade Point Project overview and
updates from Craig Torngut as well as our
South Coast Region Director Christopher Goins with the Alaskan Marine highway system
and for advisement of members who of the public that may be watching this
presentation we are starting today at slide number 10 which is titled AMHS 20
45 long-range plan and would be happy to skip back or forward for committee
members interest today and we want to get through this presentation today so we
schedule here. Please welcome Commissioner Anderson. Thank you for being here today.
And Director Tornga and we do have Christopher Goens online. So thank you all if you'd like to
come and oh I'm so sorry.
Thank You for Being here welcome and feel free to put your names on the record and
Okay, thank you, co-chair Carrick and the transportation committee for the record
My name is Ryan Anderson. I'm the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Yeah, so continuing on with our our presentation here
This slide really is ab
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-10
Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill5K words
The Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-10. The committee heard SB 191 (Transfer of Railroad Land to Whittier). Public testimony was taken with 37 testifiers. 2 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
SB 191 — Transfer of Railroad Land to Whittier
Votes
For many, many years, the city has tried to negotiate and get out of the master lease as the, you know, the City is very well and saying that it was a failed experiment.
And I think we all feel like that was a very failed experiments.
Motions
Do you have emotion? Yes, madam chair, I move to adopt the proposed Committee substitute for Senate bill 192 work draft 34 backslash Lima Sierra 086 3 back slash India as our working document.
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (Amy Sytes, the Policy Director for, because our excitement remains, our fluoroculture industry, not going to dive)
3 testifiers (Senator Jesse Bjorkman and, Laura Ashay staff to, our first hearing on)
4 testifiers (Meghan Clemons and, the external Affairs Director, Jackie wild and the, gonna give you)
4 testifiers (Meghan Clemons and, the external Affairs Director, Jackie wild and the, gonna give you)
4 testifiers (Meghan Clemons and, the external Affairs Director, Jackie wild and the, gonna give you)
Key Topics
Senate Bill 200 Senate Bill Madam Chair Seeing None State Alaska City Whittier
Speakers (16)
Senator Dunbar(3)
Senator Merrick(3)
Senator Bjorkman(3)
Senator Jesse(3)
Chair For(3)
Senator Giessel(3)
Senator Gray(2)
Senator Yet(1)
Chair By(1)
Ms. Groh(1)
Director Of(1)
Senator Gray-Jackson(1)
Ms. Wilde(1)
Senator Olson(1)
Chair And(1)
Ms. Seitz(1)
Notable Points
This bill stems from emergency managers from across the state getting together and seeking to create a statewide uniform solution about emergency communication on evacuation. in an emergency and when an evacuation is needed.
Brenda Alberg from the Kena Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management is on the phone to answer your questions about this bill.
It provides a ready set go designation corresponding to the colors of a stoplight, green for ready, yellow for set, This plan requires that it be used in plans developed for emergency planning districts established under AS-26-23-073.
Madam Chair I move Senate Bill 192, work draft 34-Lima Sierra 0863, backslash India from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying zero fiscal note and authorized legislative legal services to make conforming changes.
Transcript: 5,573 words
Good afternoon. I call this meeting of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee to order. Let the record reflect
It is 1.30 p.m. On Tuesday February 10th
2026 present today are senator Dunbar senator gray Jackson senator. Yeah myself senator Merrick
This afternoon our agenda includes Senate bill 192 evacuation designation levels
Senate Bill 191 transfer of railroad land to Whittier and Senate build 200 farm and agricultural land assessments first up
We are holding our second hearing on Senate Bill 192,
Evacuation Designation Levels by Senator Bjorkman.
We last heard this introduction of this bill,
and we took public testimony on May 15th of last year.
Senator, welcome to Community and Regional Affairs.
If you'd like to join us at the table,
place yourself on the record,
and briefly reintroduce your bill.
Thank you very much, Chair, Merrick, Vice Chair Dunbar, and members of the esteemed community and regional affairs committee.
For the record, my name is Senator Jesse Bjorkman and I represent the northern and central portions of The Keeneye Peninsula.
This bill stems from emergency managers from across the state getting together and
seeking to create a statewide uniform solution about emergency communication on evacuation.
in an emergency and when an evacuation is needed.
Brenda Alberg from the Kena Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management
is on the phone to answer your questions about this bill.
It provides a ready set go designation corresponding to the
colors of a stoplight, green for ready, yellow for set,
This plan requires that it be used in plans developed for emergency planning districts established under AS-26-23-073.
The CS, before you add the requirement to use Ready Set Go framework to plans
developed by political subdivisions under the same similar section 26-23060.
That is a brief recap of the bill.
Adam Chair.
Committee members have a proposed committee substitute at the request of the sponsor mr. Vice chair. Do you have emotion?
Ye
▶
2026-02-10
Senate Majority Press Availability
transcript5K words
The Senate Majority Press Availability met on 2026-02-10.
Motions
With their family's here, the families, are electing to move to the lower 48. Better schools, lower cost of living.
Key Topics
Senator Hoffman Senator Tobin Senate Finance Finance Committee Mount Edgecombe
Speakers (23)
Senator Wielechowski(7)
Senator Hoffman(7)
Senator Tobin(7)
Senator Stedman(6)
Senator Giessel(4)
Senator Olson(3)
Commissioner And(3)
Senator Stevens(2)
Senator Cronk(2)
Mr. Richards(2)
Mr. PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(2)
Senator Senn(1)
Senator Claman(1)
Commissioner Yet(1)
Mr. Dremel(1)
Commissioner In(1)
Senator Esteban(1)
Senator Ogrowski(1)
Senator Lachausen(1)
Senator Geisler(1)
Notable Points
Really an unprecedented move.
We have act because, really, in the first year that Governor Dunleavy was in office, we appropriated $1.1 million for pool operations and maintenance, which he vetoed.
We, again, appropriated $250,000 to help with the Aquatic Center, which the Governor vetoed.
In the FY 22 budget, the legislature appropriated 7.8 million for capital repairs at Mount Edgecombe, with which, The Governor, vetoed, in FY 24, the governor vetoed $1 million in need of repairs for the girls and boys dormitories.
And in the most recent budget, the Governor again vetoed 2.7 million for the replacement of dorm windows.
Transcript: 5,918 words
Afternoon, I guess, actually, it is afternoon.
We are in the 22nd day of this legislative session.
And joining us today, Senator Giesel,
Senator Walschowski,
Senator Stedman will be here shortly.
Senator Hoffman,
Senator Tobin,
and myself, Stevens.
And Senator Olson.
99 days to go?
Yeah, 22.
So yeah, that's getting close.
99 Days, yeah.
So, earlier this month, the Sikhists in Sentinel reported on a new number of students unenrolling
at Mount Edgerton School, a lack of educational opportunities there, access to mental health
services, and a drop from morale and school spirit.
Because of this, on last Thursday and Friday, The Senate Finance Committee shut down.
and traveled to Sitka.
It was so quiet around here on Friday.
Did you notice this is wonderful here with their absence,
but now they're back.
And they learned a lot, learned firsthand
what is happening at Mount Edge from high school.
Really an unprecedented move.
So early in the session, but I speaking with the chairs
I know they felt that it was important to have boots on the ground and to hear from students directly
Which they did and have a first-hand access to see what the deterioration of the school buildings actually are
So, Senator Steban, if you walk us through the purpose of the visit, what you saw,
what your experience, and what the students are learning for,
and the path forward is, we'll start with Senator Senn, please,
Senator Haman.
First of all,
if Anchorage, Fairbank, or Juneau had 25% of their students not show up on day one,
what would they do?
I think gives the magnitude of the problem that we were facing, which took action.
So we've got 400 students there, and they've lost 100 students very, very quickly, so that's
a very important issue.
Senator Staben.
Yes, this issue at EDSCOM had kind of been just bubbling up over the last couple of months.
We've been hearing concerns from parents and community members and so on and
so forth. So it got to the point when the numbers were alarmingly large,
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-10
House Finance: Transportation & Public Facilities Subcommittee
transcriptakleg7K words
The House Finance: Transportation & Public Facilities Subcommittee met on 2026-02-10.
Motions
Again this 25 was the first year where we didn't have it. and move to the next slide. That's our final slide for the committee today.
Key Topics
the department's FY27 budget request Through Chair Maintenance Operations Chair Representative Infrastructure Development Yeah Through
Speakers (29)
Chair Hannan(8)
Representative Stutes(8)
Chair Representative(7)
Representative Mina(4)
Representative McCabe(4)
Commissioner And(4)
Director Of(4)
Director Dom(2)
Director Pignon(2)
Commissioner The(2)
Director Position(2)
Representative Moore(2)
Representative Eischeid(1)
Commissioner Ryan(1)
Director What'S(1)
Director Kiehl(1)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Commissioner Does(1)
Director Is(1)
Director Or(1)
Transcript: 7,537 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities Subcommittee to order at 1233 on Tuesday, February 10th.
2026, I'd like to remind everyone to silence their cell phones present today.
Our representatives, Carrick, Representative Eisheid,
Representative Mina, representative McCabe,
Representative G Nelson, representatives St.
Today, the Department of Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson and Program Management Administration Director Dom Pagnone will give us an overview of the department's FY27 budget request.
For those watching remotely,
the PowerPoint presentation can be found under today's meeting documents on basis,
which is the legislature's online headquarters at www.aklg.gov.
Commissioner and Director Pignon, please come forward, introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.
And materials from members should be under meeting tab two.
Okay, apparently you don't all have the tabs.
So are they stacked behind meeting one or are
Okay, commissioner, okay, thank you chair hannon, and thank You committee a sub committee
Yeah, happy to be here today to discuss our our
Budget for the Department of Transportation and public facilities for their record
My name is Ryan Anderson, I'm the commissioner the Alaska Department transportation and Public Facilities
This is a continuation I believe of last week's work
Our understanding for this hearing was that the focus was on the Department of
Reorganization as well as the AMHS budget and so those are the slides that we
have here to present today. Of course we're always happy to discuss you know
what the committee wishes. So with that though we could run through these
slides and start there if that's okay Chair. Yes.
Okay, this first slide really just outlines our department organizational changes and
really the fact that our statutory mandate hasn't changed at the Alaska Department of
Transportation and public facilities.
You know, really our purpose on the transportation side i
▶
2026-02-10
House Finance: Commerce, Community & Economic Dev Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill6K words
The House Finance: Commerce, Community & Economic Dev Subcommittee met on 2026-02-10. The committee heard SB 257 (Portable Solar Energy Generation Devices).
Bills Heard
SB 257 — Portable Solar Energy Generation Devices
Key Topics
ADA's budget Through Chair Madam Chair Chair Representative Oil Gas Million Dollars
Speakers (30)
Representative Costello(5)
Representative Bynum(5)
Chair To(5)
Co-Chair Holland(4)
Mr. Raro(4)
Representative Mears(4)
Director For(2)
Chair And(2)
Co-Chair Mirrors(2)
Representative Galvin(2)
Representative Kai(1)
Representative Donna(1)
Representative Delaina(1)
Director Randy(1)
Director Rarrow(1)
Representative Johnson(1)
Mr. Frier(1)
Director I'M(1)
Director Lager(1)
Director Rauraro(1)
Notable Points
To the chair, I believe the bill, the reconciliation bill had an effective date of 2034.
Transcript: 6,969 words
I'd like to call the second meeting of the House Finance DCCED to order.
It is now 1201 Tuesday, February 10th in Grinberg room 120.
And members' presence are Representative Kai Holland, Representative Donna Meers,
Representative Delaina Johnson.
And I do want to remind everyone that this particular meeting does not need
So, with that in mind, I'll also ask you to please silence your cell phones for the meeting.
Thank you for being here, and I want to thank Renzo Moises from the Juneau LIO for moderating
the committee today.
Thank You.
Thank to the subcommittee A, David Zhang.
and our budget and these documents along with today's presentation can be found on basis.
Today we have Director Randy Raurow of ADA, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority
online with us today to give an update on ADA's budget. And I do see that you're here.
Thank you so much Director Rarrow for being here, will you please put yourself on the record and
Yes, Madam Chair, this is Randy Ruaro, R-U-A-R-O.
I am the Executive Director for ADA, and if it pleases the chair and the members, I'll
go ahead and start on the presentation.
Yes.
Please proceed.
Okay.
I'm going to start and I will move quickly through quite a few of these slides, Chair.
answer any questions or spend a little more detail on it. But going in the presentation to page 3,
the policy behind ADA that's really embedded in The Alaska Constitution, Article 8,
Section 1, which talks about the quality of the state of Alaska being to develop its resources
and making them available for maximum use.
That policy is consistent with the Alaska State Head Act, section 6I,
in which Congress expressly gave ADA, not only, or Alaska,
I'm sorry, gave Alaska not
only title to 104 million acres of land in Alaska but also the subsurface
mineral deposits. And the idea was, of course, to give Alaska the ability to
support itself and its residents.
by developing its resources and generating revenue.
Thank you Director.
Thank You Director
▶
2026-02-10
House Finance: Fish & Game Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill8K words
The House Finance: Fish & Game Subcommittee met on 2026-02-10. The committee heard SB 189 (Paid Sick Leave Exemption).
Bills Heard
SB 189 — Paid Sick Leave Exemption
Key Topics
And then, number 19 the overages Commercial Fisheries Through Chair Fishing Game Moving Forward Chair Representative
Speakers (22)
Ms. Johnson(8)
Chair Representative(6)
Representative Stutes(5)
Commissioner Vincent(4)
Representative Himschoot(4)
Commissioner And(4)
Representative McCabe(3)
Chair Jimmie(2)
Representative Elam(2)
Representative Stoops(2)
Commissioner Calling(1)
Director In(1)
Director On(1)
Commissioner Yeah(1)
Mr. Robinson-Lank(1)
Representative Vance(1)
Commissioner Doug(1)
Chair Representatives(1)
Commissioner Can(1)
Representative Feeling(1)
Notable Points
This item was vetoed by the governor because the division had sufficient authority to move forward with the project, and they did with The Alaska Salmon Alliance. vessel, vehicle, and aircraft maintenance.
This would be an emergency predicted escapement goals, 9,000 to 18,00, and we're down to 3,400 fish is the forecast for King salmon.
The legislature denied funding, for this budget, request and omitted this funding in the fiscal note.
Transcript: 8,799 words
Good morning I call this meeting to the House of Finance Department of Fish and
Game Club Committee to order. Let the record reflect that it is 10.01 a.m. on a
Tuesday February 10, 2026. Room 120. Today present we have
representative Stootz representing the fans and myself Chair Jimmy and we'd
like to also welcome speaker Edgeman. Also today we
Renzo Moises from the Legislative Information Office.
Please remember to send to your cell phone subcommittee
minors have been provided to all committee members
and documents have posted to BISES.
Are there any questions about these?
Seeing none, today the Department of Fish and Game
will present their FY27 budget request
and FY26 mid-year status report.
that Vincent Lang Commissioner calling in.
We have Bonnie Jensen, Administrative Service Director
in person.
Commissioner Vincent Dunglang and Ms. Jensen
please join us at on record and begin your presentation.
Ms Jensen before again we'd like to also acknowledge
that we have representative McCabe in attendance at 10 on 2.
For the record, my name is Bonnie Jensen, and I'm the administrative services director on the line should be dug in sit-length commissioner
Yeah, so Madam chair, you stuck into my in-person from the last component
We should need to sorry. I couldn't be there in person on attendance energy media
For me to send ourselves used the lasting fisheries going forward
I mean basically introduce myself and on your incident because I am not moving I turn over most of the presentation
to them to go through the budget changes for this year
as well as the mid-year audit.
But I'll be available for questions
after you do the presentation for me if you want.
So with that, I will turn it over to Bonnie
Jim to the administrative services director.
Thank you.
Yes, thank you, and before we continue,
Ms. Jensen, as we go to those slides,
please skip slide five and slide seven.
Thank You.
And I hold off on questions until the very end,
so we may use the hour wisely.
Thankyou.
All
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2026-02-10
House Finance: Corrections Subcommittee
transcriptakleg2K words
The House Finance: Corrections Subcommittee met on 2026-02-10.
Key Topics
the FY26 budget Deputy Commissioner Through Chair
Speakers (18)
Director Of(3)
Director For(3)
Representative Prax(3)
Chair To(2)
Representative Hannan(1)
Commissioner Jimmie(1)
Commissioner April(1)
Director Kevin(1)
Commissioner Is(1)
Chair Co(1)
Commissioner Wilkerson(1)
Director Worley(1)
Director Woodley(1)
Chair Through(1)
Chair Looking(1)
Representative St(1)
Chair You(1)
Director Or(1)
Notable Points
fiscal notes over the the last 10 years.
Transcript: 2,032 words
I'm going to call this meeting of the House Finance Committee of
the Corrections Subcommittee to Order at 902 on Tuesday, February 10th,
2026. I am going remind everybody to mute their cell phones.
I'll start with mine. Present today, our representatives,
Hymn Shoot, Meers, Hall, Holland,
And as we call them, Gene Nelson and myself, Representative Hannon, welcome everyone.
The purpose of the sub committee is to review and discuss the agency budget transactions
with the goal of forwarding recommendations to the full finance committee.
Before we begin, I'd like to introduce Hunter Meacham, who is my sub-committee aide in
your point of contact with my office if you have questions, concerns, follow up.
Kayla Tupoe, who is our LIO moderator today.
We will hear opening remarks from Commissioner Jen Winkleman, and
from Deputy Commissioner April Wilkerson, an Administrative Services Director Kevin
Warley, with a mid-year update on the FY26 budget.
With that, you will find these meeting materials in your binders towards the back under meeting
one.
Please come forward and their presentation is in you binder.
I will also note that they have a plethora of lifelines in the room if we go straight off topic or have follow-up.
Jeff Edwards, who's the Executive Director of the Board of Parole.
Zane Nightswinger, Who is the Director for Institutions.
Travis Welch, Whose the director of Health and Rehabilitation Services.
Dusty DeMott,
White Cough, Deputy Commissioner is online.
The others are in the room.
For those watching remotely, the PowerPoint presentation
can also be found under today's meeting documents on basis.
The content of the binder, including the FY26 subcommittee
book, can be on the legislative finance division's website.
So please introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.
Hey, good morning chair co chairs and members of the committee for the record. My name is Jen Winkleman
I'm the commissioner for The Department of Corrections. I want to thank you for
the inv
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2026-02-10
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg9K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-10.
Motions
So, we're going to move to the financial, an update on our finances. To update our financial position, we are going start with our assets today.
Key Topics
Mental Health Health Trust Trust Land Board Trustees Real Estate
Speakers (18)
Mr. Chairman(10)
Senator Stedman(9)
Senator Kiehl(5)
Chair Foster(4)
Senator Cronk(3)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Chair Of(2)
Director Warner(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Hoffman(1)
Chair The(1)
Director Up(1)
Chair I'D(1)
Chair Katie(1)
Senator Senator(1)
Chair Nothing(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Notable Points
I think that's what Senator Steadman is getting to in in your view or in the viewpoint of the board when they made those requests or those quick requests justified or Or was the justification that the governor utilized in vetoing them more justified than the department's request to expend those dollars on behalf of the clients that are in need of mental health services in the state of Alaska? I believe that's the question.
He ultimately has the right to use his red pen to veto anything we propose.
It doesn t require an individual to be transported to an emergency room department. are connected to other resources.
Transcript: 9,734 words
We call the Senate Finance Committee to order today's February the 10th please silence your cell phones
in attendance today we have
Senator Stidman, Senator Olson, senator Keel,
Senator Merrick,
Senator Kauffman
Senator Cronk and myself,
Senator Hoffman
Today we had one item on the agenda that's to hear an update from the mental health trust
Board Chairman, Brent Fisher, CEO, Mary Wilson,
COO, Katie Baldwin.
Please come forward, introduce yourselves,
and proceed with your presentation.
Hi, everybody.
I'm Mary Willson.
CEO of the Alaska Mental Health Trust.
Some of you may remember, last year was my first year,
and I've been here in the job about three weeks,
so I'm a little more of a widely veteran this year.
So let me introduce my team.
This is Brent Fisher,
who's the chair of our Board of Trustees,
and Katie Baldwin, who is our COO for the trust.
In today's presentation,
we plan to cover a bit of information about the Trust,
a financial update.
the trust FY27 budget, trust authority grants and programs,
the Trust Land Office and what's ahead,
including a bit about the Rural Health Transformation
Program from our perspective.
Before I turn it over to the chairman,
I want to note that we also have the trustee CFO,
Julie Farley, and the Truss Land office ED,
Justin Warner, who are on the line for questions
during the presentation if needed.
Allison, by a stock, our Chief Communications Officer
is also joining us today.
You also have a handout with detail in the Trust's MTAR grants.
We'll pick up on that on slide 15, so we're not quite ready for that as we start.
Thank you, Chairman.
Okay.
Thank You, Mary.
This slide here shows the current makeup of the Board of Trustees.
Many of my fellow Trustee's are in that, or a few of them are
in The Room.
Kevin Feynman is here.
those who are not present, or John Morris, Cory Feihy, Agnes Moran, and Josie Hickel.
The Board of Trustees, it's an independent board,
and we provide governance, fiduciary oversight,
and strategic direc
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2026-02-10
House Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill4K words
The House Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-10. The committee heard HB 255 (Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle). Public testimony was taken with 16 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 255 — Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle
Votes
I just want to acknowledge the the feedback that we've gotten and some of the questions from last time I appreciate the sponsor getting back with some other information Thank you, and I almost failed to note representative Prox joined us at 804 Any further questions? From the committee? All right, Thank You very much.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (the bill, Representative Will Staff, my staff, Vivien Stiver)
3 testifiers (Representative Will Staff, my staff, Vivien Stiver)
3 testifiers (Representative Will Staff, my staff, Vivien Stiver)
1 testifier (Vivien Stiver)
1 testifier (Vivien Stiver)
Key Topics
City Whittier House Bill Through Chair Chair Mears
Speakers (29)
Representative Prax(7)
Chair Mears(6)
Representative Holland(5)
Representative Stapp(4)
Representative Hall(3)
Co-Chair Himschoot(2)
Chair And(2)
Director Of(2)
Ms. Claman(2)
Chair I'M(2)
Representative Kai(1)
Representative Carolyn(1)
Representative Stevens(1)
Representative Garrett(1)
Co-Chair Rebecca(1)
Chair Donna(1)
Chair Lives(1)
Representative Pimpchute(1)
Ms. Stibek(1)
Ms. Divek(1)
Notable Points
Those the head of debate will eventually be conveyed as a further deal, and both parties have expressed this intention as well.
And section two establishes an immediate effective date.
Transcript: 4,684 words
Good morning. I call the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee meeting to order.
Today is Tuesday, February 10th at 8.02 a.m.
Members present are Representative Kai Holland,
Representative Carolyn Hall, Representative Steve St. Clair,
Representative Garrett Nelson, Co-Chair Rebecca Hymshoot, and myself Co Chair Donna Meers.
We have a quorum to conduct business. Just an early morning reminder to silence your cell phones.
If you need to pass a note to committee members, please get the attention of my aid, Talia Ames.
Thank you, Talia, and thanks to co-chair Hymshoot's committee aid.
That's your brouwer.
Before we get started, I'd also like to thank our recording secretary, Sophia Denny,
and helping us from the Juneau LIO is Kyla Tupo.
So this morning we've got two bills on our agenda.
First, we'll take public testimony on House Bill 255,
Senior Citizen Grant's dividend raffle,
sponsored by Representative Stop.
This is the bill's second hearing.
And next we will hold the Bill introduction
and invited testimony for House bill 216,
transfer of railroad land to Whittier,
sponsored from Representative Holland,
and this is Bill's first hearing
I'd also like to remind the committee that we have an abbreviated hearing this morning to allow time for setting up the DOC Finance Subcommittee.
So we'll have a hard stop at 8.55.
So first, we will take up House Bill 255 for public testimony.
We've received additional documents for the bill.
So before we take public testimonies, representative staff, and staff you want to please come to the table.
Put yourselves on the record and provide a recap, and then we'll allow a little time for Q&A related to the new documents.
Thank you, Chair Mears.
For the records, my name is Representative Will Staff, House District 32, Fort Wayne Wright, Badger and East Fairbanks.
This is my staff, Liz Rexford, this.
Good morning, the chair lives with Rexfern.
And I will go ahead and recap the bill with the permission of the chair and to the thro
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2026-02-10
House Tribal Affairs Special Committee
transcriptakleg16K words
The House Tribal Affairs Special Committee met on 2026-02-10.
Motions
As we're starting a food week here in the legislature, we will move to our next presentation with Michael Jones, with ISER. And as you mentioned, thank you, so, much and we'll take a brief of these.
I'll move to the next slide. So when we think about the infrastructure challenge that are faced, there's some active frankly for years.
Key Topics
Next Slide Working Group Through Chair Food Security
Speakers (30)
Chair Dibert(12)
Dr. Jones(10)
Mr. Galbraith(9)
Vice Chair And(4)
Director For(4)
Director Is(3)
Representative Schwanke(2)
Representative Merrick(2)
Director Of(2)
Dr. Mike(2)
Representative Ruffridge(2)
Representative Reference(2)
Director Robbie(1)
Director Rachel(1)
Chair In(1)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Story(1)
Chair To(1)
Mr. Colbreath(1)
Representative Kirk(1)
Notable Points
And through the chair, I guess for me, the data here is, is not surprising in the least.
And we could see the road in, again, to representative reference point, this should not be that surprising that it takes that much longer to get there.
When they have a Mayday or their ELT goes off, and I'm forgetting the name of it, the acronym, emergency location, transponder, perhaps.
Transcript: 16,417 words
Good morning. Welcome everyone to the Capitol. I'm very excited. This is the hearing of the House Tribal Affairs Committee
We will now come to order the time is 8.03 a.m.
Tuesday February 10th
2026 in Capitol room 106
Members present for House tribal affairs are representative schwonke
Good Morning representative kerick and myself chair diver
Let the record reflect
that we are ready to conduct business.
A quick reminder to please silence your cell phones.
I would like to thank Jordan Nicholson
of the Tribal Affairs Secretary from Rutgers
and Doug Bridges from the Juneau LIO
for staffing the committee today.
So this morning we have two items on the agenda.
First we'll be hearing a presentation.
from the Alaska Food Policy Council.
It is Food Week here in the Capitol.
So I'm very excited for this presentation.
We have Executive Director Robbie Mixin and
Advocacy and Policy Director Rachel Lord.
They'll be joining us in person and
governing board vice chair and chair
in indigenous foods working group T'Con Galbraith.
We'll join us virtually.
After the Food Policy Council, the committee
will be hearing a presentation on aviation supply
to Rolaska from Michael Jones, Research Assistant Professor
of Economics at UAA ISER, who will also
be joining us virtually.
So we'll have about an hour for each presentation.
OK.
I would also like the record to reflect that we have been joined by Representative Underwood.
Good morning at 805 and Rep. Story at eight o' five.
Good Morning, good morning.
Okay, Miss Nixon and Miss Lord and Mr. Galbraith, if you can hear me, welcome to Tribal Affairs.
Please join us at the table.
Put yourself on the record and proceed with your beautiful presentation.
I'm looking at Devil's Club.
It looks so good and please begin.
Welcome.
Thank you so much Chair Diber and members of the committee.
My name is Rachel Lord.
I am the Advocacy and Policy Director for
the Alaska Food Policy Council and I live in Homer.
For the record, I'm Robbie Mixon, the Executi
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2026-02-09
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill5K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-02-09. The committee heard SB 180 (LNG Import Facilities).
Bills Heard
SB 180 — LNG Import Facilities
Key Topics
the jurisdictional sideboards imposed on us by the legislation the citing operation the limits and extent of our jurisdiction Import Facility Through Chair Senator Myers Chair Senator Regulatory Commission
Speakers (25)
Senator Myers(13)
Vice Chair Wielechowski(10)
Commissioner De(6)
Senator Claman(5)
Mr. Devries(4)
Senator Dunbar(3)
Chair Giessel(3)
Mr. Espandola(2)
Mr. Debris(2)
Commissioner To(2)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Senator Kawasaki(1)
Commissioner On(1)
Senator Mice(1)
Mr. Jerry(1)
Senator Klein(1)
Senator Cleaner(1)
Chair Of(1)
Commissioner Pickett(1)
Ms. Vogler(1)
Notable Points
And so, for that reason, I believe as the Chair, Chair Giesle commented and as our fiscal note points out, that the elimination of this provision would help eliminate uncertainty of our jurisdiction over those types of costs that would ordinarily be included in consumer rates, understanding for jurisdictional decisions or decisional case law, and our understanding of it as we We are not, as
And if you were to review the fiscal note that was submitted on this bill, I'm looking at the analysis provision on the second page with our fiscal The repeal of AS-4057-11-V would eliminate any uncertainty regarding the RCH jurisdiction over the review of gas supply agreements or terminal use agreements for public utilities using the serv
Transcript: 5,171 words
The sources committee to order today is Monday, February 9th, 2026, and the time is 3.30 p.m.
Please turn off your cell phones.
Committee members present today, Senator Rousher, senator Dunbar,
Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Myers,
and myself, Chair Geesele.
I am anticipating Senator Klayman and Vice Chair Wilakowski to join us shortly.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
We've one item on today's agenda.
And welcome, Senator Klayman.
We have one item on today's agenda, and that's Senate Bill 180.
So Senate bill 180 is intended to clarify
the regulatory commission of Alaska's authority to
regulate the price of natural gas coming in from an LNG import facility.
Welcome, senator Wilkowski.
We count on the RCA, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, to speak for the consumers,
to regulate the price of products coming in through an LNG facility,
the prices that utilities are charging for power, all kinds of role for
the regulatory commission of Alaskan.
We have several projects that are moving very quickly.
It's important that we address the question in Senate Bill 180.
So as an example, we have an oil pipeline that is being proposed,
coming from the North Slope down to South Central.
The company Glenn Farn is proposing to do this project.
And they made a FERC filing, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
on February 5th, that was Thursday of last week, and in that filing, they proposed a timeline,
and members have at their desk an expanded part of page 70 of that FERC filing.
So if you go to page 70, you will see a blur of colors and lines and all this kind of stuff.
But if expand it over the columns 340 to 400,
you'll see this information.
And it identifies an FID decision.
reached by February 1 of 2026, they sort of missed it.
This was actually filed with a FERC on the 5th of February.
Authorization to construct April 1, 20 26, early works, operations,
commence April 15,2026 and so on.
This will be posted on basis.
The full report, the full FERSC filing is there, but you
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2026-02-09
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript1 bill11K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-09. The committee heard HB 293 (Genetic Couns: Licensing; Advisory Cncl.). Public testimony was taken with 8 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 293 — Genetic Couns: Licensing; Advisory Cncl.
Votes
House and Senate to discuss this and it did not pass.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (the newest of the, deeply grateful it worked)
4 testifiers (so Connor, currently sort
of licensed, sorry one more time, something that routinely comes)
2 testifiers (happy to go back, gonna turn to my)
Key Topics
Genetic Counselors Genetic Counseling Through Chair Genetic Counselor Representative Sadler
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(19)
Ms. O'Connor(13)
Chair To(11)
Representative Nelson(7)
Co-Chair Fields(6)
Representative Coulombe(5)
Ms. Johnson(4)
Representative Carrick(3)
Ms. Rob(3)
Chair Or(2)
Co-Chair Through(2)
Representative Seller(2)
Representative Frier(1)
Co-Chair Hall(1)
Chair Myers(1)
Representative Sound(1)
Mr. Einstein(1)
Representative Klom(1)
Representative Klum(1)
Representative Karak(1)
Notable Points
fiscal note for a whole council of members that essentially make up the entirety of certified board members in the state? Thanks Representative Nelson through the chair.
retroactively amended if they do test positive.
Transcript: 11,020 words
This meeting of the House Labor and Commerce Committee will come to order.
The time is 3.16 p.m. on Monday, February 9th.
Members present are Representative Carrick, Representative Colomb,
Representative Freer, representative Nelson, co-chair, Fields, myself, Co-Chair Hall.
We have a quorum.
Please silence cell phones.
We are asking that staff and members of
the audience not approach the table if you need to pass a note to committee members.
Please get the attention of my committee, Joan Wilkerson, and she will take care of it.
I'd like to thank Andrew Magnusson, the Labor and Commerce Committee Secretary, and
Kyla Tupo from the Juneau LAO for Tech and Teleconferencing support.
We have one bill on the agenda today, that bill is HB 293,
licensing and genetic counselors by co-chair fields and staff.
Please take a seat in the front of the room, introduce yourself for
the record and begin your presentation.
Hi, I just want to verify everyone can hear me to whomever is speaking online.
Yes, we can here you and we will be getting to you in just a couple of minutes.
All right, thank you.
Hello, exact field.
South sister 17. Thank you for the opportunity to present house bill 293.
This is the same topic that you all heard about.
a couple of genetic counselors.
The purpose of this bill is pretty simple.
Genetic counselor licensing would establish
a more sustainable financial model, a model for billing
so that genetic counselor's can work as part
of a healthcare team as you all have heard
in the previous hearing right now.
Genetic counselors work for South Central Foundation
slash anti-HC and for Providence.
The lack of licensure means that only the largest healthcare employers can afford to pay for
genetic counselors out of their overhead.
I'm also concerned that healthcare providers will facing financial pressures might consider
reducing the staff of genetic counselor.
I think we heard pretty convincingly that genetic counselers can improve both the quality and
the efficien
No documents linked.
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2026-02-09
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill16K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-09. The committee heard HB 289 (Approp: Supplemental). Public testimony was taken with 2 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 289 — Approp: Supplemental
Motions
It really came down to the small number of F QHC's who have not moved to The APM rate. There are about four now that are still in the PPS rate, so the goal of this P... the goal of these recommendations were really to establish a pathway for those who are still in the PPS to do what we're calling a one-time catch-up change in scope to look at current costs of those rates and establis
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (an area that, hearing from people)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
personal care services Behavioral Health Through Chair Chair Representative
Speakers (30)
Mr. Jones(17)
Chair To(13)
Chair Josephson(10)
Representative Galvin(9)
Representative Hannan(8)
Representative Stapp(7)
Representative Bynum(7)
Chair Representative(6)
Representative Biden(6)
Commissioner Of(4)
Commissioner Ritchie(3)
Ms. Richie(3)
Representative Tom(2)
Representative Thomas(2)
Commissioner Through(2)
Chair Joseph(2)
Ms. Payne(2)
Representative Moore(1)
Representative Jimmie(1)
Director And(1)
Notable Points
The right methodology study We have been closely watching that Particularly as debate has played out over the last I don't know 13 months now about Medicaid funding at the national level and the implications of that for Alaska I can tell you in conversations.
emergency transportation.
And we're also looking at non-emergency medical transportation, so that's everything from taxis to ride shares to public transit to get people to their medical appointments.
And then on the partnerships, really just noting a recommendation for a statewide brokerage, which could have really substantial positive effects for non-emergency medical transportation.
You know, one area that we're really focusing on and relating, especially with behavioral health, is because we hear about challenges and access to care, particularly individuals who may show up at the emergency room and need immediate care.
Transcript: 16,523 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order.
Let the record reflect that it's 1.35 p.m. on Monday, February 9th, 2026.
Present today are Representative Staff.
Representative Moore.
Representative Bynum.
Representative Hannon.
Representative Tom Schifsky.
Representative Galvin.
Representative Jimmy.
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff, Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Tallulah-Lestufka, Secretary Brie Wiley, and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator Emily Mesh from the Legislative Information Office.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear a presentation on the Medicaid Rate Review Study by the Department
of Health and Guide House.
So this issue is familiar more with folks who sit on the health committee.
And they'll explain, I think, how this report was commissioned or
review study was commissioned, just to help you recall that our Medicaid expenditure exceeds,
I thinks, $600 million, and it's growing.
And they are required, I think, by rule to review the rates from time to time.
They'll probably use a word called rebalancing rather than rebasing, and you can ask them about that.
So as I said with this from the department today is Emily Ritchie, Deputy Commissioner.
And with us today from Guide House is Coy Jones, Project Director and
Claire Payne, Behavioral Health Lead.
Put your names on the record and begin your presentation
Or however you wish to do it
Good afternoon for the Record my name is Emily Ritchie Deputy Commissioner with the Department of Health
Then I will provide a brief introduction and then pass a presentation over to guide house to complete this
So, for the committee's awareness, as the Committee knows, Alaska's Medicaid program is a joint state federal program that provides health insurance to low-income Alaskans.
As of December 2025, provided health insurances to over 210,000 Alascans, or one in four Alasking.
Medicaid provides critical services and es
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2026-02-09
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills13K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-09. Bills discussed included HB 78 (Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.), HB 78 (Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.). Public testimony was taken with 3 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 78 — Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.
HB 78 — Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (David Kirschner, on audio only so, going to focus today)
Key Topics
Through Chair Defined Benefit Defined Contribution Chair Senator House Bill
Speakers (24)
Mr. Chairman(36)
Senator Stedman(22)
Senator Kaufman(14)
Chair Senator(7)
Senator Kiehl(6)
Chair Hoffman(5)
Mr. Kirschner(5)
Senator Stevens(3)
Chair To(3)
Representative Cop(2)
Senator Olson(2)
Chair Center(2)
Senator Salads(1)
Mr. Stapp(1)
Senator St(1)
Senator Sediments(1)
Senator Keoh(1)
Senator Stem(1)
Chair The(1)
Senator Coffin(1)
Notable Points
Under a layered amortization methodology, each year's unexpected change in the unfunded liability, either positive or negative, is then amertized over a separate 25-year period, and then this total amorability changes the sound of all the individual amoration there.
When there's an emergency, we've introduced the immigration period for the remaining unfunded liability from 2014, it's not changed.
The figures that you're going to see in my presentation are the same as what I presented to the House Finance Committee in April of last and they are based on a detailed HB78 fiscal note analysis that we completed in March 2025.
And each two reasons are why our fiscal note analysis protects increases in state contributions, and we'll see that when we get to the example in a few slides. before we move on to slide seven we have a question on slide six from Senator Stedman.
Those details are shown in our in our March 29th fiscal note letter, but I can tell you we'll just scroll through it quickly.
Transcript: 13,622 words
We will call the Senate Finance Committee to order.
It is 1.30, the senate finance room in the capital city, present senator Stedman, senator
Salads your cell phones, we have a quorum to conduct business.
We have one item on today's agenda, which is HB 78,
retirement systems, defining benefits.
We probably won't get through the bill completely,
since we only have half an hour today,
we're going to be adjourning a little bit after two o'clock,
because of schedule conflicts.
With that, the first item, as I said, was HB 78 Retirement Systems Defining Benefit Options.
This is the 1st hearing on this bill.
As I invite the prime sponsor, representative cop to the table to, and bring anyone with
him that he needs support from, introduce the bill and tell us what it does to.
People that are working for the state of Alaska
Thank You chair Hoffman members of the committee. It's a privilege to be here today and
Present to you this policy proposal
Mr. Chairman I first want to ground the discussion
Before we jump into the slides and address a critical distinction. I think that matters
There are two very different cost conversations that often get conflated when we talk about pensions.
The first is Alaska's legacy pension liability, and that liability comes from retirement tiers that we closed nearly 20 years ago.
It's already locked into statute, it's amortized on a closed schedule and projected to be paid off around 2039.
And that obligation exists whether House Bill 78 passes or not.
House Bill 78 does not add $1 to that legacy debt.
The second conversation and the one before us today is the cost of future service.
How Alaska compensates and retains the workforce that we depend on going forward.
The state's actuary Gallagher testified in House Finance Committee last April evaluating House Bill 78 using the same conservative assumptions,
statutory, contribution caps and funding rules that we already have in the law.
And under that analysis, the normal cost of the plan, defined
▶
2026-02-09
Senate Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills6K words
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-09. Bills discussed included HB 101 (Crimes Against Minors; Age Consent to 18), SB 325 (Crimes Against Minors). Public testimony was taken with 9 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 101 — Crimes Against Minors; Age Consent to 18
SB 325 — Crimes Against Minors
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (Andrew Gray, not controlling it in)
3 testifiers (Andrew Gray, not controlling it in, why the bill is)
1 testifier (Randy Brieger)
3 testifiers (Kay Lee Wilson and, the executive director of, testifying in support of)
Key Topics
Year Old Age Consent Sex Trafficking Sexual Assault House Bill
Speakers (20)
Senator Claman(11)
Representative Gray(11)
Senator Tobin(3)
Director Of(3)
Mr. Hitchcock(2)
Ms. Olson(2)
Senator To(2)
Senator Tilton(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Chair And(1)
Ms. Bragger(1)
Ms. Brager(1)
Director Standing(1)
Representative Jubilee(1)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Senator Giesel'S(1)
Senator Giese'S(1)
Senator Giesell'S(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Commissioner Ruffridge(1)
Notable Points
There are a number of fiscal notes on this bill.
So we're gonna actually not discuss fiscal notes.
Today we will take that up at a future hearing and I'll make sure that we get you on the Committee the full collection of fiscal notes for us to review.
The reason I have particular interest in the fiscal notes is we've seen a significant reduction of the physical notes from when the bill was first introduced and I think that although we are not the Finance Committee, I don't think we should take a careful look.
And if I can make one final comment, I know we're going to talk about fiscal notes at a later date.
Transcript: 6,558 words
Let's call this meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee to order.
It is 1.30 p.m. on Monday, February 9th, 2026.
Before we begin, I want to thank
Julie and I sing that Senate judiciary secretary who makes sure we have a transcript of our meetings
and Susan Quigley from the June LIO who make sure
we sound. At this time,
I wanted to remind committee members in all those in the room to please silence your cell phones.
Present today.
We have Senator Tilton, Senator Tobin, and myself Senator Clayman.
We've a quorum to conduct business and we also have senator Stevens.
We still have a Quorum To Conduct business.
The first and only item on our agenda today is House Bill 101 Crimes Against Miners,
Age of Consent, sponsored by Representative Gray.
This is the first hearing of the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee here to present the
bill as Representative Gray and his staff, Dylan Hitchcock Lopez, available for questions
as well as Angie Kim from the Department of Law, the Deputy Attorney General, Brenda
Stanfield from The Alaskan Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
And we have two folks who will be providing invited testimony aswell.
Mr. Hitchcock Lopez, if you don't need to come forward because you're already there
Please put yourselves on the record. You may begin your presentations
I will notice generally our practice that if people have questions in the midst of your presentation
They can ask I'm also going to ask that we hold most of our questions till after the invited testimony
Please proceed. Thank you so much chair Klayman and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee
My name is Andrew Gray. I represent the Umed district in Anchorage
Alaska has the highest rate of rape in the country,
which is over three times the national average.
We also have one of the
highest rates of child sexual assault in
the county nearly six times
the National average according to
the UAA Justice Center's Alaska Victimization Survey.
Advocates from Alaska's domestic vio
▶
2026-02-09
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript1 bill2K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-09. The committee heard SB 81 (Public Employer Pension Contributions). Public testimony was taken with 9 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 81 — Public Employer Pension Contributions
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Margot Youngberg, staff to Senator Stedman, saying is if these)
3 testifiers (Margot Youngberg, staff to Senator Stedman, saying is if these)
1 testifier (Chris Nolan)
2 testifiers (not sure that this, the process and we)
Key Topics
Senate Bill Employer Contribution
Speakers (15)
Senator Dunbar(4)
Mr. Wayne(3)
Senator And(2)
Senator Stedman(2)
Senator Yundt(1)
Senator Bjorkman(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Ms. Margot(1)
Mr. Dan(1)
Ms. Youngberg(1)
Mr. Carrick(1)
Mr. Knowle(1)
Mr. Knowles(1)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Notable Points
Wayne does exactly what it purports to do as we look at the sectional and the fiscal notes and I'll just read the fiscal note into the record here for clarity.
Chairman, despite my personal preferences, I moved to report Senate Bill 81 version 34-LS0110 backslash alpha as amended from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note, and further move to the committee grant legislative legal the authority to make technical and conforming changes to bill when drafting the final version of the bill.
Senate Bill 81 version 34 dash LS 0110 backslash a as in any act as amended moves from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note I further move that well legislative legal be granted the authority to make technical and conforming changes please stick around to sign the committee paperwork.
Transcript: 2,641 words
Good afternoon. I would like to call this meeting of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order. The time is 1.34 p.m.
We are in belts.
Room 105 of The Thomas Stewart Building in the nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska.
I think the Sun is almost poking through the clouds, maybe.
Today is Monday, February 9th. It's my son Blake Bjorkman's 11th birthday today. So happy birthday Blake.
Members present today are Senator Dunbar, Senator Yunt, and myself,
Senator Bjorkman. Senator Merrick is in Senate Finance right now,
and Senator Ray Jackson is excused for today. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business. Welcome everyone to Senate Labor and Commerce. I'd like everyone
to please turn off or silence your cell phones and join me in extending a warm
Senate labor and commerce welcome to our recording secretary Kerry Tupoe and our LAO
We have one item on our agenda today.
It is Senate Bill 81, public employer pension contributions.
Senate bill 121 has been removed from our
agenda at the request of the sponsor.
The last time we heard Senate, bill 81.
We adopted a conceptual amendment number one, which deleted section one of
the bill.
We then heard some public testimony and held the
bill over.
in order to get some answers from ledge legal, as well as others who may have those answers.
Today, it is my intention to bring Senate Bill 81 back before the committee for some
answers to committee questions. We will then take additional public testimony, if there is,
have some committee discussion and look to the will of the Committee.
We have here with us to provide a brief recap of The Bill, Ms. Margot Youngberg from Senator
And we have to answer some of Senator Dunbar's questions.
Mr. Dan Wayne from Legislative Legal Services.
Ms. Youngberg, if you could join us at the table.
Please state your name and provide a, just the briefest recap of the bill if he would, please.
Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Margot Youngberg, and I am st
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-09
House Resources Committee
transcriptakleg11K words
The House Resources Committee met on 2026-02-09. Public testimony was taken.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
homemade foods Through Chair Land Grant
Speakers (27)
Representative Prax(9)
Director Of(4)
Representative Fields(3)
Representative Elam(3)
Co-Chair Representative(3)
Representative Saddler(2)
Director And(2)
Chair PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(2)
Director Is(2)
Representative Mears(2)
Representative Mirrors(2)
Representative Klum(1)
Representative Hall(1)
Representative Myers(1)
Ms. Anderson(1)
Co-Chair Through(1)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Chair You(1)
Chair Except(1)
Dr. Santosh(1)
Notable Points
They they have as an example carrots all Year long they're eating last year's carrots in the fall of this year while they were waiting for the new ones And it's there's some really remarkable things that are being done And I'm not sure that we're taking advantage of that as much as we could We have another question from Thank you through the chair, so I am searching through my brain trying to remember some of the recommendations we had from the food strategy task force, but something th
And they were able to really debate with their national colleagues.
Transcript: 11,611 words
Good afternoon, this meeting of the House Resources Committee will now come to order.
It is now 104 PM Monday, February 9th, 2026 in Capitol Room 124.
Members present are Representative Fields, Representative Klum,
Representative Hall,
Representative Meers,
Representative Prox.
Representative Elam, Representative Sadler, Co-Chair Representative Freer, and myself,
Co Chair Representative Diber. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take time to silence your cell phones for the duration of the meeting.
Thank you very much. I would also like to thank Cheryl Cole from Records,
Today in house resources, we are hearing a presentation entitled strengthening the Alaska
food system from Jodi Anderson and Jen Wageman of the UAF Institute of Agricultural, Agriculture,
Natural Resources and Extension, so we just have one presentation with roughly 15 slides,
Jody Anderson lives in Palmer and is the director of the UAF Institute of
Agriculture and Jen Wagman. Is the new director
of UIF Cooperative Extension Service?
Can I ask the two of you to join us at the table
and begin your presentation.
Looks like our slide show is up. Just state your name for the record.
Thank you very much for the record. My name is Jody Anderson. I am the director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Institute of Agriculture Natural Resources and Extension.
I live in Palmer. We appreciate your
time today and thank you so much for having us. This opportunity is a great privilege for
us to be able to share with you what we work on and how we do what
predominantly federally funded and so we do want to make sure that we give this notice of
non-discrimination as our federal funders request and we like staying compliant as much as possible so
there we go. If you have any questions please let us know. I wanted to start our presentation
may have grand ideas and are unsure and so today we hope to give you an opportunity to learn more
later, of course, ask lots of questions.
Tha
▶
2026-02-09
House Finance: Law Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill9K words
The House Finance: Law Subcommittee met on 2026-02-09. The committee heard SB 21 (AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd). 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
SB 21 — AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd
Votes
And we successfully defeated those rules, and again, appreciate the funding that the legislature had given that helped us achieve those successes.
Motions
Chair Josephson: It got move to August, and I believe it ended up being a three-week trial. It wasn't a jury trial, so it was just in front of the judge, but there was, um, it was a very evidence-intensive case.
Key Topics
Attorney General Deputy Attorney Civil Division Last Year Chair Josephson
Speakers (17)
Chair Josephson(7)
Representative Gray(4)
Representative Costello(3)
Chair To(3)
Representative Mina(2)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Aisha(1)
Director For(1)
Director Had(1)
Director Of(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Chair And(1)
Representative Eyeshides(1)
Chair Jefferson(1)
Representative Has(1)
Director Leblanc(1)
Chair Is(1)
Notable Points
That is not surprising.
Am I right that just a reminder for the committee? Some of these dollars were re-appropriated in the legislature's view in FY26. and vetoed and then re-spent for the purpose for which the legislature sought a reduction? Chair Josephson.
I think those are a little bit different Okay and so And then the governor did veto that repeal which then put in place the prior law Which is what is represented on this slide and what remains? Of those appropriations as of today.
It does that so there's a repeater the Governor vetoed And then this is what remains, if you take the veto as the existing law.
Transcript: 9,176 words
Good afternoon. I'll call this meeting of the House Finance Committee Department of
Law some committee to order. Let the record reflect that it is 12.03 p.m. on
Monday February 9th, 2026. Present today are representative Underwood,
representative Aisha, representative Costello, Representative Mina,
Also present today are our Alexander Schroeder, my committee aide, our committee
aide and moderator Kailah Tupo from the Legislative Information Office. As always
please remember to meet your cell phones in today's meeting we will hear the
Department of Law's Civil Division present on its FY27 budget statehood
defense and child welfare. With us today from The Department's Corey Mills
Deputy Attorney General also online is Amber LeBlanc, Administrative Services
Deputy Attorney General Mills here with us, I see that please put your name on the
record and begin your presentation. Thank you, Chair, Josephson. Again, Corey Mills,
Deputy attorney general overseeing the Civil Division at the wonderful Department
of Law. And this morning I am going to kind of give an overview, just remind
people a little bit about the department and the civil division in particular.
and then go over kind of how our funding works
because it is a little bit different than some departments.
And then I'm gonna move on to talk a
little about prior appropriations
and what we're doing with those appropriations
and how they've helped,
and go for state of defense
and the child welfare reform case as well.
So.
Let's start again. I just always like to bring us back to our mission as a department. We have an overarching mission that involves public safety and then also
providing high-quality legal representation to executive branch agencies for the benefit of all
Alaskans. And when it comes to the Civil Division, this is mainly what we do. You will see we
do have some public safety components to work. We do consumer protection, occupational licensing,
child protection. But overall, all of that is being done
▶
2026-02-09
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-09.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-09
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-09.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-09
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg10K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-09. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
During this Migration process, the e-reporting for payroll application employers used to submit contributions to a system failed, an additional programming was needed for it to successfully function.
Key Topics
the Terrace Fund benefit payments this as you can see the amount appropriated was 2 the actuarial funding ratios Health Care Unfunded Liability Additional State Little Bit Division Retirement
Speakers (23)
Mr. Chairman(6)
Senator Kiehl(4)
Chair To(3)
Senator Keoh(3)
Chair The(2)
Mr. Kirchner(2)
Senator Hoffman(1)
Senator Olson(1)
Commissioner For(1)
Senator Stedman(1)
Senator Kaufman(1)
Mr. Novell(1)
Chair You'Re(1)
Chair Let(1)
Chair Those(1)
Chair Yeah(1)
Mr. David(1)
Chair And(1)
Director Of(1)
Mr. Murray(1)
Notable Points
We need to have a separate I think The members want we need have separate presentation and discussion on that What we want to do Or what we'd like to recommend to the administration they approve because we recognize we can appropriate and the governor could veto So it is a it.
Transcript: 10,078 words
Good morning, everybody. I'd like to go ahead and call the Senate Finance Committee to order the 9th of February
Monday
2026 with me today is Senator Hoffman
Senator Olson's their keels and her marics and our coffins are cronk and myself stedman. We have a full contingent today
We're gonna have to be done a few minutes early like maybe 20 minutes. Early because we've got another meeting
We've been summoned to
So today we're going to have the public employees retirement system better known as purrs and the teacher's retirement systems tours update
Presenting today as Christopher novell is the chief financial officer division of retirement and benefits in person if he can come forward
He's out there somewhere
Melinda
Voig
Chief pension officer Division of Retirement and Benefits in-person
And then we have Chris Murray, Acting Chief Health Administrator, Division of Retirement
and Benefits telephonically, and also available on-lines for actual questions, as David Kirschner
principal consulting actuarial Gallagher benefits, this isn't the issue concerning
defined contribution subject matter, but it's the status of our current
retirement program and programs. So then go ahead and introduce yourself for the record,
who you represent, and then take us through your presentation. We will go once slide at a time as
our normal process so you can finish your thought process on that particular slide.
I'll watch the clock and we'll try to be done on time.
Okay, go ahead.
So thank you, Chair.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is for the record.
My Name is Christopher Novell.
I'm the Chief Financial Officer for
the Division of Retirement and Benefits and with me.
For the Record, my name
is Mindy Voigt.
I am the chief pension officer for
the division of retirement and benefits.
Okay, so the plan format of our presentation is for me to spend some time speaking to the peers and tears funds
Chris Murray who is online will be spending a little time on the health funds and
Lastly I'm going
▶
2026-02-09
Joint Education Committee
transcriptakleg5 bills15K words
The Joint Education Committee met on 2026-02-09. 5 bills were discussed, including HB 105 (Public Schools: Mental Health Education), HB 69 (Education: Funding), SB 18 (Communication Devices in Public Schools), and others. Public testimony was taken with 9 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 105 — Public Schools: Mental Health Education
HB 69 — Education: Funding
SB 18 — Communication Devices in Public Schools
SB 184 — School Bond Debt Reimbursement
SB 209 — Grad Requirements & Proficiency Tools
Motions
Thank you. Move to Alotac, my name is Faith Brower. I am a student representative with the North Pole Borough School District.
move to a high ground in the hill. And now, we're fully protected thanks to all our forefathers.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (my new park name, in the same with, glad that help is, Faith Brower)
5 testifiers (going to say that, lon garrison, the executive director of, going to take far, President
Stevens last year)
Key Topics
School District School Board Good Morning Identify Yourself High School
Speakers (28)
Director Of(5)
Chair Tobin(4)
Representative Story(2)
Representative Dibert(2)
Director And(2)
Representative Hymn(1)
Representative Elam(1)
Representative Schwanke(1)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Ted(1)
Mr. We(1)
Senator Runt(1)
Senator Lukigail(1)
Mrs. Phalan(1)
Representative Eischeid(1)
Mr. Wade(1)
Representative Hymshoe(1)
Mr. Strong(1)
Representative Him(1)
Ms. Bass(1)
Notable Points
And first, I want to say thank you and congratulate you for the boldness that you showed in that first half of the session by passing an increase in a base student allocation that was unprecedented.
One of our smallest schools Chalkitsik has about I think 13 students this year, but they've had this water issue for like 20 years and it was even redlined on the governor's budget one year as a direct veto, which clean water for students that seems basic to me.
Our schools in the rural areas are used for emergency shelters, Christmas feast, and Eskimo dances and community events.
So we have to travel to the gym every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for recess time.
Our schools serve as emergency shelters.
Transcript: 15,688 words
Good afternoon. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the joint meeting of the House
and Senate Education Committees. I call this meeting to order at 8 O 4 a.m. Here on Monday,
February 9th, we are in the Betty Davis Committee room here in state Capitol building in beautiful
I want to ask folks if they're here in the room, if you could please mute their cell phones.
House Education Committee members present today is co-chair, representative story, co chair,
representative Hymn Shute.
We are joined also by representative Dibert, Representative Elam,
Representative Schwanke, Rep. Underwood, and Representative Ted Eishide.
For the Senate Education committee, we have members presented today, Vice Chair, Senate President Mr.
We believe we'll be joined by Senator Runt here shortly and myself, Senator Lukigail Tobin, please let the record reflect we do have a quorum to conduct business.
I want to thank Susan from the Juneau LAO for moderating today's meeting and also Mary Gwen as always from joining us from Senate records for documenting today meeting.
On the agenda today, we will hear from school board members and public students from across Alaska.
Ties in with the annual legislative flying of the Association of Alaska School Boards.
We are excited to invite school board members and students to testify in small groups by their school district,
which I will announce with folks who are coming up to the microphone and then folks that are on deck.
So that folks know when their name will be called.
I do want to remind folks if they could please keep their comment civil and to not impugn motives or characters of any of the committee members or the legislature in their comments.
Also, I want remind to please speak into the microphone and speak clearly.
State your name at the beginning of your comments, this will ensure that we have a good record of today's conversation.
Just a quick reminder, once again, we will be taking comments or, excuse me, questions from committee member
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-06
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill549 words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-06. The committee heard HJR 20 (Hiring of Apprentices/Veterans). Public testimony was taken. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HJR 20 — Hiring of Apprentices/Veterans
Votes
There being no objection, H.J.R. 20, Work Order 34-LS0881-A is reported out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
Key Topics
of HDR 20. Thank you for being here Labor Commerce Commerce Committee
Speakers (10)
Representative Nelson(3)
Co-Chair Hall(2)
Representative Carrick(1)
Representative Coulombe(1)
Representative Saddler(1)
Co-Chair Of(1)
Representative David(1)
Chair Fields(1)
Representative For(1)
Mr. Co-Chair(1)
Notable Points
Co-chair, may I have a motion? Yes, I moved to report house joint resolution 20 work order 34-LS0881 backslash a out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes Addis Rosie back on the record.
So, Madam Coach here, I moved to report HJR 20, Work Order 34-LS0-881-A out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying zero fiscal notes.
There being no objection, H.J.R. 20, Work Order 34-LS0881-A is reported out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.
Transcript: 549 words
Good afternoon, the meeting of the House Labor and Commerce Committee will come to order.
The time is 4.25 PM on Friday, February 6th.
Members present are Representative Carrick, Representative Colomb,
Representative Sadler, representative Nelson, co-chair of Fields and myself, Co-Chair Hall.
We have a quorum.
Please silence your cell phones.
We're asking that staff and members of the audience
not approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to committee members,
please get the attention of my committee,
A. Joan Wilkerson, and she will take care of it.
I'd like to thank Andrew Magnusson
from the Labor and Commerce Committee Secretary.
I can't talk today.
And Zachary Laward from The Juneau LAO for.
teleconferencing support. We have one bill on the agenda today and we will begin our hearing
on House Joint Resolution 20 encouraging the United States Congress to establish hiring
goals for apprentices and veteran apprentices. Representative David Nelson and your aide Donna
Page, please take a seat in front of the room, introduce yourselves for the record and begin
your presentation just giving us a brief overview of of HDR 20. Thank you for being here.
Yes, thank you, co-chair Hall and co chair fields and members of the house labor and commerce committee for the record again
I am David Nelson representative for house district 18, which includes joint base elmendorf Richardson
government Hill and East Anchorage
Thank you again for hearing House Joint Resolution No. 20, encouraging United States Congress
to establish hiring goals for apprentices and veteran apprentices.
This resolution at the end really aims to assist veterans and those preparing to transition
from armed services to civilian life.
House joint resolution 20 would encourage Congress to established hiring goal for DOD
construction projects, namely for individuals who are participating in qualified apprenticeships
or post-secondary programs.
I urge the House Labor and Commerce Committee
to establish these hi
▶
2026-02-06
House Finance: Labor & Workforce Development Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill6K words
The House Finance: Labor & Workforce Development Subcommittee met on 2026-02-06. The committee heard HB 79 (Naming Vic Fischer Shoup Bay Marine Park).
Bills Heard
HB 79 — Naming Vic Fischer Shoup Bay Marine Park
Key Topics
Alaska's workers' compensation Workers Compensation Through Chair Occupational Safety Chair Representative Hearing Officers
Speakers (29)
Director Collins(7)
Chair Schrage(5)
Representative Saddler(5)
Representative Merrick(5)
Representative Carrick(2)
Representative Coulombe(2)
Chair Representative(2)
Representative Cronk(2)
Representative Klom(2)
Director Dibert(2)
Representative Bynum(2)
Representative Hall(1)
Representative Fields(1)
Director Of(1)
Representative Keirach(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Mr. Weller(1)
Chair Through(1)
Representative Claman(1)
Director Stutes(1)
Notable Points
And so all of a a the expenses went up, and you can see actuals and FY25 for occupational safety and health were up to 616,000, where historically they were less than half of that for many years. an additional 300,000 unexpected from Whiska.
Transcript: 6,566 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Department of Labor and Workforce Development Subcommittee
to order and I'll let the record reflect into just 3.32 p.m. on Friday.
February 6th, 2026.
Present today, we have Representative Carrick,
Representative Colomb, Representative Hall,
Representative Fields, and myself, Chair Schruggie,
expecting other members to be joining us soon
as they wrap up committees.
As we start, please remember to mute your cell phones.
I want to thank our LIO moderators, Zach Lawhorn,
for being with us today and helping us
are behind the scenes work for the committee.
Today, we will hear from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development regarding
Alaska's workers' compensation.
To present,
we have Director of Workers' Compensation, Charles Collins.
Thank you for being with us.
Director Collins, if you want to go ahead and make your way up to the table, and when
you're ready, put yourself on the record and begin with your presentation, which we
have queued up.
Thank You, Chair Schruggie, for the Record,
Charles Collins, Director, Workers's Compensation.
So, just at a high level, as we start out, workers' compensation is fairly complicated
in the state of Alaska, especially when it comes to funding, and it's quite common for
people to get a little confusion on how we do things.
So this first slide's got a lot of words on it, but the most important thing to remember
are directly involved with workers' compensation.
The most important one of those is the
worker safety and compensation administration account.
We call it WISCA, most of the time you'll hear it.
Counted WISCCA and that's the bulk of our funding for day-to-day
activities. It's made up of a tax premium
on premiums, a levy on that and then a 2.9%
service fee on self-insurance. We have 23 of
those in the state.
not to be confused with the benefits guarantee fund, which is a protected fund and pays only for
those injured employees whose employers neglected to have coverage for worker
▶
2026-02-06
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills12K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-02-06. Bills discussed included SB 113 (Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business), SB 21 (AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd).
Bills Heard
SB 113 — Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business
SB 21 — AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd
Motions
And most states have moved to market-based sourcing. And that's what's being proposed in this bill.
Key Topics
Through Chair Corporate Income Income Tax Senate Bill Minimum Tax
Speakers (30)
Senator Claman(13)
Vice Chair Wielechowski(11)
Senator Dunbar(9)
Senator Myers(9)
Senator Kawasaki(9)
Vice Chair Senator(4)
Senator Giessel(4)
Senator Wieckowski(3)
Chair To(3)
Commissioner Of(2)
Commissioner And(2)
Director Spanos(2)
Senator Costa(2)
Commissioner The(2)
Commissioner At(2)
Chair So(2)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Director For(1)
Director Brandon(1)
Director Spano(1)
Notable Points
There were additional major changes, that came in 1978 through 1981, excuse me, 1981. and debate on over how to tax the oil companies and share wealth with people ensued.
debates we have Background and presentation on that topic would be happy to bring before the committee today.
Just so I have a clear distinction, there's parts of what is in the governor's proposal that was in Senate bill 113 that he vetoed.
veto, which is that he believed that a portion of the bill was potentially unconstitutional.
One of them was Senate Bill 113, which he vetoed.
Transcript: 12,636 words
I call Senate Resources Committee to order.
Today is Friday, February 6th, 2026, and the time is 3.30 PM.
Please turn off your cell phones.
Committee members present today.
Senator Rauscher, Senator Dunbar,
Senator Myers, senator Clayman,
and Vice Chair Senator Wilakowski.
I'm Senator Giesel.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
Thank you to Heather and Susan,
who are keeping the minutes and helping us out with the audio.
We've two things on today's agenda.
You may have seen Senate Bill 180, LNG import facilities, that bill is being set aside today.
We're going to prioritize Senate bill 227, the title of which is tax, compact, sales tax and oil and gas tax.
We are asking the Department of Revenue to
prioritize two sections of Senate bills.
That being the section on the corporate tax and on oil and gas tax.
So for committee members and for the public, those will be the sections they begin with.
If we have time at the end, we can certainly go back to sales tax, so I would welcome today Janelle Earls.
She is the acting commissioner of the Department of Revenue, Brandon Spanos is acting tax director, department of revenue.
Department of Revenue.
So I will invite you forward to the table, whoever is going to do the presenting here, committee members.
We are going wait until the end of the section, the topic.
So first is the corporate tax, I believe, in the order of slides, to take questions, okay?
So that they can complete the whole topic and then take our questions.
So welcome, thanks for coming.
Thank You Chair Giesel and members of the committee. My name is Janelle Earls. I'm the acting commissioner and
Administrative Services Director for the Department of Revenue
here with me today is
Acting tax director Brandon Spanos and chief economist Dan Stickel
We are here today to introduce the governor's tax bill house bill
As you had stated
Chair Geisel we have a pretty long presentation and we'll try to get through
Each slide as quickly as we can. I would just amend one o
▶
2026-02-06
Senate Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill7K words
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-06. The committee heard SB 190 (Uniform Act: Guardianship/Conservatorship). Public testimony was taken with 7 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 190 — Uniform Act: Guardianship/Conservatorship
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (looking at the court, curious as it indicated, assuming this particular attorney, Noah Klein, Associate Counsel for
the)
2 testifiers (Beth Russo, going to be referring)
Key Topics
the adoption of Yucopa to the larger group guardians that light and representing adults in guardianship cases Court System Senator Tobin Senator Keel Uniform Law Protective Arrangements
Speakers (24)
Mr. Chairman(14)
Senator Tobin(13)
Senator Kiehl(11)
Ms. Russo(3)
Senator Claman(2)
Mr. Klein(2)
Director Of(2)
Ms. Hawke(2)
Senator Tilton(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Senator Keeling(1)
Senator Galvin(1)
Chair Aurora(1)
Chair Kleinman(1)
Mr. Clyde(1)
Chair To(1)
Director For(1)
Ms. Riesz(1)
Mr. So(1)
Ms. Rocha(1)
Notable Points
It limits, and I think this is important to me, it limits the length of emergency guardianships, which today can be unlimited, under the bill an emergency guardian ship can be granted for 60 days, that can renewed once.
We also have a section in each for emergency appointments, except for under the other protective arrangements, which are not appointing a guardian or conservator.
The emergency appointment, as Senator Keel said, are limited to 60 days and may not, may only be renewed once.
There's also noticing requirements for that. and an additional hearing if the emergency appointment is made without notice and without a hearing.
But I'm particularly looking at page 38, I know it's in other sections of the bill, around emergency guardian for minors.
Transcript: 7,104 words
Let's call this meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee
to order.
It is 1.30 PM Friday, February 6, 2026.
Before we begin, I want to thank Julianna Singh,
the senate judiciary secretary, who
makes sure we have a transcript of our meetings,
and Doug Bridges from the Juneau, LIO,
who makes for we sound.
At this time, we want remind community members and all
those in the room to please silence your cell phones.
President's Day, We have Senator Tilton, Senator Steven,
Senator Tobin, my vice chair, senator Keel.
And myself, Senator Klayman, we have a quorum to connect business.
We are all here.
The first and only item on our agenda today is Senate Bill 190 Uniform Act
guardianship conservatorship sponsored by Senator Keel.
This is the second hearing of the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But the first hearing from the Bill this year, here to present the bills Senator
Keeling and his staff.
We're a howl, available for questions, no a climb from Alaska court system.
Senator Keel and how if you would please come forward put yourselves on the record and you may begin your presentation
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for the Record
My name is Jesse Keill and I have the privilege of representing Senate District B
My Name is Aurora Hawk and i have The privilege Of
representing senator keel
The privilege is mine, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for taking time with just a simple little bill this afternoon
Senate bill 190
is
Does adopt an update Alaska's laws for guardianship and conservatorship
Based on the most recent uniform law by the National Uniform Law Commission
Guardianships and Conservatorships are legal protective arrangements
They are designed to protect Alaskans
who are not able to meet some of their basic needs
for their own health, their safety, or their self-care.
It's a serious matter.
These arrangements, they are protective.
That's what they're for.
They're also a restriction of a person's liberty.
And so it's in
▶
2026-02-06
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg18K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-06.
Motions
Representative Galvin: The two positions that are intended to move that are currently not within the division of AG would be repurposed. One of the positions would become an accountant for, and I believe the other one would became an account and two that are necessary for some of functions of a new department associated with administration and budget work that they would need to do.
Key Topics
changes from what the governor had put forward in his FY26 budget last year your general funds hear three departmental budget overviews our department and what we do Through Chair
Speakers (30)
Representative Hannan(10)
Chair Josephson(9)
Chair Representative(9)
Representative Jimmie(8)
Director Of(8)
Representative Stapp(7)
Commissioner And(6)
Chair To(6)
Representative Galvin(4)
Director Kohler(4)
Commissioner Is(4)
Commissioner Designee(3)
Chair For(3)
Commissioner Through(3)
Chair Justice(3)
Mr. Johnson(3)
Representative Bynum(2)
Chair Foster(2)
Commissioner Brent(2)
Mr. Coacher(2)
Notable Points
Leveraging emergency response expertise of existing state employees aims to improve operational efficiency and save costs.
We have emergency order authority.
And I just want to make note because the governor did veto this item.
Transcript: 18,757 words
Good afternoon everyone. I call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order
Happy Friday. Let the record reflect. It's 1.33 p.m. On Friday the 6th
2026 present today are representative Hannon representative Bynum
representative Thomas chef ski
Representative more representative Galvin representative Jimmy and the three co-chairs co chair fostered cochair shruggy and myself co
chair Josephson
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff, Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
and Tallulah Lostethka, Secretary Bree Wiley, and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh, from the Legislative Information Office.
Before we start today, please mute your cell phones.
In today's hearings, we will hear three departmental budget overviews.
We think we have about 45 minutes per overview, so we'll keep that in mind as questions
come to our attention.
First, we'll hear from the Department of Natural Resources.
With us today from The Department is John Crowder,
Commissioner Designee, and Brent Goodram.
Deputy Commissioner also available online
or division directors.
Many of them, I can tell.
If the two of you will come forward as you are,
put yourselves on the record and begin your presentation.
And I see at least five directors available.
Well, thank you very much,
co-chair Josephson and members of the committee,
John Crother for the record,
Commissioner Designee for The Department,
it's an honor and a privilege to be here.
Excited to share a little bit about our budget quickly.
I know we have just 30 minutes or so,
maybe 45 per department.
We wanna make sure we give time to our other departments
to also present their information.
So just very quickly,
have a lot of budget information to share but of course happy to take
questions, have couple different policy topics, the committee requested
information on after our court budget and then in our appendix we have have
a summary of activities and accomplishments across our different
divisions so ofc
▶
2026-02-06
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills7K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-06. Bills discussed included SB 198 (Pers/Trs Retirement & Medical Eligibility), SB 211 (Extend Occupational Licensing Boards), SB 225 (Trusts; Trust Proceedings; Trustees). Public testimony was taken with 22 testifiers. 2 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
SB 198 — Pers/Trs Retirement & Medical Eligibility
SB 211 — Extend Occupational Licensing Boards
SB 225 — Trusts; Trust Proceedings; Trustees
Votes
Hearing no objection, amendment n.2 is adopted.
The notice must include details about the action and a period for beneficiaries to object. fiduciaries are projected, excuse me, protected from liability if they comply with the notice requirements. No objections are raised and the action does not breach a fiduciary duty.
Motions
Chair I'd: Time All right, well I I move amendment n.2 Object for purposes of discussion Thank you, Mr.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Chris Curtis, your state legislative auditor, trying to think of)
5 testifiers (Stafford senator Bjarkman, Crystal Herring and, happy to answer any, Noah Shield, the chair of the)
4 testifiers (Crystal Herring and, happy to answer any, Noah Shield, the chair of the)
4 testifiers (Crystal Herring and, happy to answer any, Noah Shield, the chair of the)
3 testifiers (Chris Curtis, your state legislative auditor, trying to think of)
Key Topics
the power of trustees and providing for an effective date the commission's most recent sunset audit the privacy of the settler and the beneficiaries Senate Bill Senator Dunbar Section Page Labor Commerce Through Chair
Speakers (30)
Senator Dunbar(19)
Chair Of(5)
Ms. Curtis(4)
Mr. Chairman(4)
Senator Bjorkman(3)
Ms. Robinson(3)
Senator Yundt(2)
Mr. Churchill(2)
Chair For(2)
Mr. Fields(2)
Ms. Latham(2)
Chair To(2)
Senator James(2)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Ms. Hering(1)
Ms. Herring(1)
Ms. Mark(1)
Ms. Markwood(1)
Notable Points
Chairman, I move to report committee substitute for Senate Bill 211 version 34-LS 1252 backslash, November from committee as amended with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note.
Is there any objection? Hearing and seeing none, committee substitute for Senate bill 211 version 34 dash LS 1252 from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
Chairman, I move to report committee substitute for Senate bill 198 version 34 dash LS 0 9 4 3 backslash November from committee with individual recommendations in the attached fiscal note is there any objection? Seeing and hearing none committee substitute for Senate bill 198 version 3 4 dash LS 0 9 or 4 three back slash n as in nickel Ivisk is Reported from Committee with Individual Recommendations and Attached Fiscal Note The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee will meet again on
Fiscal Note The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee will meet again on Monday We'll take up one item for sure, and maybe others, however, one item, for shore.
This is an act relating to trust proceedings relating to non-judicial settlement agreements and trust matters relating to the power of trustees and providing for an effective date.
Transcript: 7,711 words
Good afternoon.
I'd like to call this meeting of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order at 1.32
p.m.
We are in Belts Room 105 at the Thomas Stewart Building in the nation's most beautiful foggy
capital city of Juneau, Alaska.
Today is Friday, February 6th.
Members present are Senator Merrick, Senator Dunbar, senator Ray Jackson, and Senator
Yount, And myself, Sen. Bjorkman.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct a business.
Welcome everyone.
to the Senate Labor and Commerce.
Please turn off or silence your cell phones
and join me in extending a warm
Senate labor and commerce welcome
to our recording secretary, Carrie Tupoe,
and her LAO moderator, Chloe Miller.
We have three items on our agenda today.
First, Senate bill 211,
extending occupational licensing boards.
There are six of them
that we are looking to extend
with that piece of legislation.
Followed by Senate Bill 225, trusts, trust proceedings.
And trustees, rounding out our lineup is Senate bill 198,
purrs, turs, retirement, and medical eligibility.
First up, Senate, bill 211.
Sir third hearing on the bill previous hearings. We have had the initial presentation of the Bill
We adopted a committee substitute heard from our friendly legislative auditor as well as the chairs of some boards
Today it is my intention to take invited
testimony from the remaining board chairs and complete public testimony and then
have committee discussion
Take up a possible amendment and look to the will of The Committee
Here with us today to provide a brief recap of the bill my staffer
Sir Matt Churchill Esquire
Mr. Churchill
Welcome to St. Labor to Commerce, please state your name and affiliation for the record and begin your brief recap of
The bill. Thank you chair of Bjorkman
Again, Matt church Hill, and I'm Stafford senator Bjarkman. I thank you members the Labor and Commerce Committee for hearing Senate bill 211
again today. This bill again extends the sunset dates of six professional boards
that are
▶
2026-02-06
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-06. 2 votes were recorded.
Votes
Hearing no objection, House Bill 81, work order 34-LS0474-I is reported out-of- judiciary Committee with Individual Recommendations attached fiscal and attach fiscal notes.
Hearing no objection, House bill 4 work order 34-ls01 27 backslash 8 is reported out of Judiciary committee with individual recommendation and attached fiscal notes, I authorize legislative legal services to make any necessary technical and conforming changes.
Key Topics
House Bill Judiciary Committee Second Hearing Make Any Bill Work
Speakers (18)
Representative Saddler(3)
Representative Gray(2)
Representative Mina(2)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Costello(1)
Representative David(1)
Representative To(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Representative Dan(1)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Vice Chair For(1)
Representative Cop(1)
Senator Randy(1)
Representative In(1)
Ms. Kiehl(1)
Representative Cobb(1)
Representative Kopp(1)
Representative Cup(1)
Notable Points
Chair mister chair I at This time move house bill 81 Work order 3 4 dash ls 0 4 7 4 backslash i be reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note.
Hearing no objection, House Bill 81, work order 34-LS0474-I is reported out-of- judiciary Committee with Individual Recommendations attached fiscal and attach fiscal notes.
Hearing no objection, House bill 4 work order 34-ls01 27 backslash 8 is reported out of Judiciary committee with individual recommendation and attached fiscal notes, I authorize legislative legal services to make any necessary technical and conforming changes.
Yep, just for the the record possibly in response to my ask of miss of counselor me that any other executive branch agency was going to weigh in with a fiscal note the department of law with a $303,000 fiscal note.
Thank you again for hearing House Bill 81, an act restricting the release of certain records of convictions and providing for an effective date.
Transcript: 1,468 words
of the House Judiciary will now come to order.
The time is now 1.01 p.m. on Friday, February 26th.
We are in the Grunberg Room, Capital Room 120.
The following members are present.
Representative Underwood, Representative Castello,
Vice Chair, Copp, and myself,
Representative Gray, Chair.
I'll let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
I would like to recognize the staff supporting this meeting, so if you attendee from House
Records, Kyla Tupoe, from the Genoa LIO, and my committee aide Dylan Hitchcock Lopez.
We have three items of business on today's agenda.
First, we will hear in second hearing,
House Bill 81, access to marijuana conviction records,
then we'll hear House bill four,
presidential write-in votes,
and finally we hear house bill 262,
number of superior court judges,
all for their second-hearing,
all intended to move today.
As our first item of business,
we we take up House people 81 access
to Marijuana conviction Records
for its second, hearing in our committee.
This time I would like to invite the sponsor,
Representative David Nelson,
and his staff Donna Page to the witness table.
At the last hearing I said amendment deadline of 5 p.m. yesterday. We have received no amendments. Oh, you can sit here, ma'am
We wrote we welcome representative Mina to house judiciary at
102 p m
As we have recieved to know amendments I invite the sponsor to make any final remarks at this time
Excellent. Thank you chair gray and members of the house Judiciary Committee
For the record, I am David Nelson, representative to House District 18, which includes joint
base Elmodor Fritjerson, East Anchorage and Government Hill.
Thank you again for hearing House Bill 81, an act restricting the release of certain
records of convictions and providing for an effective date.
House bill 81 would make certain marijuana possessions convictions confidential on basic
background checks while keeping those convictions available for government agencies and qualified
peopl
▶
2026-02-06
House Finance: Judiciary Subcommittee
transcriptakleg4K words
The House Finance: Judiciary Subcommittee met on 2026-02-06.
Key Topics
Court System Last Year Through Chair Therapeutic Courts Executive Branch
Speakers (11)
Mr. Klein(10)
Representative Gray(7)
Chair To(7)
Representative Cop(5)
Representative Underwood(5)
Chair Jimmie(3)
Ms. Mcleod(3)
Mrs. Mcgaleo(1)
Ms. Mead(1)
Representative Meeting(1)
Chair Mr(1)
Notable Points
These are costs that we had that were definitely going to incur that didn't receive funding for. the same thing but they're broken up because 113,000 the legislature didn't fund and the remaining 170, 000 the governor vetoed so the legislator chose to fund us at a certain level and governor vetoed our operating maintenance increment to a lower level and then we didn t receive that funding for the court visitors as well and so unless there are any questions i'll just with that short funding.
And I understand that you're An executive is line item vetoing $100,000 here and there.
Klein the so back to the governor's veto 170,800 to the trial courts it looks like that was inflationary increases to lease You mentioned that you own a third of your facilities, you lease a 3rd of them from the state, and you have some other partnerships going on, probably with the private sector on the remainder.
When you're considering the entire fiscal picture for the state for FY 27, Yes, the fiscal note with any bill that includes a fiscal note would be included as part of that picture.
Transcript: 4,983 words
Good afternoon. This is House of Judiciary Subcommittee. I call this meeting to House Finance to order. Let the record reflect that it is 12.02 p.m. Friday, February 6th, 2026, today present. We have representative cop and myself.
from legislative information office.
Please remember to mute your cell phones.
Sub-community minors have been provided
to all committee members and documents have
been posted to the biases.
Are there any questions about these?
Seeing none, we will continue.
And we were joined by Representative Gray
and Representative Underwood.
1202.
Today, the judiciary will present their FY27 budget request.
Our presenters are Noah Klein, Associate Counsel for the Alaska Court System,
Rhonda McCleod, Chief Financial Officer for Alaska court system.
Mr. Klein and Mrs. McGaleo, please join us on record and begin your presentation.
Good afternoon, Chair Jimmy, members of the committee.
My name is Noah Klein for the record,
and I am Associate Counsel at the Alaska Court System.
And on the phone, she's not here with us today,
but on phone we should have Rhonda McLeod,
the Court Systems CFO,
and she'll be able to answer any technical numbers,
questions that I might need a lifeline for.
First of all, I just want to say thank you
for having us to present our FY27 budget.
We'll start with our FLI26 budget,
just so the Committee's aware of where we are.
And before I dive into our actual requests from this current fiscal year and our request for the upcoming fiscal
year, I just want to briefly remind you of who we are.
And I know this is the judiciary subcommittee and most of you are on the Judiciary Committee, so you know what the courts do.
But for a quick reminder, you
know, when you think of the court's most people tend to think
of judges and we do have about a hundred when
you include magistrate judges, we
do
have
about
a
hundred
judge
positions
But we're actually funded for 780 positions and the vast majority of those positions are clerical staff
And those ar
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2026-02-06
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-06.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-06
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-06.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-06
House Education Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill5K words
The House Education Committee met on 2026-02-06. The committee heard HB 261 (Education Funding). Public testimony was taken with 41 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 261 — Education Funding
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (excited to hear any, excited about the bill, not something)
3 testifiers (excited to hear any, excited about the bill, not something)
4 testifiers (encouraged to see the, excited to hear any, excited about the bill, not something)
4 testifiers (encouraged to see the, excited to hear any, excited about the bill, not something)
3 testifiers (excited to hear any, excited about the bill, not something)
Key Topics
House Bill House Education Student Count Three Year
Speakers (20)
Chair Story(6)
Senator Gray(3)
Chair Him(3)
Representative Elam(3)
Chair Of(3)
Co-Chair Rep(1)
Mr. Beckford(1)
Senator Albie(1)
Representative District(1)
Chair Co-Chair(1)
Chair To(1)
Representative Dibert(1)
Representative Schwanke(1)
Chair One(1)
Representative Schulke(1)
Mr. Garrison(1)
Mr. Houser(1)
Ms. Sitz(1)
Mr. Morrison(1)
Ms. O'Daniel(1)
Notable Points
The chair One of the biggest questions that I have on this is the size of the fiscal note.
And I wanted to address the fiscal notes, if I might make that question.
Yes, not through the chair of the fiscal note.
And I was gonna address that after we heard public testimony because I do wanna get to that But I met with the department the other day about the fiscal note because I too was hoping it would be broken out on different components.
I did want to co-chair him shooting the committee, acknowledge that Heather Heineken has been on the line to answer questions about the fiscal note, but we will hold that.
Transcript: 5,460 words
Good morning, I'd like to call the House Education Committee to order.
It is 9-11 Friday, February 6th.
We are in the Betty Davis room.
Members present are from my right to left.
Rep eyeshide, rep underwood, Rep schwanki, red dye bird,
rep elum, co-chair rep hymn chute, and myself rep story.
Co- chair, let the record reflect that we have a quorum to discuss business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones during the meeting.
Thank you very much for that.
I want to thank Cale Brown, the House Education Secretary from Records, and Doug Bridges from
the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today and our co-chair committee aides, Tammy
Smith and Ella Lubin.
Today we have a couple items on our agenda.
The first we will bring back Senate Bill 6, Asian American Programs from Senator Gray Jackson and House Bill 261,
which addresses average daily membership for public testimony.
I invite Senator Great Jackson, and her staff, Clark Bickford, to the table to identify yourself for the record.
I want to give you an opportunity to speak to Senate bill 6 before we begin public testimony.
Welcome, Senator, and Mr. Beckford.
Thank you.
Senator Albie Griejakson, Representative District G, in Anchorage.
First, I want to thank the co-chairs for here in this bill again and also the committee as a whole.
I know that there are a handful of individuals who are looking forward to testifying in support of this bill.
But I just want to offer a brief statement, as I suggested, to thank the committee and all the stakeholders who have worked with my office on this legislation for several years now.
And members of the public who follow this issue, not only during this year's committee process, but as just mentioned prior years as well.
It's been out here for quite some time and actually it almost made it to the finish line once.
I'm encouraged to see the bill under consideration, again, because this more accurately reflects the history of our great nation, and I look forward to today'
▶
2026-02-06
House Finance: Education & Early Development Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill8K words
The House Finance: Education & Early Development Subcommittee met on 2026-02-06. The committee heard HB 148 (Omnibus Insurance Bill).
Bills Heard
HB 148 — Omnibus Insurance Bill
Key Topics
Through Chair Make Sure Higher Education Teacher Retention Retention Recruitment
Speakers (27)
Representative Galvin(9)
Ms. Manning(9)
Chair To(9)
Chair Of(6)
Co-Chair Story(5)
Co-Chair Him(4)
Representative Schwanke(4)
Ms. Thomas(4)
Representative Underwood(3)
Commissioner Bishop(2)
Chair If(2)
Co-Chair Himschoot(2)
Representative Isha(1)
Co-Chair Work(1)
Representative More(1)
Representative Dibert(1)
Ms. Kerry(1)
Director For(1)
Director Goya(1)
Commissioner Has(1)
Notable Points
emergency certified teachers continues to fluctuate based off of need annually, and that currently sits for the 2025-26 school year.
There were 209 emergency-certified teachers at the beginning of the school year This question has come up a few times, but around the visas that we currently support educators.
How many teachers do we need statewide? And maybe I'll qualify that by my question was going to be I see that on page 19 you report that we had 313 first-day teacher vacancies and then you had a number on the next page of of emergency certifications.
And, I didn't know if you were taking that, that's the need because you had to emergency certify these other numbers.
With the emergency certified teacher, though they are on an emergency certificate, the requirements to be on emergency certificates are to enrolled in an education preparation program and to have an assigned mentor.
Transcript: 8,546 words
Good morning. I would like to call the second meeting of the House Education Finance Subcommittee to order.
It is now 8.01 a.m. Friday, February 6th in Davis room.
Members present are to my left.
To my right, we have Representative Isha and we also have representatives of co-chair work on that.
Can shoot and also joining us today from the finance committee. We have a representative more.
Representative Dibert has also joined us. Thank you and online we
have Commissioner Bishop.
Thank You for joining.
I'm going to ask you and myself, Representative Galvin,
Chair of the House Education Subcommittee.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones
for the meeting.
And I want to especially thank Chloe Miller from the Juneau
LIO for moderating.
I apologize.
I have the wrong name here.
I am going get that for you.
It's done terribly.
Underwood, thank you. We also have our subcommittee A, David
Jane. And we have Doug Jones here from the, you know, LIO.
Thank you, Doug. Oh, yeah, apologize.
Bridges.
Miss.
Pardon?
Bridges?
I didn't mean Doug?
Bridges
Bridges, I did not say that, right?
We love you Doug
We should have Kale Brown who is also here with the LAO. Thank you. Oh, he's not actually here, sorry.
Pardon me. He is not here apparently. This is a figment of our imagination. It is Friday.
fun Friday and he's here for the next meeting. Thank you for being here. All right. Today
we're going to continue to hear from Deputy Director of Innovation and Education Excellence,
Kelly Manning, along with Division Director
of innovation and education excellence, Monica Goyette.
As they finish their slideshow on the department's teacher recruitment and retention initiatives,
Please come on forward.
We're after we finish this particular presentation.
From our last meeting, we're going to take a very brief at ease at approximately 830 to transition to a presentation on the Alaska Performance Scholarship and Alaska Education Grants from the Education Director of Alaska Commission on Po
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills13K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-05. Bills discussed included HB 284 (Tax Compact; Sales Tax; Oil & Gas Tax), SB 21 (AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd). Public testimony was taken with 48 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 284 — Tax Compact; Sales Tax; Oil & Gas Tax
SB 21 — AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (going to announce the, Amy Bushnell legislative liaison, looking over, Beth Weldon)
4 testifiers (Amy Bushnell legislative liaison, looking over, Beth Weldon, one of first times)
6 testifiers (Lewis Stewart and, the finance director
for, Brian Smith, speaking on my own, Sam Tanar, the mayor for
the)
5 testifiers (Caroline Storm, testifying for myself this, Rita
Traummater from north, Rita Trauma from North, talking on my own)
7 testifiers (Caroline Storm, testifying for myself this, Rita
Traummater from north, Rita Trauma from North, talking on my own, Tara Huntington, telling to share my)
Key Topics
the phone number Sales Tax Income Tax Don See See Any Name Affiliation
Speakers (30)
Representative Foster(9)
Representative Jimmie(5)
Representative Co-Chair(3)
Representative Galvin(3)
Representative Moore(3)
Mr. Black(3)
Mr. Mayor(3)
Representative Allard(2)
Representative Bynum(2)
Representative Story(2)
Mr. Hakaba(2)
Mr. Milligan(2)
Chair And(2)
Ms. Hutchinson(2)
Chair Of(2)
Mr. Murphy(2)
Ms. Braun(2)
Mr. Tom'S(2)
Representative Hannan(1)
Representative Tom(1)
Notable Points
But when everyday Alaskans are asked to contribute through a fair system suddenly is controversial.
A sales tax proposal must not undermine local authority or override decisions local voters have already made.
I support passing legislation included in the bill that has been previously vetoed by the As corporations and oil and gas companies, I support raining in ava expenditures by passing more congressional oversight of their activities.
We've long supported broad-based revenue, and we've constantly said an income tax is a very state-led tool because it asks a less than to contribute based on the ability to But if a sales tax is the only proposal moving, it must not undermine local authorities or override decisions local voters have already made.
But in a sale tax, if an only proposals moving it much not under my local authority or override decisions.
Transcript: 13,598 words
Okay, sorry
I'm gonna call this meeting in the house finance committee to order let the recruiter reflect that the time is currently
535 p.m. On Thursday, February 5
2026 and present, we have Representative Allard, Representative Hannon,
Representative Bynum,
Representative Co-Chair Schruggi,
Representative co-chair Josephson,
Representative Jimmy,
Representative Galvin,
Representative Tom Shefsky,
Representative Stout, my self-coach air posture,
just your mind or folks can mute their cell phones.
We also have with us Representative Moore and let's see here.
So with that, just a reminder again,
if folks can mute their cell phones,
I will be announcing phone numbers
for folks in the public who might be watching
if you'd like to call in.
So if wanna get a pen and paper ready,
I'll announce that here in a moment.
Also, I understand that folks may be getting dropped possibly.
So I think part of the problem
could possibly be because there are three different numbers but if folks
continue to have problems I will reach out to my staff and see what avenues we
have in terms of what possible solutions there might be.
I was just saying that some people might be getting dropped, and part of the problem might
be that there are three different numbers, depending on where you're calling from in
the state.
But I'm just looking at the back here.
If there any other solutions, please feel free to pass me a note if that continues to
be a problem.
I also want to say that before us today is House Bill 284, that's the governor's omnibus tax bill.
And we are going to have Ms. Imi Bushnell come up to give us just a brief recap of only the sales tax portion of the bill because there are three sections,
three major parts to this bill, and that is the Sales Tax portion, the corporate income tax.
Also the oil and gas tax and so
Because we did not get to the second and third pieces of the bill
We will not be taking public testimony on those pieces, but we will take public
testimony On those late
▶
2026-02-05
Legislative Budget & Audit
transcriptakleg2K words
The Legislative Budget & Audit met on 2026-02-05. Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Are there any questions or any objections? Okay, if there are no objections in the committee, we'll now go into executive session But we need to take a brief at ease while we clear the room We are now out of executive session and back on the record at 6.09 p.m.
Motions
Chair may: Seeing none, the motion to approve an amendment to the Division of Legislative Artists' Existing Contract with Stole Reads is approved.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (Chris Curtis, your state legislative auditor, happy to answer questions, going to first)
Key Topics
Vice Chair Legislative Budget Budget Audit Audit Committee Any Questions
Speakers (25)
Senator Giessel(5)
Vice Chair Fields(4)
Representative Cop(3)
Chair To(3)
Senator Wielechowski(2)
Senator Kawasaki(2)
Chair May(2)
Senator Wieckowski(2)
Representative Fales(1)
Representative Foster(1)
Representative Josephson(1)
Senator Speaker(1)
Representative Colom(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Senator Kaufman(1)
Chair Formally(1)
Senator Kopp(1)
Mr. Curtis(1)
Chair For(1)
Chair Noted(1)
Transcript: 2,758 words
Good evening, I call the legislative budget and audit committee to order.
Today is Thursday, February 5th and the time is 5.17 PM.
Please silence all cell phones.
We have the following members present.
Representative Fales, Representative Foster, representative Josephson,
Representative Cop, Senator Speaker Edgeman,
Senator Giesle, senator Wilakowski,
Senator Kawasaki, and a special welcome to our new member,
Representative Colom.
Welcome and then myself senator great Jackson, so we have a quorum to conduct business
We also have been joined by I thought I saw senator Kaufmann, but I don't see him now, okay?
I'd like to thank
Sofia Tenney from house records and Zachary Lorthorn from the LIO for supporting our committee this evening
I want to think everyone for being here today, please note that the senator
Next statement and hop in there out.
They're attending to legislative business in Sitka today.
And the House Finance Committee is taking public testimony on the fiscal plan, but I see that you're here.
So thank you very much for being here, the members from the committee.
Okay, are there any questions or comments before we get underway?
All right, great.
Vice Chair, we're now on agenda item two, approval of agenda.
Vice chair fields, may I please have a motion for approval the agenda?
I move and ask unanimous consent
and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee
approve the agenda as presented.
Thank you.
Is there any objection?
Seeing none, the agendas approve.
We're now on agenda item three, approve of the minutes.
Vice Chair, may I have a motion for approval of minutes?
I moved the legislative budget and audit committee
approve them minutes,
the two meetings on November 19th, 2025,
and January 20th of 2026.
Thank You.
Is There Any Objection?
Seeing none the minutes are approved. We are now at agenda item for committee business a top audit issues part two
This item is for discussion only and no vote will be taken
Miss Curtis will walk us through a summary of the
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance: Administration Subcommittee
transcriptakleg7K words
The House Finance: Administration Subcommittee met on 2026-02-05.
Key Topics
the realignment of shared services of Alaska Through Chair Chair Representative Shared Services Director Bingham Representative Story
Speakers (30)
Director Bingham(12)
Representative Story(11)
Representative Schrage(10)
Chair Representative(7)
Representative Carrick(5)
Representative St(4)
Representative Vance(4)
Director For(3)
Representative Holland(3)
Representative Allard(3)
Mr. Chairman(3)
Director Of(2)
Chair And(2)
Director Dinesky(2)
Representative Merrick(2)
Representative Himschoot(2)
Director Danaski(2)
Director Stevens(1)
Director Bynum(1)
Director Bingam(1)
Notable Points
So with this, the standardizing payroll, since you're decentralizing, would each department then have to adopt separately this software and create, generate separate fiscal notes then within their departments? the time sheet.
Transcript: 7,623 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Department
of Administration's Subcommittee to Order.
I'll let the record reflect that it is 4.24 p.m.
on Thursday, February 5th, 2026.
Present today, we have Representative Skirrick,
Story, Hymshoot, Holland, Vance, McCabe,
Allard, and myself, Chair Schruggi.
As we start, please remember to mute your cell phones,
and we've been joined by Representative St. Clear.
Welcome.
I want to thank our LIO moderator today,
Kyla Tepow, T-Pow.
T'Paw, thank you for helping us with
behind the scenes work for our committee.
I just asked her to pronounce it and then immediately butchered it.
My apologies.
Today, we will hear from the Department of Administration regarding
the budget request to-
decentralized the shared services of Alaska and transfer a portion of our payroll employees
out of the division of finance. Here today we have administrative services director Stephanie
Bingham. Welcome back. Thank you for being here. If you could please come up to the testifiers
table, put yourself on the record and begin with your presentation when you're ready.
Thank You.
Thank you very much for having me.
I am Stephanie the Administrative Services Director
for the Department of Administration.
Today I'll provide you an overview
of the realignment of shared services of Alaska.
Director Bingham, if you could just pull that microphone
a little bit closer for those of us who are hard of hearing.
Thank You.
So sorry.
All right, please continue director Bingham. Thank you.
Thank You through the chair.
My name is Stephanie Bingum.
I'm the administrative services director
for the Department of Administration.
Today I provide you an overview of the realignment
of shared services of Alaska and payroll functions
back to the department, including position transfers
and the impacts to employees.
This slide represents the shared
services for Alaska position transfer to overview.
A total of the 87 positions are transferring back to departments, 81 permanent full
▶
2026-02-05
Senate Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill4K words
The Senate Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-02-05. The committee heard SB 206 (School Suicide Policies; Firearm Storage).
Bills Heard
SB 206 — School Suicide Policies; Firearm Storage
Key Topics
medical care for major emergencies school suicide policies and establishing the firearm safe storage grant fund relating to school suicide policies and establishing the firearm safe storage grant fund Department Health Time Sensitive Senator Tobin Heart Attacks Little Bit
Speakers (22)
Senator Tobin(9)
Dr. Lawrence(9)
Senator Myers(6)
Senator Claman(5)
Mr. Chairman(4)
Chair Dunbar(3)
Ms. Georgio(3)
Representative Mina(2)
Dr. Bob(2)
Ms. Olson(2)
Chair To(2)
Senator Giessel(1)
Chair Is(1)
Representative Meena'S(1)
Representative Genevieve(1)
Dr. Anne(1)
Mr. Rauscher(1)
Chair That'S(1)
Dr. Dibert(1)
Chair Of(1)
Notable Points
Lawrence answer this, but I will, I could tell you that as we were drafting the bill, there was a little bit of debate over using that term major emergency.
This would add the term major emergency to that part of the statute and again enabling the Department of Health to include heart attacks and strokes in the same kind of way that they do for trauma.
Defining major emergency is hard tack and stroke.
Is that all-inclusive or are there other things like pulmonary embolism, for example? Does that fit in this category or are their other conditions that would be considered a major in emergency or is it just those two? Sure, and to the chair, I can absolutely have Dr.
In the profession, they usually will use the term time sensitive emergency, We're still a little bit, I think everything is good with this major emergency language, but what we're trying to capture again is the time sensitive nature of specifically heart attacks and stroke for the purpose of this bill.
Transcript: 4,845 words
This hearing the Senate Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order.
Today is Thursday, February 5th and the time is 3.32 p.m.
We are in a bunch of its room 205.
Members present are Senator Myers, Senator Tobin, my self-chair Dunbar, the Senator Giesell
is excused and I expect, given his special chair is here, that Senator Clayman will be
with us shortly.
of the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business. Before we begin, I would
like to thank Mary Gwen Kawakami, the Senate Health and Social Services recording secretary,
and Susan Quigley from the Juno LAO for staffing the committee today.
Today we are holding an introductory hearing
on House Bill 27, Representative Mina's bill
relating to medical care for major emergencies.
Presenting the bill today,
we have Representative Meena's staff member, Katie Giorgio.
We also have Dr. Bob Lawrence, Chief Medical Officer
online for questions.
We have Wendy Allen, who is a nurse consultant
and she is also on the phone.
Today, Ms. Georgio, would you like to come forward, put yourself on the record and begin your presentation?
Thank you chair Dunbar and members of the Senate Health and Social Services Committee. My name is Katie Georgia
I am chief of staff to representative Genevieve Mina house district 19
Thank You very much for hearing house bill 27
the the goal of house Bill 27 is to modernize our systems of care and how we
How we address people who are experiencing heart attacks and strokes and time sensitive emergencies of that type
And just for a little bit of context why we brought this bill forward, Representative Mina was having a chat with a neurosurgeon from Anchorage, and this neuro surgeon said, hey, I think that we could do a better job in Alaska and how we address stroke care and time sensitive emergencies.
And at the time, Dr. Anne Zank was our Chief Medical Officer, and
she suggested that perhaps a change in statute would be in a good way to move forward.
And this bill, this, what
▶
2026-02-05
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg2K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-05. Public testimony was taken with 3 testifiers.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
2 testifiers (going to make, not here to speak)
1 testifier (the owner of Young)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
correctional facilities and placement State Forest Senate Bill State Affairs Senate State Affairs Committee
Speakers (12)
Director Of(4)
Senator Bjorkman(3)
Chair Kawasaki(2)
Mr. Douse(2)
Mr. Young(2)
Vice Chair Senator(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Commissioner Brent(1)
Commissioner Goodram(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Notable Points
Meaning, we'll have to have the bill vetoed and resubmitted.
Section four sits an immediate effective date for section three.
In section 5, we probably have to have a little conversation about sets in now past date, July 1st, 2025 as effective date for sections 1 and 2 in expansion of the state forest.
Transcript: 2,205 words
I'd like to call the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order.
They let the record reflect that today is Thursday, February 5th at 2,
let's say 3.31 PM.
Members present today, Vice Chair Senator Bjorkman, Senator Wieckowski,
Senator Gray Jackson,
Senator Tilton, myself, Chair Kawasaki.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
I would like thank Kerry Depo from Senate Records and Chloe Miller.
moderator with the legislative information office for being here. We just have one item
on today's agenda and that is a second hearing on Senate Bill 188, the Tananah Valley State
Forest. It is sponsored at the request of the governor, rules by request to the Governor.
We do have, we almost finished our presentation, actually finished
our presentations in the NECA time at last meeting on the third.
who is online to sort of finish up and present the sectional analysis. We will then take questions
and then we will open it up to public testimony. So if Mr. Douse, if you want to put yourself on
the record and continue the presentation beginning with, I think we're not sure exactly what page
And for the record, this is Jerry B. Dallas State Forester,
Director of the Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.
And I'll let Brent Goodrum, the Deputy Commissioner,
is in the room, and I believe he's
going to go through the sectional, if that works.
Yes, that'd be great, Deputy commissioner.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
For the Record, deputy commissioner Brent
Goodroom, we're starting on slide 9,
the Sectional Analysis.
I'll get to it very quickly because it's a pretty quick analysis.
The first section repills and reenacts the legal description of the current tenant of
alli state forest to include a legal descriptions of 43 additional units.
As we talked about earlier, that's about 600,000 acres of additional acreage.
Defining section and sections as both surveyed, and I'm going to make a correction here,
and unsurveyed protracted sections, so that's what that section says.
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance: Health & Social Services Subcommittee
transcriptakleg14K words
The House Finance: Health & Social Services Subcommittee met on 2026-02-05.
Key Topics
hear three presentations from the department Through Chair Chair Representative Pioneer Homes Pioneer Home Fiscal Year
Speakers (30)
Chair To(23)
Representative Prax(13)
Chair Representative(11)
Representative Gray(10)
Dr. Mcginley(8)
Dr. Mckinley(8)
Representative Ruffridge(7)
Representative Fields(7)
Representative Reference(7)
Dr. Cole(6)
Chair Of(5)
Representative Mina(4)
Chair And(3)
Commissioner For(3)
Representative Stapp(3)
Chair Josephson(3)
Representative Schwanke(2)
Dr. Kern(2)
Chair So(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Transcript: 14,623 words
Good afternoon, I call this meeting of the house financed from a family and community services subcommittee to order.
I'll let the record reflect that it is 323.
We were hoping to begin at 320.
I think that's pretty good.
It is Thursday, February 5th, 2026.
Present today are Representative Schwanke, Representative Ruffridge,
Representative Mina, representative Fields,
Representative Prox, and myself.
Chair of the Finance Subcommittee, Andy Josephson.
Also present today are our LIO moderator, Renzo Moises,
from the Legislative Information Office,
Valerie Rose, an analyst from
the legislative finance division is with us.
And my committee aid, Aaron Page, is for this.
I'm sure there are others.
As always, please remember to mute your cell phones.
A housekeeping note before we begin our presentation.
DFCS binders have been provided to all committee members.
The contents of the binder were all supposed to own basis
under the documents section of this meeting.
Are there any questions about the binder contents?
Lovely, none.
Okay.
In today's meeting, we will hear three presentations from the department.
First is departmental overview, which will be followed by divisional presentations
from The Alaska Psychiatric Institute and the Pioneer Homes.
I know there was lively discussion about foster care during Tuesday's standing
committee. We will have an opportunity to follow up on that in the
OCS budget review on February 26th. Quite a little ways from now.
Please work with my staff on follow-up areas you'd like addressed.
Our presenters today will be Acting Commissioner Tracey Donpling, Pioneer
Homes Director Dr. Kern McGinley, API CEO Ken Cole, and Assistant Commissioner
Marianne Sweet. Acting commissioner Don Plank and AC Sweet please come forward.
Put yourselves on the record and begin your presentation.
Thank you. Good afternoon chair and committee members for the record
My name is Tracy Donpling. I'm the acting commissioner for The Department of Family and Community Servi
▶
2026-02-05
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg8K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-05. Public testimony was taken with 11 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Thank You seeing and hearing no objection House concurrent resolution 9 version I has been passed from Committee.
Motions
And after adopting the committee substitute, bring the bill up again at the end of next week to consider additional member amendments and have a final discussion on the Bill at that time. motion to adopt the committee substitute as our working document and object to that so we can have our office describe the changes to it.
Representative St: Clair and then we'll we go back around for round two Also, just process-wise we are We made a motion to adopt committee substitute.
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (in previous presentations as, going to go back, gonna go to Representative, going to remove my, more of)
6 testifiers (more of, open to those conversations, the bill before you, not bringing
this legislation, not bring this
legislation, actually neutral on that)
Key Topics
investment decisions this legislation Committee Substitute Representative Mccabe Economic Development Executive Budget Budget Act
Speakers (25)
Representative McCabe(10)
Representative Vance(7)
Representative Holland(6)
Representative St(5)
Vice Chair Story(5)
Representative Merrick(4)
Mr. Davis(4)
Mr. Elam(4)
Director And(2)
Representative Sumner(2)
Representative Cage'S(1)
Representative I'M(1)
Representative Him(1)
Representative To(1)
Chair For(1)
Representative Carrick(1)
Representative Himschoot(1)
Representative Saint(1)
Chair Specifically(1)
Representative Care(1)
Notable Points
And then on the 100 million kind of related question, if there was any thought on that number, and I'm raising it in particular because there were some $50 million transactions that were proposed that we're pretty controversial in terms of what was the process and the engagement of those $15 million proposed projects that they had done.
controversial and that that may be a good number.
So a project could be controversial at 5 million, 10 million and 50 million.
Or it could controversial a higher threshold.
So it is a chance for should we reach that gap and Ada is doing remarkable things and we really love everything Ada has been working on or maybe we don't but we really like that Ada have grown so much.
Transcript: 8,462 words
How State Affairs Committee can now come to order?
The time is currently 3.16 p.m. on Thursday, February 5, 2026 and we are here in room 120.
Please remember to silence your cell phones.
Today we have members present, Representative St. Clair, representative Holland, and my
Our record secretary is Andrew Gianati,
and our moderator from the Juneau LAO is Kyla Tuppo.
Our committee aid for today's hearing is my staff,
Stuart Relay.
And we've also just been joined by Representative McCabe.
Today on our agenda, we have two items,
House Concurrent Resolution 9,
celebrating the Declaration of Independence
as 250th birthday, and House Bill 124
on the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority,
from my office. We do only have one hour today so the second half of our regular committee time
will be utilized by the Department of Administration's Budget Subcommittee. And we will go ahead and
start with the first item on our agenda today, House Concurrent Resolution 9, honoring America's
semi-quincentennial.We heard this resolution on Tuesday, set an amendment deadline for Wednesday,
I'm also going to recognize that Representative Vance has joined us.
Is there any further discussion on House Concurrent Resolution 9?
Seeing none, can I get a motion representative, him shoot?
Thank you Madam Chair. I move that the House State Affairs pass committee substitute for House Concurrent Resolution 9 also known as 34-LS-1011
I from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
Thank You seeing and hearing no objection House concurrent resolution 9 version I has been passed from Committee.
I'd like to also just recognize that Vice Chair Story has just joined us. Thank.
All right to be late.
And so the second and final item on our agenda today
is House Bill 124 on ADA.
This is our fifth hearing on this bill.
Just for committee members' information,
today is my intent to bring forth the committee substitute,
have continued discussion.
We do have Randy O'Rara wit
▶
2026-02-05
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill10K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-05. The committee heard HB 63 (School&election Bds; Voting; Elections).
Bills Heard
HB 63 — School&election Bds; Voting; Elections
Motions
representative students: We're going to take maybe one or two more questions total before I move to DOT Representative McCabe. And Ms.
Key Topics
Long Range Range Plan Cascade Point Marine Highway Through Chair
Speakers (30)
Representative Stutes(8)
Representative McCabe(7)
Director Tornga(6)
Ms. Myers(5)
Chair Carrick(4)
Chair Merrick(4)
Representative St(3)
Chair Of(3)
Commissioner Anderson(3)
Vice Chair Lindoff(3)
Mr. Tonga(3)
Chair Representative(3)
Representative Mina(3)
Vice Chair At(2)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Ms. Ayres(2)
Representative Stedman(2)
Commissioner Keith(2)
Director For(2)
Representative Nelson(1)
Notable Points
So the normal grant making processes have been highly It's, it's remarkable and unfortunate.
So, with the governance, the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board, and I am going to apologize to everybody, I've been going this switch to just calling it the acronym So the EMHOP was created in the 2021 legislative session and GHB 60th grade with an effective date of January 1st 2022.
Transcript: 10,181 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House Transportation Committee to order.
It is 1.42 on Thursday, February 5.
Members present include Representative McCabe, Representative St.
Representative Nelson, Representative Stutes, co-chair Ayeshide, and myself co chair Carrick.
Let the record reflect, we do have a quorum to conduct business and
please take this time to silence your cell phone before the meeting.
Before we begin, I'd also like to thank Jordan Nicholson from House Records and
Susan Quigley from the, no, Zachary Lawhorn from The Juneau LIO.
for staffing our committee today. Also our Committee aids Griffin Sukeo and Meredith
Trainer as a reminder for folks in the audience. If you have a note you would like to pass, please
get the attention of our committees instead of approaching the dais. I'd also like
to at this time recognize and invite representative Hymshoot to come join us at the table for today's
presentation.
And I'd like to recognize that today, in addition to our invited guests in our audience, we are joined by
Fran Houston and elder and spokeswoman for the AWKWAN. Thank you for being here today.
On today's agenda,
we have an overview of the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board from Oneida Iyer's chair of The Amhop and
Anthony Lindoff, the vice chair at The AMHOP.
After that, we do have a presentation on the Alaska Marine Highway Systems Cascade Point Project from Craig Tornga,
the Marine Director, and Chris Goens, the South Coast Director.
And we are also joined today by Andy Mills, our Legislative Liaison,
and Catherine Keith, Deputy Commissioner.
So I'd like to first welcome Ms. Ayers and Mr. Lindhoff to please introduce yourself for the record
20 to 30 minutes maximum on this portion of the presentation today before getting to DOT thank you for joining us
We can't hear you miss Iyer's if you're speaking yet
Very brief at ease while we get the technology figured out
House transportation back on the record sorry for the Technology Challenge the
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills19K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-05. Bills discussed included HB 284 (Tax Compact; Sales Tax; Oil & Gas Tax), HJR 29 (Ban on Russian Seafood), HJR 29 (Ban on Russian Seafood). Public testimony was taken with 5 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 284 — Tax Compact; Sales Tax; Oil & Gas Tax
HJR 29 — Ban on Russian Seafood
HJR 29 — Ban on Russian Seafood
Motions
But you have those conversations at the local level that a state tax doesn't take into account. 36 communities will see their sales taxes move to at least 9%. And that's very different than 1.82, right? It's different from 4, it's more than twice as much as 4.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (going to present reflect)
2 testifiers (going to present reflect, thinking is
We)
2 testifiers (going to present reflect, thinking is
We)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the multi-state tax compact Sales Tax Alaska Seafood Local Governments Through Chair Little Bit
Speakers (30)
Mr. Woodrow(7)
Ms. Simpson(7)
Director Of(6)
Representative Galvin(6)
Representative Stapp(5)
Representative Hannan(3)
Representative Bynum(3)
Co-Chair Schrage(3)
Chair Josephson(3)
Representative Allard(2)
Mr. Andreasen(2)
Representative Story(2)
Representative Biden(2)
Mr. Anderson(1)
Mr. Nils(1)
Chair For(1)
Mr. Andresen(1)
Mr. Andress(1)
Representative More(1)
Mr. Andres(1)
Notable Points
We do have a small program also in India, which I know might be surprising, but that is actually one of the fastest growing markets to the United States and to Alaska. brings a lot of value.
controversial right now in Alaska.
I know that the controversy that we see in some of our commercial fisheries in the state of Alaska, I'll say for one, you know, Azmi's job is to market and not to manage our fisheries, right? And so we aren't trying to get into that political debate.
And when you get to the fiscal note, think about not just what's there, but what not there.
We don't have a process for a local government fiscal note but this isn't going to be cheap for local governments to respond and implement corresponding to the next steps that the state might take.
Transcript: 19,949 words
Okay, I'm going to call this meeting the House Finance Committee to order. Let the record reflect that time is currently 1.38 p.m.
On Thursday February 5, 2026 present today. We have representative Allard, representative Hannon, a representative Bynum
Repson of co-chair Schruggie, co chair josephson, repson
of Jimmy,
rep son of Galvin, reps and Tom chef ski reps in a step myself cochair foster and just a reminder folks can mute their cell phones and
We have invited testimony today from the Alaska Municipal League on House Bill 284.
That's the Governor's Albinabist Tax Bill.
And then after that, we'll take our presentations from
the Alaskis Seafood Marketing Institute as well as the Allaska Travel Industry Association.
Just a reminder that tonight, starting at 5.30,
we will be taking public testimony for the governor's tax bill.
Just a reminder to my staff, we need to figure out just somebody who can give a quick real high level overview of the sales tax portion of
the bill, whether it's somebody from DOR or it is Mr. Anderson or someone just to kind of let the public know what the main pieces of that bill are.
And then we're going to public testimony.
Just a reminder, we'll be asking folks,
I just want to make sure that everyone has a chance
to speak on the bill.
And so we are asking, folks if they can limit
their testimony to two minutes.
And with that, thank you so much for being with us,
Mr. Nils Andreas and the Executive Director
of the Alaska Municipal League.
And if you could put yourself on the record
and jump right into your slide deck,
I think you've got maybe 2021 slides,
but I thinks somebody was commenting
or commending you on your ability
to condense difficult information
into nice, concise packages.
So sorry to set the bar a little high,
but a lot of confidence in you.
Thank you chair for the record Nils and Reyes from the executive director of the Alaskan municipal League
I will say when I was invited to
Present here today. My first thought was a hunt
▶
2026-02-05
Senate Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg1K words
The Senate Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-05. Public testimony was taken with 6 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Chairman I move to report Senate bill 191 version 34 dash LS 0 968 backslash a as an achiac From committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal note Seeing and hearing no objections Senate bill 1 9 1 version 3 4 dash Lima Sierra 0 9 6 8 backslash a as an achia chuck Moves from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes Committee members, please stay After we adjourn to sign the committee report Next week the Senate transportation committee will no
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
2 testifiers (Kathy Geesal, the Senator for Senate)
2 testifiers (Kathy Geesal, the Senator for Senate)
2 testifiers (Megan Cummins, the External Affairs Director)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Senate Bill Alaska Railroad
Speakers (13)
Senator Giessel(5)
Mr. Chairman(5)
Senator For(3)
Ms. Claman(3)
Senator Kiehl(2)
Senator Rauscher(2)
Ms. Groh(2)
Senator Tobin(1)
Senator Bjorkman(1)
Senator Stedman(1)
Senator Kathy(1)
Chair We(1)
Ms. Wilde(1)
Notable Points
Chairman I move to report Senate bill 191 version 34 dash LS 0 968 backslash a as an achiac From committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal note Seeing and hearing no objections Senate bill 1 9 1 version 3 4 dash Lima Sierra 0 9 6 8 backslash a as an achia chuck Moves from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes Committee members, please stay After we adjourn to sign the committee report Next week the Senate
fiscal notes Committee members, please stay After we adjourn to sign the committee report Next week the Senate transportation committee will not meet on Tuesday.
effective date Thank Mr.
Transcript: 1,826 words
Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting in the Senate Transportation Committee to order at 1 31 p.m.
We're in Bell's room 105 in our state's capital in
the city of Juneau, Alaska
Today is Tuesday February 5th members present are
Senator Keel senator Tobin senator Rauscher and myself senator Bjorkman senator stedman is excused
from class today of the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business welcome
And for everyone to send a transportation, please turn off our silencer cell phones
I would like to extend and especially warm Senate transportation welcome to our recording secretary
Heather Ramseth and our LAO moderator
Renzo Moises on our agenda today
We are holding a second hearing on Senate Bill 191, transfer of railroad land to Whittier,
sponsored by the Honorable Senator Kathy Geisel. We first heard this bill on May 15th. At that
time, we had a presentation of the bill and took invited testimony. Today, it is my intention to
take public testimony on this item and then look to the will of committee. Senator Geese'll staff,
Available for questions online, I believe either very shortly or
already will be Meghan Clemens from the Alaska Railroad.
Ms. Brown, Senator Giesel, welcome to Senate Transportation.
Could you please provide a brief recap of this bill?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, this is Kathy Geesal. I am the Senator for Senate District E, which includes Whittier.
Whitty is located through a tunnel and is landlocked.
85% of the land in that area, in the downtown waterfront and aviation areas, is owned by the Alaska Railroad.
The City of Whitier has worked well with the Alaskan Railroad over the years and
what this bill is about.
With that, Mr. Chairman, just reminding your committee
of the hearing that you held last year,
my staff can certainly give you the sectional
and any additional comments.
Thank you very much.
Before Ms. Brown begins the Sectional,
are there any questions from committee members?
Ms Brown.
Thank you for the
▶
2026-02-05
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill15K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-02-05. The committee heard HJR 27 (Supporting State Energy Development). 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HJR 27 — Supporting State Energy Development
Votes
This is something that we needed to get done because if they failed during the middle of winter we would no longer be able to meet the taking, but it was made easier by the fact that we have diversified generation assets and we could keep the renewables running to at least power part of the town while we did this project.
Key Topics
Little Bit
Speakers (25)
Representative Edgmon(6)
Representative Costello(5)
Representative Holland(4)
Mr. Chaney(4)
Mr. Copeland(4)
Mr. Atkinson(3)
Co-Chair Mears(2)
Mr. Stan(2)
Co-Chair Mirrors(2)
Representative Cop(1)
Co-Chair Hahn(1)
Chair Donna(1)
Mr. Sam(1)
Ms. Drack(1)
Senator Murkowski'S(1)
Mr. Clay(1)
Chair Of(1)
Mr. Cham(1)
Representative Costana(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Notable Points
Water levels in the in the river we actually had a year, a few years back where one of the rivers was shallow enough that the sun heated it to the point where the salmon could not transition into the lake that fed that river and that has a very direct effect on the on the runs and returns but the construction season of course In the material availability, that's what we found is we're starting to hear when we go looking for some of
So I'd also like to take a moment to thank Michael Riveto and Chris Okay, I don't relish self-introductions, but in this case, I think it's important because I consider myself a product of my community and my cooperative.
Every time one of our bulk, bulk-fuel plants in pick the place has an issue, it falls to the state often to recover from the emergency, whether it's a leak, a spill, or emergency repairs.
Transcript: 15,933 words
I call the House Energy Committee, meaning to order.
Today is February 5th, thanks to the slides up there,
and it is 1.10 PM.
Members present are Representative Cop,
Representative Castello, Representative Edgman,
Co-Chair Hahn, and myself, Co Chair Donna Meers.
We have a quorum to conduct business,
but today we have presentations.
I'd like to remind members and staff to-
Please turn off your phones.
If you need to pass a note to anyone,
please see my aid, Griffin Plush.
I'd also like to thank Representative Holland's aid
Tim Truer for being here today.
Before we get started, I would like
to think our recording secretary, Cheryl Cole,
and Doug Bridges from the Juneau ILO for technical support.
So today's agenda.
We will be hearing presentations
from four rural electric utility CEOs
Challenges and opportunities they face in providing power to communities after everyone's given their presentations will have everyone join us at the table for a panel discussion. So
be mindful when you're considering your questions
so that we've got time for four of them and a discussion.
I am grateful that were taking advantage
of the Alaska Power Association Conference in Juneau this week.
And these are folks that don't necessarily fly down
to Juneo quite so often.
So I'm very grateful
that you are taking the time to be here with us today
and share in person.
your systems and the work that you're doing.
So we have Bill Stamm from the Alaska Village Electric
Cooperative.
Thanks for joining us again.
Tom Atkinson from Cotsiebule Electric Association,
who has previously joined us on the phone in person here
today.
Clay Coplin from Cordova Electric Cooperative,
and Will Cheney from New Chicago Cooperative
So first up, we'll start with Bill Stan.
Bill is the CEO of the Alaskan Village
put yourself on the record and begin your presentation.
Thank you. I'm Bill Stan, president and CEO of Alaska Village Electric
Octave, I'd like to thank Co-Chair Mears and Co Chair Holland,
rest of the committ
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance: Transportation & Public Facilities Subcommittee
transcriptakleg8K words
The House Finance: Transportation & Public Facilities Subcommittee met on 2026-02-05.
Motions
Representative Moore: move to the next slide, slide three. Slide three outlines some of the reductions that our maintenance and operations took in the current years budget.
Key Topics
the department's FY26 budget Madam Chair Through Chair Chair Representative Vessel Replacement Representative Mccabe
Speakers (30)
Representative McCabe(9)
Chair Representative(7)
Representative Stutes(6)
Representative Carrick(4)
Director Holland(4)
Representative Moore(3)
Chair And(3)
Mr. Mills(3)
Director Position(3)
Director Dom(2)
Commissioner Keith(2)
Commissioner Of(2)
Director Penone(2)
Mr. Pignon(2)
Director Positions(2)
Director Hannan(2)
Director In(2)
Representative Mina(1)
Representative St(1)
Commissioner Katherine(1)
Notable Points
We wanted to touch briefly on the typhoon hollong emergency repairs that are underway right now as it is within this calendar year With typhoons, I'm sure most Everyone is aware of the extent of that because there were two storms one that hit More in northern Alaska caught to be a gnome no attack and then the Typhoon that impacted southeast Alaska, I'm sorr
Right after the event occurred, the department had launched drone programs so we could go and get immediate drone footage, live video, go pro data so that we could understand what emergency repairs had to happen immediately and then what we can work on in upcoming weeks.
So in partnership with several other state agencies, including the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs with their statewide emergency operations center, there was a very extensive effort, which is still underway for the department.
We do have 14 communities that have the emergency repairs complete.
That doesn't mean they're fully recovered by any means, but the immediate emergency sufficiently completed, but for awareness, we're expecting about $109 million for overall costs and this is for the department's work. not the entire disaster recovery costs.
Transcript: 8,634 words
Excuse me. That was loud. My first hammer of the subcommittee. I'm going to call this meeting of
the House Finance Department of Transportation Public Facilities Subcommittee to order at 1230
on Thursday, February 5th, 2026. So I'd like to remind everyone to silence their cell phones.
Present today are representatives Ayeshaide, representative Mina,
G. Nelson, Representative St. Clair,
Representative Carrick has told us she's going to be coming a little late,
and I don't know about Representative Moore, but it would be her first subcommittee with us.
Welcome everyone. I look forward to a collaborative and productive process
with the full membership of the Finance Committee.
The purpose of this subcommittee is to review and discuss
the agency budget transactions with
These transactions can include increments, decrements, transfers, new positions or
position changes, fund source changes and more.
Please bear in mind that our work will be focused on the number of sections of the operating budget only.
Issues in the language section of bill are the purview of full finance committee.
Our evaluation will often be based on comparisons between FY26's base budget and the FY27 governor's request.
While our recommendations are not binding, they are very helpful to the full finance committee's process of creating a committee substitute for the governor proposal.
Today we have Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Deputy Commissioner Katherine Keith and Program Management
Administrative Director Dom Pinion, and they will present a mid-year overview of the department's FY26 budget.
For those watching remotely, the PowerPoint presentation can be found under today's meeting documents on basis,
which is the legislature's online headquarters at www.akleg.gov.
Note that we'll be focusing on the department's FY27 budget requests at the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 10th here in Barnes 124.
For members at table, you'll find the presentation under meeting tab
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance: Commerce, Community & Economic Dev Subcommittee
transcriptakleg9K words
The House Finance: Commerce, Community & Economic Dev Subcommittee met on 2026-02-05.
Key Topics
Through Chair Fiscal Year Chair Representative Make Sure Last Year
Speakers (26)
Chair Representative(12)
Representative Johnson(11)
Representative Costello(7)
Representative Bynum(5)
Commissioner Of(3)
Commissioner Sandy(3)
Commissioner For(3)
Co-Chair Mirrors(3)
Representative At(2)
Commissioner Latham(2)
Director Lager(2)
Representative Ruffridge(2)
Co-Chair Mears(2)
Co-Chair Holland(2)
Representative Galvin(2)
Representative Reference(2)
Co-Chair Kai(1)
Chair Donna(1)
Representative Tom(1)
Commissioner Mckay'S(1)
Notable Points
And then you'll also see that there is a fiscal note related change. had general funds in the first two years, and then interagency receipts following that, or sorry, Alaska Energy Authority receipts, following the expectation that there would be a tariff setup and collected and received to fund the organization.
New licenses added that have have had have had general funds put in for investigations in the fiscal notes.
Transcript: 9,758 words
Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. I'd like to call the first meeting of the House Finance Department of Commerce
Community and Economic Development Subcommittee to order. It is now 1203
Thursday February 5th in the Grunberg room at 120 and
I would like comment that this is our first subcommittee meeting
the year and so it does not surprise me that some members will be coming in later.
They're used to this being their lunchtime. However, we do have some
members present. We have co-chair Kai Holland, co chair Donna Meers, and then we also have
representative at the Deus, representative Bynum from the finance committee. Thank you for
let the record reflect that we can proceed without a quorum for this presentation.
So I'd ask all of you to please take the moment to silence your phones if you're in the room.
And I also want to thank Doug Bridges.
Thank you from the Juneau LAO for moderating the committee today.
Thank to the subcommittee aide David Jang.
And the sub committee members have binders.
and they look pretty thick, but they're important because they include the Department of Commerce
Community and Economic Development budget and these documents along with today's presentation
can be found on basis. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that the purpose of this
finance subcommittee as is the same for all subcommittees in the building is to take a
close first look at the governor's budget,
department by department, to better understand
how our public dollars are serving Alaskans.
Furthermore, according to the Executive Budget Act,
it is up to legislature to define the mission
of the departments and put forth measurable goals
and then check in on how those measurable
goals are moving along.
The subcommittee members have binders with information
specific to The Department of Commerce,
these documents again along with the others are in basis as well.
So we are going to begin our presentation.
I know that other members will be able to find this onl
▶
2026-02-05
Lunch and Learn: Housing and Homelessness
transcript3K words
The Lunch and Learn: Housing and Homelessness met on 2026-02-05.
Key Topics
Response System Continuum Care People Who
Speakers (4)
Director For(1)
Director Of(1)
Representative Yeah(1)
Representative No(1)
Transcript: 3,901 words
Hi, good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for coming to our lunch and learn today
Talking about housing in Alaska and how the continuum of care impacts the housing
in our state
My name is Genevieve Mina. I represent house district 19 in the legislature
That includes the Anchorage neighborhoods of airport Heights Mountain View and Russian Jack
I represent an area where I'm also representing many neighbors who are impacted by our huge housing needs in our community.
I want to thank our presenters today for coming down here and presenting on the work that they're doing within our Continuum of Care.
I recently did a youth homelessness fellowship over this past interim.
And I learned a lot about how Continuums of care work.
in our state, and so that's how I've been able to work more with both Brian and Jessica.
Jessica Parks is the interim director for the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness.
Brian Wilson is director of the Alaska State Housing and
Thank you, Alaska Coalition on Housing And Homeless, we have two continuums of care in
our State and I'm excited to have them talk about the work that they're doing.
Thank you very much representative
Yeah, we're working on our name. It's really long and so we were thinking of rebranding here
So it'll be a little easier
So thank you for having us today
We are going to talk today about what our two organizations do in terms of addressing housing and homelessness issues across the state
for the data wonks in the crowd,
we're gonna go over a lot of different data
because that's a big core pillar of our work.
And then we also gonna highlight one of
our awesome initiatives that we are working on right now
called the Youth Homeless System Improvement,
which is basically centering our youth voice
to help improve our systems.
We actually have a lotta of the youth
that were in town this week for a convening,
and so it's great to have them here.
You might see them in a presentation.
We are what are called continuum of care orga
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg17K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-05. Public testimony was taken with 8 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
It sounds simple, this body a decade ago passed sales tax or rather income tax that did not pass the Senate.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (raising in taxation creates, the largest section of)
3 testifiers (going to
give you, not sure if my, sorry AM)
3 testifiers (going to
give you, not sure if my, sorry AM)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the mechanics of the way the used tax works the sales tax Sales Tax Through Chair Chair Representative Income Tax Fiscal Plan
Speakers (30)
Representative Galvin(16)
Chair Representative(14)
Representative Foster(12)
Representative Bynum(12)
Chair To(10)
Representative Hannan(9)
Director Spanos(9)
Representative Stapp(8)
Representative Allard(7)
Commissioner Mears(6)
Co-Chair Josephson(5)
Mr. Stickle(5)
Representative Moore(4)
Representative Jimmie(4)
Director And(4)
Chair Through(3)
Representative Tom(3)
Mr. Coacher(3)
Commissioner For(2)
Mr. Coach(2)
Notable Points
So anyway, just want to say I appreciate your concern We'll go to one last comment here up some of allerd and then what my plan is is to I Think Technically, I don't know for a recessing or we're just a journey, but we will take up AML at the 130 and so I think that means I can adjourn, so would that represent a valor? Thank you, I just quick comment to follow up on representative Jimmy.
This presentation will first go through policy goals, talk about each component of the bill, and if there is time, the fiscal note and sectional analysis.
I think for the question I don't think we are going, to get to the fiscal note in our slides, but that is where the costs are embedded and We maybe can come back and talk about that at another time.
So 67 employees, for this there, I'd believe it was 72 for an income tax. you have a fiscal note on that from us and I just can't remember it off the top of my head.
Thank you. we'll figure out what our schedule is regarding going back to the other two sections that we need to cover as well as the fiscal note I know you also have a sectional in there aswell but I think we're hitting the the high points pretty well so we might not need the section all but with that any final comments from the committee or Department of Revenue represent Jimmy yes I just wanted to with Representative Allard, are property
Transcript: 17,800 words
Okay, I'm going to call this meeting the House Finance Committee to order let the record reflect that the time is currently 9.06 a.m. on Thursday, February 5, 2026 and present today, we have Representative Allard, Representative Hannon,
Representative Moore,
Representative Coachere,
Tragi,
Representative co-chair Josephson,
Representative Jimmy,
Representative Galvin,
Morning everyone looks like we've got a pretty full house today
Before we start, please mute your cell phones
We have one bill before the committee this morning and that's House bill 284
It's the governor's omnibus tax bill and the plan is to introduce the bill
And have the Department of Revenue give a presentation
then we'd like to
Have a Presentation from the Alaska Municipal League and I believe it's knows and racing there you go and
And then this evening starting at 5.30 we'd like to get some feedback from the public
on this bill and so again at five thirty we'll be taking some public testimony.
At that meeting what I'd
like
to do is just have a really short overview just to kind of bring the
public up to speed just kind
of hitting the highlights and give the brief overview of the bill
and then we're going to public
So, with that, I'd like to invite, oh, and I glad somebody mentioned this.
Thank you, Representative Hannon.
I would like recognize that we do have some legislators in the room,
and thanks for being here today.
We do you have Representative Colomb,
Representative Ruffridge,
Representative Ilam,
and,
I think I have everyone.
And so,
with, that appreciate you being there.
So I'd like to invite up to the table Ms. Janelle Earls, the administrative services director and acting commissioner for the Department of Revenue
Brandon Spanos, acting tax director, Department
of revenue, Dan Stickle, chief economist, department of
revenue. If you could all please come up
to table and put yourselves on the record and begin your presentation. We do have quite a few slides in the slide deck. So
What I w
▶
2026-02-05
House Finance: Public Safety Subcommittee
transcriptakleg7K words
The House Finance: Public Safety Subcommittee met on 2026-02-05.
Key Topics
Through Chair Public Safety State Troopers Body Worn Department Public
Speakers (26)
Representative Holland(5)
Commissioner Cockrell(5)
Representative Prax(4)
Director Of(3)
Commissioner James(2)
Representative Myers(2)
Director Thornton(2)
Representative Kamshofsky(1)
Commissioner Cockwell(1)
Director Diane(1)
Commissioner Leon(1)
Director Statewide(1)
Commissioner Is(1)
Director For(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Director Thorkin(1)
Representative Crockes(1)
Chair Represent(1)
Director Thirteen(1)
Chair And(1)
Notable Points
remarkable Progress and that with our victim navigators and also the council domestic violence is in that division and also the by the crimes conservation board is in that division too.
This is because they carry the statewide law enforcement emergency response and investigative responsibilities.
Transcript: 7,409 words
Good morning. This is the, I call this meeting to order at 803 with the House Department of Public Safety Finance Subcommittee.
Today we will be hearing from Commissioner James Cockrell and other entities.
I'm sorry. I don't have my script, but I want to stick to time.
tenants we have representative kamshofsky representative holland
represent with procs representative miers
represent him shoe represent hall
representing Claire represent G Nelson
today is February 5th, 2026 room 124.
Also present today
is my staff Ken Miller our committee age and moderator
from the Legislative Information Office.
Please remember to silence your cell phones,
subcommittee binders have been provided to provide
all subcommittee members and documents have
been posted to biases.
Are there any questions about these?
Seeing none, today the Department of Public Safety
will present their FY 27 budget change.
and FY26 mid-year status report.
Our presenters today are Commissioner Cockwell.
Welcome, Administrative Service Director Diane Thorton.
Welcome.
Available questions are in the room,
Deputy Commissioner Leon Morgan,
Director of Victims, Assistance and Forensic Scientist
and Friends, Susie Frenzel.
Director of Village Public Safety Officers Division, James Holscher,
Director Statewide Services Lisa Printon, Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Major Aaron Frenzel,
Commissioner Cockrell, and ASD Diane Thornton.
Please join us up on the podium with yourself on record and please begin your presentation.
Through the chair, James Cockrell, Commissioner of Alaska Department of Public Safety.
On my right is Diane Thornton, our administrative service director, so pleasure to be here.
As always, this will be my, I think, fifth year in this committee and I always want to, if not,
if it's all right, just kind of do an opening statement and then we can go from there if that's
And I'm always nervous the first time.
So bear with me there.
My wife told me to take five deep breaths.
I've done that, it seems to help a
▶
2026-02-04
Senate Education Committee
transcriptakleg1K words
The Senate Education Committee met on 2026-02-04. Public testimony was taken with 15 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Madam Chair, I move to report Senate Resolution 4, work order 34-LS 1294-A from the Senate Education Committee with individual recommendations and attach zero fiscal note. Without objection, Senate resolution 4 work order, 34 dash LS 1294 backslash-a as in Anchorage, is reported from Senate education committee with Individual Recommendations and attached zero, fiscal notes.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (now going to close)
4 testifiers (Senator Kathy Tilton, going get used to, the prime sponsor of, called the Semi)
4 testifiers (Senator Kathy Tilton, going get used to, the prime sponsor of, called the Semi)
4 testifiers (Senator Kathy Tilton, going get used to, the prime sponsor of, called the Semi)
1 testifier (now going to close)
Key Topics
Senate Education Education Committee Senate Resolution
Speakers (10)
Mr. Stevens(3)
Senator Kathy(3)
Senator Tilton(2)
Senator Kiehl(1)
Senator Bjorkman(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Senator Lukigal(1)
Chair For(1)
Chair Tobin(1)
Mr. Hilliard(1)
Notable Points
Madam Chair, I move to report Senate Resolution 4, work order 34-LS 1294-A from the Senate Education Committee with individual recommendations and attach zero fiscal note.
Without objection, Senate resolution 4 work order, 34 dash LS 1294 backslash-a as in Anchorage, is reported from Senate education committee with Individual Recommendations and attached zero, fiscal notes.
Transcript: 1,487 words
Good afternoon everyone I call this meeting of the Senate Education Committee to order it is 3 44 p.m.
Here on Wednesday February 4th
We are meeting in the belts committee room here in a beautiful state Capitol building located in
The heart of Juneau for those who have joined us here the room if you could please mute mute your cell phones
I'd greatly appreciate it
For today's meetings, documents have been uploaded to basis.
They are also been a distributed to members and some additional copies are available for folks right there by the door.
Members present today is Vice Chair, Senate President Mr. Stevens.
We have Senator Keel, Senator Bjorkman,
Senator Yount, and myself,
Senator Lukigal Tobin, please let the record reflect.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
I wanna thank Zachary from the Juno LAO
for moderating today's meeting.
And Mary Gwen, as always for documenting today meeting,
On the agenda today, we will have the first hearing of Senate Resolution 4
honoring the 250th anniversary of the United States.
We will also have a second hearing for Senate Bill 204 related to substitute teaching and
the qualifications for school board members.
We'll be taking invited testimony on both agenda items.
Senate Resolution 4 will also include public testimony.
If you would like to include your comments, please call the following teleconference numbers from Anchorage 907.
563-9085 from Juneau it's 907-586-9085 and from all other locales it is 1-844-586-90085.
You can also test 5 from your local legislative information office or email your public testimony
to senate.education.aklg.gov that senate dot education at akaleg. gov.
And we're back on the record here in Senate Education.
We, first up is Senate Resolution Number Four.
Sponsored by Senator Kathy Tilton,
she is joined by her staff, May Heath Hilliard,
and they are here to present the resolution.
If you could join us here,
up at the Senate education table,
if you would identify yourself as a record
and begin your
▶
2026-02-04
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills12K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-02-04. Bills discussed included HB 4 (Presidential Write-in Votes), HB 4 (Presidential Write-in Votes). 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 4 — Presidential Write-in Votes
HB 4 — Presidential Write-in Votes
Votes
How do you know the absolute cost at that time? what the pipeline would be, or could we find out maybe a year later or two years later after there's no objection by the public because public's like oh okay that's reasonable, but then they get the bill and they're like wait a second this is supposed to cost ten billion dollars and all of a sudden it's twenty five or thirty billion and instead of gas being twelve thirteen dollars it 's 20 about twenty dollars
Motions
It really just is the structure of the pipeline that could move that gas within the State. Does that answer your question in any way? I'll think about it.
Key Topics
each of these authorities Recourse Tariff Through Chair Chair Senator Laura Barson Open Season
Speakers (19)
Senator Wielechowski(28)
Senator Dunbar(12)
Chair Laura(12)
Senator Claman(8)
Chair Senator(8)
Senator Kawasaki(7)
Chair Of(4)
Chair For(4)
Senator Rauscher(3)
Senator Myers(3)
Chair And(3)
Commissioner Jimmie(2)
Senator Wieckowski(2)
Senator Kiehl(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Mr. Schwanke(1)
Senator Lewalkowski(1)
Senator Rocha(1)
Chair Further(1)
Transcript: 12,117 words
I call the Senate committee meeting to order.
Today is Wednesday, February 4th, 2026, and it's 3.30 PM.
Welcome to the committee.
Please turn off your cell phones.
Committee members present today.
Senator Rauscher, Senator Dunbar,
Senator Myers,
Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Clayman,
I expect Senator Wilkowski along shortly,
and I am the Chair,
Senator Geese,
and we have a quorum to conduct business.
Heather and Susan are helping us out
by keeping the minutes and running the audio for us.
So our presentation today
is from the regulatory commission of Alaska.
I asked them to come and explain to us their authority under Alaska Statute Chapter 11 SLA-13.
This pertains to the RCA's authority to regulate an in-state pipeline contract carriers.
She is the hearing officer, hearing examiner two, administrative law in the administrative
law for the RCA, Commissioner John Espindola.
He is a commissioner with the RCA and Commissioner, John Springsteen.
So folks, if you would come forward from the far end of the room, welcome.
And they have a very detailed power presentation, PowerPoint to give us.
So, as we go through the slides, could we pause at the end of each to see if members have a question?
And as you speak, if you would identify yourself for the record, that's just for record keeping, plus the public is the same, and then they know who's speaking.
Welcome. Yes.
For the record, my name is John Espindola, Chair of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
Today I am joined by my colleague, Commissioner John Springsteen, who is also available to answer any questions the committee may have.
The majority of presentation will be presented by the Commission's Chief Administrative Law Judge Laura Barson.
And with that, I will turn it over to Chief ALJ Laura Barson.
Great. Welcome.
Good afternoon. Thank you.
For the record, my name is Laura Barsen, I'm the hearing examiner for the regulatory commission of Alaska.
And I will begin discussion today with a portion of the legislative findin
▶
2026-02-04
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript1 bill12K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-04. The committee heard HB 293 (Genetic Couns: Licensing; Advisory Cncl.).
Bills Heard
HB 293 — Genetic Couns: Licensing; Advisory Cncl.
Key Topics
their genetic risks and accurate interpretation of the results of genetic tests The Rising Cost of Health Care Through Chair Genetic Counselors Health Care Genetic Counseling Genetic Counselor
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(11)
Dr. Giessel(9)
Co-Chair Fields(8)
Mr. Worthington(7)
Ms. O'Connor(6)
Mr. Fong(6)
Representative Coulombe(5)
Chair Hall(5)
Chair To(3)
Mr. Strandigan(3)
Representative Carrick(2)
Chair And(2)
Chair Through(2)
Representative Cologne(2)
Chair So(2)
Representative Klom(2)
Mr. Strainigan(2)
Representative Frier(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Ms. April(1)
Notable Points
And surprisingly, it has several states have exceeded Alaska in cost of the living, and Washington is now 6% higher in a few years ago, dining in Alaska, I noticed that my goodness, I could eat at a very nice restaurant for considerably less than a similar restaurant would be in Washington state.
Transcript: 12,345 words
This meeting of the House Labor and Commerce Committee will come to order.
The time is 3.18 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4th.
Members present are Representative Carrick, Representative Colomb,
Representative Freer, representative Sadler,
Representative Nelson, co-chair field and myself co chair Hall.
We have a quorum.
Please silence your cell phones and we're asking that staff and members of the audience not approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to committee members, please get the attention of my committee aide Joan Wilkerson and she will handle it.
I'd like to thank Andrew Magnuson, the Labor and Commerce Committee Secretary, and Chloe
Miller from the Juno LAO for their technical and teleconferencing support.
We have two presentations on the agenda today.
Our first presentation will be licensing
for genetic counselors,
followed by a second presentation
on The Rising Cost of Health Care.
And for the public's awareness,
we anticipate the likelihood of having an extended at ease
between the two presentations
due to some time restrictions
with the second presentation.
But up first is the presentation on licensing
for your genetic counselor.
We will hear from Monty Worthington,
Academic Councillor, so Mr. Worthington, please have a seat before the committee,
stage your full name for the record, begin your presentation, and thank you very much for your time today.
We appreciate it.
Speaking of one of these.
Yes, sir.
All right, my name is Monty Wor
And I'm a certified genetic counselor with a master's in human genetics and genetic counseling from Stanford University
On behalf of myself and my colleagues at the Providence Cancer Center
We want to thank the committee for considering a bill and representative fields for sponsoring the bill that would provide requirements for licensure for genetic counselors in Alaska
Appreciate the opportunity to testify in favor of this important legislation as a bit of background. I'd like to
I'll point out that Alaska is current
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-04
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill16K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-04. The committee heard HB 50 (Snow Classics). Public testimony was taken.
Bills Heard
HB 50 — Snow Classics
Motions
chair co-chair: And we're gonna move to a deed now. We'll take a brief at ease while they set up.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the local contribution issue Through Chair Fiscal Year Chair Josephson Chair Representative School Districts
Speakers (30)
Chair Josephson(23)
Chair To(15)
Representative Galvin(10)
Representative Hannan(9)
Director For(9)
Representative Bynum(7)
Commissioner Bishop(7)
Director Of(6)
Representative Allard(4)
Representative Stapp(4)
Chair And(4)
Chair Representative(4)
Director Through(4)
Co-Chair Justice(4)
Co-Chair Foster(4)
Ms. Sanders(3)
Commissioner Morrison(3)
Co-Chair Schrage(2)
Chair Or(2)
Chair Co-Chair(2)
Notable Points
Sure, um, We've had, we've have a debate, the state has had to debate about the urgency of the transportation match.
And I won't have any further In-depth questions, unless something pops up unexpectedly But when we look at on this slide Through the chair When we looked on the slide The second half of the title says education excellence And when we read down into the description of the mission, we say academic assessment and accountability.
Within the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, we have continued to experience when it comes to emergency weather or catastrophic events.
emergency management.
And you mentioned fire and I'm recalling obviously that fire seasons can start in the spring Are there other items here given that this could become one big budget? Sorry for the term That the governor doesn't get to sign or veto until June is there anything else that's pressing On this list that has about 80 operating items through the chair, or to the Chair, Representative Josephson.
Transcript: 16,413 words
I call this meeting at the House Finance Committee to order.
Let the record reflect that it is 134.
On Wednesday the 4th, 2026, present today a representative Allard, representative Hannon,
and two co-chairs, a co chair,
Foster and myself co Chair, Josephson.
Also present today are our House Finance Committee staff,
Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Tallulah-Lestufka, Secretary Brie Wiley,
and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh,
from the Legislative Information Office with us.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, the Office of Management and Budget
will present an overview of the FY26 Governor's
Then the Department of Education and Early Development will present its FY27 department budget overview.
With us today from the Office of Management and Budget is Director Lacey Sanders.
Director, please come forward, put yourself on the record, and begin your presentation.
Get a brief of these, sir.
It's a briefing.
Brief these.
Brief it is.
We're back on record and been joined by co-chair Schruggie, Ms. Sanders, good afternoon.
Tell us about the governor's amendments to his FY26 budget.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone, for the record.
My name is Lacey Sanders.
I am the Office of Management and Budget Director for The Governor.
As required by statute, these are due to the legislature on the 15th day.
The documents were transmitted to legislature Monday to be introduced for
the legislatures viewing yesterday.
So with that, I will start just a high level overview.
I'm going to talk through some items.
In the committee members' packets is a very large spreadsheet.
with a list of every item.
I wasn't planning on talking about every
item today, but happy to take questions
from the committee as we go through
if there are items that I don't touch on.
So with that chair, I will move forward
to slide number two and just begin the presentation
with an update to our fiscal year 2026 supplemental.
This is our physica
▶
2026-02-04
-- Canceled -- Senate Judiciary Committee
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: -- Canceled -- Senate Judiciary Committee. Date: 2026-02-04.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-04
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript1 bill1K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-04. The committee heard SB 211 (Extend Occupational Licensing Boards). Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 211 — Extend Occupational Licensing Boards
Motions
And now we will move to some invited testimony. We have members of three boards.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (Bradley McConnell and, happy to answer any, Mae Hayes, the board chair for)
Key Topics
ownership limitation for an owner who's hadn't appraised a license or certificate refused Real Estate Senate Bill Appraisal Management Seeing None
Speakers (14)
Director Of(5)
Senator Dunbar(3)
Ms. Curtis(3)
Senator Gray(2)
Director Sylvan(2)
Ms. Rob(2)
Mr. Mcconnell(2)
Senator Young(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Chair Bjorkman(1)
Chair Concur(1)
Chair For(1)
Ms. Hayes(1)
Ms. Fields(1)
Transcript: 1,920 words
Good afternoon. I call this meeting of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order. Let the record reflect. It is 1 31 p.m. On Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 members present today are Senator Dunbar, Senator Young, myself Senator Merrick, Chair Bjorkman is excused and Senator Great Jackson will be with us shortly today.
We will hold a second hearing on Senate bill 211 extend occupational licensing boards. The omnibus board extension bill.
We heard this bill on Monday when the legislative auditor Chris Curtis reviewed the first five audits in the bill.
We adopted a committee substitute which added the board of certified real estate appraisers.
Today we will hear a review of the real-estate appraiser's audit by Ms. Curtis,
followed by director Sylvan Rob with the division of corporations business and professional licensing.
And finally, we'll hear testimony from representatives of three of
Please let the record reflect at 1.32 p.m. We have been joined by senator gray Jackson
So first we will start with our legislative auditor Chris Curtis if you would like to come forward place yourself on the
Record and begin the review of the audit. Thank you for being here
For the records, my name is Chris Kurtis. I'm your state legislative Auditor
I believe all of you have a copy of The real state appraiser sunset audit in your meeting packets and I'll be going over that
Audit at a fairly high level
So overall we found this board was serving the public's interest
by conducting their meetings in an effective manner,
by actively amending their regulations,
and by effectively licensing real estate appraisers
and appraisal management companies.
The audit also concluded that there was one board member seat
that had been vacant for 56 months as of January 2025.
Statute changes may be necessary
to address federal oversight findings
and board related investigations
are not conducted in a timely manner.
We're recommending a six year extension for this board.
If you turn to page 8, you'
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-04
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg7K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-04. Public testimony was taken with 24 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
I think it's a great amendment, was properly offered, properly accepted, and I have no objection that we'll consider it a friendly amendment.
Motions
Representative Gray: At this time, I move amendment one.
Public Testimony
6 testifiers (saying your name correctly, Deb Fanchher, absolutely not qualified for, volunteering on the ethics, sure we both have, probably not supposed to)
6 testifiers (saying your name correctly, Deb Fanchher, absolutely not qualified for, volunteering on the ethics, sure we both have, probably not supposed to)
5 testifiers (proud to support
Thank, Nancy me general counsel, in the role of, going to talk, the judge
that you)
5 testifiers (proud to support
Thank, Nancy me general counsel, in the role of, going to talk, the judge
that you)
1 testifier (our second hearing on)
Key Topics
Superior Court House Bill Court Judges Ethics Committee Any Questions
Speakers (24)
Representative Gray(8)
Representative Vance(7)
Representative Saddler(6)
Representative Mina(4)
Vice Chair Cop(4)
Mr. Chairman(4)
Chair To(4)
Mr. Berenson(3)
Ms. Fancher(3)
Representative Underwood(2)
Mr. Barenson(2)
Senator Stevens(2)
Representative Aishide(1)
Vice Chair Cup(1)
Ms. Rauscher(1)
Ms. Fanshire(1)
Ms. Fanchher(1)
Ms. Mead(1)
Representative Cobb(1)
Representative For(1)
Notable Points
It is a bill with a fiscal note. that this bill would do specifically is amend Alaska Statute 2210120 which does set the number of superior court judges.
And can we expect a fiscal note from the Department of Law? I saw the public defender jumped on there with a You know, with a fiscal note reflecting, if we have more capacity to move cases, there's going to be more representation.
So first of all, our fiscal note does include four positions because a judge does come with a judicial assistant, a law clerk to do research and an in court clerk, to handle recordings and paperwork inside the courtroom.
I cannot speak at all to the executive branch's plans for fiscal note, so I won't touch that.
Chair, at this time, I move that House Bill 20, work order 34-LS0237 backslash N as amended, be reported out of the Judiciary Committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. is reported out of Judiciary Committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note.
Transcript: 7,909 words
This meeting of the House Judiciary Committee will now come to order.
The time is now 1.01 PM on Wednesday, February 4th, 2026.
We are meeting in the Grunberg room, Capitol room 120.
The following members are present.
Representative Underwood, Representative Aishide,
Representative Vance, representative Mina, and Vice Chair Cup,
and my self-representative gray chair.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
I would like to recognize the staff supporting this meeting.
Sophia Tenney from House Records, Kyla Tupoe from the Juno-LIO,
and my staff Dylan Hitchcock Lopez.
We have three items of business on today's agenda.
The first will be the consideration of nominees to the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics,
Deborah Fancher, public member, and Chase Berenson,
We will also hear the introduction of House Bill 262,
number of Superior Court Judges,
presented by Nancy Mead,
counsel to the judiciary of the court system, thank you.
And then we will hear our second hearing
of house bill 20, prohibit fees for paper documents,
presented with Representative Sadler
and his staff, Kai Elkins.
We will now begin our consideration of nominees
to the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics.
We'll begin with Deborah Fancher.
At this time, I invite her to take herself off mute,
state her name for the record,
and provide a brief introduction.
Deborah, if you're there.
Unavailable. We are moving to Chase Berenson. Mr. Barenson, if you could take yourself off mute,
state your name for the record and provide a brief introduction and any remarks you would
like to share with the committee, you can do so now. Good afternoon, Chair Gray. Thank you for
the opportunity. This is Chase Barron speaking to you today from Anchorage. I have always felt
I live in Durdenwood, and I serve on multiple methods in
Durdwood.
And I think it's an incredible opportunity to try to
serve the state at large.
And, I believe, this is a great opportunity
to work with the legislator and the et
▶
2026-02-04
House Resources Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills9K words
The House Resources Committee met on 2026-02-04. Bills discussed included HB 271 (Kitchen Lights Unit Royalty Modification), HB 291 (Municipal Property Tax Exemptions), HB 271 (Kitchen Lights Unit Royalty Modification). 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 271 — Kitchen Lights Unit Royalty Modification
HB 291 — Municipal Property Tax Exemptions
HB 271 — Kitchen Lights Unit Royalty Modification
Votes
And that, as you previously heard, was sent at the time, representative Rauscher's House Bill 223, and it did not pass out through Because it was, say in part because it was a wide cook-inlet area, a wide bill, it was not targeted just for this unit.
Key Topics
this recent cold snap Royalty Relief Through Chair Cook Inlet Kitchen Lights Lights Unit
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(10)
Representative Prax(8)
Mr. Slaughter(8)
Representative Fields(6)
Representative Hall(5)
Representative Rauscher(4)
Mr. Fitzpatrick(4)
Representative Coulombe(2)
Representative You(2)
Chair To(2)
Chair Dibert(2)
Representative Paul(2)
Representative Elam(1)
Commissioner Designee(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Chair So(1)
Chair And(1)
Representative Klum(1)
Commissioner Did(1)
Chair The(1)
Notable Points
But at the time, it was surprising how many of my colleagues were against that bill.
Transcript: 9,150 words
This meeting of the House Resources Committee will now come to order. It is now 1-0-1 p.m.
Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 in Capital Room 124. Members present are Representative Fields,
Representative Colomb, Representative Hall, Representatives Mears,
Representative Prox, Rep. Elam, representative Sadler,
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business and please take this time
to silence your cell phones for the duration of the meeting. Thank you. I'd like to thank
Cheryl Cole from Records and Renzo Moises from the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today.
Today in house resources we are holding an introductory hearing on House Bill 271 from
in Cook Inlet and then hearing a related presentation from HEC's theory on their operations in
Cook inlet.
We also have available for questions, Ryan Fitzpatrick, a commercial manager with a division
of oil and gas within the Department of Natural Resources.
So first up, we'll bring House Bill 271 before the committee.
Representative Fields, please take the testifier table with your staff.
Michael Nadi, and begin your presentation.
Thank you, co-chairs Burke and sorry, Freer and
Diber for the opportunity to present House Bill 271.
This bill pertains to royalty rates for
the kitchen lights unit in Cook Inlet.
And I want to thank former representatives on this committee for introducing.
prior royalty relief bills so that we could start exploring the options in this policy area.
What is the kitchen lights unit? Almost 84,000 acres in cook-and-let.
DNR combined three units in 2009 to form what's currently the Kitchen Lights Unit.
Fury, sorry, Fury owned and operated a single offshore platform.
Better image of where kitchen lights is relative to some hill court units
More detail about where the well slots are and
This chart really shows why I'm introducing this bill. So
When hex purchased fury
They were able to stabilize what had been a production decline
They also applied for royalty relief.
This was basically d
▶
2026-02-04
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-04.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-04
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-04.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-04
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg6K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-04.
Motions
And with that, I'll move to slide number six to highlight some of those capital supplemental items. In the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, we have five million dollars in federal receipts for the Alaska Energy Authority bulk fuel upgrades high energy cost grant that they are receiving.
Key Topics
Senator Keel Through Chair Million Dollars Department Corrections Chair Senator
Speakers (22)
Senator Kiehl(11)
Mr. Chairman(10)
Senator Stedman(9)
Senator Hoffman(8)
Commissioner Winkleman(5)
Senator Kaufman(3)
Director For(3)
Chair Senator(3)
Ms. Sanders(2)
Chair To(2)
Commissioner Anderson(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Director Of(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Mr. Bjorkman(1)
Senator Edgmon(1)
Commissioner Winkelman(1)
Commissioner Headberg(1)
Notable Points
The department went through their outstanding capital projects and identified $5.1 million of ended projects that could be used towards that emergency response.
Transcript: 6,591 words
Senate Finance Committee to order.
Today is February the 4th, we're in the state capital senate finance room.
It's 9 AM, the silence of cell phones.
Joining me today are Senator Stedman, Senator Olsen,
Senator Keel, senator Merrick,
Senator Kauffman and my self Senator Hoffman,
Senator Crock is excused today.
Today's agenda,
supplemental overview could Lacey Sanders, the director of the Office of Management and Budget
come forward and submit her presentation also in the audience as Senator Giesel.
Ms. Sanders.
Good morning.
For the record, my name is Lacey Sanders. I am the Office of Management and Budget Director for the governor and
As noted today, I was going to walk through an overview of the fiscal year
2026 supplemental budget
That was transmitted to the legislature yesterday
Year per statute the supplemental Budget is required to be transmitted
To the Legislature by the 15th day of session
And this is the the start of that process
We have historically brought as many as the items that we had and are known and have available to the committee at this by this deadline
That does not mean that there are not items
That may still come before the Committee as we work through the
The process during session as well as, we have the department's bringing us additional items
So to get started I'll start on slide two
This slide two is a reflection of an updated version
of the supplemental budget fiscal summary.
So for fiscal year 2026, this includes both the
enacted FY26 budget, which we refer to as management plan
plus the subliminals that were proposed
on the December 11th budget.
And then as well the supplementals that were introduced yesterday in the February 3rd budget.
As you can see, the overall surplus is now 400, excuse me, deficit is
now 425.9 million dollars.
I like surplus, I do as Well.
Again, that's proposed to be drawn from the constitutional budget reserve fund.
Fast forward, if it's okay to slide three,
I think it is a little easier to see the breakdown.
S
▶
2026-02-04
House Finance: Education & Early Development Subcommittee
transcriptakleg16K words
The House Finance: Education & Early Development Subcommittee met on 2026-02-04.
Motions
move that made the legislature. and we're seeing the successes of that so I would look forward to hearing more about that.
representative story: Really looking at what are the ways that individuals are recruited currently? How do we modernize that prior to? the playbook rollout, you know, it was really the in-person, you, know there was a lot of in person, job fair, and looking at how to move that to a more modern program. And so with that restructuring, there has been a move in recent years to move to the Alaska Council of School Administrators, and to structure that with more online opportunities. program that existed within the univer
Representative Alum: We have a few in a queue and if you'd to answer, there's a question that's related to that, feel free to. chime in and we will thank you for raising your voice so that we can be sure to acknowledge you miss go yet and that's important and now we're going to move to represent a strong key. Thank you through the chair I just want to highlight you know the apprenticeship program and just I really appreciate the efforts that that you've gone through entire department and I want to kind of highlight
Key Topics
the Fiscal Year 2026 budget Through Chair Teacher Retention Retention Recruitment Chair Galvin Chair Representative
Speakers (30)
Representative Galvin(21)
Chair To(15)
Representative Story(12)
Commissioner For(12)
Co-Chair Of(11)
Commissioner Manning(9)
Representative Schwanke(8)
Representative Dibert(8)
Commissioner Bishop(7)
Co-Chair Himschoot(7)
Representative Elam(5)
Representative Underwood(4)
Representative Him(4)
Representative Hymn(3)
Commissioner Mina(3)
Chair Representative(3)
Commissioner Karen(2)
Director Don(2)
Commissioner And(2)
Commissioner Yes(2)
Notable Points
From all accounts, did an excellent job of responding to ex-Tifun Halong and the emergency of trying to relocate extremely traumatized children into new and different schools.
It's really important for the state to recognize that this was a statewide emergency.
Follow-up? Follow up? So is there a reason, because, yeah, that's my memory that the University of Alaska no Switch to ARK, why is that not listed here? Oh, and I remember that that was vetoed last year, those funds by the governor, but it was under a contract for So, there was a contract with the ARC, and thank you for correcting me, I've said ACSA, but it is under the ARK program.
That was funding that had been through the university. as I recall and somebody else I think can speak to this better than me but I believe that that was put into the budget under Department of Labor and that's where it was vetoed from not from the Department of Education.
This subcommittees work because I know that the governor did veto what you would ask for previously.
Transcript: 16,008 words
Good morning. I'd like to call the first meeting of the House Finance Education Subcommittee
to order. It is now 8-0.
2 AM February 4th, 2026, in the Betty Davis Capital Room 106.
Members present are, on my right I have Representative Eyshard.
Representative Underwood, co-chair of the Education Committee, representative Hymn Shoot.
Now on the left I had co chair of The Education committee,
representative Story, Representative Schwonke,
And we also have President with us, Representative Moore,
who joins us as the minority member from the Finance Committee.
Thank you for being here, all of you.
And myself, representative Galvin, Chair of the House Education Subcommittee.
Let the record reflect that we can proceed even without a quorum.
But today I'm so grateful we have all us present.
So please also take your time.
We have quite a few here in the room.
so that we can hear everyone, and I especially want to thank Jude Augustine.
I appreciate you being here from the Juno-LIO for moderating the committee today.
I see online, we also have several with us that I'm grateful to have.
Commissioner Dina Bishop is here, Deputy Commissioner Karen Morrison,
Administrative Services Director Don Hanish is just here as well.
from my office and before we get started I want to remind everyone the purpose of this
finance subcommittee is as the same as it is for all subcommittees in the whole building and that
is to take a close first look at the governor's budget department by department to better understand
On page 24 of the Governor's budget book, The Mission of The Department,
is to provide financial support to Alaska's public schools.
The subcommittee members have binders with, and it's a pretty thick one in this, in
this subcommittee, And in that, the binderers help us have information
specific to the Department of Education and Early Development budget.
These documents, along with today's presentation, can be found on basis.
As such, all committee members should find a key perfor
▶
2026-02-03
Senate Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill14K words
The Senate Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-02-03. The committee heard HB 27 (Medical Major Emergencies).
Bills Heard
HB 27 — Medical Major Emergencies
Key Topics
medical care for major emergencies the second question the causes of death the marketplace plans and restrictions there Through Chair Chair Senator Behavioral Health Senator Tobin Child Care
Speakers (30)
Senator Tobin(22)
Senator Claman(16)
Commissioner For(8)
Senator Myers(7)
Director Of(7)
Mr. Chairman(7)
Dr. Lawrence(6)
Vice Chair Giessel(5)
Chair Dunbar(3)
Dr. Dibert(3)
Chair Senator(3)
Commissioner And(3)
Senator Kleinman(2)
Director If(2)
Commissioner Heidi(1)
Commissioner Emily(1)
Dr. Bob(1)
Commissioner Woodju(1)
Senator Keasler(1)
Senator Keisler(1)
Notable Points
One is something called provider taxes, and I think many of you on the committee have been involved in debates within the state about whether or not to establish a provider tax.
I know as part of the FY26 budget, DOH chronic disease, and health promotion had requested money for a gun safe storage media campaign that unfortunately had been vetoed.
Where are you getting that data from? Perhaps it's from emergency rooms.
We were looking at some kind of measures from that Medicaid released at a national level a few years ago, and in some of the key measures, particularly follow up. access to a behavioral health provider following an emergency room visit or something like that.
Transcript: 14,100 words
This hearing of the Senate Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order.
Today is Tuesday, February 3rd, and the time is 331.
We are in butchered of its room 205.
Members present are Senator Meyers, Senator Klayman,
Senator Tobin, Vice Chair Geesele, myself, Chair Dunbar.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Before we begin, I would like to thank Mary Glenn Kawakami,
the senate health and social services recording secretary,
and Kyla Tupo from the June LIO for staffing the committee today.
Today, we have an overview from the Department of Health, which will include updates on
SNAP and Medicaid related to the passage of HR1.
So in the room, We have Commissioner Heidi Hedberg, Deputy Commissioner Emily Ritchie.
On the phone,
we are Chief Medical Officer of the department of health, Dr. Bob Lawrence, as we do.
In addition,
Carson. She's here in person. The director of Division of Public Assistance, Deb Etheridge,
also in-person. And online, we also have the health care policy advisor, Leah Van Kirk. So
we have a great team here today. Commissioner Woodju and the deputy commissioner like to come
For the record, my name is Heidi Hedberg,
Commissioner for the Department of Health.
And so we will start on slide two.
So July 1st, 2022 is when there was the department
reorganization and that formed the
Department Of Health, and so I think of the
Department Health as a system, so systems that
support Alaskans across the state.
And it is made up of five divisions, seniors
and disabilities, public health, behavioral health.
health care services that includes our management operations of our Medicaid program and licensing
and background checks and then public assistance. Our mission is to promote the health, the
wellbeing and sole sufficiency of Alaskans. On slide three, so in 2022 as we stepped into these
we went out to communities and we listened and really heard what the needs were as we formed this
new department and that really cr
▶
2026-02-03
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg13K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-03. Public testimony was taken with 3 testifiers.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Jeremy Dallas and the, going to just introduce, going to
kind of)
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the town on Valley State Forest my other two primary operating sections, my preparedness and my planning units my planning section Fire Season State Forest Last Year
Speakers (23)
Senator Wielechowski(7)
Director Of(7)
Mr. Foster(7)
Chair Senator(7)
Chair Kawasaki(6)
Senator Gray(3)
Senator Bjorkman(3)
Mr. Chairman(3)
Chair On(2)
Director Mcdonald(2)
Commissioner Goodrum(2)
Senator Tilton(1)
Mr. Brian(1)
Senator Moore(1)
Senator Biorke(1)
Chair Immediately(1)
Director For(1)
Senator Lukaski(1)
Commissioner Gudrem(1)
Commissioner Goodroom(1)
Notable Points
I am the director of The Alaska Division of Homeland Security and emergency management was asked to come brief the committee today on preparedness.
And my division is made up of an operation section that runs the state emergency operation center in our field response operations, a disaster assistance section, that does all of our recovery work on all the disasters we have to recover from.
My agency is very acronym heavy in the emergency management world.
EOPs are emergency operations plans, scurps, and we'll talk a little bit more about those You can imagine that as an emergency operations plan, but for a small population community.
This section also supports the efforts of all of our local emergency planning committees.
Transcript: 13,868 words
This is the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting.
I'd like to say it is Tuesday,
February 3rd, time I was 3.30 PM.
We're in the belts committee room
in June of Alaska, the state capital.
We have members present today, Senator Wilakowski,
Senator Great Jackson,
Senator Tilton, myself, Chair Kawasaki.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
I'd like to thank Kerry Tippo from Senate Records and Renzo Moises as the moderator
with the Legislative Information Office. On today's agenda we have three items,
the first of which we're going to take slightly out of order. We do have a presentation on disaster
preparedness with director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security Brian Fisher.
protection on the 20-25 fire suppression updates and then we will have first hearing on Senate Bill
188 regarding the town on Valley State Forest. It is a bill by the rules committee by request
of the governor and since we have changed that order we're going to go ahead and hear from
First, Mr. Brian Fisher who joins us on teams
And if you would state your name and for the record we have
My staff staff to the committee is going to forward the slides as you let him know
Thank you chair Kawasaki and good afternoon members of the Committee for The record
My name is Brian Fischer. I am the director of The Alaska Division of Homeland Security and emergency management
was asked to come brief the committee today on preparedness. The prepared
ness activities that my division is responsible for. If we can go to the next slide, please.
Just an overview real quick. My division falls within the Department of Military
and Veterans Affairs. So Major General Torrance Sacks, the Agidant General, is my boss on one of
That also includes the Alaska Army and Air National Guards, the State Defense Force
enabled militia, our State Office of Veterans Affairs,
the Military Youth Academy, and our admin services division.
So I am a purely state employee division,
none of the military members work in my agency.
W
▶
2026-02-03
House Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill18K words
The House Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-02-03. The committee heard HB 151 (Medical Assistance: Children Under Age 6). Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers. 2 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 151 — Medical Assistance: Children Under Age 6
Votes
This is one area that we have failed to implement successfully and is a continued challenge, although that, without said, the intent behind HB 151 was to make sure relatives were entered and relatives are entered, and that is what it says.
This audit says OCS's management structure found The review of OCS's management structure found the new training program focused on the clinical side of the work, the failed to incorporate practical aspects of the job.
Motions
So they move that around for like foster care payment rates. That's not often what I see.
A lot of places closed their doors, limited their hours, moved to virtual themselves. We lost a lot community providers.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (Sarah Dody, speaking on behalf of, calling in from today, an employee physician)
Key Topics
Through Chair Child Welfare
Speakers (30)
Representative Gray(8)
Chair Representative(7)
Representative Ruffridge(6)
Representative Mina(5)
Senator Claman(4)
Commissioner For(4)
Representative Schwanke(4)
Representative Fields(4)
Director Kim(3)
Representative Prax(3)
Director Guey(3)
Director To(3)
Chair We(3)
Chair And(3)
Chair Representing(3)
Commissioner Tracey(1)
Director Brooke(1)
Commissioner Role(1)
Commissioner Rold(1)
Director Office(1)
Notable Points
Debate they really believed that they were going to massively improved the system because they were going to increase the number of caseworkers and caseworkers would have manageable workloads.
In just the past two weeks, via telemedicine services to communities outside the city where I was performing in person visits at the time, I diagnosed and treated a flare of inflammatory muscle disease, which prevented emergency air lift and vacation to a local hospital.
This bill, HB 151, had. multiple different effective dates, and so it spanned from 2018 to 2020, I believe.
effective date of January 1st, 2026 and that concludes the sectional analysis.
Transcript: 18,528 words
This meeting of the House Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order.
It is 3.15 p.m. Tuesday, February 3, 2026, and Davis 106.
Members present are representatives Schwonke, Ruffridge, Prox,
and myself, Representative Mina Chair.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones for the duration of
the meeting. Staffing the committee today, we
have Andrew Gianati as Health & Social Service's recording secretary,
Chloe Miller, our LAO moderator.
and Katie Giorgio, my committee aide.
If you need anything during the meeting,
please don't hesitate to get her attention.
The recently released legislative audit of the Office
of Children and Services provides a critical look
at the systems intended to protect children in our state.
We acknowledge the incredibly difficult
and complex work performed by OCS staff every day,
and we thank you all at The Division and also at
the state for all of work that you do.
This committee's priority is clear.
in sharing that when the state intervenes in the life of a child, it does so with the highest
standard of care, urgency, and oversight. And we really appreciate all the work that's being done
to help care for many of our vulnerable children in this state. Just a few housekeeping items,
and I'll repeat this if we have other members come in during the meeting, we will start off
Department of Family and Community Services.
There are many slides and information,
so I will ask members to hold questions
for specifics, pauses, as we go along the presentation.
We will save the last 15 minutes of our committee time today
to hear a brief introduction of Senate Bill 83
by Senator Clayman related to telehealth services.
I would like to invite Department
of family and community services,
Acting Commissioner Tracey Donpling
and OCS Director Kim Guay to the presenters table.
And in addition to our presenters, we have several other people available for questions.
OCS De
▶
2026-02-03
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill13K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-03. The committee heard HB 202 (Name State Vegetable Giant Cabbage). Public testimony was taken with 26 testifiers. 2 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 202 — Name State Vegetable Giant Cabbage
Votes
Seeing no objection, House Bill 202 version N has been moved from committee.
Is there any further objection to adopting the committee substitute as the working document? Seeing and hearing no objection, the House Concurrent Resolution 9 version I has been adopted as a working document.
Motions
Representative St: I'm going to ask for a motion to adopt the committee substitute for House Concurrent Resolution 9. object after that motion is made so that my staff can describe some of the changes our offices have worked together on.
At this time, I'm going to ask for a motion to adopt a committee substitute on House Concurrent Resolution 9, which substantively merges the resolutions from both offices today.
With the C.S. adopted we're going to go head and move to public testimony and so we'll open that. I see no public testimony online or in the room on House Bill 202, so we will go ahead and close public testimony.
Public Testimony
6 testifiers (going to turn to, Randy Ruharu, the Executive Director for, going try to say, curious if there is, wondering if those are)
6 testifiers (going to turn to, Randy Ruharu, the Executive Director for, going try to say, curious if there is, wondering if those are)
1 testifier (the facility in Ketchikan)
2 testifiers (trying to, specifically trying
to get)
2 testifiers (another section that Ada, probably one of the)
Key Topics
Through Chair House Bill Madam Chair Concurrent Resolution Committee Substitute
Speakers (30)
Representative St(10)
Representative McCabe(10)
Representative Holland(9)
Mr. Raro(9)
Representative Vance(6)
Vice Chair Story(6)
Chair Representative(5)
Chair To(5)
Chair Merrick(4)
Representative Johnson(4)
Representative Himschoot(3)
Vice Chair And(3)
Chair For(3)
Representative Carrick(3)
Chair Represented(3)
Representative Of(2)
Chair Is(2)
Chair Mr(2)
Representative Him(2)
Mr. Bararo(2)
Notable Points
I think it's more a That's a result of the fact that we don't, the board doesn't engage in a back and forth public debate with people commenting, they listen and take in the comment but you know we're not, I'm not then the Board is not engaging in public debate over the merits of a project at our meetings.
It's just not part of our process to get into that type of a back-and-forth debate.
All right, so I might have to put an amendment into, but I'm afraid you'll pick up a fiscal note if I do that, so, I still thinking about what to do, but appreciate the thoughtfulness in your bill, thank you.
I move that the House State Affairs Committee move three, four dash LS0753 backslash N as amended with attached fiscal notes.
Section 2 sets an immediate effective date under AS0110.0070 section C.
Transcript: 13,787 words
I'd like to call the House State Affairs Committee to order.
The time is 3.15 PM on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, and we're here in room 120.
Please mute your cell phones today.
Representatives present include Representative St. Clair, Representative Holland,
Representative Vance, Vice Chair Story and myself, Chair Kerrick.
Let the record reflect, we do have a quorum to conduct business.
Our record secretary today is Lori Roland, and our moderator from the June LIO is Jude Augustin,
or Zachary Lawhorn, actually. Sorry, Zach. And our committee aid for today's hearing is my
staff, Stuart Relay. Thank you to all of you for helping us today. On today s agenda, we do have
four items. We ll have a first hearing on House Bill 202 on establishing a state vegetable from
then we'll have a continued discussion and complete our presentation from the Alaska Industrial
Development and Export Authority for House Bill 124. And then, we will have two resolutions today.
First, will be House Resolution 6 from Representative St. Clair on celebrating USA's 250th anniversary
which is also on the same topic from our office.
So with that said, we've just been joined
by Representative Hymshoe as well.
So I would like to invite Representative Johnson
and her staff to the committee table.
And please go ahead and begin your presentation.
Just for committee members' awareness too,
have a committee substitute that after this presentation we will adopt at the
request of the sponsor. So just to give folks an awareness and we've just also
been joined by Representative McCabe.
Thank you. All right, all right very good. Thank
you so much for the opportunity to be here today to present HB 202 which is
vegetable for the state of Alaska. And you would say, well, whatever, what other possible vegetable
could it be? You know, I've had a number of people that maybe come up with things like
for record introduction. Oh, excuse me. I think for a record, if my name is Delina Johnson,
I refer to Palmer area. Just
▶
2026-02-03
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg9K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-03.
Motions
Representative Hannon: That's always on the state, but I've recently moved to the Medicare. So I assume that I am less burdened on a healthcare retire because Medicare first. is that impacted as our retirees have aged into that demographic.
Key Topics
the actuarial position of our funds benefit payments the increases in total liabilities Through Chair Chair Representative Health Care Representative Hannon Retirement Benefits
Speakers (30)
Chair To(22)
Representative Hannan(17)
Representative Stapp(11)
Representative Bynum(9)
Director Lee(8)
Director Of(6)
Co-Chair Josephson(6)
Mr. Novel(6)
Chair Representative(5)
Mr. Novell(4)
Mr. Murray(4)
Mr. Kirschner(4)
Mr. Coacher(3)
Mr. Nivelle(2)
Representative Stat(2)
Representative Allard(2)
Representative Moore(1)
Representative Jimmie(1)
Chair Foster(1)
Representative Galvin(1)
Transcript: 9,571 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order a let the record reflect that it
is 1.49 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026.
Present today are representatives Hannon, representative Moore, representatives Bynum,
representative Jimmy, and the three co-chairs of cochair Josephson, co chair Foster and co
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff,
Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Talula, Alistofka, Secretary Brie Wiley,
and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We've been joined by Representative Galvin.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh
from the Legislative Information Office.
And before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, the Department of Administration
will present on the funding status
of the public employees.
retirement system and teacher's retirement
system.
With us today from the Division of Retirement Benefits
are Kathy Lee, Director, and Christopher
Noble, Chief Financial Officer.
Also with us tonight and available to answer
health care related questions is Christopher Murray,
Deputy Director.
Director Lee and CFO novel, please, or novel,
please come forward, put yourselves on the record
and begin your presentation.
Good afternoon. My name is Kathy Lee. I am the Director for the Division of Retirement
and Benefits, and we are here today to present the funding status of the person terse,
and I'll let Chris put himself on the record.
For the Record, my name's Christopher Novell.
I'm the Chief Financial Officer for The Division
of retirement and benefits, also with us.
For the record, my name is Chris Murray. I am the acting deputy director of health and
Acting chief health official for the Alaska care plans and the division of retirement and benefits
Go ahead, okay
the
person tours is organized amongst three different components we have the
Department of Revenue Treasury Division that handles the investments for the defined benefit plans and also
helps determine the
investments that members can in the Defying Contr
▶
2026-02-03
Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg760 words
The Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-03. Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (happy to answer questions, our fourth hearing of, moving Senate Bill)
1 testifier (moving Senate Bill)
Key Topics
Senate Bill
Speakers (10)
Representative Mina(3)
Senator Kawasaki(3)
Senator Yundt(2)
Senator Merrick(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Senator Dunbar(1)
Chair Senator(1)
Senator Jimmie(1)
Senator Bjorkman(1)
Notable Points
I don't really have anything else to say other than I really do appreciate the committee's willingness to move this along as we have the debates and the consideration.
Do you have a motion? Yes, madam chair, I move house bill 26 version 34 dash LS zero two seven six backslash.i.a from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note and authorized legislative legal services to make informing changes.
I move Senate Bill 129 versus version 39-Lima Sierra 0690 backslash November from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes and authorized legislative legal services to make informing changes.
Transcript: 760 words
Good afternoon. I call this meeting of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee to order. Let the record reflect
It is 1.31 p.m. On Tuesday February 3rd, 2026 present today are Senator Olson, Senator Gray Jackson, senator Yunt, myself, Sen.
America
This afternoon we will hold hearings on House Bill 26 statewide public and community transit plan and Senate Bill 129 payment of contracts
Free fities
Call this committee back to order at 1.32 p.m. We are joined by senator Dunbar
So first up today, we're going to take up house bill 26 statewide public and community transit plan by
Representative Mina. This is our third hearing.
We heard this bill last week where we heard invited and public testimony. I
Do not see representative Miena, but her staff is here if you would like to come forward. Do you have any opening comments?
Thank You chair Merrick for the record Clara Wernicke staff to representative Mina
I do not have any opening comments, but I am happy to answer questions and she sends her regrets
She's currently in house transportation certainly is there any discussion or questions from the committee?
Seeing none mr. Vice chair. Do you have a motion?
Yes, madam chair, I move house bill 26 version 34 dash LS zero two seven six
backslash.i.a from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note
and authorized legislative legal services to make informing changes.
Is there an objection? Hearing none, House Bill 26 is moved from
committee. We'll take a brief at ease to sign the paperwork.
I call the committee to order at 1.35 PM.
Next, we'll hear Senate Bill 129 payment of contracts by Senator Kawasaki.
This is our fourth hearing of the bill.
We have previously heard invited in public testimony.
Senator, if you and your staff, Jenna Calhoun, would like to come forward and
give us a brief reintroduction of your bill?
Thank you.
Madam Chair, members of
the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee.
I don't really have anything else to s
▶
2026-02-03
Senate Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg12K words
The Senate Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-03.
Key Topics
implementation Maintenance Operations Across State Through Chair Yeah Through Chair Senator
Speakers (28)
Senator Kiehl(14)
Senator Tobin(13)
Mr. Chairman(13)
Senator Bjorkman(8)
Senator Stedman(5)
Senator Rauscher(4)
Commissioner Of(3)
Commissioner Or(3)
Chair Senator(3)
Chair So(2)
Commissioner Keith(2)
Commissioner Ryan(1)
Commissioner Catherine(1)
Commissioner Deputy(1)
Director Sean(1)
Director Dom(1)
Senator Keoh(1)
Commissioner Anderson(1)
Commissioner Has(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Notable Points
So if someone in Central Region would have a different experience in a Northern Region. at our airports across the state even though we have airport operating manuals that are there to help drive how we operate each of our airports regionally how we go about being able to provide emergency lighting or how we're using chemicals versus salt on our to get consistency in, but in practice, it's not always how it occurs.
Transcript: 12,237 words
Good afternoon to call this meeting in the Senate Transportation Committee to order.
Time is 1.31 PM. We're in Butchovich.
Room 205 in nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska.
Today is Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026.
I hope you all had a lovely Marmot day yesterday and whistled appropriately.
Members present today are Senator Stedman.
Senator Tobin, Senator Keel,
Senator Rauscher, and myself,
Senator Bjorkman.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Welcome everyone to Senate Transportation.
Like you to turn off or silence your cell phones and join me in extending a warm
Senate transportation welcome to our recording secretary Heather Ramseth
and our LAO moderator Doug Bridges.
The only item on our agenda today is an overview from the Department of Transportation
and Public Facilities of their proposed reorganization.
Here from that department is commissioner Ryan Anderson and his trusty deputy commissioner
Catherine Keith
Welcome back to Senate transportation both of you. Please come to the table put your names and affiliation on the record and
Begin your presentation
the Senate Transportation Committee.
Yeah, we're, yeah, thanks for having us here today.
For the record, my name is Ryan Anderson,
the commissioner of the Alaska Department
of Transportation of Public Facilities.
Today we are hoping to just provide the committee
a good overview and an opportunity to ask questions
about what the department is proposing
for some structural changes to the Department,
really in response to a lot of factors,
you know, that we'll go through to,
yeah to to go just through that with everyone.
It's something that, you know, with structural changes we've actually been doing them over
the past few years.
I mean, we're kind of constantly trying to adjust our organization as the world changes
on us.
And so I think this is what you're going to see today is really just that some of the
next steps, that we are proposing right now that you see in
▶
2026-02-03
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills14K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-02-03. Bills discussed included HB 252 (Electric Utility Fire Prevention Plan), HB 259 (Large Energy Use Facilities), HCR 27 (Supporting State Energy Development). Public testimony was taken with 39 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 252 — Electric Utility Fire Prevention Plan
HB 259 — Large Energy Use Facilities
HCR 27 — Supporting State Energy Development
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (the bills second hearing, the resolution second hearing, the executive director of, not going to focus, glad that everybody)
3 testifiers (the executive director of, not going to focus, glad that everybody)
3 testifiers (the executive director of, not going to focus, glad that everybody)
3 testifiers (happy to work with, not going to postulate, making some assumptions)
4 testifiers (the second hearing, familiar with, Ron Duncan, an important year for)
Key Topics
as a convener, a facilitator and enforcer Through Chair Local Government Data Centers Local Governments Energy Use
Speakers (30)
Co-Chair Holland(13)
Representative Cop(11)
Representative Ruffridge(9)
Representative Costello(8)
Mr. Stoltman(8)
Representative Johnson(7)
Co-Chair Mirrors(7)
Chair To(7)
Mr. Dunbar(6)
Representative Mears(4)
Representative Reference(4)
Director Of(3)
Mr. Representative(3)
Mr. Andreason(2)
Representative Kopp(2)
Commissioner Springsteen(2)
Chair Espindola(2)
Chair And(2)
Representative Cobb(2)
Chair The(1)
Notable Points
Maybe with some of the changes Representative Costello mentioned, would there be anything else you added in here such as these are the items you should take into consideration? It sort of hints at local hire and emergency response, but does that need work in your opinion? Best if I followed up with the committee and kind of talk through for that section.
emergency response teams.
Transcript: 14,688 words
It's Energy Committee meeting to order.
Today is Tuesday, February 3rd at 1.05 p.m.
Our members present are Representative Johnson,
Representative Costello, Co-Chair Holland,
and myself, co-chair mirrors.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
I'd like to remind members and staff,
if you're using electronic device, please be subtle.
and signs your cell phones as a reminder staff and members of the audience may not approach the
table. If you need to pass a note to committee members please get the attention of my committee aid
Griffin and he will take care of it. I'm going to apologize. We have a new technical support in
Thank you Jude for being here as well as our recording secretary Cheryl Cole. Thank You Cheryl on today's agendas
We have two bills and a resolution
First we will be hearing invited and public testimony on HB 259 large energy use facilities
Sponsored by myself, and this is the bills second hearing
Next we will be hearing public testimony and amendments on H.J.R. 27 supporting state
energy development sponsored by Representative Holland.
This is the resolution second hearing and we are planning on moving it out if it is
the will of the committee.
And last we'll be hear invited testimony on HB 252, electric utility fire prevention
plan sponsored again by representative Holland and this is Bill's second.
Co-chair Holland will chair the first portion of the committee as we will take
up HB 259. Chair Holland. Thank you Co chair mirrors today we'll be taking
invited testimony followed by public testimony on this bill. First we
will have a brief recap of The Bill from Representative Mears.
Do you have them muted now?
Briefed ease. There's somebody speaking over the phone
Back on the record beginning with a recap of house bill 2 29 by representative mirrors
Thank you to 59
It's about making Alaska open for business by providing clear and predictable rules for new large energy users looking to invest here
By outlining a transparent process for how large Energy
▶
2026-02-03
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill15K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-02-03. The committee heard HB 216 (Transfer of Railroad Land to Whittier). Public testimony was taken with 10 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 216 — Transfer of Railroad Land to Whittier
Votes
I Move that house bill 216 work order three four dash l s zero nine four six Backslash a alpha move from the transportation committee with individual recommendations and attach fiscal notes Seeing no objection housebell 216 has been moved from committee.
Motions
move that design phase forward or other increases on a project. with the expectation that we would convert that within the same fiscal year so we can keep projects on schedule even though we may have constraints related to that obligation authority coming from the federal government.
But we have all of the other federal approvals that are required to move that project forward under federal participation. Thank you.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (actually
going ask us, gonna turn right to, an area where we)
4 testifiers (Aiden Nickel, Jackie Wild with this, actually
going ask us, gonna turn right to)
3 testifiers (actually
going ask us, gonna turn right to, an area where we)
Key Topics
Through Chair Northern Region Federal Funds Advanced Construction Little Bit
Speakers (30)
Representative Stutes(8)
Mr. Zimmerman(8)
Representative Nelson(7)
Mr. Mills(7)
Mr. More(6)
Representative Mina(5)
Director Langley(4)
Co-Chair Kerry(3)
Co-Chair For(3)
Representative Stedman(3)
Representative McCabe(3)
Chair Representative(3)
Representative St(2)
Representative Merrick(2)
Representative Holland(2)
Mr. Nickison(2)
Co-Chair Ayeshade(2)
Representative Carrick(2)
Director Of(2)
Chair To(2)
Notable Points
So when I speak the flexible, it is a scheduled two on two off but there is flexibility in that they're off for two weeks which is normally a decent amount of duration of time to where if we have emergency needs or need have needs to fill other operating positions for some time go help with delivering service in response to a storm event.
We've actually got operational cutoffs just similar to the city of Fairbanks in which we do not operate our heavy equipment, unless it's an emergency stance below 30 below.
We had to stand up a contract to have some emergency lighting work done out there.
We did authorize emergency contracts for additional resources to help clear snow.
The state emergency operations center asked that the state public facilities division clearing some of their critical roofs on their infrastructure so the state supported there.
Transcript: 15,476 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House Transportation Committee to order.
It is now 1.02 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2nd,
February 1rd.
Groundhog Day 4th,
February 2rd 2026 in Barnes Room 120.
I should just stick to the script.
Members present include Representative St. Clair,
Representative Nelson, Representative Studes,
Co-chair Ayeshaide and myself Representative Kerrick.
Let the record reflect.
We do have a quorum to conduct business
and please take this time to silence your cell phones today.
Before we begin, I'd like to thank Jordan Nicholson
from House Records and Susan Quigley from the Juneau LIO
for staffing our committee today,
our Committee A today as my staff Griffin Succayo
and Meredith Trainer from my co-chairs office.
Thank you both for your help.
On today's agenda we are bringing House Bill 216 back before the committee from Representative
Holland's office.
This is the transfer of railroad land to Whittier.
Following that we will continue our presentation from last Thursday on winter road maintenance.
And we'll end our meeting today with a presentation of DOT on defining advanced construction and
federal aid sources.
So with that, we are going to have House Bill 216 back before us.
I'd like to invite the bill sponsor staff to just very briefly reintroduce yourself and
the Bill before we open public testimony.
Thank you, Coach Eric Eric.
My name is Aiden Nickel, Staff to Representative Holland, and
the BILL HB 216 gives the limited and specific authorization.
for the Alaska Railroad Corporation
to transfer five parcels of land to the city of Whittier.
Great, thank you, Mr. Nichols, for that quick introduction.
Do we have any questions from committee members?
See, oh, representative Nelson.
I apologize.
Well, I'll just ask the question, and then
if we need to move on.
The question that I had was,
I know we were tied on time last week.
I'm sorry.
Thank you, Madam Chair, to quorum.
Yeah, I apologize.
I'm learning.
Through the chair, it was mention
▶
2026-02-03
Senate Majority Press Availability
transcript5K words
The Senate Majority Press Availability met on 2026-02-03.
Key Topics
Department Health Permanent Fund Put Forward Policy Changes Senate Transportation
Speakers (13)
Senator Giessel(8)
Chair Of(5)
Senator Bjorkman(5)
Senator Stedman(5)
Senator Dunbar(4)
Mr. PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(4)
Senator Wielechowski(3)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Senator For(1)
Senator Jeff(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Ms. Smith(1)
Notable Points
There are 5 or 6 distinct policy asks from the Department of Health I believe that several of them have a good chance and are relatively uncontroversial, maybe one or two are relatively uncont reversal.
There are some that are more controversial and we have until December of 2027 to pass them, so it might not be this session. especially given that this is the second half and we just sort of had this handed to us.
The bill is scheduled this coming Friday, and we'll be hearing from the Department of Revenue to go through their fiscal notes.
Track is you have an early Reaction to the submitted budget with an earlier effective date.
Transcript: 5,030 words
Thanks for being here.
We changed the time and you still showed up, so that's a good sign.
This is the 15th day of this legislative session.
And joining me here are Senators Giesle, Wilkowski, Stedlin, Bjorkman, Dunbar, and myself, Stevens.
$272 million in federal funding
through what's called the Rural Health Transformation Program.
And we're closely tracking that,
our clock is closely-tracking in this funding
to ensure that it delivers the real results
that we expect for Alaska's.
As chair of our Health and Social Services Committee,
Senator Dunbar has been focused on understanding
the scope of these funds
and what the administration's plans are for use of them.
Senator Dunbar, could you please briefly outline what these funds are intended for and what did you first so far from the administration and stakeholders?
Thank you, Mr. President, and I should mention the health committee has already held one hearing on this fund and we're likely to hold several more.
But it's important to put the fund in context.
It came out of HR1, which was a broader bill,
that reduced Alaskan's access to Medicaid,
to SNAP benefits that did not extend the ACA tax credits.
So we've seen an 11% decline in enrollment
and health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
That's from the ADN.
We've see thousands of people potentially lose access
to SNAP, that's number is 4,500 to 6,900
from The Food Bank of Alaska.
And then with Medicaid there's a variety
But it's not clear how they will actually administer that, and it has to be administered
now every six months instead of every year.
And so I think there's a lot of concerns about HR1 and its impact on the health of
Laskins.
Within that context, our sort of consolation prize was this thing called the Rural Health
Transformation Fund.
It's $272 million per year for five years.
But there are rules about how we access it, it is not clearly that we will get all of
I will say we've been working closely with the Department of Health trying to un
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-03
House Finance: University of Alaska Subcommittee
transcriptakleg5K words
The House Finance: University of Alaska Subcommittee met on 2026-02-03.
Key Topics
some of these items I also want to share a special thank you to Pat Pitney Through Chair Last Year Land Grant Non Union University Alaska
Speakers (27)
Representative Hannan(5)
Chair Galvin(4)
Representative Bynum(3)
Chair Representative(3)
Representative Stapp(3)
Representative Allard(2)
Chair So(2)
Representative Tomaszewski(1)
Co-Chair Josephson(1)
Director For(1)
Representative More(1)
Representative Jimmie(1)
Representative If(1)
Director On(1)
Director Down(1)
Representative Carrick(1)
Representative Reference(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Representative By(1)
Chair And(1)
Transcript: 5,760 words
Good afternoon. I'd like to call the first meeting at the House Finance University of
Alaska subcommittee to order.
I want to acknowledge that it is now 1210, Tuesday, February 3, 2026 in the house finance
committee room, Adams 519.
I would like acknowledge there are a few members in another meeting who will be joining
us shortly. And I appreciate they're giving me notice that they have to attend that meeting.
Bear with us, but we were going to proceed anyhow,
because we are allowed to do that as a subcommittee.
So we have with today Representative Allard,
Representative Hannon, Representative Tomaszewski,
myself Elise Galvin, and again, let the record reflect
that we do not need a quorum to hear a presentation.
Please take the time to silence your cell phones
for this meeting.
Thank you. And I also want to thank Emily from the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today.
Thank You to finance staff to LULA and thank you to the subcommittee aid Monica
Schringendorf. I wanted to say that before we get started I want
to remind everyone of the purpose of this subcommittee.
And it's the same for all finance subcommittees in this building.
It's to take a close first look at the governor's budget, department by department, to better
understand how our public dollars are serving Alaskans.
Today, we will hear from the illustrious University of Alaska President Pat Pitney.
She will be presenting a review of the university's Budget from last year and an overview of
I also want to share a special thank you to Pat Pitney.
She was appointed as the President of the University of Alaska in February 2022.
I sincerely appreciate your commitment to our students and to the future of
Alaska with your service. Thank you.
Calvin Schruggie and co-chair Josephson all right Pat Pitt a president pitney pardon me
Will you please put yourself on the record and begin your presentation? Thank you for the records
My name is Pat Pitney. I'm president of the University of Alaska's system
and
Thank Y
▶
2026-02-03
House Fisheries Special Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill1K words
The House Fisheries Special Committee met on 2026-02-03. The committee heard HJR 29 (Ban on Russian Seafood). Public testimony was taken with 10 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HJR 29 — Ban on Russian Seafood
Votes
There being no objections, HJR 29, version 34 dash LS13 14 back slash in moves out of Committee as Amended with Individual Recommendations and Our next meeting is scheduled possibly on Thursday.
Motions
Shakler with that I see no others and I say no other's online for testimony I will close public testimony and With that, I would like to introduce and move amendment number one I'll object for purposes of discussion.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (happy to
answer, Bruce Shockler, sure it will)
3 testifiers (happy to
answer, Bruce Shockler, sure it will)
3 testifiers (Bruce Shockler, sure it will, not sure if we)
1 testifier (not sure if we)
Key Topics
Madam Chair Russian Seafood
Speakers (18)
Representative Greening(3)
Representative Cop(2)
Representative McCabe(2)
Mr. Shockler(2)
Mr. Frier(2)
Mr. Woodrow(2)
Representative Elam(1)
Representative Himschoot(1)
Chair Stedman(1)
Director For(1)
Mrs. Shakler(1)
Representative Cott(1)
Ms. Kai(1)
Representative And(1)
Mr. Johnson(1)
Representative McKay(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Mr. Wood(1)
Notable Points
Madam Chair, I move to report HGR 29 version 34-LS1314 backslash and out of committee as amended with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. Thank you. There being no objections, HJR 29, version 34 dash LS13 14 back slash in moves out of Committee as Amended with Individual Recommendation
Transcript: 1,305 words
This meeting of the House Special Committee on Fisheries will come to order.
The time is 10-0-1 on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026, members present, our representative
COP, representative Elam, Representative Hymshoot, and my sub-chair students.
We have a quorum to conduct our business.
Please silence your phones.
We're asking that members and we are asking
that Members of the audience, please not approach the table.
If you want to pass a note or get the attention
of any committee member,
please ask or give the
attention of my committee date Jane.
And she would be delighted to help you.
We have been joined by Representative McCabe.
I'd like to thank Andrew Magnusson,
House Fisheries Committee Secretary,
and Chloe Miller from the Juneau LIO
for technologically and teleconferencing support.
Appreciate you both.
Today's meeting, we are having our second hearing
on HDR 29 ban on Russian seafood.
We last heard this resolution on Thursday, January 29th, where we introduced the CS
and had invited testimony and set an amendment date from Monday, February 2nd.
There is one amendment.
Is my intention to take public testimony to move the amendment?
And if it is the will of this committee to remove HJR 29 today?
Re-cap will be presented to us by Representative Greening, my chief of staff.
Matt Greenning, sorry Matt, I just gave you a promotion.
Say I'll take the promotion madam chair.
Right, good point, thank you.
Thank you Madam Chair.
For the record, Matt Greening, staff to the House Fisheries Committee,
as a brief recap, H.E.R. 29 calls on President Trump to extend executive orders.
14.024, 14068, and 14114, which prohibit the import of Russian seafood into the U.S.
Those executive order are set to expire on April 15th of this year.
The resolution further calls
on the President, federal agencies, our congressional delegations,
and the US Congress to enhance federal enforcement of the executive
And we have finally got to the spot where Russian seafood is off the market domestical
▶
2026-02-03
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill3K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-03. The committee heard SB 104 (Vehicles/Boats: Transfer on Death Title). Public testimony was taken with 18 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 104 — Vehicles/Boats: Transfer on Death Title
Motions
Senator
Seeing: Do members of the Senate Finance Committee have questions for the prime sponsor, Senator Seeing none Motion to adopt this CS Senator keel Thank you Thank You mr.
senator Stedman: I move that the committee substitute for Senate bill 20 finance 34 dash lso 253 backslash I from committee with individual attached physical notes and individual committee recommendations And this time I will ask is there any objection to the motion to pass the bill from Committee with individual recommendations Seeing none That bill was passed from community.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (Kathy Geesele)
0 testifiers
5 testifiers (the Chief Judiciary Officer, in support of SB, in support and, Linda Holberg and, calling you from Fairbanks)
5 testifiers (the Chief Judiciary Officer, in support of SB, in support and, Linda Holberg and, calling you from Fairbanks)
5 testifiers (the Chief Judiciary Officer, in support of SB, in support and, Linda Holberg and, calling you from Fairbanks)
Key Topics
the transfer of title on the death of an owner and providing for an effective date relating to the transfer of title on the death of an owner and providing for an effective date Senate Bill Transfer Death Senate Finance Seeing None Fiscal Note
Speakers (20)
Mr. Chairman(13)
Senator Kiehl(7)
Senator Kawasaki(5)
Senator Olson(4)
Senator Stedman(3)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Senator Giessel(2)
Senator Scott(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Senator Hoffman(1)
Ms. Groh(1)
Senator Gray-Jackson(1)
Senator Elvick(1)
Senator Schwanke(1)
Senator Kahn(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Mr. Connor(1)
Ms. Holbert(1)
Notable Points
And that always is very important in a situation where you have an unexpected gas or even an expected one.
fiscal note? Thank You mr.
Chairman it's pretty quick one the legislative affairs agency submitted the Only fiscal noted is a zero The desire of the committee, Senator Stidman.
I move Senate bill 34, 34 dash L, S, O, three, two, three backslash A from committee with the attached fiscal notes and individual committee recommendations.
As a refresher, Senate Bill 20 carries a zero fiscal note because it relies on existing nationally recognized CPR curricula rather than requiring the Department to develop new materials.
Transcript: 3,738 words
Call the Senate Finance Committee to order.
Good morning, everyone.
Please silence your cell phones today's February 3rd.
We're in the state Capitol Senate finance committee meeting.
It's a little left earned.
It is 9 a.m.
We have full contingent of senators today.
Senator Stedman, Senator Olson, senator Keel,
Senator Merrick,
Senator Kauffman.
Senator Cronk and myself,
Senator Hoffman.
We have three items on the agenda today.
Oh, we we have 3 items
on agenda.
Today, the first one being Senate bill 34,
the repeal of the 90 day session limit.
Seems as though some people want to stay here longer.
September 20th,
the CPR curriculum and Senate Bill 104,
the vehicles, vehicles boats transfer title on death.
We will start with Senate Bill 34,
the repeal of the 90 day limited session limit.
This bill was heard last May on May 7th.
We took public testimony in that that time no amendments were submitted.
I invite Senator Giesel and her staff, Paige Brown, to the table to reintroduce the bill.
Please identify yourself and proceed with your presentation.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. For the record, I'm Kathy Geesele. I represent Senate District E in the Anchorage area
Mr.. Chairman this bill
Repeals a law that is in place. It was a citizen's initiative
Several a couple decades ago that requires an adjournment at 90 days
Mr Chairman, we haven't met that standard. Well, We did during COVID
but very rarely since this initiative passed.
It sets an unrealistic expectation by the citizens.
This table certainly understands more than anyone
the complexity of the issues we face
and adjourning mandatorily by 90 days is unrealistic.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My staff can enumerate more of that data if you'd like.
Please proceed, Ms. Brown.
For the record, Page Brown, staff to Senator Giesel.
The legislature's frequently extended sessions
beyond the 120-day limit.
More specifically, in 2020, they met for 69 days
due to pandemic restrictions, but the following year,
they were in session for
▶
2026-02-03
Joint House Tribal Affairs and Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg15K words
The Joint House Tribal Affairs and Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-02-03.
Key Topics
Through Chair Make Sure
Speakers (30)
Mr. Foster(38)
Representative Jimmie(9)
Representative Holland(6)
Representative Hall(6)
Chair Dibert(5)
Representative Carrick(5)
Representative Prax(5)
Director Of(5)
Chair Representative(5)
Co-Chair Him(4)
Co-Chair Himschoot(3)
Representative Story(3)
Director Brian(2)
Chair To(2)
Chair And(2)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative St(1)
Director Division(1)
Chair Diverum(1)
Representative Mears(1)
Notable Points
And then fairly unexpectedly, it kind of hooked right.
We will continue the presentation from last Thursday, January 29th of the Alaska State Emergency Operations Center.
Our presenter is Director Brian Fisher, again, from the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, or DMVA.
And he will be joining us virtually on Teams today, Brian Fisher, Director, ICU, Director Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Alaska Military and Veterans Affair Department.
Co-chairs and members of the joint committees for the record, Brian Fisher, the Director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and I'm calling in today from Joint Base Elman Dorf Richardson, where the State Emergency Operations Center is located.
Transcript: 15,202 words
Good morning, the joint hearing of the House Tribal Affairs and House Community and Regional Affairs Committee will now come to order.
The time is 8.03 a.m. Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 and Capital Room 106.
Members present for the house tribal affairs are representative Underwood,
Chair Dibert and
Representative Carrick. Good morning
Co-chair him shoot will you please call the roll for house community and regional fairs happy to we have representative St
Claire representative g Nelson representative Holland representative Hall co-chare mirrors and myself co chair him shoe
Alright wonderful
Thank you, co-chair Hymshoot.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business.
A quick reminder to please silence your phones.
I would like to thank Sophia Tenney,
the Community and Regional Affairs Secretary from Records,
and Susan Quickly from the Juneau LIO
for Staffing Committee today.
and let the record reflect that we have been joined
by Representative Prox at 8.05.
Good morning.
I would also recognize in the audience,
we had Representative Jimmy in The Audience.
Thank you for being here.
We have one item on the agenda today.
We will continue the presentation from last Thursday,
January 29th of the Alaska State Emergency Operations Center.
Our presenter is Director Brian Fisher, again,
from the Division of Homeland Security
and Emergency Management, or DMVA.
And he will be joining us virtually on Teams today,
Brian Fisher, Director, ICU,
Director Division of Homeland Security
and Emergency Management,
Alaska Military and Veterans Affair Department.
Welcome, good morning.
Can you hear us okay?
Yes ma'am, Kim.
Welcome back to the joint hearing.
Please put yourself on the record
and proceed with your presentation from last week.
Good morning, Chair Dibert.
Co-chairs and members of the joint committees for the record, Brian Fisher, the Director of
the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and I'm calling in today
from Joint Base Elman Do
▶
2026-02-02
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg6K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-02-02.
Key Topics
potential gas supply contracts Through Chair Gas Sales North Slope Precedent Agreement Eight Star
Speakers (30)
Senator Wielechowski(32)
Senator Kawasaki(12)
Senator Dunbar(9)
Senator Claman(7)
Senator Giessel(6)
Chair To(6)
Senator Wieckowski(5)
Mr. Richards(4)
Ms. Kiehl(3)
Senator Myers(2)
Ms. Zingreib(2)
Chair Because(2)
Chair So(2)
Chair Again(2)
Chair For(2)
Chair Really(2)
Ms. Scholtz(2)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Vice Chair And(1)
Chair You(1)
Transcript: 6,995 words
years ago. I call Senate resources committee to order
today is Monday, February 2nd, 2026 and the time is 3.30 p.m.
Please turn off your cell phones. Committee members present,
Senator Rousher, Senator Klayman,
Senator Kawasaki, senator Myers, vice chair,
Senator kawasaki and I'm Senator Giesle.
I expect Senator Dunbar along shortly. What did I say?
Yes, please correct the record that's Senator Wilkowski is the vice chair and
Senator Dunbar has joined us. We have a quorum to conduct business
Thank you, Heather and thank you Jude who are helping us out keeping the minutes and correcting my mistakes and helping
us with the audio
So today our presentation
continues on the gas line subject today.
We're going to hear from the producers on The North Slope
And so we have three individuals who are going to speak to us.
I'm going start today with a representative from ExxonMobil.
Her name is Kay Zengrabie.
I am guessing.
I know she is upstream commercial and business development with Exxon Mobil
and the lead commercial negotiator for gas sales with Glenfarn.
welcome, and if you would help me with the pronunciation of your name.
Thank you.
Thank You Chair Geisel and members of the Senate Resources Committee.
For the record, my name is Kay Zengrave.
As Chair Giesel mentioned, I work in upstream commercial and business development for Exxon
mobile.
And I am the lead for the North Slope Natural Gas Commercial Negotiations.
Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee this afternoon.
And Chair Giesel, in your invitation to appear today,
you indicated your desire for ExxonMobil to place on record,
our answer to the question,
is Exxon Mobil willing to sell gas from the North Slope?
And the answer is yes.
Exxonmobile has and will continue to make its gas available to any project
under bilateral, mutually agreed.
commercially reasonable terms.
In fact, over the years ExxonMobil has entered into a gas sales agreement with Fairbanks
Natural Gas, a Gas sale precedent agreement
▶
2026-02-02
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript4 bills5K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-02. 4 bills were discussed, including HB 2010 (Peace Officers/Firefighters: Disability), HB 210 (Peace Officers/Firefighters: Disability), HB 243 (Barbers & Hairdressers Bd Licensing), and others. Public testimony was taken with 12 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 2010 — Peace Officers/Firefighters: Disability
HB 210 — Peace Officers/Firefighters: Disability
HB 243 — Barbers & Hairdressers Bd Licensing
HB 243 — Barbers & Hairdressers Bd Licensing
Votes
Hearing no objection, HB 243, work order 34-LS1197 backslash A is reported out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (Chuck cop house representative, accompanied
by my
team)
5 testifiers (not seeing Chief Schraghi, Darrell Evans, the president of
the, speaking on behalf of, Sean Cage and)
2 testifiers (Sean Cage and, happy to answer questions)
3 testifiers (going start with, going to mean to, sure you probably did)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Occupational Disability Through Chair Public Safety Representative Sadler Disability Benefits
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(11)
Representative Cop(8)
Chair Hall(6)
Representative Carrick(6)
Representative Fields(4)
Mr. Rumsberg(3)
Representative Coulombe(2)
Representative For(2)
Ms. O'Connor(2)
Chair Representative(2)
Representative Cologne(2)
Chair Through(2)
Chair The(2)
Representative Karak(1)
Representative Frier(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Co-Chair Holland(1)
Chair Kevin(1)
Mr. Mckinley(1)
Ms. Hamm(1)
Notable Points
If it is the will of the committee, Mr Co-chair, may I have a motion? I move to report House Bill 243, Work Order 34-LS 1197 backslash A out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.
Hearing no objection, HB 243, work order 34-LS1197 backslash A is reported out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.
Curious one, is this bill retroactive to folks who have already been injured on the job? Could they potentially apply in some way for the increase in benefits based on when they were injured? And also because there's an indeterminate fiscal note, do we have any kind of sense of how many people this might apply to year to year, for example? structure it that way.
As it is now, the effective date would be people coming into the disability status as of that date.
You know, I mean, it could be structured differently to be retroactive.
Transcript: 5,681 words
This meeting of the House Labor and Commerce Committee will come to order.
The time is 3.18 PM on February 2nd.
Members present are Representative Karak, Representative Colomb,
Representative Freer,
Representative Sadler, representative Nelson, my co-chair,
Representative Fields and myself, co chair Hall.
We have a quorum.
Please silence your cell phones.
We're asking that staff and members of
the audience not approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to community members, please get the attention of my Committee A, Joan Wilkerson, and she will take care of it.
I'd like to thank Andrew Magnussen from the Labor and Commerce Committee secretary and Susan Quigley from
the Juneau LAO for Tech and Teleconferencing support.
There will be a slight adjustment to our schedule today.
We will first hear HB 243 followed by HB 210.
The first bill we will hear is HB 243, barbers, hairdressers, and aesthetics licensing.
Representative Carrick and aid cadence Conner, please take a seat at the front of the room and
introduce yourselves for the record.
And please maybe remind us what HB243 is about and any other comments you'd like to share.
We also have Kevin McKinley from Fairbanks, he's at Fairbank's LIO.
He's online to help us answer any committee questions.
Representative carrick.
Thank you, co-chair Holland, members of the House Labor and Commerce Committee for the
record Ashley Kerrick representative for House District 35 in West Fairbanks.
And House Bill 243, just for a reintroduction, simply provides the statutory clarity that
the Board of Barbers and Hairdressers may delegate licensing authority to the Division
of Corporations, Businesses and Professional Licensure.
And it comes at the request of barbers in hairdressers, board chair Kevin McKinley in
is online. If there are any questions. Great. Thank you. Are there any
questions from the committee? Seeing none. We will now open public testimony on
this bill. Is there anybody in the room who'd like to testify on HB 243
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-02
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript2 bills12K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-02-02. Bills discussed included SB 211 (Extend Occupational Licensing Boards), SB 81 (Public Employer Pension Contributions). Public testimony was taken with 22 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 211 — Extend Occupational Licensing Boards
SB 81 — Public Employer Pension Contributions
Public Testimony
11 testifiers (SINA GUBITIO SNIF, the assistant barrel manager, now
conveying to you, Anita Thorn, the finance director for, going to hand the, Steve Carrier, Student Carrier City...)
0 testifiers
11 testifiers (SINA GUBITIO SNIF, the assistant barrel manager, now
conveying to you, Anita Thorn, the finance director for, going to hand the, Steve Carrier, Student Carrier City...)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the details addressed in the state's audits SB 81, the 22% CAF was negotiated in 2008 under the PERS Restructuring Plan Real Estate Senate Bill Through Chair Unfunded Liability Labor Commerce
Speakers (30)
Mr. Chairman(18)
Senator Dunbar(10)
Ms. Curtis(9)
Senator Yundt(8)
Senator Bjorkman(5)
Chair To(4)
Senator Stedman(4)
Dr. Jackson(3)
Chair And(3)
Senator Young(3)
Senator Merrick(2)
Director Work(2)
Director Of(2)
Director Rob(2)
Senator Greg(1)
Senator Gray-Jackson(1)
Mr. Matt(1)
Mr. Churchill(1)
Director Sylvan(1)
Ms. Carrick(1)
Notable Points
Chairman, I move to report committee substitute for Senate Bill 170 version 34-Ls 0213 backslash Oscar from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
Hearing no further objection, Senate bill 170 version 34 dash LS 0213 backslash O as an Oscar is reported from committee with individual recommendations and attach fiscal note.
And since the effective date of that legislation through January of 2025 the fund has paid out only around 50,000 in claims.
And then we have a minor change to the retroactive date in the bill.
Transcript: 12,312 words
Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting and the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order. The time is 1.31 p.m.
We are in Belts Room 105 and Thomas Stewart building in the nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska.
Today is Monday, February 2nd.
Happy Marmot Day, everyone.
Members present are Senator Merrick, Senator Rumbar, senator Greg Jackson,
Senator Yunt, and myself, Sen. Bjorkman.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Welcome everyone to Senate Labor and Commerce.
I would like everyone please turn off or silence your cell phones and join with me in extending.
And especially warm Senate labor and commerce welcome to our recording secretary,
Carrie Tupo and our LAO moderator, Renzo Moises.
Today, we have three items on our agenda.
Senate Bill 170, Gaming Electronic Pull Tabs,
Senate bill 211, Extend Occupational Licensing Boards,
followed up by Senate,
Bill 81, Public Employer Pension Contributions.
First up today is Senate.
Bill 1770.
Today it is my intention to bring a committee substitute
before the committee for consideration.
We'll have some committee discussion
and look to the world of the Committee.
Is there any discussion on Senate Bill 170 before we consider the committee substitute?
Hearing and seeing none at this time may I members have a draft proposed committee
substitute in their packet may have motion please yes, mr. Chairman
I move committee's substitute for Senate bill 170 version 34 dash LS 0 2 1 3 backslash
Oscar as the working document
Object for purposes of discussion my staff the award-winning Conrad Jackson is here to present the committee substitute
Thank You mr. Chairman for the record Conrad jackson staff to senator Bjorkman and the labor and commerce committee
The CS sub before the members for consideration version backslash. Oh has three small changes
the first being found in section 19 on page 8 and in this section we're
bringing parity to the door's door prize limits that you will s
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-02
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg12K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-02-02.
Key Topics
licensing and software costs give two presentations The Governor's fiscal year 2027 budget for our department Through Chair Salary Study Chair Representative Motor Vehicles Information Technology
Speakers (30)
Chair Representative(15)
Co-Chair Josephson(12)
Representative Hannan(11)
Director Of(10)
Director Bingham(8)
Representative Stapp(8)
Chair To(7)
Representative Galvin(7)
Representative Allard(5)
Representative Bynum(5)
Director For(4)
Mr. Smith(4)
Chair Representing(3)
Chair Justin(3)
Representative Schrage(3)
Director If(2)
Mr. Stinson(2)
Chair Joseph(2)
Director Myers(2)
Commissioner Is(2)
Notable Points
So asher there's community care licensing specialists, vocational rehabilitation, public assistance fields, services study, forest and fire management, emergency services, dispatcher, and emergency service supervisor.
Transcript: 12,223 words
I call this meeting the House Finance Committee to order.
Let the record reflect that it's 1.32 PM, 1-33 now on Monday, February 2nd,
2026.
A present today are, I think, just about all the members.
We have representative Allard, representative Hannon,
representing Moore, representing Bynum, represent Stapp,
representing Thomas Shefsky,
representing Galvin, represented Jimmy.
Two of the co-chairs, Shroggy and myself of Co-chair Josephson.
Also present today are our House Finance Committee staff,
Committee Assistant Helen Phillips, Paige Tullulu, Lestefka.
We've been joined by the third co chair, Co Chair Foster,
Secretary Brie Wyland, Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh,
from the Legislative Information Office.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, the Department of Administration will give two presentations.
The first will be its department budget overview,
then they will provide an update on the 2025 statewide
salary study.
With us today from the department to present its budget
overview is Stephanie Bingham, Director for the Division
of Admin Services.
Director Bingam, please come forward.
Put yourself on record and begin your presentation.
Good afternoon, members of the House Finance Committee.
I am Stephanie Bingham, Admin and Services Director
for the Department of Administration.
Today, I will provide an overview
of The Governor's fiscal year 2027 budget for our department.
Please bear with me.
I'm new to the department,
I've been in this position for six months.
Our mission is to provide consistent and efficient support
services to state agencies so they can better
services to the public include legal and advocacy services, Alaska Public
Offices Commission, Public Communication Services and Division of Motor Vehicles.
Services to state agencies include Office of Administrative Hearings,
Administrative Services, Finance, Personnel, Office
of Administration, Information Technology, Risk Management, Retirem
▶
2026-02-02
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg5 bills5K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-02-02. 5 bills were discussed, including HB 20 (Prohibit Fees for Paper Documents), HB 262 (Number of Superior Court Judges), HB 4 (Presidential Write-in Votes), and others. Public testimony was taken with 8 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 20 — Prohibit Fees for Paper Documents
HB 262 — Number of Superior Court Judges
HB 4 — Presidential Write-in Votes
HB 81 — Access to Marijuana Conviction Records
HB 4 — Presidential Write-in Votes
Votes
And so that statute 25-105 refers to a defeated candidate in the primary or the candidate that was not listed on the Primary could become a Write-In candidate in a general election.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (hoping that Brian Jackson)
3 testifiers (Representative Dan Sattler, going to present the, Dolores Neal)
3 testifiers (Representative Dan Sattler, going to present the, Dolores Neal)
1 testifier (hoping that Brian Jackson)
Key Topics
the drafting Through Chair House Bill Division Elections Representative Sadler Writing Candidates
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(11)
Representative Costello(6)
Representative Gray(6)
Representative Mina(5)
Mr. Chairman(5)
Mr. Jackson(5)
Representative Vance(4)
Representative Nelson(4)
Chair And(4)
Chair To(4)
Director Of(3)
Representative Dan(2)
Director Beecher(2)
Director In(2)
Mr. Dunbar(2)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Eischeid(1)
Representative David(1)
Representative For(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Notable Points
I'm glad to have the opportunity today to discuss with you at House Bill 81 and restricting the release of certain records of convictions and providing for an effective date.
Section 3, Repeals Alaska Statute 1262-160 Subsection F paragraph 4 on January 1, 2028 and Section 4 establishes an effective date of January first 2027.
Transcript: 5,676 words
This meeting of the House Judiciary Committee will now come to order.
The time is now 1.01 PM on Monday, February 2nd, 2026.
We are meeting in the Bloomberg Room, Capital Room 120.
The following members are present.
Representative Underwood, Representative Eisheid,
Representative Vance,
Representative Costello,
Representative Mina.
and my self-representative gray chair, but the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct
business. I would like to recognize the staff supporting this meeting, Sophia Tinney from House
Records, Kyla Tupou from the Juno-LIO, and Dylan Hitchcock Lopez, my committee aide.
We have two items of business on today's agenda. First up, we
from Representative Nelson and his staff on a page.
This is their first hearing.
And then we have House Bill 4,
presidential write-in votes with Representative Stadler
and His Staff, Dolores Neal.
This also that bill's first hear-ing in this committee.
For our first item, we'll start with House bill 81,
Access to Marijuana Conviction Records.
Please.
Representative David Nelson and your staff on a page please come forward put yourself on the record and begin your presentation
Thank you chair gray and the house judiciary committee
For the record, I am David Nelson, representative for House District 18,
which encompasses Jay Bear, East Anchorage, and Government Hill.
I'm glad to have the opportunity today to discuss with you at House Bill 81
and restricting the release of certain records of convictions and providing
for an effective date.
The bill is really an important step in providing an opportunity for people
with low level marijuana convictions, possession convictions on their record
to make a more significant impact to the state.
hard-working Alaskans are facing barriers to employment, housing, licensing, and
volunteering opportunities, leaving them less able to contribute fully to their
communities. According to an NCSL report, as of 2023, 28 states have
legislation that applies specifically to record
▶
2026-02-02
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-02.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-02
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-02-02.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-02-02
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg7K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-02-02.
Key Topics
Marine Highway Calendar Year Chair Senator Cash Flow Federal Funds
Speakers (25)
Mr. Chairman(10)
Chair Stedman(7)
Senator Kaufman(5)
Senator Cronk(5)
Senator Kiehl(4)
Senator Hoffman(4)
Chair Senator(3)
Senator Olson(2)
Mr. Commissioner(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Mr. Henderson(1)
Commissioner Of(1)
Director Dom(1)
Mr. Pronome(1)
Senator Teal(1)
Ms. Keith(1)
Chair Sedmond(1)
Senator Murkowski(1)
Senator Fields(1)
Director Hannan(1)
Notable Points
But we definitely want to not ignore this and again work with the administration because we can fund it and the governor can veto it or we could not fund it, and you can't operate.
Transcript: 7,075 words
Morning everybody. I'd like to go ahead and call the Senate Finance Committee to order
Monday February 2nd
With me today is senator keel senator Merrick senator Kauffman, senator kronk
Senator Hoffman senator Olson will be joining us here in a few minutes
We have one item on the agenda today
We're going to talk about the marine highway. We'll have an overview
And to present and have a discussion from the Department of Transportation and public facilities, we have the commissioner,
Mr. Henderson, Ryan Henderson if he can come forward, along with Don Pannon, the Director, Program Management and Administration.
And I guess we had the Deputy Commissioner, right?
Yes.
And we're going to be straightforward today with the Finance Committee.
Please answer their questions truthfully and directly
Don't concern yourself if we like the answer or not
We'll work through those those issues
I'd like to welcome the group here today to help us with this. This will probably be a follow-up meeting on this subject
When sometime in the relatively near future
After we get a little bit further into the budget
We have been joined by Senator Olson and
And our other co-chair, Senator Hoffman
With that if you can introduce yourself for the record
Who you're presented and then take us through your presentation and we'll do one slide at a time and take questions
Yes, thank you, Chair Steadman and thank, you to the Senate Finance Committee for having us here today
For the record, my name is Ryan Anderson, and I'm the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
For today, the focus for today is on the Rural Fairy Program,
which is a discretionary grant program that began with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
when that new surface transportation bill was issued.
Through the rural ferry program just to get everybody up to speed on all the past awards that we've received and and
And how we kind of progressed through that with progress and then talk about t
▶
2026-02-02
House Education Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills15K words
The House Education Committee met on 2026-02-02. Bills discussed included HB 261 (Education Funding), HB 61 (Employment of Minors), SB 6 (Asian American/Pacific Islander Program). Public testimony was taken with 17 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 261 — Education Funding
HB 61 — Employment of Minors
SB 6 — Asian American/Pacific Islander Program
Votes
Parritt, and I think I failed to recognize that you are the president of the Alaska Association of School Business Officials.
Motions
A student could move to the district between October and February of course. identification, qualification, and documentations take a great deal of time.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Tammy Smith, conforming language due to, conforming language as in)
3 testifiers (going to show you, Brittany Choney Haywood, currently serving as the)
0 testifiers
8 testifiers (Madem Chair, Carol Dan, sort of curious how, still learning lifelong learner, going to now go, going now to go, Shane Noeska, originally from the Philippines)
2 testifiers (Kelly Manning, not sure for who)
Key Topics
House Bill 261 Student Count School District Three Year Slide Please Next Slide
Speakers (30)
Dr. Silverstein(9)
Representative Story(8)
Senator Gray(5)
Director Of(5)
Co-Chair Himschoot(4)
Representative Dibert(3)
Chair To(3)
Ms. Smith(2)
Dr. Luke(2)
Representative Elam(2)
Representative Schwanke(2)
Chair So(2)
Dr. Carter(1)
Co-Chair Hymn(1)
Representative Andy(1)
Representative Bynum(1)
Ms. Chioni(1)
Dr. Mina(1)
Mr. Morrison(1)
Ms. Parrott(1)
Notable Points
Once the budget is approved, if there's not a veto, if it's signed, the districts have to go back and redo their budgets and try and rehire if staff is still around for that.
That was really difficult, but you, your body, the legislature took care of this variable with the historic override veto override and then the permanent increase to the BSA.
Did you want to give some final comments? I yes Thank you, and thank you everyone who testified today, I gave their perspective on this I wanted to say that the bill is up on Friday We just got the fiscal note so we will get them out to you and we look forward to Answering any questions that you may have on friday, so I thank and thanks again to the presenters Thanks for your presentation.
And so because the fiscal note is zero, I think the original version of the bill had the approval through the department.
And then for sections 21 and 22, provided 21 provides for an effective date for section 11 and 19 to take effect on the effective date in section 487, chapter 40 SLA 2022.
Transcript: 15,772 words
Good morning, I'd like to call the meeting of the House Education Committee to order.
It is 8.03 Monday, February 2nd, 2026, in the Betty Davis room, 106 in capital.
Members present are to my right, rep eyeshide, rip under wood,
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones during the meeting.
Thank you.
I want to thank Cale Brown, the House Education Secretary from Records and
Chloe Miller from the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today.
And our co-chair committee aids Tammy Smith and Ella Lubin.
First of all, I wanna say happy black history month.
It is the 100-year anniversary, it was in 1926.
It was established by Dr. Carter Woodson,
and their theme this year is just celebrating the impact
of 100 years of black life and history
and what has the impacts that it has had on America.
So we will look forward to quite a few events this month on that.
Today, we will hear two bills, my House Bill 261, on education funding process, which addresses average daily membership,
also known as the student count measures.
Following that hearing,
we'll hear Senate Bill 6, Asian American Programs from Senator Gray Jackson.
At this time, I will be turning the gavel over to House Education co-chair Hymn Shoot.
I'm going to take a quick at ease.
Okay, good morning.
I invite Representative Story and her staff, Tammy Smith,
to identify yourselves for the record
and begin your presentation on House Bill 261.
Thank you for being here.
Thank-you.
I am Rep. Andy Story.
I have the honor of representing District 3,
Haynes, Gageway, Cluckwungas, Davis, and North Juneau.
I'm Tammy smith for
the Record Staff to Representative story.
Please imagine for a moment that we, the legislature, must pass a state budget by March 31st.
But we won't get our revenue projections until May.
On top of that, we have to issue notices of non-referrals to staff,
otherwise known as pink slips weeks before the shot in the dark budget is ready
▶
2026-01-30
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg9K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-01-30.
Key Topics
the Point Thompson unit what we're going to talk about today's scope and the objectives Through Chair Prudhoe Bay Point Thompson Off Take Chair Senator
Speakers (28)
Senator Wielechowski(25)
Chair Giessel(11)
Senator Dunbar(7)
Senator Kawasaki(5)
Senator Myers(5)
Senator Claman(5)
Senator Rauscher(4)
Director Of(3)
Director Noddingham(3)
Commissioner Jimmie(2)
Commissioner At(2)
Commissioner Designee(1)
Commissioner On(1)
Director Nonningham(1)
Mr. Nottingham(1)
Commissioner Crowder(1)
Commissioner Tumalowski(1)
Chair Kiehl(1)
Chair For(1)
Commissioner Chimalowski(1)
Transcript: 9,508 words
I call Senate resources committee to order today as Friday, January 30th, 2026, and the
time is 3.30 p.m.
Please turn off your cell phones.
Oh, check mine.
Yes.
All right.
Members present today, Senator Kawasaki, senator Myers,
Senator Rauscher,
Senator Dunbar,
Vice Chair,
Senator
Willakowski and I am Chair Geesele. I do expect Senator Clayman along shortly,
but we have a quorum to conduct business. Thank you to Heather and Chloe for helping us out
with the minutes and the audio.
Today we're hearing a presentation continuing in the discussion of a potential gas pipeline.
And today we will hear from the Department of Natural Resources and on the phone will
be the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
So I will invite the department of resources forward first and, excuse me, Deputy Commissioner
John Crow there is here and director of Division of Oil
and Gas, Derek Nottingham.
So welcome.
And then online for questions.
Let me make sure they're actually here.
Jessie Chimalowski, she's a commissioner at AOGCC,
along with Greg Wilson and Tom McKay, also commissioners.
Tom Kays is an appointee at this time.
And Rudeve Robie, senior reservoir engineer.
at AOGCC. Welcome, Senator Clayman.
So we will go ahead and proceed with DNR's presentation.
Welcome.
Thank you, Chair Giesel and members of the committee.
For the record, John Crother, Commissioner Designee.
I also have at times been referring to myself as Deputy
Commissioner on the records, so I apologize for if I do it as well.
But it's great to be here before you and important topic today.
Further ado, I'll turn it over to my colleague, Director Noddingham, and he'll start our presentation unless you have any framing remarks the committee would like to make.
No, please proceed. That's great.
Thank you, Chair Geesele. For the record,
I'm Derek Nodingham, director of the Division of Oil and Gas.
And I will just go ahead and move on to the first slide here and just kind of...
give you a brief overview of what we're goi
▶
2026-01-30
-- Canceled -- House Labor & Commerce Committee
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: -- Canceled -- House Labor & Commerce Committee. Date: 2026-01-30.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-30
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills8K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-30. Bills discussed included HB 148 (Omnibus Insurance Bill), SB 26 (Eliminate Daylight Saving Time).
Bills Heard
HB 148 — Omnibus Insurance Bill
SB 26 — Eliminate Daylight Saving Time
Key Topics
the treasury's investment funds Through Chair Cash Management General Fund Little Bit Fiscal Year
Speakers (30)
Representative Hannan(10)
Commissioner Mears(6)
Commissioner And(4)
Co-Chair Foster(4)
Representative Galvin(3)
Chair Representative(2)
Ms. O'Leary(2)
Representative Allard(2)
Chair Jefferson(2)
Co-Chair Josephson(2)
Representative More(1)
Director For(1)
Director Pam(1)
Director Of(1)
Chair Rep(1)
Representative Schrage(1)
Representative Shaw(1)
Chair We(1)
Representative Hammond(1)
Commissioner Revenue(1)
Transcript: 8,506 words
Okay, I'm going to call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order, let the record reflect that the time is currently 1.52 PM on Friday, January 30, 2026 present today. We have representative more representative.
Kuchar Josephson's supposed to have the gavel.
He is currently presenting on a bill in another committee,
so he will be here shortly.
And so present today with our staff,
we do have committee assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Talula, LaStufka, and Secretary Bree Wiley,
as well as Secretary Leah Frazier.
We have also our moderator, Emily Mesh,
From the LIO so with that if folks could remember to please also have with us for representative. Oh
Calvin
Totally fine
If folks can just mute their cell phones and in today's meeting we'll hear the Department of Revenue
Present on the state's savings reserves and investments
With us today is Janelle Earls acting Commissioner
and joining her from the Treasury Division is Pam Larry, Director and Zach Henna, Chief
Investment Officer, Acting Commissioner Earls. If you could, as well as Director Leary and
CIO HANA, if you can please come forward and put yourselves on the record. And thanks
for joining us and proceed as you would like.
Thank you, Co-Chair and members of the committee. I am Janelle Earl's Acting
administrative services director for the Department of Revenue.
Today I am here to introduce our great treasury team,
treasury director Pam Leary and chief investment officer,
Zach Hannah. They are going to go through all
funds and investments and should be able to answer any of your questions.
And I will be here but I'm going step away.
Great.
I am Pam Leary, the Director of the Treasury, and thank you for the opportunity to present
to you.
Slide two is our agenda.
And so first we're going to introduce you to the functions in Treasury.
And then we are going take a deeper dive into cash management followed by an update of
the treasury's investment funds.
We have a chart that shows the four sections of the tr
▶
2026-01-30
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript1 bill11K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-30. The committee heard SB 121 (Health Insurance Allowable Charges). Public testimony was taken with 28 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 121 — Health Insurance Allowable Charges
Motions
Senator Geesele: So we removed that part of the section when we changed to version G. Subsection A still contains the language for the 450% of the CMS fee schedule for Medicare.
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (eagerly moved to report, speaking to you about, going
to go on)
5 testifiers (gonna arm wrestle you, Jeffrey Davis and, the owner
and principal, quite familiar with these, being familiar with this)
4 testifiers (Jeffrey Davis and, the owner
and principal, quite familiar with these, being familiar with this)
4 testifiers (Jeffrey Davis and, the owner
and principal, quite familiar with these, being familiar with this)
5 testifiers (Jeffrey Davis and, the owner
and principal, quite familiar with these, being familiar with this, the take home pay)
Key Topics
of Congress, so we create these over time Senate Bill Health Insurance Health Care Any Questions Insurance Company
Speakers (30)
Mr. Chairman(17)
Senator Giessel(8)
Senator Dunbar(5)
Senator Bjorkman(4)
Senator Gray(3)
Senator Young(3)
Senator Kathy(3)
Mr. Davis(3)
Senator Yundt(2)
Senator Kiehl(2)
Senator And(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Representative Chuck(1)
Representative Cop(1)
Ms. Jimmie(1)
Ms. Conway(1)
Mr. Jeff(1)
Senator Explained(1)
Director Of(1)
Dr. Carrick(1)
Notable Points
If that doesn't work, my only option is to send them to the emergency room.
We all know how expensive emergency rooms care is.
It is reported from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note.
But based on the fiscal note, it looks like there's not no money in any of the funds.
So, I mean, like I just said, based out of fiscal notes, looks that there is no Is there any money in any of these funds? Not in the funds that we've identified.
Transcript: 11,297 words
Like to call this meeting in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order the time is 1 33 p.m
We are in belts room 105 of the Thomas Stewart building in The nation's most beautiful capital city of June, Alaska
Today is Friday
January 30th
Members present are
Senator Dunbar senator gray Jackson senator yand myself senator gorkman
I believe senator America will be joining us momentarily
via
the phone or team's web.
The record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business.
Welcome everyone to Senate Labor and Commerce.
I'd like to extend an especially warm welcome
to our recording secretary, Carrie Tupoe,
and our LAO moderator, Renzo Moises.
We have three items on our agenda today,
so we will move at a brisk but business-like pace.
First up, we had HP 78 Retirement Systems
Defined Benefit Option.
Followed by that will be Senate bill 121 health insurance allowable charges and rounding out our lineup today is Senate
Bill 163 repeal certain inactive funds slash accounts
First up we have house bill 78 retirement systems to find benefit option
We first heard this bill on Friday January 23rd when we had a presentation of the bill we
Had following meetings the next two committee days where we adopted a committee substitute took invited in public testimony
Today is my intention to have any committee discussion that members would like to engage in and then look to the will of the committee on the bill
Today we have the honorable representative Chuck cop with us here for questions and his trusty staff of Julia O'Connor
Are there any questions for representative cop or misele connor?
Hearing and seeing none, is there any further committee discussion or comments on House Bill 78?
Senator Young.
Thank you through the chair. So just wanted to put back on record that
There's I'd mentioned this quite a bit last week and so I'll be brief today, but I
Did like that the bill had the option to be you could be in the DB or the DC plan
I liked that there was five years there that s
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-30
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill1K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-01-30. The committee heard HB 47 (Generated Obscene Chld Sex Abuse Material). 2 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 47 — Generated Obscene Chld Sex Abuse Material
Votes
Any other objections? Seeing No Objections, HB 47 Work Order 34-LS0334, backslash G has been adopted as our working document.
Chair at This time I move at house bill 47 work order 34 dash LS 0334 backslash g be reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes Hearing no objection, House Bill 47 work order 34 dash LS 0334 backslash g is reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
Key Topics
House Bill Department Law Representative Vance Second Hearing Hearing House
Speakers (16)
Representative Vance(6)
Representative Costello(3)
Representative Gray(3)
Representative Underwood(2)
Representative David(2)
Representative Saddler(2)
Representative Aishide(1)
Representative Mina(1)
Vice Chair Chuck(1)
Chair At(1)
Ms. Casey(1)
Chair To(1)
Ms. Schroeder(1)
Chair For(1)
Chair But(1)
Representative Dan(1)
Notable Points
Chair at This time I move at house bill 47 work order 34 dash LS 0334 backslash g be reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes Hearing no objection, House Bill 47 work order 34 dash LS 0334 backslash g is reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
jection, House Bill 47 work order 34 dash LS 0334 backslash g is reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. I will ask committee members to stay after we adjourn the meeting to sign the paperwork. That concludes today's business before the committee. Befo
Transcript: 1,733 words
This meeting of the House Judiciary Committee will now come to order.
The time is now 1.01 PM on Friday, January 30th, 2026.
We are meeting in the Grunberg room, Capital Room 120.
The following members are present.
Representative Underwood, Representative Aishide,
Representative Vance,
Representative Costello,
Representative Mina, and myself.
Representative Gray, Chair.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business.
I would also like to recognize the staff
supporting this meeting.
We have Sophia Tenney from House Records,
Kyle Atupo from the Juneau LIO,
and my committee, a Dylan Hitchcock Lopez.
If you need anything, please get his attention.
We had one item of business on today's agenda,
HB 47, Generated of Seeing Child Sex Abuse Material,
presented by Representative Vance.
So, at this time, we will go to that first item of business, joined by Vice Chair Chuck
Cup at 1.02 PM.
Our first Item of Business is to bring House Bill 47, generated of C and Child Sex Abuse
material for its second hearing in our committee.
Everyone should have the Working Draft CS, which was received from Ledge Legal yesterday.
for the record that would be work order 34 dash LS 0334 backslash g do i have a motion
to accept the cs as a working draft yes mr chairman mister chair at this time i move at house bill
I object for the purposes of discussion.
I believe Representative Vance wanted to give some background on the reasons for this CS.
So I'll turn it over to Representative Vance to provide that information.
And then have the committee aid walk us through the changes.
Thank you, Chair Gray.
The history of this bill has been
through your work, my work and also working with the Department of Law
to make sure that we are accurately covering every statute and scenario
that the department of law and the investigators face.
And the changes come from recommendations from the departments
the coverage of this statute and so I just want to highlight that and we do
have Ms. Casey S
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-30
House Resources Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills11K words
The House Resources Committee met on 2026-01-30. Bills discussed included HB 247 (Climate Change Response Fund & Grants), HB 258 (Statewide Spay & Neuter Program), HB 247 (Climate Change Response Fund & Grants). Public testimony was taken with 16 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 247 — Climate Change Response Fund & Grants
HB 258 — Statewide Spay & Neuter Program
HB 247 — Climate Change Response Fund & Grants
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (no longer just, tempted to say sort, for the initial presentation, going to say it, sure if)
1 testifier (one way to do)
1 testifier (one way to do)
3 testifiers (Nicola Janice, no stranger to the, bringing you not just)
3 testifiers (Nicola Janice, no stranger to the, bringing you not just)
Key Topics
oil production or oil use Through Chair Climate Change Chair Representative Representative Josephson Disaster Relief
Speakers (30)
Representative Josephson(12)
Representative Prax(10)
Dr. Steiner(8)
Chair To(8)
Representative Mears(6)
Representative Saddler(6)
Mr. Mina(6)
Representative Stapp(6)
Co-Chair Representative(4)
Representative Elam(3)
Director Of(3)
Representative Story(2)
Chair For(2)
Representative Joseph(2)
Representative Mirrors(2)
Representative Myers(2)
Senator Murkowski(2)
Ms. Rexford(2)
Representative Colom(1)
Representative Hall(1)
Notable Points
The sponsor, it's the front acknowledges the controversial nature of The Bill, and that's just fair, really.
If I may interrupt, I did mean that to extend the debate.
I'm sure if I might Josephson whether there's time is up to the co-chair I wasn't providing anything to add to that debate.
So I'll just respectfully ask that you all move this bill to the floor, have a robust debate and move it to passage, and then hopefully the governor will sign it.
The governor vetoed $7. 5 million, leaving the account with $13 million but it had to be supplemented because of disasters, declared disasters by $29 million making the entire year's appropriation $40 million and as I learned yesterday.
Transcript: 11,127 words
This meeting of the House Resources Committee will now come to order. It is now
125 p.m. Friday January 30th, 2026 in capital room 124
Members present are representative Colom representative Hall representative Mears representative Prox
Representative Elam
Representative Sadler co-chair representative Diber and myself co chair representative
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business
Please take this time to silence your cell phone for the duration of a meeting. Thank you
I'd like to thank Cheryl Cole and Andrew Gianoti from records and Zach Lawhorn from the Juneau
LIO for staffing the committee today.
Today in resources, we are holding introductory hearings on two bills, House Bill 247, Climate
Change Response Fund and grants from Representative Josephson and House bill 258, Statewide Spay
The Department of Environmental Conservation is on the line to answer questions about both bills on
the agenda today, and the Department Of Fishing Game are also here on House Bill 258.
So first up, we have House bill 247 from Representative Josephson.
This is the first hearing on this bill in House Resources.
Representative Josefson, welcome to House resources.
Please join us at the table and begin your presentation.
Thank you co-chairs and committee. I'm Andy Josephson house district 13 itself Midtown and Anchorage
With me is my staff Joe mihan
Who has a powerpoint and is prepared to help me in answering any questions? We hope that you have
I want to thank you for the opportunity
chair chairwoman for to present this bill
This bill we think is vitally important.
We don't dispute that it can be considered provocative, certainly in terms of its funding source.
But we thing this is where the world is going, and we can show, unfortunately, that that's true.
House bill 247 is an important reform to the way in which the state pays for disaster relief.
Recently, legislative research reports that the state has spent $361 million during the
last 20 years on disaster
▶
2026-01-30
House Finance: Natural Resources Subcommittee
transcriptakleg11K words
The House Finance: Natural Resources Subcommittee met on 2026-01-30.
Key Topics
the governor's proposed fiscal years 27 budget Through Chair Deputy Commissioner Please Continue Chair Representative Representative Sadler
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(11)
Representative Prax(10)
Chair Representative(9)
Chair Schrage(7)
Commissioner Brent(4)
Representative Elam(4)
Commissioner Designee(3)
Commissioner Goodrum(3)
Representative Coulombe(3)
Representative Dibert(2)
Representative Frier(2)
Director Is(2)
Dr. Cronk(2)
Director Goodram(2)
Representative Thomas(2)
Commissioner Doesn'T(2)
Representative Fields(2)
Representative Tomaszewski(2)
Chair The(2)
Representative Hall(2)
Notable Points
Leveraging emergency response expertise of existing state employees aims to improve operational efficiency and save costs.
There was a special session in which an executive orders was put forth.
Additionally, 160 emergency firefighters statewide participated in non-emergency hazardous fuels work to help reduce risk in risk of fire in proximity communities and state values at risk.
Real quick, all hazard response is really important and I know the two house co-chairs yesterday were in a meeting. listening to director Brian Fisher of Homeland Security and Emergency Response.
Transcript: 11,056 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Department of Natural Resources Subcommittee
to order.
Let the record reflect that it is 12.03 p.m. on Friday, January 30th, 2026.
Present today, we have Representatives Freer, Dibert, Fields, Meers, Hall, Sadler, Colom,
Elam, and my self-chair shruggy.
As we start, please remember to mute your cell phones.
I want to thank our LIO moderator, Zach Lawhorn, for helping us with behind-the-scenes
Today, we will discuss the goals and expectations of the subcommittee here from the Department
of Natural Resources with an update on their fiscal year 26 budget and an overview of
the governor's proposed fiscal years 27 budget.
On the sub committee process, the DNR subcommittee will meet at noon on Wednesdays or Fridays
as needed.
Representative Dibert, Representative Freier, and I are working together to set up a schedule
I look forward to working with each of you and my goal is to have a collaborative, informative, and productive process, but also one that does not take more time than is necessary.
So if you have questions or specific areas that you'd like to dig into, please let our office know.
Otherwise, we will take a fairly light touch on some of this as there's less material this year to go over.
I encourage members to become familiar with their binders.
The binder's include data and resources from our nonpartisan legislative finance division.
And I believe Nathan is potentially home sick today as I'm not seeing him, very good.
But we do have, Mr. Connerbell here.
And if you have questions or would like to dig into any of this,
I highly recommend you set up a meeting with them as they'll be able to aid you
through this process and are very well informed.
Lastly, my staff, Caroline Hamp, will be with the, be our subcommittee aid
and your point of contact in my office.
Caroline is over here now.
Let's begin our main presentation today, which can be found in the back
of your committee binder.
Here today from the Department of Natur
▶
2026-01-30
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-30.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-30
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-30.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-30
House Education Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills15K words
The House Education Committee met on 2026-01-30. Bills discussed included HB 261 (Education Funding), SB 6 (Asian American/Pacific Islander Program). Public testimony was taken.
Bills Heard
HB 261 — Education Funding
SB 6 — Asian American/Pacific Islander Program
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Through Chair Next Slide Map Growth Slide Please Grade Level
Speakers (30)
Dr. West(19)
Dr. Mina(8)
Vice Chair Of(7)
Representative Elam(6)
Dr. Trainee(6)
Representative Dibert(5)
Co-Chair Story(5)
Representative Schwanke(3)
Dr. Randy(3)
Representative Samples(3)
Representative Sample(3)
Representative For(3)
Ms. Manning(3)
Representative Eischeid(2)
Chair Himschoot(2)
Director Kiehl(2)
Chair To(2)
Dr. McKay(2)
Dr. Training(2)
Dr. Traney(2)
Notable Points
In math in grade four, you saw a hint of recovery between 2022 and 2024, but not so much as to bring things back to 2019 levels and reading perhaps surprisingly we saw continued declines in achievement nationwide from 2022 to 2024 and I would just say in reading it's much harder to actually identify a discrete impact of the pandemic and school closures rather achievement nationwide has been declining from around 2015 through the present in roughly linear
Transcript: 15,054 words
Good morning, I call this meeting of the House Education Committee to order.
Today is Friday, January 30th, 2026, and the time is 8.04 AM.
Apologies for the late start.
Members present in the room today are Representative Elam, Representative Dibert,
Representative Schwonke, representative Eisheid,
Representative Underwood, co-chair Story,
and myself co chair Hymshoot.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
I'd like to remind members and folks in the audience to please silence your cell phones.
We're in The Betty Davis Committee Room 106 in State Capitol Building in Juneau, Alaska.
The documents for today's meeting have been distributed to members, are available on
the table outside the door, and on basis.
I would like thank our recording secretary, Kayle Brown.
And our moderator from the Juneau LIO, Sue Quickly, for being here to help us today.
And of course, our very capable committee aides, Tammy Smith and Ella Lubin.
Thank you for all that you guys do.
On today's agenda, we have one item.
The state of assessments on a national and statewide scale so this agenda item is comprised of several presentations
We're going to move fast. I want to try to be done by 9 45
Doesn't always work that way, but if I set 945 then we should be down by 10 so
This agenda. Item is composed of summer presentations dr. Martin West academic dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education
And vice chair of The National Assessment governing board
Dr. Randy Traney, Superintendent of Matzoo's Boroschool District, and Dr Cindy Mika,
Superintendent for Kodiak Island Borroschool district, Deputy Director Kelly Manning, Assistant
Director Karen Malin from the Department of Education and Early Development.
Members have copies of these slide decks and there are extras on the table outside this
room.
I would like to welcome our first presenter, Dr Martin West, the academic dean of Harvard
Graduate School of education and vice chair of the National Assessment Governing Board.
You have copies of his
▶
2026-01-29
House Finance: Administration Subcommittee
transcriptakleg6K words
The House Finance: Administration Subcommittee met on 2026-01-29.
Key Topics
Through Chair Please Continue Any Questions Representative Holland Information Technology
Speakers (30)
Representative Holland(9)
Mr. Smith(6)
Representative Story(5)
Representative Vance(4)
Representative Allard(4)
Chair Schrage(4)
Director Bingham(4)
Chair Representative(4)
Chair And(3)
Director Of(3)
Director Lee(3)
Director Stinson(3)
Representative McCabe(2)
Director For(2)
Director Position(2)
Director Stillston(2)
Representative Karak(1)
Representative Himschoot(1)
Representative St(1)
Representative Carrick(1)
Transcript: 6,621 words
And, bringing the microphone over, it was almost ready to get going.
I call this meeting the House Finance Department of Administration Subcommittee to order.
Let the record reflect it as 4.31 p.m. on Thursday, January 29th, 2026.
Present today, we have Representative Karak, Representative Story, representative Hymshoot,
Representative Holland, Rep. Vance, and Representative McCabe,
Representative St. Clair,
Representative Allard,
and myself, Chair Schraghi.
We're in full attendance here.
Thank you.
As we start, if you could please remember to mute your cell phones.
I want to thank our LIO moderator, Jude Augustine, for helping us with behind the scenes work
for our committee.
As you've seen, it can be somewhat technical, helping our Committee operate.
So thank you Jude for your work supporting us in our efforts here.
Today, we will briefly review the subcommittee process and hear from the Department of Administration
with an overview of the department's fiscal year 26 management budget and fiscal
year 27 budget requests.
On the subcommittee process, the DOA subcommittee will work with the members
and during the meeting times of the House State Affairs Committee.
We will generally meet in this room on Thursday starting at 4.15 pm unless otherwise noted.
Representative Carrick and I are working together to set up the schedule and my staff will keep
I look forward to working with each of you.
My goal is to have a collaborative, informative, and productive process that doesn't take
more time than is necessary.
So to the extent you have questions or would like to dig in more, please let us know, otherwise
we're going to try to move right along through the subcommittee process.
Before we hear from the department, I would to encourage members to become familiar with
their binders.
The subcommittee binder include data and resources from our nonpartisan legislative finance division.
If you could maybe give us a little wave for those who don't know you.
Thank you, Mr. Carpen
▶
2026-01-29
Senate Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg14K words
The Senate Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-01-29.
Motions
I would say there's a keen interest in terms of the application process which we're going to move to and discuss but truly like what is funded. And so that's where we keep driving people back to our website because it is our intent that we are going be providing summaries of the projects that are happening across the state because what we are experiencing and I think that Betsy Wood has shared this is there's some aha moments of like But I
Key Topics
child care and workforce housing the intervention some of your partners Through Chair Chair Senator Department Health Health Care Rural Health
Speakers (29)
Mr. Chairman(14)
Senator Tobin(13)
Vice Chair Giessel(12)
Senator Claman(6)
Senator Myers(5)
Commissioner For(5)
Chair Senator(5)
Chair Dunbar(3)
Director Of(2)
Senator Tillman(2)
Commissioner Heidi(1)
Commissioner Emily(1)
Representative Mina(1)
Commissioner Commissioner(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Commissioner And(1)
Director At(1)
Commissioner Headberg(1)
Senator Gizarin(1)
Senator Maya(1)
Notable Points
ISer produced some pretty remarkable reports when I started in 2012 and 2013 looking at the cost of healthcare across the system.
There, one is scope of practice for pharmacists, and there are five different compact licensing that are listed on your screen, emergency medical services, psychologist, physicians, and nurses.
So what some are of those projects that we can work on to help moms stay in community longer before they have to to have out to delivery? Emergency medical services, opportunity to use real health transformation funds to really look at how do we treat in place or transport to an alternate destination so that.
We are only transporting patients to an emergency department when it is appropriate for the emergency departments.
Do you have the ability? Do have staff in place? What is your fiscal note for executing the management of this? Thank you for that question.
Transcript: 14,721 words
Afternoon everyone this hearing the Senate Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order today is Thursday January 29th
And the time is 3 31 p.m. We are in the butch of its room 205 members president are senator Myers
Senator Klayman senator Tobin vice chair Gissel and myself a chair Dunbar
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business before I begin
I would like to thank Mary Gwen Kawakami the senate health and social services recording secretary and kyla Tupu
from the Juno LIO for staffing the committee today.
We have one item on our agenda today,
a presentation from The Department of Health
on the Rural Health Transformation Program.
With us today we have Commissioner Heidi Hedberg,
Deputy Commissioner Emily Ritchie,
Associate Director of the Office of health savings,
Betsy Wood, and Sylvan Rob is also in the room
from Department Commerce because we
have some questions that are perhaps related to licensure.
So Commissioner, would you like to come forward and begin your presentation?
I should also acknowledge we have with us representative Mina, the chair of the health and social services committee with
us today. Thank you.
For the record, my name is Heidi Hedberg, Commissioner for the Department of Health.
On slide two, so on July 4th, HR1 was signed into law that created the Rural Health Transformation Program.
It is a federal commitment to fundamentally improve how health care is delivered in Alaska.
This is one-time, five-year investment intentionally designed not to sustain the status quo, but
to transform health-care delivery, expand access, and improve outcomes.
Alaskans from across the state in developing the application.
The department had a goal that we would be transparent,
and we really wanted to ensure that Alascans saw themselves in this
application, that it reflected their challenges,
our shared realities, and our collective roles in solutions,
To that end, we used a work group that is developing into an advisory cou
▶
2026-01-29
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills8K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-29. Bills discussed included HB 124 (AIDEA), HB 133 (Payment of Contracts), HCR 9 (Declaration of Independence Anniversary). Public testimony was taken with 50 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 124 — AIDEA
HB 133 — Payment of Contracts
HCR 9 — Declaration of Independence Anniversary
Votes
I move that the House State Affairs Committee move House Bill 81, also known as 3-4-LS 0474 backslash N, as amended from the committee with attached fiscal notes and authorizing legal services to make any necessary technical and conforming changes. Without objection, House Bill 81, as amended, has been moved from the House State Affairs Committee.
Motions
Representative Hymshoot: The first amendment is from my office, and I'm going to move amendment one, also known as L dot one and all object to it for discussion.
So, again, I moved Amendment 1 and I objected for discussion, and Amendment 1, before you, seeks to address a main cost driver for this bill, which is Department of Health Grants Administration.
representative McCabe: Thanks. I move amendment three we'll object for discussion and Representative McCabe, thank you So this amendment addresses an unintended consequence to HB 133 as written the bill applies Prop payment penalties not only to private vendors and municipalities, but also to nonprofit organizations Let me be clear.
Representative David: This is our third hearing on this bill and at our hearing, on Tuesday, January 27, I set an amendment deadline for Wednesday, January 28 and received one amendment from my own office, which I'm going to move now. I move amendment number one, also known as N.1.
All I want to do is remove that automatic penalty clause. It would just be status quo for them right now would be status quote for the nonprofits for the mom and pop said and I would I would suggest that those folks are probably getting paid because their bills from the state or.
Public Testimony
6 testifiers (Jim Park, an attorney in Juneau, Carolyn Keller, in favor of the, Jasmyn vent, quick on and you)
5 testifiers (our fourth hearing on, going to move amendment, one of those
That, going to remove my, gonna withdraw number three)
8 testifiers (going to turn straight, only going to accept, Jim Park, an attorney in Juneau, Carolyn Keller, in favor of the, Jasmyn vent, quick on and you)
8 testifiers (going to turn straight, only going to accept, Jim Park, an attorney in Juneau, Carolyn Keller, in favor of the, Jasmyn vent, quick on and you)
7 testifiers (only going to accept, Jim Park, an attorney in Juneau, Carolyn Keller, in favor of the, Jasmyn vent, quick on and you)
Key Topics
House Bill Amendment Number Non Profits State Affairs Representative Mccabe
Speakers (30)
Representative McCabe(9)
Vice Chair Story(7)
Chair Carrick(7)
Representative St(6)
Representative Vance(6)
Representative Holland(5)
Representative Himschoot(3)
Representative McKay(2)
Mr. Raro(2)
Chair Merrick(1)
Senator Pimshir(1)
Representative Hinshaw(1)
Representative To(1)
Representative Hymshu(1)
Representative Hymshah(1)
Representative Co-Chair(1)
Representative David(1)
Representative Nelson(1)
Senator Stedman(1)
Mr. Allard(1)
Notable Points
Some of public funding are being directed towards a controversial project that many of us can include in charge of the governance and community leaders do not support the project's costs and benefits remain uncertain, millions of dollars being authorized about transparent legislative review, or meaningful public input.
So one cost that was identified in the Department of health fiscal notes is necessary technology upgrades, and this amendment simply identifies rural health transformation fund dollars as a potential funding source for those tech upgrades.
And I have, and I've heard of other members who have concerns with these fiscal notes.
There are 15 fiscal note, eight of them have.
There are 15 fiscal note, eight of them have. Zero fiscal notes, six of them have a fairly substantial size as well as a seventh one that has got a number of different aspects to its fiscal.
Transcript: 8,055 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House State Affairs Committee to order.
The time is 3.18 on Thursday, January 29th, 2026.
We're here in Room 120 of Alaska State Capital and please mute your cell phones today.
Members present include Representative St. Clair,
Representative McCabe, Representative Holland,
Representative Hymshoot, Vice Chair Story,
and myself, Chair Kerrick.
Let the record reflect we do have a quorum
to conduct business.
Our record secretary today is Cecilia Miller,
and our moderator from the Juneau LIO is Jude Augustine.
Our committee aid for today, as always,
is my staff, Stuart Relay.
On today's agenda, we have two items.
Three items actually consideration of amendments on House bill 133 prompt payment of contracts will be first
We also have consideration
of Amendments on house bill 81 marijuana conviction records and then we have public testimony and
Continued discussion on household 124 data today
We only have one hour for our hearing as the second hour is being lent to the Department of Administration budget subcommittee
And we will be lending each Thursday through February as this to the DOA subcommittee.
So, to start with today, the first item on our agenda is House Bill 133 on payment of contracts from Representative Hymshoot.
This is our fourth hearing on the bill at our hearing last Thursday, January 22nd.
I set an amendment deadline for Wednesday, Jan 28th at 5 p.m., and we received two amendments.
The first amendment is from my office, and I'm going to move amendment one,
also known as L dot one and all object to it for discussion.
So amendment number one seeks to address a main cost driver for this bill,
which is department of health grants administration quick at ease.
I know you agree.
I am rusty, but we're not we are still live.
How state affairs is back on the record? Sorry about that. We just were ensuring we had our processes in order here.
So, again, I moved Amendment 1 and I objected for discussion, and Amendment
1, before y
▶
2026-01-29
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill14K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-29. The committee heard SB 64 (Elections). Public testimony was taken with 3 testifiers. 2 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
SB 64 — Elections
Votes
Currently we have failed the FY 26 test, but we are appealing that.
So I want to put it on your radar because there's no action that would need it, but if we failed the disparity test the budget would go up by those amounts without us taking any need from the CBR and FY 26 potentially That item would just go up without any action so you could end up where you funded Enough for the projected items and if there's a cap on that amount it might defund that But tha
Motions
The largest decrease that we see is in Medicaid, the FY26 budget included a temporary increment for FY 26 and 27 of 10 million dollars for Behavioral health rates the governor removed that from the FY 27 budget. So terminated that temporary inclement one year early In the Department of Transportation, we have six and a half million of UGF to replace one-time fund sources that were used in the FY, 26 budget And there's another 1.4 million that we expect to come and govern men because it appears t
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (more of, assuming that at this, not going to be)
Key Topics
security measures for special need ballots voting and those have been removed with this final thing remaining the governor's FY27 budget and his assessment of that budget New Section Through Chair Last Year Governor Budget Old Section
Speakers (30)
Mr. Chairman(21)
Mr. Painter(11)
Co-Chair Josephson(7)
Mr. Anderson(5)
Representative Stapp(5)
Representative Galvin(4)
Chair To(4)
Chair Foster(3)
Representative Hannan(3)
Representative Bynum(3)
Representative Biden(3)
Mr. Dunsmore(2)
Chair Of(2)
Mr. Alexey(1)
Co-Chair Schrage(1)
Mr. Brody(1)
Mr. David(1)
Co-Chair Office(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Director And(1)
Notable Points
Would you add anything else? Do I have that correct in terms of what's in there and is there anything else that you might Through the chair, I think that is a very high-level synopsis of of the major changes that have happened It does remove some of things that that had been debated in previous iterations Observer powers and things like that poll workers and thing like That but overall that's a good summary and I might ask mr.
Painter on the subject of The fire suppression disasters if if the governor's position and maybe I hope this is just an academic matter and not one That gets into separation of powers and and therefore is relevant for generations to come one of those debates But the governor's position was there was a disaster declaration and therefore he could spend beyond what was appropriated.
It strikes me that it literally comes down dollars to the same amount? Is there some reason beyond that that we should engage in a debate over semantics? Mr.
Chairman, I don't view the terminology debate as particularly important, as I suppose.
So it's kind of an academic debate about which is which.
Transcript: 14,857 words
Okay, I'm going to call this meeting in the House Finance Committee to order let the record
reflect that the time is currently 132 p.m. on Thursday, January 29, 2026. Looks like we
Rips in of Hennen, Ripson of Moore,
Ruppson to Bynum, Kuchar Rupsin of Schruggie,
Kochar ripsin Josephson,
Rupson Galvin,
Rippson Tom Schifsky,
Ritzin O'Step,
and myself Kouchar Foster.
Before we start,
just to remind our folks could mute their cell phones.
We have one bill before the committee this afternoon.
If we have time,
we will end in the,
I believe that Mr. Alexey painters
We've got another engagement, but if he gets out early and we have time later he'll come back to finish up with his presentation on the governor's FY27 budget and his assessment of that budget.
So with that, we've one bill for us right now and that Senate bill 64, it's the elections bill.
We are going to adopt a new version.
Hear the changes made to the bill.
Take questions and then we'll set the Bill aside.
So what I'd like to start with first is maybe just,
if we could have committee substitute
for a Senate Bill 64 co-chair Schraghi,
if I could.
Ask you to maybe introduce the motion just to put before us the CS
Kuchar Schruggi. Yeah, happy to chair foster
I move that the house finance committee adopt committee substitute for Senate bill 64 work draft 34 dash
Ls 0 1 5 3 backslash you
dated 128 26 is our working document. Thank you. I'm going to object and I'll also object for the purposes
of getting the explanation and ask my staff,
Mr. Brody Anderson, if you could come up
and explain the changes.
And I think if we could maybe just get through
the explanations of changes
between the prior version of this bill and this new CS
and then we'll go to questions.
So with that, Mr Anderson if
put yourself on the record. Also, looks like maybe I'd like to invite Mr.
David Dunsmore to the table to also maybe be available to take questions.
I see him right there. And so with that, Mr Anderson, if you could go
ahead and ki
▶
2026-01-29
Senate Special Committee on Arctic Affairs
transcriptakleg12K words
The Senate Special Committee on Arctic Affairs met on 2026-01-29. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
United as one and the defiance of failed regulations are people harvested migrator birds essential to our subsistence, passed a bird out to each man, woman and child, and turned themselves into the game-warden.
Key Topics
the incident North Slope Self Determination Madam Chair Emergency Management Uic Science
Speakers (19)
Senator Stevens(5)
Senator Kawasaki(3)
Representative Tobin(3)
Senator Wielechowski(2)
Dr. Mears(2)
Chair If(2)
Senator Gieselis(1)
Senator Donnie(1)
Chair And(1)
Dr. Pearlbrouwer(1)
Representative Frier(1)
Dr. Brewer(1)
Dr. Pearl-Kionbrouwer(1)
Senator Dan(1)
Chair You(1)
Mr. Wilson'S(1)
Senator Sullivan'S(1)
Senator Sullivan(1)
Senator Olson(1)
Notable Points
Our region went as far as lobbying President Nixon directly in Washington, D.C. to veto the bill but the Bill passed.
One example that we're really proud of is the establishment of ICAST Department of Emergency Management.
ICAS is one two tribal emergency management departments in this state of Alaska.
A regional tribal emergency management system that protects the health, safety, and Our mission is to enhance situational awareness and provide timely alerts and warnings to the communities, establish strategies to mitigate hazards, prepare for and effectively coordinate response and recovery to emergencies and disasters acro
Also in 2023, when the fiber optic line was cut for the first time, ICAS submitted the first tribal emergency declaration to FEMA.
Transcript: 12,440 words
I call the Senate Arctic Affairs Committee to order.
Today is January 29th, 2026, and the time is 130 p.m.
Please turn off your cell phones.
Committee members present today,
Senator Kawasaki, Senator Vice Chair,
Senator Stevens, I'm expecting,
and myself, senator Gieselis, Chair.
We are also joined by Senator Donnie Olson.
I am expecting Senator Wilakowski along shortly.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
So our recording secretary today is Juliana, and running the LAO audio is Chloe.
So thank you to you for helping us out today.
Today we have a very interesting presentation from the Voice of the Arctic in Nupiet.
We have three speakers.
They will be in this order.
Harcharik, pardon me, Hacharic, Meghan Edwardson and Dr. Pearl Brower.
So, Nogrik is the president and CEO of Voice of the Arctic Anupiat.
Megan is vice president of
the Nupiot Community of Arctic Slope Tribal Council,
and Pearl is
the President and C.E.O. of An upiat, excuse me.
Ukiovic, Uphiot, Inupiate Corporation.
Committee members, you may wonder why this topic.
I have heard Nogruk speak many times,
most recently at the Arctic Encounter.
And I feel that it's time that we make sure
that the voice of the arctic is heard
as we deliberate on these policy issues,
issues that affected the North Slope
and certainly inupiate people.
We are part of The Circumpler Arctic.
those policies have implications for the people of our state, self-determination on the North Slope,
the history of the member entities on The North slope, highlighting what's happening in D.C.
and Juneau, and how it impacts the People of The north slope the homelands and their self
determination. And so that was my reason for inviting the north slope folks here today.
I worked for nine years for the Narsalpero School District.
And so on the map that's on their first slide,
I visited each of these schools.
And it's an amazing area of our state
that I don't think a lot of people have visited.
And, so this is an opportunity for us to hear cl
▶
2026-01-29
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills10K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-01-29. Bills discussed included HB 259 (Large Energy Use Facilities), HJR 27 (Supporting State Energy Development). Public testimony was taken with 1 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 259 — Large Energy Use Facilities
HJR 27 — Supporting State Energy Development
Public Testimony
1 testifier (representative Donna mirrors)
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Large Energy Through Chair Energy Use Representative Costello Community Benefit
Speakers (28)
Representative Costello(14)
Co-Chair Holland(8)
Chair Mirrors(7)
Chair To(7)
Representative Cop(6)
Chair Mears(3)
Representative Representative(3)
Director Of(2)
Chair Jimmie(2)
Representative Ruffridge(2)
Representative Kai(1)
Representative For(1)
Representative Edgmon(1)
Representative Comp(1)
Representative Johnson(1)
Mr. Mcdonald(1)
Chair The(1)
Representative Donna(1)
Ms. Spad(1)
Representative Refriger(1)
Notable Points
Procedures for vegetation management. fire detection, and the notification of emergency response agencies and procedures for maintaining access routes to high-risk areas.
I'd like to add here that we have received two fiscal notes, a zero note from DCCED and a fiscal note of 674,000 from the Department of Natural Resources for staff and travel.
So I appreciate the opportunity to develop this, you know the The fiscal notes that we've got, you know, represent a intent that we would engage the Department or Division of Forestry in being able to review these plans and to ensure that there's coordination with these plan with the community wildfire protection plans, and the rest of their planning area.
There's some more work I think to be done to assess the scope, I mean right now, the way the bill is drafted, it is fairly broad in terms of the number of utilities that So there's also some options of being able to potentially look at the fiscal note in terms of changing or limiting the scope of involvement.
Is there any opposition to the bill? Thank thank you didn't mean to lose track of that one Thank You through the chair Costello, there's two areas of concern that have been raised so far one has been the concern about the fiscal note and I take it as a friendly concern in the sense that I think The utility that raises concern genuinely would like to see this legislation move ahead and they're sensitive to the fact that there's a fiscal note on it.
Transcript: 10,471 words
Committee will now come to order.
The time is 1.05 p.m. on Thursday, January 29th.
Members present in are present.
I did that twice in a row.
Representative Cop, Representative Costello,
Co-chair Holland, and myself, Co Chair Mears.
We have a quorum to conduct business,
so we're just gonna go ahead.
I'd like to remind members to please silence your cell phones.
A reminder for staff and members of the audience may not approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to community members, please get the attention of Co-Chair Holland's
Committee aid, Tim Chure.
And he'll take care of it.
Importantly, I'd like to thank Cheryl Cole, the House Energy Committee Secretary, and
Doug Bridges from the Juneau LIO for tech and teleconferencing support.
I wanted to provide a short update on our last meeting
where we heard presentations from the RCA,
Harvest Midstream, and N-Star Natural Gas Company,
represented from R CA followed up with our committee aides
with a message stating that they had acted
upon co-chair Holland suggested,
suggestion that the RCAA could perhaps bring all the players
into a room to facilitate some direct confidential
communication to work on some of the issues
surrounding the dueling proposals
for natural gas import facilities.
Responding to the suggestion during our last meeting, RCA Charis Mendola stated he would
bring the topic up for discussion with the commissioners at a public RTA meeting scheduled
for yesterday.
The topic was indeed brought up yesterday and the commission unanimously voted to open
informational docket in which the Commission will convene a Public and Confidential setting
for Chugach Electric Association and NSTAR Natural Gas Company to discuss the issue of
LNG import facilities.
And with that announcement, the first item of business before the committee is an introduction
of House Bill 252, Electric Utility Fire Prevention Plan by Representative Kai Holland.
Please approach the bench, introduce yourselves for the record and begin you
▶
2026-01-29
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills18K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-01-29. Bills discussed included HB 116 (Commercial Fishing Insurance Co-op), HB 216 (Transfer of Railroad Land to Whittier). Public testimony was taken with 21 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 116 — Commercial Fishing Insurance Co-op
HB 216 — Transfer of Railroad Land to Whittier
Votes
But Without objection, I would like to continue this conversation perhaps next week and say next Tuesday As calendars are available for that, but I Would like the continue the presentation when we end about 230 so I represent Mina.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (the first hearing of, partnering
with the weather)
2 testifiers (going to turn my, going on)
3 testifiers (going to turn my, going on, we are just)
4 testifiers (going on, we are just, the time
Yes
Miss, not sure if you)
2 testifiers (Jackie Wilde with the, not here asking for)
Key Topics
winter maintenance and operations by the Department of Transportation and Public Facility staff Through Chair Chair Representative
Speakers (30)
Representative McCabe(11)
Chair Representative(10)
Representative Holland(8)
Mr. Mills(7)
Representative Mina(7)
Co-Chair Carrick(5)
Mr. Nickison(5)
Representative Nelson(3)
Co-Chair To(3)
Ms. Wilde(3)
Director For(2)
Co-Chair Represented(2)
Representative The(2)
Representative Stedman(2)
Chair Is(2)
Chair Care(2)
Representative Cabe(2)
Co-Chair Ayesha(2)
Chair Eischeid(2)
Representative Kerry(2)
Notable Points
For years, we dumped the snow in the water and in debates and wherever.
I might let one my colleagues introduce this slide, and then I'll do the emergency slide after that.
So again, the assembly of all of the folks that are online, anyone of those folks can be called on if there's a specific event, but slide three here is meant to illustrate that the department has an increasing role in our emergency response assistance in multiple areas across the state, multiple types of events, flooding, wash outs, avalanches, landslides, storms. events that cross the border on many of these so This this slide is not meant to be read comprehensively out loud But if of course th
I called you guys you had the team activated and so I really appreciate the work you do in the emergency response realm especially and it's refreshing actually.
And indeed, my commissioner says DOT is uniquely positioned to assist with emergency response simply because we have contractor contracts open and contractor relationships.
Transcript: 18,247 words
This meeting of the health transportation committee will now come to order
It is now
104 p.m. On Thursday February 29th in capital room 124
members present are
Representive St. Clair represent McCabe represent Amina represent Nelson
Co-chair Carrick and myself co-chaired Ayeshide that the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business
Also please take this time to silence your cell phones for the duration of the meeting.
Thank you for that. Before we begin, I would like to thank
Jordan Nelson from House Records as well as Susan Quigley from the Juneau LIO for staffing the
committee today. Our committee aides are Meredith Trainer and staffer Griffin Sequeo
right at the door. Thank You for your help without you. This work would not be possible.
On today's agenda, we will have an overview of winter maintenance and operations by the Department of Transportation and Public Facility staff.
After the DOT and PF presentation,
we would consider a bill, House Bill 216, transfer of railroad land to Whittier from Representative Holland,
and here invited testimony from railroad leadership and a representative from the City of Whttier.
This is the first hearing of House Bill 216 in the House Transportation Committee.
And I would like to say before we get started with our first presentation that I
would to do a hard stop with the 1st presentation at 2.30.
Regardless of where we are, I just want to make sure House bill 216 has adequate time.
And so I'd like invite our DOT staff to approach the dais.
Welcome to the House Transportation Committee.
For the record, Andy Mills, Special Assistant Legislative Liaison at the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
And I'd like to thank the committee for the request on this presentation.
Just given the long list of folks that we have
on the first slide, I'll let perhaps every person
introduce themselves when we first kind of get to them,
we're gonna run through a rotation on each slide.
And for all of our folks, whethe
▶
2026-01-29
Lunch and Learn: Investing in Alaska Communities and Nonprofits
transcript4K words
The Lunch and Learn: Investing in Alaska Communities and Nonprofits met on 2026-01-29.
Key Topics
Grant Making Rasmussen Foundation Last Year Little Bit
Speakers (4)
Chair Of(3)
Senator Representing(1)
Chair And(1)
Senator Van(1)
Notable Points
And then last year we did a one-time emergency funding to public media, the Western relief effort and food security. with the Coalition for Housing and Homelessness there.
Transcript: 4,213 words
Okay, well, good afternoon and welcome.
My name is Bill Acasky.
I'm a State Senator representing East Anchorage,
and I am honored to be here today
to introduce our Gretchen Guess,
who is our featured speaker for this lunch and learn.
Gretchn is the president and CEO
of the Rasmussen Foundation.
I know many of you have heard of that organization.
It is a foundation focused on improving Alaskan lives
through grants, community collaboration,
and encouraging charitable giving.
Prior to the foundation, Gretchen served in leadership roles for non-profit health care providers and she has served
in the House of Representatives here in Alaska and also the Senate. In fact, she's my predecessor in
the State Senate, Gretchen is thrilled to have her here today to provide us with the history of the
foundation and to give us an update on their current work and please help me in welcoming former State
Thank you senator.
As Bill said my name is Gretchen Guess.
I'm the daughter of Carolyn and Jean Guess and the president and CEO of the Rasmussen Foundation.
Before I start today I just wanted to give a shout out to all of you especially the staff for all the work that you do.
It's important work you're doing down here in Juneau.
All of this that are former legislators know that the real work happens with the staff.
So I hope you enjoy lunch today, and thank you for everything that you do.
As Bill mentioned.
The Rasmussen Foundation is a philanthropic organization
focused on Alaska.
Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about who we are,
how we operate, and what we fund.
The goal of today's talk is that you understand the foundation
a bit more, especially understand our program.
So as you work with constituents in your community,
you can help them reach out to us on things
that would be successful projects for the Foundation.
So our vision and mission, basically, we're all about Alaska.
We're Alaskans and we are all around Alaska,
we will consider funding anything that will benefit Ala
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-29
Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) Fiscal Options Presentation
transcript1 bill14K words
The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) Fiscal Options Presentation met on 2026-01-29. The committee heard SB 26 (Eliminate Daylight Saving Time).
Bills Heard
SB 26 — Eliminate Daylight Saving Time
Key Topics
Sales Tax Income Tax Permanent Fund Sales Taxes Fiscal Policy
Speakers (4)
Representative Sarah(2)
Director For(1)
Director Hirschberg(1)
Representative Of(1)
Notable Points
The reason for this is that over the course of a business cycle, as we move from economic expansion to contraction to recession, The entities in the economy that are most responsive to those changes are businesses, right? They see their profitability reduced over the course of that business cycle, and so their tax base for corporate income taxes is moving the most across those business cycles.
On the other end of the spectrum, as workers in recessions begin to get laid off and they see their incomes fall, they still are consuming in the economy.
It's one of the reasons that I think that we're in a manufacturing recession currently, one the reason that hiring is tapered off, and one reasons the investment nationally is so low in everything but data centers.
In any of these scenarios if we're starting to think about a national recession There's that's just a lot of additional volatility that is going to arise from that regardless of if it's a sales tax or an income tax those are just Options that are going be very responsive to business cycles and as a result, you know We I guess my point being that a sale's tax is gonna be res
So even though that introduces some additional volatility to a sales tax that might be unique for Alaska relative to the rest of the United States, U.S. recession is going to introduce a lot of additional problems that we're not necessarily considering in this modeling exercise.
Transcript: 14,142 words
Good morning. I'm Diane Hirschberg and I am the Director for ISER Institute of Social
and Economic Research and we are really honored that you are choosing to be with us this morning
for this presentation where we're sharing what I consider to very important work that's
I'm going to introduce the team members in a moment but first I want to acknowledge and thank
the governor's office the Governor requested this work. This is
us revisiting work that was done in 2016 and you all are of course you you
all who are legislators are facing a really critical moment in our state to
make some hard decisions and so we were asked to try to give you some of the
data that you would be able to use. So before we go any further I do want to
invite Governor Dunlevy up here to say a few words.
It's like a church service, it's totally quiet.
Everyone's wondering what's going on.
It'll be OK, guys.
Diane, thank you.
And I want to thank the team, and Diane's
going to introduce those guys here in a little while.
But just very briefly, this came as a result of,
I'm trying to always use data to guide a lot of our decisions
and something of this magnitude.
And that being, what does the state
look like today as opposed to 2016?
What's changed?
What's evolved, what no longer applies,
what are some new issues and items that have been
interjected into the discussions.
And so you're going to see, I think, some great work.
It's an extensive amount of data.
But basically, we asked the university through ice,
and I want to thank Rachel for spearheading this.
To really take a look at where things were in 2016,
many of us were here, many, of you weren't.
I was a senator back then and, you know, we start to have these discussions because of the things that we've been talking about in the fiscal plan and that is the revenue issues, the volatility issues and basically where do we go and how do
They gave us an overview a couple weeks ago,
it's kind of like Decemberish, right?
Some of that happened.
Long s
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-29
Joint House Tribal Affairs and Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg16K words
The Joint House Tribal Affairs and Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-29.
Key Topics
Through Chair
Speakers (30)
Chair Dibert(10)
Co-Chair Representative(6)
Representative Prax(5)
Representative Holland(5)
Representative Story(5)
Chair Him(4)
Representative Carrick(4)
Representative Schwanke(3)
Co-Chair Himschoot(3)
Director Of(3)
Dr. Foster(3)
Chair Mirrors(3)
Chair To(3)
Representative Nelson(2)
Chair Represented(2)
Representative Frier(1)
Representative Underwood(1)
Co-Chair Donna(1)
Representative St(1)
Representative Hall(1)
Notable Points
Today's agenda, we have one item on our agenda today, which is an update on the Alaska State Emergency Operations Center presented by Brian Fisher, the Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management in the Alaska Military and Veterans Affairs Department.
Good morning chair mirrors chair diver co chair him shoot members of both committees Thank you for having me this morning for the record Brian Fisher the director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Like chair said we are in the Alaskan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Thank You for The Opportunity to come and testify today give an update on the state Emergency Operations Center and what my agency has been doing I could say kind of bottom line of front
Emergency Operations Center and what my agency has been doing I could say kind of bottom line of front.
The first is the state emergency operation center.
We certainly COVID specifically show, we're able to show that the emergency operations center for the State. doesn't have to be in a physical location.
Transcript: 16,696 words
Members present for the House Tribal Affairs are Representative Schwonke, Representative
Freer, representative Underwood, and myself, Chair Dibert.
I will now pass the gavel to community and regional affairs co-chair Donna Meers, who
Thank you chair diver for hosting this joint hearing the community and regional affairs members present are we got a full house
Representative St. Clair representative Nelson representative Prox representative Holland representative Hall co-chair
Representative him shoot and myself co chair Donamiers. I'll let the record reflect. We have a quorum to conduct business
I'd like to remind members and staff
who are allowing members to use electronic devices
during committee meetings,
but please silence your cell phones
and be subtle about it.
Also, staff and members of the audience
may not approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to committee members,
please get the attention of my committee aid.
Talia Ames, where's Taliah?
She'll be right back.
Oh, there you are.
You're in a different spot.
I'm not used to cheering in this room.
And she'll take care of you.
Thank you, Talia, and thank you
Co-chair Hymn-Shoots Committee aid,
Dr. Brouwer for supporting this,
as well as Chair DiBert's Committee
aid on Maria Alcontra for your collaboration
for putting this together.
Lastly, before we get started, I can't forget to thank
the CRA recording secretary, Sophia Tenney,
and helping us from the Juneau LIO is Chloe Miller.
Today's agenda, we have one item on our agenda today,
which is an update on the Alaska State Emergency Operations
Center presented by Brian Fisher, the Director of the Division
of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
in the Alaska Military and Veterans Affairs Department.
Dr. Fisher please come welcome to this joint hearing.
to approach the testifier table,
put yourself on the record
and proceed with your presentation.
Please note that we do have a hard stop today at 9.45
to allow time for members to get to the 10 a.m.
I-S
▶
2026-01-28
House Finance: Labor & Workforce Development Subcommittee
transcriptakleg2 bills5K words
The House Finance: Labor & Workforce Development Subcommittee met on 2026-01-28. Bills discussed included SB 147 (Pharmacist Prescription Authority), SB 204 (Sub. Teaching; School Board Eligibility).
Bills Heard
SB 147 — Pharmacist Prescription Authority
SB 204 — Sub. Teaching; School Board Eligibility
Motions
I can move to the next slide and let's proceed. Okay.
Key Topics
the expansion director de partola Governor's proposed fiscal years 27 budget Workers Compensation Department Labor Last Year Industrial Electricity Workforce Development
Speakers (30)
Chair Schrage(4)
Commissioner Of(4)
Director Dan(3)
Representative Carrick(2)
Representative Hall(2)
Director De(2)
Representative Frier(1)
Representative Bynum(1)
Representative Fields(1)
Representative Coulombe(1)
Commissioner Cathy(1)
Chair Schoggy(1)
Director Paloma(1)
Director Charles(1)
Director Tanya(1)
Director Ortiz(1)
Director Ortees(1)
Dr. More(1)
Director At(1)
Chair Commissioner(1)
Notable Points
That program had a fiscal note associated with it but again did not get funded and so we asked for funding for a position that would help run that program for workers' compensation last year.
Transcript: 5,549 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Department of Labor and Workforce Development Committee to order to let the record reflect that it is 4.33 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28th, 2026.
Present today, we have Representatives Hall, Representative Carrick, Rep. Freer,
Rep., Sadler, Re. Nelson, and Representative Vynum and myself, Chair Schragge.
As we start, please remember to mute your cell phones as I do the same myself.
I want to thank our LIO Moderators using quickly for helping us with behind the scenes work for our committee today.
During today's meeting, we will discuss the goals and expectations of the subcommittee,
and hear from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development with an update on their fiscal year 26 budget,
and an overview of Governor's proposed fiscal years 27 budget.
On the subcommittee process, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development Finance
Subcommittee will work with the members, and during the meeting times of the House Labor
and Commerce Standing Committee, after today's meeting,
the Subcommittee is meeting as needed on Fridays at 3.15 pm with our expected close-out date
being the last week of February. Representative Fields,
Representative Hall and I are working together to set up the schedule,
I look forward to working with each of you.
My goal is to have a collaborative, informative,
and productive process that is no longer
than it needs to be either.
I encourage members to become a welcome representative
collome.
I encouraged members become familiar with their binders.
The binder's include data and resources
from our nonpartisan legislative finance division.
Let's see, the legislative fiscal analyst for the labor budget is Valerie Rose, and thank
you Valerie.
I was looking for you back there, behind all the heads here in the committee, who will
be available for questions during committee meetings and throughout the process.
I highly recommend setting up a meeting with her to go over the graphs and the subcommittee
Lastly
▶
2026-01-28
Senate Education Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill3K words
The Senate Education Committee met on 2026-01-28. The committee heard SB 204 (Sub. Teaching; School Board Eligibility). Public testimony was taken with 23 testifiers.
Bills Heard
SB 204 — Sub. Teaching; School Board Eligibility
Motions
We will now move to Arizona where we have Jeffrey Allsoop. All soop, I apologize if I said that name incorrectly.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (not the place
to, making up)
2 testifiers (not the place
to, making up)
6 testifiers (Holly Deeman, representing myself and as, so grateful to the, sure about how they, Jeffrey Alsop and, calling into support to)
6 testifiers (Holly Deeman, representing myself and as, so grateful to the, sure about how they, Jeffrey Alsop and, calling into support to)
6 testifiers (Holly Deeman, representing myself and as, so grateful to the, sure about how they, Jeffrey Alsop and, calling into support to)
Key Topics
the qualifications of school board members teacher attention staffing School Board Senate Bill Board Members Madam Chair
Speakers (12)
Senator Cronk(6)
Senator Kiehl(4)
Senator Mike(4)
Senator Yundt(2)
Senator Bjorkman(2)
Chair And(2)
Senator Stevens(2)
Chair To(2)
Senator Lukigail(1)
Chair Myers(1)
Chair Tobin(1)
Senator Arendt(1)
Transcript: 3,776 words
Good afternoon, everyone. I call this meaning of the Senate Education Committee to order. It is 3 31 p.m.
Here on Wednesday, January 28th.
We are meeting in the belts committee room here in
the beautiful state Capitol building located in downtown Juneau.
As to our mind folks who are here on the realm,
if they could please mute their cell phones.
Documents for today's meetings are available on basis.
There are also additional copies right there by the door.
Members present today is Vice Chair,
President Stephen, Senator Keel,
Senator Yunt, and myself,
Senator Lukigail Tobin, please let the record reflect.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
I want to thank Chloe from the Gino LAO for moderating today's meeting and Mary Gwen from
Senate Records for documenting in prosperity today is meeting.
First hearing of Senate Bill 204 is on the agenda for today.
It is related to substitute teaching and relating to the qualifications of school board members.
I would like the public to know we will be taking public testimony for those who would
These are the following phone numbers from the locations in which you are calling from.
If you're located in Anchorage, please call 907-563-9085.
If your calling is from Juneau, the phone number is 901-586-9085.
From all other locales, call this toll free number at 1-844-586-90085
You can also go to your local legislative information office to testify.
Or you can email your public testimony to senate.education at akaleg.gov.
That's senate dot education at AKLEG.GOV.
Please let the record reflect here at 3.32 p.m.
We were joined by Senator Bjorkman.
All right, let's start.
Today to introduce Senate Bill 204, we are joined
by senator Mike Cronk and his staffer Paul Menke.
Please come before us, put yourselves on the
Begin at your leisure
All right, thank you madam chair members of the education committee senator Mike Crunk with my staff
Go ahead. Thank you chair Tobin for the record Paul Menke staff to senator mike Cronk
Well, thank you
▶
2026-01-28
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg14K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-01-28.
Key Topics
Through Chair Chair Senator Yeah Through Gas Line Madam Chair
Speakers (29)
Senator Myers(12)
Senator Kawasaki(11)
Chair Giessel(10)
Senator Dunbar(8)
Vice Chair Senator(6)
Senator Claman(6)
Senator Wielechowski(5)
Senator Rauscher(3)
Commissioner Anderson(3)
Commissioner Keith(3)
Senator Foster(2)
Commissioner Ryan(1)
Commissioner Katherine(1)
Commissioner Of(1)
Commissioner You(1)
Senator Who(1)
Senator Karsak(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Commissioner And(1)
Senator By(1)
Notable Points
Thank you very much Senator Myers, well, thank you, so to point back versus Anchorage debate here.
emergency erosion mitigation work that we have to do.
Regarding there's other things besides infrastructure improvements as I mentioned that we need to do emergency response management is a very important one.
Transcript: 14,030 words
I call Senate resources committee to order.
Today is Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, and the time is 3.30 p.m.
Please turn off cell phones.
Committee members present, Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Myers, senator Rauscher,
Senator Dunbar, Vice Chair Senator Wielikowski,
and myself, Chair Geesele.
I believe Senator Clayman will be along shortly.
We have a quorum to conduct business.
Thank you to Heather and Renzo, who are taking the minutes and helping us out with the audio.
So we are continuing the subject of the natural gas pipeline.
And so we today are going to talk with a Department of Transportation and
the impact of gas pipelines on our transportation infrastructure.
So I will welcome Commissioner Ryan Anderson to the table.
And do you have support staff with you, Commissioner?
Yeah, thank you Chair Geesele.
Yeah with me today is Deputy Commissioner Katherine Keith
and as well as Andy Mills, our legislative liaison.
Very good, all right.
Well, welcome, I'll let you introduce yourself
to the committee,
I don't know that we've had transportation
before the resources committee before.
So this is a new one for us.
Okay, well, thank you very much for the record. My name is Ryan Anderson
I am the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
It is it's great to be in front of this committee today. Yeah, because transportation
Oh man, yeah, we've you know,
We've been involved in a lot of resource issues across the state and development and whatnot. So hopefully today, you
know we put together some
slides. We did have a session with the LNG caucus this past summer. So some of these are similar,
but we've updated them to really give this committee the latest and greatest about
how we're approaching the potential of an Alaska gas line.
Great. Commissioner, you have two staff online. Also, Lauren Little is the chief engineer. Daniel Smith is M-S-V-C director.
I don't know what that is.
Yeah, thank you, Chair. Yeah. So, I'm online, a Lauren little
▶
2026-01-28
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills7K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-28. Bills discussed included HB 243 (Barbers & Hairdressers Bd Licensing), HB 249 (Transfer Vehicle Title to Insurer).
Bills Heard
HB 243 — Barbers & Hairdressers Bd Licensing
HB 249 — Transfer Vehicle Title to Insurer
Key Topics
The Growing Rule of Seniors and Youth in the Workforce Through Chair Older Workers Representative Sadler Working Age Little Bit
Speakers (29)
Representative Saddler(9)
Mr. Robinson(9)
Representative Coulombe(4)
Representative Carrick(3)
Ms. Story(3)
Representative Frier(2)
Representative Nelson(2)
Co-Chair Fields(2)
Chair Representative(2)
Director For(2)
Mr. Schubert(2)
Co-Chair Hall(1)
Representative Work(1)
Chair Through(1)
Chair Yes(1)
Representative Care(1)
Chair You(1)
Chair As(1)
Chair Any(1)
Representative Calum(1)
Notable Points
And the reason for that is not terribly surprising.
Don't wish to engage in a debate So my real question is You make an eloquent case for the value that older workers bring to the workforce.
And in this committee room, in the last year or two, we debated and approved and the inter-legislature approved, authorizing younger people to work in license establishments and bars and clubs and so forth.
Recession and then and fairly low rates, and this was true nationally as well the percentage of and This is the percentage of the workforce that are teens Separate from that is a percent of teens who are working.
Transcript: 7,153 words
of the House Labor and Commerce Committee will come to order.
The time is 3.19 p.m. on January 28th.
Members present are Representative Carrick,
Representative Colomb, Representative Freer,
Representative Sadler,
Representative Nelson, Co-Chair Field,
and myself, co-chair Hall.
We have a quorum.
Please silence cell phones.
They're asking that staff and members of
the audience not approach the table
if you need to pass a note to committee members.
Please get the attention of our
committee aid Evan Anderson, and they will take care of it.
I'd like to thank Andrew Magnusson, the Labor and Commerce Secretary, and Susan Quigley from the Juno LAO for technical and teleconferencing support.
Today we have one item on the agenda.
We are hearing a presentation on The Growing Rule of Seniors and Youth in the Workforce.
We're joined by Dan Robinson.
the Chief of Research and Analysis for the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Mr. Robinson, thank you for joining us. Please put your name on the record and we'd love
to hear your presentation. Thank you.
Thank You and good afternoon for
the Record Dan Robinson Research Chief at the Alaska Department
of labor and workforce development. And we're going to go over two articles that were in our October
2025 issue of Alaska economic trends. I only have I think six slides and then I'd be happy to answer
any questions you have. And we'll jump right in starting with youth. This is the the issue,
the cover, and that's just a QR code of CR code. QR? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
mind-lapse there, but if you haven't, all of you receive a paper copy, I know that,
but anybody watching wants to get a free electronic copy. This is an easy way to
get there. So looking first at the youth, as I mentioned, what we...
see here just to get oriented is the the bars in the back that's the total
number of resident workers in Alaska over that period it's zoomed in a little
bit so that we can see the change it looks a
little what more dramatic than it would
▶
2026-01-28
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg5 bills15K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-28. 5 bills were discussed, including HB 267 (Employer Contributions), SB 204 (Sub. Teaching; School Board Eligibility), SB 206 (School Suicide Policies; Firearm Storage), and others.
Bills Heard
HB 267 — Employer Contributions
SB 204 — Sub. Teaching; School Board Eligibility
SB 206 — School Suicide Policies; Firearm Storage
SB 64 — Elections
SB 217 — Employer Contributions
Key Topics
the statewide 2026 jobs forecast and unemployment insurance financing metrics The Overview of the Governor's FY27 budget the Governor's FY27 budget Through Chair Chair Josephson Benefit Costs Chair Representative
Speakers (30)
Co-Chair Josephson(22)
Representative Galvin(10)
Representative Hannan(7)
Director Representative(6)
Commissioner Mentioned(5)
Representative Thomas(4)
Representative Bynum(3)
Chair And(3)
Mr. Dibert(3)
Co-Chair Joseph(3)
Mr. Willer(3)
Mr. Weller(3)
Representative Stapp(2)
Chair Foster(2)
Mr. Painter(2)
Co-Chair Schrage(2)
Commissioner For(2)
Director Of(2)
Representative Tomaszewski(2)
Chair To(2)
Notable Points
I have another one that's very similarly surprising.
You know overview here we can kind of look at the the 80s period right which is a period We tend to speak to as being our our you know most severe economic Recession that the state is faced, you certainly since statehood and you and we could see here, you you specifically with respect to these These specific ratios where you benefit costs reach nearly 4% in a given year in in late the late 80s and then again to compare that obviously to what we saw during CO
w during COVID which was significant but those didn't even reach you know barely above 2 percent so roughly half magnitude wise of those of that that recession. But I think overall the point I'd like to make at least with Pretty much this whole time period, but especially through the 2000s is is a precipi
I'll just reiterate here just that that we We have we like to have a pre-recessionary target for the fund of between three and three point 3% of wages and so that has been historically our target range and what that means is when it's in that range, we have no solvency adjustments applied to tax rates.
I would like to do a retrospective soon looking at how the impacts of the pandemic were different for men Our most recent analysis, besides a small one that I did on women working in the construction industry, was really looking at how men and women went through our state recession different.
Transcript: 15,859 words
I call this meeting in the House Finance Committee to order, let the record reflect that it is 1.32 PM on Wednesday, January 28, 2026.
Present today are Representative Hannon, Representative Moore,
Representative Staff, the three co-chairs, co chair Foster,
co Chair Schrodinger and myself, Co-chair Josephson, also present to our House
Finance committee staff, committee assistant Helen Phillips, page Tallulah LaStofka.
Secretary Brie Wiley and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh,
from the Legislative Information Office.
With us also on the panel are Representatives Galvin
and Representative Bynum.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear the Department of Labor
and Workforce Development give two presentations.
The first is the FY26 Departmental Budget Overview.
Then they will give a two-part presentation on the statewide 2026 jobs forecast and unemployment insurance financing metrics.
If there's time, we will also invite Mr. Painter back to continue his presentation
on The Overview of the Governor's FY27 budget.
With us today, and just so it's clear, if that doesn't happen today that is the completion of Mr Painter's presentation.
with us today from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to present its overview
is Commissioner Munoz, Dan DiBartolo, the administrative service director,
if the, and by the way it's the FY27 departmental budget overview of course,
if two of you will come forward, we look forward to your presentation.
We've been joined by Representative Thomas Shefsky.
Welcome.
Thank you, Chair Justisson and co-chair Schruggi.
It's nice to be here.
For the record, my name is Kathy Munoz.
I am the Commissioner for the Alaska Department of Labor
and Workforce Development.
And with me is Administrative Services Director,
Dan DiBartolo.
In the audience, we have Lisa Flores, the Budget Manager
for The Department.
We also have Kim Colvig, Legislative Liaison.
And Director of Workers' C
▶
2026-01-28
Senate Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg9K words
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on 2026-01-28. Public testimony was taken with 1 testifiers.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (going to close public)
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the fiscal notes Superior Court Court Judge Pro Tem District Court Public Defender
Speakers (21)
Senator Kiehl(9)
Chair To(9)
Mr. Chairman(8)
Senator Stevens(4)
Ms. Mead(4)
Mr. Haas(4)
Senator Tilton(3)
Senator Tobin(3)
Senator Claman(1)
Chair Those(1)
Senator Kopp(1)
Senator Keue(1)
Senator PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(1)
Senator Tilt(1)
Senator Hall(1)
Director For(1)
Senator Tillman'S(1)
Mr. Hosle(1)
Mr. Haaz(1)
Ms. Mears(1)
Notable Points
So it's increased by about 58%, not surprisingly, and what exactly stands to reason is the number of case filings. between 2007 and 2025 has increased by about 56%.
Chairman and I have two questions but I'm sorry with the most pragmatic one and it might actually be for you and Mr Haas as well as I am looking at your fiscal notes.
It is my understanding from information I've received is that inflation adjustments should not be included in fiscal notes.
Chairman I know that we're not the finance committee, but there was a second fiscal note that came forward talking about needing an additional lawyer for the increase workload.
Through the Chair to Senator Tilt, and I would refrain from commenting directly on the fiscal note.
Transcript: 9,554 words
Let's call this meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee to order.
It is 1.30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, 2026.
Before we begin, I want to thank Julianna Singh.
The Senate Judicial Secretary, you make sure we have a transcript of our meetings
and Renzo Moises from the Geno LIO.
Make sure you have sounded.
I get your name, right?
Yeah.
OK.
All right, this time I wanted to remind committee members in those in the room
We have Senator Tilton, Senator Tobin, my vice chair,
Senator Keel, and myself,
Senator Clayman, we have a quorum to conduct business.
Our first and only item.
On our agenda today is Senate Bill 12, number of Superior Court judges sponsored by the Senate Rules Committee by request.
This is the first thing in the bill in Senate Judiciary Committee here to present the bills in Nancy Meade General Counsel of the Alaska Court System.
And it's me, if you would please come forward, put yourself on the record and you may begin your presentation.
And just as an inquiry, are you comfortable with people
to interrupt as you present with questions,
or do you want to get your presentation finished?
To the chair, I am very comfortable
with question so that I can address the issues
that are of concern to members.
For the record, Nancy Me, general counsel
for the Alaska court system.
Thank you very much for hearing this bill today.
This bill would add an additional superior court judge
in the third judicial district,
which is the courthouse that serves generally the entire Matsu Valley.
For procedural context, Senate Bill 212 was introduced by the Rules Committee at request and
the request comes from the Supreme Court.
This is not common that the court system requests a change to a statute because that
most statutes are pure policy and that is left to your branch of government, of course.
The number of judges are set in different statutes in Title 22.
So we cannot simply through the budget process at a position,
that's a judge position.
The legislature has to author
▶
2026-01-28
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcriptakleg5 bills11K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-28. 5 bills were discussed, including HB 78 (Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.), HB 78 (Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.), SB 198 (Pers/Trs Retirement & Medical Eligibility), and others. Public testimony was taken with 8 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 78 — Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.
HB 78 — Retirement Systems; Defined Benefit Opt.
SB 198 — Pers/Trs Retirement & Medical Eligibility
SB 70 — School&election Bds; Voting; Elections
SB 78 — Disclosure of Wage Information
Motions
move that 12-month requirement to provide that flexibility. That's kind of the heart of the bill.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (the Executive Director
of)
1 testifier (the Executive Director
of)
1 testifier (the Executive Director
of)
1 testifier (the Executive Director
of)
3 testifiers (Erica Burr, testifying in support of, Chuck Cobb)
Key Topics
Defined Benefit House Bill Defined Contribution State Name
Speakers (28)
Senator Bjorkman(9)
Director Of(8)
Mr. Chairman(5)
Senator Kaufman(3)
Director For(2)
Mr. Glazer(2)
Ms. Moore(2)
Representative Cop(2)
Chair Williams(2)
Mr. Murray(2)
Senator Dunbar(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Mr. Bridges(1)
Mr. Andreasen(1)
Mr. Richardson(1)
Ms. Schmitz(1)
Mr. Capel(1)
Ms. More(1)
Notable Points
And we come from a particular perspective that's trying to establish valuable and attractive benefits for public workers, but also in a way that sustainable and affordable without a lot of unexpected costs in the in the long term.
That's not surprising.
Alaska has seen an unprecedented out migration of workers for more than a decade.
It's not surprising that defined benefit pensions increase retirement security and therefore In fact, according to a study by the National Institute on Retirement Security, older households without a pension are nine times more likely to live in poverty.
Today, the art job board lists 729 educator openings statewide, many which remain unfilled. into a cycle of content hiring and too often reliance on emergency certificates.
Transcript: 11,546 words
Good afternoon. I like to call this meeting of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order at 1 32 p.m.
We are in belts room one or five
The Thomas Stewart building in the nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska today is Wednesday
January 28th 2026 the numbers present are Senator Dunbar
Senator Merrick Senator Gray Jackson Senator Yunt and myself Senator Bjorkman let the record reflect
that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Welcome everyone to Senate Labor and Commerce.
I'd like to remind everyone
to please turn off or silence your cell phones
and join with me in extending a warm
Senate labor and commerce welcome
to our recording secretary, Carrie Tupoe,
and our LAO moderator, Doug Bridges.
We have two items on our agenda today.
First up is House Bill 78,
retirement systems defined benefit option.
Followed by Senate Bill 198,
PERS, TERS retirement and medical eligibility.
First up is House Bill 78.
This is our third hearing on this bill.
Previously, we had a presentation of the bill,
we adopted a committee substitute as a working document
and took invited testimony.
Today, it is my intention to take public testimony
on the Bill and set it aside for further consideration.
This time, I would like to open public
testimony on House bill 78
How we will do public testimony as we have not taken any public
testimony yet this year is what I like to do is rotate between in the room public
testimony, as well as online public testimony, making sure that people have
equal opportunity to speak. Everyone will get two minutes to
speak after two
minutes have expired. I will let you know that two
that you should wrap up your testimony and if you don't wrap
up within about 15 seconds I will nod to Mr. Bridges over here and he will
transition to the next public test fire. Okay, all right. This time I'll open
public testimony on House Bill 78.
Is there anyone in the room who is looking to testify today?
Mr. Andreasen.
Thank you for the record.
Neil Sandreisen, I'
▶
2026-01-28
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill4K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-01-28. The committee heard HB 24 (Aggravating Factors at Sentencing). Public testimony was taken with 14 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 24 — Aggravating Factors at Sentencing
Votes
Chair At this time I move that house bill 24 work order 34 dash LS 0 2 5 0 backslash n Be reported out of the judiciary committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal modes Hearing no objection house Bill 24 Work Order 34-L s 0 250 is reported out of the Judiciary Committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (grateful that you
brought, Dan Sadner, going to give you, glad to see that)
1 testifier (businesses
with the engaged)
1 testifier (businesses
with the engaged)
3 testifiers (Andy Josephsen, in that group, going to follow up)
4 testifiers (grateful that you
brought, Dan Sadner, going to give you, glad to see that)
Key Topics
House Bill Paper Documents Any Questions Through Chair
Speakers (19)
Mr. Chairman(6)
Representative Mina(4)
Representative Gray(4)
Representative Saddler(4)
Representative Costello(3)
Representative Josephson(2)
Mr. Alkins(2)
Representative Eischeid(1)
Representative Joseph(1)
Ms. Willis(1)
Vice Chair Cop(1)
Ms. Mitty(1)
Representative For(1)
Chair To(1)
Chair Actually(1)
Chair Or(1)
Director Heather(1)
Director Of(1)
Representative Vance(1)
Notable Points
es Hearing no objection house Bill 24 Work Order 34-L s 0 250 is reported out of the Judiciary Committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. We will now take a brief at ease while we sign the paperwork. on the record, our second item of business is to bring House Bill 20, prohibit fees f
Transcript: 4,104 words
This meeting of the House Judiciary Committee will now come to order.
The time is now 1.02 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28th, 2026.
We are meeting in the Grunberg Room, Capital Room 120.
The following members are present.
Representative Eischeid, Representative Castello, representative Mina, and myself,
and my self-representative gray chair.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business.
I would like to recognize the staff
supporting this meeting.
We have Sophia Tenney from House Records,
Andrew Giamolte, House records in training,
Kyla Tupo from the Geno LIO,
and Dylan Hitchcock Lopez, my committee aide.
We have two items of business on today's agenda, House Bill 24,
aggravating factors at sentencing, and House bill 20 prohibit fees for paper documents.
As our first item of Business, we will take up House
Bill twenty-four, aggravate factors that sentencing for its second hearing in our committee.
This bill was introduced last session, so therefore we would like Representative Joseph
On HB 24, before we open public testimony, so at this time, I would like to invite Representative Josephson and his staff, Ken Alper, to the witness table.
Please put yourself on the record and begin your refresher.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon.
I'm Andy Josephsen. I represent House District 13. It's South Midtown Anchorage.
on this bill, and you heard at that time from myself,
and, you also heard from a woman named Tammy Willis,
who was the victim of a violent assault
that was sort of, it's undisputed,
was connected to her sexual orientation.
You also hear from
a former US prosecutor for the state named Karen Leffler,
Karen Loeffler talked about the importance of this bill as well.
The bill, first of all, the catalyst for the bill were events that occurred just
before New Year's, well, just before Christmas in 2019.
Miss Willis was a three-time victim.
The third time was the worst where she was fluently assaulted.
I say that because when you're cut open and
▶
2026-01-28
House Resources Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill17K words
The House Resources Committee met on 2026-01-28. The committee heard SB 21 (AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd).
Bills Heard
SB 21 — AK Work & Save Progrm; Retire. Savings Bd
Key Topics
North Slope Through Chair Cook Inlet Little Bit
Speakers (29)
Representative Fields(10)
Representative Prax(8)
Co-Chair Representative(6)
Representative Saddler(6)
Representative Elam(2)
Representative You(2)
Representative Mears(2)
Co-Chair Dibert(2)
Representative Colom(1)
Representative Hall(1)
Representative Even(1)
Chair Joe(1)
Representative Ealing(1)
Representative Seiler(1)
Representative Story(1)
Representative PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(1)
Representative Mirrors(1)
Representative Sellar(1)
Chair Is(1)
Chair Representing(1)
Notable Points
And that's one thing that has been remarkable.
On Friday when we received this ConocoPhillips activated our emergency response team.
We stood up a team very quickly on Friday to do the initial emergency responses, as you would expect.
I was there at the Emergency Operations Center, and on Saturday working with Doan, we mutually decided with the state of Alaska that we must appropriate for Doen to take over the lead on the response, being the brig owner and operator, and that'll happen on a Saturday afternoon.
And they're a little bit different profiles. can deliver gas at very, very high rates, although it's a relatively small storage facility, right? So it can provide some emergency gas backup.
Transcript: 17,615 words
House resources committee will now come to order. It is now 1 of 2 p.m. Wednesday, January 28, 2026, in Capital Room 124.
Members present are Representative Colom, Representative Hall, Representatives Mears,
Representative Prox, Rep. Elam, Co-Chair Representative Dibert, and myself Co Chair Representative Freer.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones for the duration of the meeting. Thank you.
Before we begin, I'd like to thank Cheryl Cole, the house resources secretary for records,
and Jude Augustine from the Juneau LIO for staffing the committee today.
Today we are hearing updates from Santos, Conoco Phillips, Alaska, Hill Corp Alaska
on their operations in Alaska over the past year. We have 40 minutes allotted for each
presentation this morning, including this minute, so we'll get started right away.
First up on the agenda, we have Santos.
In the room we are joined by Pete La Liberté,
Vice President for Business Development,
and Joe Belash, Senior Vice-President for External Affairs.
Please join us at the table,
put yourself on record, and begin your presentation.
Thank you, Madam Chair, for the record.
My name is Joe belash.
Senior vice president for external affairs at Santos
For the record, my name is Pete Lulliberté, Vice President of Business Development for Santos.
So
we're gonna walk through
what has taken place here over the last year with regard to the PICA project, an exciting development on state lands,
and talk a little bit about what it is PICKA is going to contribute to this state as well as some of the growth opportunities.
I'd like to start by acknowledging that here in Juneau, we're on the land of the ancestral
and traditional homeland of Akwan on Lekit Oni.
We also acknowledge their tribal governments and the roles that they play in taking care
of these lands.
And then the Pika Project is located on The traditional homeland of The Kukpikmute, Anupiat.
and the Inupia c
▶
2026-01-28
Lunch and Learn: The Federal Tax Credit Scholarship and Expanding Educational Opportunity in Alaska
transcript7K words
The Lunch and Learn: The Federal Tax Credit Scholarship and Expanding Educational Opportunity in Alaska met on 2026-01-28.
Key Topics
School Choice Public School Tax Credit Low Income Alaska School
Speakers (6)
Ms. Bamm(1)
Chair Squad(1)
Dr. Jessica(1)
Ms. Sloan(1)
Ms. Lee(1)
Representative Schwanke(1)
Transcript: 7,182 words
And there is a lot of information I know to be told today, so I'm just a case viewer.
Watch the gavel the gabble on the house floor.
We did get to introduce our lovely guests today.
But I am just going to give a little brief synopsis.
Somebody else has yours, I'll make it up.
But we have today three special guests.
It's not on.
Three special guests today that I'm honored to introduce.
First is Lee Sloane of known Lee for many years.
She's the president of Alaska School Choice,
which is a nonprofit that's a granting organization
that expands school choice opportunities
for Alaskan families, homeschool mom,
former public school teacher,
and she administrates a hybrid...
homeschool community, it's known as the Green Room.
It's in North and South Anchorage.
I do have friends that have their kids going there
and they rave about it.
She has a podcast and platform called Brave Nation
and author's two books.
Pride and Privilege is her newly published book
and then The Little Brown Hen for Children,
which we got to hear this morning is incredible.
I would highly, highly suggest reading that.
The proceeds from The little Brown Head for 2026
will go to support Alaska School Choice, which is amazing.
So please welcome Lee.
And then we also have Miss Pamela King here.
She serves as the head school, head of school at Mountain City Christian Academy with 32
years of experience in education, spanning elementary through high school.
She brings a deep understanding of student learning across the del-
developmental stages. She's a lifelong Alaskan. Pam grew up in rural communities across southwest
interior and northwest Alaska, shaping her strong commitment to access opportunity in student-centered
education. And her unique perspective reflects both professional expertise and lived experience
grounding her leadership and diverse needs of Alaska students and families.
been friends with her for years. She is the superintendent at Mountain City, and oh my goodness,
I wish I had Julie's t
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-28
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-28.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-28
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-28.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-28
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill16K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-01-28. The committee heard SB 55 (TRS Contr Rate; Pers/Trs Soc Secur or SBS). 3 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
SB 55 — TRS Contr Rate; Pers/Trs Soc Secur or SBS
Votes
The vote to fill the FY25 deficit from the CBR failed, that left the deficit. coming in the legislature's budget first up to 100 million dollars from ADA's reserves funds, the Alaska Industrial Development Export Authority, and then the remaining amount would come from the Higher Education Investment Fund.
However, for FY 26, we failed.
It's not the first time we've failed and we have appealed in past years we have been successful in those appeals.
Key Topics
the Governor's FY27 budget from a legislative finance division Last Year Governor Budget Capital Budget Bye Bye Million Dollars
Speakers (16)
Mr. Chairman(18)
Senator Stedman(12)
Senator Kiehl(9)
Chair Center(5)
Mr. Painter(4)
Senator Stoltman(3)
Chair Of(3)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Chair Senator(1)
Mr. Carrick(1)
Senator Sediment(1)
Representative For(1)
Chair Yes(1)
Notable Points
veto last year didn't use a ten-year average Which they were talking about using yesterday Through the chair center said yes for the disaster relief fund last year the governor vetoed Below that number but this year in his budget he put in an amount equaling the 10-year average So not nobody did an FY26
vetoed Below that number but this year in his budget he put in an amount equaling the 10-year average So not nobody did an FY26, but it's his 27 proposal.
He's continued so after the legislature adjourned the Governor vetoed portions of the budget as he has done each year.
So in FY 25, he vetoed $5 million for ASME and then $62.2 million of reappropriations to DOT for match.
I know that this committee covered the vetoes quite extensively in hearing yesterday, so I'm not going to go into this too much, because I think the committee's been through it in pretty good depth.
Transcript: 16,195 words
All in the Senate's Finance Committee, the order today is January the 28th.
We're in state capital, Senate Finance, room, a few minutes after 9 a.m.
We have full contingent of finance members.
Senator Stedman, Senator Olsen, senator Keel,
Senator Merrick,
Senator Kauffman and Senator Crock.
Today's agenda.
We have an overview of the Governor's FY27 budget from a legislative finance division.
So we're going to be hearing the presentation from Alexi Painter Esquire from the director from Peace Come Forward and proceed with your presentation.
So before we go into FY27 as the title says we're going to start with a recap of FY26 and
A little bit of fy25 even get into the fall revenue forecast then the fY27 governor's budget and just briefly touch on the long-term view
So to recap last session
Obviously everybody around this table is here last year, but be helpful for the public
When the legislature adjourned last year, we had a projected deficit in FY 25,
the supplemental year that year estimated to be 192.8 million.
And then in FY26,
we have a protected surplus of 56.6 million based on the spring revenue forecast of $68 oil.
The vote to fill the FY25 deficit from the CBR failed, that left the deficit.
coming in the legislature's budget first up to 100 million dollars from ADA's
reserves funds, the Alaska Industrial Development Export Authority, and then the
remaining amount would come from the Higher Education Investment Fund. And the
legislature did not set a source if there was an FY26 deficit if oil prices
went down, which has been common in recent years.
The legislature working through the budget, recognizing the constrained revenue environment
last year, the legislature accepted about half of the governor's recommended requested increments,
43 million out of 80 million. The legislator added $44.5 million of increases that were
not proposed by the Governor and then made $34 million in reductions to the adjusted base.
the budget was a little bit below the governor's
▶
2026-01-28
House Education Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills18K words
The House Education Committee met on 2026-01-28. Bills discussed included HB 59 (State-tribal Education Compacts), SB 34 (Repeal 90 Day Session Limit), SB 66 (State-tribal Education Compacts).
Bills Heard
HB 59 — State-tribal Education Compacts
SB 34 — Repeal 90 Day Session Limit
SB 66 — State-tribal Education Compacts
Key Topics
School District Through Chair Tribal Education Charter School
Speakers (23)
Co-Chair Story(6)
Representative Elam(4)
Chair To(4)
Representative Dibert(3)
Co-Chair Himschoot(3)
Chair Him(3)
Director For(3)
Representative Schwanke(2)
Ms. Jackson(2)
Dr. Isaac(2)
Chair Of(2)
Representative Ischide(1)
Representative Underwood(1)
Director And(1)
Director Knek(1)
Dr. Joel(1)
Chair Apologies(1)
Chair Community(1)
Chair Realizing(1)
Chair If(1)
Notable Points
And correct me if wrong, I am just looking at prior fiscal notes.
Transcript: 18,171 words
Good morning. I call this meeting of the House Education Committee to order. It is Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, and the time is 8.02 AM.
Members present are Representative Dibert, Representative Schwonke, representative Ischide,
Representative Underwood, co-chair Story and myself, Co-Chair Hymshoot. We have a quorum to conduct business.
I'd like to remind everyone in the room to please silence your cell phones. Makes you a much better meeting.
And we are in the Betty Davis Committee Room 106
in a state capital building here in Juneau, Alaska.
The documents for today's meeting have been distributed
to members and are available on the table outside the door
and on basis.
I'd like to thank our recording secretary, Kayle Brown,
and our moderator from the Juneaux LIO, Zach Lawhorn,
for being here this morning, and of course our committee aids,
Ella Lubin and Tammy Smith, make it all work.
So thank you to them.
We have one agenda item scheduled for today's House Education Committee meeting.
It's an update from the State Tribal Education Compacting Demonstration Schools.
There will be one slide deck and members have copies, have a copy of the slide decks.
I would like to welcome our presenters, Misha Jackson, with Tribal education liaison for
the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Mark Roseberry.
from the education,
he's the Education Director and School Administrator
at the ICAS Harky Academy.
Sonia Skan, Education and Training Director,
Ketchikan Indian Community,
Harle Shambli, Executive Director Knek Tribe,
and Kiminak Matty Akviak-Elvana-Stimful.
Can't wait to hear that pronounced the right way.
Curator of Educational Programs at Katurvik.
Cultural Center and Dr. Joel Isaac compacting contractor with the Department of Education and Early Development
I know you guys were talking about how you were going to three at a time or however you wanted to do this
But when you come forward if you would introduce yourself for the record
So we can keep
▶
2026-01-27
House Finance: Health & Social Services Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1 bill12K words
The House Finance: Health & Social Services Subcommittee met on 2026-01-27. The committee heard SB 95 (Child Care: Assistance/Grants).
Bills Heard
SB 95 — Child Care: Assistance/Grants
Key Topics
Through Chair Behavioral Health Department Health Division Public Public Assistance
Speakers (30)
Commissioner For(11)
Chair Representative(9)
Representative Gray(6)
Representative Fields(6)
Representative Mina(4)
Chair Josephson(4)
Director Halloran(4)
Chair To(3)
Chair Of(3)
Commissioner And(2)
Chair We(2)
Commissioner Dibert(2)
Representative Ruffridge(1)
Representative Myers(1)
Representative Prax(1)
Commissioner Heidi(1)
Commissioner Emily(1)
Commissioner Pam(1)
Chair There'S(1)
Commissioner Hedberg(1)
Notable Points
So we were able to use that to help cover the gap and we received some additional and unexpected funding support from Medicare for that position at the same time.
We're looking at FY 25 final authorized, which includes all actions from July 24 to July 30, 2025, such as veto, supplemental, fiscal notes, and carry forward balances.
So there was a increment a temporary increment passed by the legislature as you're well aware last year that was about 13 million that ended up being vetoed a portion of that with the budget passing at 10 million dollars.
This funding supports grants to children's emergency service providers.
Transcript: 12,555 words
I call this meeting of the House Finance Department of Health Subcommittee to order.
Let the record reflect that it is 3.34 p.m. on Tuesday, January 27th, 2026.
President, today, our representatives, Schwanke, Representative Ruffridge,
Representative Meers, representative Mina,
Representative Gray, and Representative Fields,
Representative Prox,
and myself, Chair Josephson.
Also present today are Aaron Page, our committee aide, moderator Renzo Alexis from the Legislative Information Office and Valerie Rose Analysts from The Legislative Finance Division.
As always, please remember to mute your cell phones before we begin our presentation today.
Note that binders have been provided to all committee members.
Hopefully, there are no questions about the binder contents.
I don't see any.
Okay.
In today's meeting, we will hear the Department of Health present its FY27 departmental budget
overview, including updates on FY26 budget items.
One housekeeping note, to accommodate members of the minority, who will need to leave early
for a meeting with the governor, after constantly you could have a meet with anyone.
It doesn't matter.
After consultation with their offices, I'm just having some fun.
After, after consultation, with our offices we've asked the department to rearrange the
presentation to front load areas of particular interest.
We will start with the Departmental Overview and then move to Public Assistance, Behaviour
Health and the Rural Health Transformation Program.
After that we will circle back to page three and go through the rest of the presentation
in order.
We appreciate the departments' flexibility in accommodating this late breaking change.
I look forward to a lively discussion, but for purposes of time, please keep in mind we
will have later opportunities to dive more deeply into each division.
With us today from the Department of Commissioner Heidi Hedberg, Deputy Commissioner Emily Ritchie,
and Assistant Commissioner Pam Halloran,
please the three of yo
▶
2026-01-27
Senate Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg11K words
The Senate Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-01-27.
Key Topics
Through Chair Pioneer Homes Little Bit Senator Tobin Complex Care
Speakers (30)
Director To(16)
Senator Tobin(15)
Mr. Chairman(15)
Senator Claman(9)
Mr. Cole(6)
Vice Chair Giessel(5)
Commissioner For(5)
Director Guey(5)
Senator Myers(4)
Dr. Mcginley(3)
Senator Tillman(3)
Chair Dunbar(2)
Dr. Kern(2)
Director Dumpling(2)
Director Of(2)
Director Gray(2)
Ms. Sweet(2)
Director Matt(1)
Director Dr(1)
Director Mikayla(1)
Notable Points
Sure through the chair to center Tobin Choke unit surprisingly here in the last few months is this had openings There really was a period of time where it was there was significant backlog When I was they're a few month ago There was I think only three or four youth that were there But that is definitely another pressure point and you know We've again have r
Transcript: 11,172 words
This hearing of the Senate Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order.
Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026, and the time is 3.30.
We are in but the rich room 205.
Members present are Senator Meyers, Senator Klayman,
Senator Tobin, Vice Chair Geesele,
and myself, Chair Dunbar with the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Before we begin, I would like to thank Mary Gwen Kawakami,
the Senate Health and Social Services Recording Secretary,
and Kyla Tupou from the Let's,
from Juneau, LIO for staff in the committee today.
We only, and we have one item on our agenda today,
a presentation from
the Department of Family and Community Services.
Here to present our acting commissioner,
Tracy Dompling and Assistant Commissioner, Mary Ann Sweet.
If you guys wanna come forward.
Present in a room for questions are
Actually, I'm not sure they're all here, but we've OCS,
Office of Children's Services Director, Kim Guay,
Division of Juvenile Justice Director Matt Davidson,
Alaska Psychiatric Institute CEO, Ken Cole,
Alaska Pioneer Homes Director Dr. Kern McGinley,
and Coordinated Health and Complex Care Unit Deputy Director
Mikayla Vare.
There aren't actually that many people in the room,
so we're missing a couple of them,
but I am sure we can get them.
It looks like we have a few of then online.
Yes, we have Mr. Cole and Mr Davidson.
Mr Cole is online, Mr Davids, and we
have in the room.
OK, wonderful.
We also have senior policy advisor Chrissy Voguely.
So thank you all for being here today.
So Acting Commissioner, please, when you are ready,
put yourself on the record and begin your presentation.
Great. Thank you. Good afternoon for the record. My name is Tracy Donpling and I'm the
Acting Commissioner for The Department of Family and Community Services. I am both grateful
and honored to be serving in this role as Acting commissioner.
I have worked for Department both as a standalone department and under Health and Social Services
for almost 27
▶
2026-01-27
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg8K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-27.
Key Topics
shareholder hire on that one Northern Economics Through Chair Red Dog San Juan Excess Million
Speakers (24)
Representative Bjorkman(8)
Mr. San(7)
Chair Kawasaki(6)
Mr. Sullivan(4)
Vice Chair And(2)
Mr. Raro(2)
Vice Chair Senator(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Mr. Mccauley(1)
Mr. Jimmie(1)
Mr. Hannan(1)
Chair To(1)
Mr. Pardon(1)
Dr. Matthew(1)
Dr. Cronk(1)
Director Of(1)
Mr. Rose(1)
Mr. Wolfford(1)
Director As(1)
Notable Points
And I'm just curious, does that still hold that ADA wants to ensure that that is something that's taken into account when they're making sort of these either loans or conduit revenue bonds or any of those types of things, that, a discussion that sort overrides the entire discussion.
vetoed and instead of $80 being used to fund some state expenditures money from the higher education fund was used Has Ada considered contemplated the consequences of potential expansion of the usual and customary aid of dividend if the legislature is unwilling to reconstitute funds that were pulled fro
The governor vetoed those funds and instead funds from higher education If the legislature is not successful in recapitalizing the higher education fund, is there any concern or has ADA contemplated that there will be more of an appetite to take money from ADA and expanding their dividend in the future? Senator work
Transcript: 8,599 words
Okay, I'd like to call the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order. Let the record reflect that it is
332 p.m.
We are currently in the belts committee room in June, Alaska
Members present vice chair senator Bjorkman senator will a cow ski
Senator Tilton, Senator Great Jackson will be joining us online.
My self-chair Kawasaki, we have a quorum to connect business.
I'd like to thank Kerry Tupoe from Senate Records and David Monroe,
the moderator with the Legislative Information Office.
Today we just have one agenda item and that's an overview of the Alaska Industrial
Development and Export Authority, or ADA as we know it,
They, I know that Randy Rauraro is in another meeting,
but may be joining us toward the latter half of the meeting
if we, unless we get out of here earlier than that.
But online to present, we have Jeff Johns,
the Chief Investment Officer and main presenter today.
Kent Sullivan, General Counsel,
I guess maybe just here for legal questions.
Mark Davis, Special Counsel for historical
and technical questions on specific projects.
I would like to thank you for being here today
and you may start your presentation.
All right, good afternoon Chair,
Vice Chair and committee members.
For the record, my name is Jeffrey Johns.
I currently serve as the Alaskan Industrial Development
and Export Authority Chief Investment Officer, or ADA.
I'm.
As highlighted, I'm joined today by Aida's general counsel, Kent Sullivan, and for the record,
I do have off-camera with me, Jeffrey San Juan, AIDA's infrastructure development program manager.
Again, thank you for opportunity to testify and present to you AIDIS projects,
Provide eight is up either project updates. And finally, I'd also like to address recently. It is credit rating received by S&P
I see that you have the annual report up on screen, and that's a very excellent starting point
Ada I think it was without question is is
Understand that it is the state of Alaska's development finance authority
aid exists t
▶
2026-01-27
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills12K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-27. Bills discussed included HB 124 (AIDEA), HB 124 (AIDEA). Public testimony was taken with 41 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 124 — AIDEA
HB 124 — AIDEA
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (sure you did very, Alex Quatchka, not in the minutia, Mary Glaves, speaking on behalf of)
1 testifier (gonna set an
amendment)
6 testifiers (David Nelson representing House, not expunged nor does, fresh on this
These, for pre, Lisa Parnchin, the Director for the)
0 testifiers
3 testifiers (always sensitive to the, looking more along the, trying not to make)
Key Topics
House Bill Through Chair Chair Representative Representative Holland
Speakers (30)
Representative Holland(11)
Representative McCabe(9)
Representative Nelson(7)
Chair And(6)
Chair Merrick(4)
Chair Carrick(4)
Representative St(3)
Chair Representative(3)
Chair To(3)
Vice Chair Story(2)
Representative Hall(2)
Director Raro(2)
Representative Him(2)
Representative Vance(1)
Representative Hymshoe(1)
Mr. Rarro(1)
Representative David(1)
Representative Johnson(1)
Director Randy(1)
Mr. Arro(1)
Notable Points
ADA is the entity seeking the permit to build a controversial Amble Road, my opinion watching them operate on this project.
I want to thank you all for the opportunity to represent House Bill 81 and act Restricting the release of certain records of convictions and providing for an effective date The bill really is an important step in providing an opportunity for people with low-level marijuana Possessions convictions on their record to make a more significant economic impact in the state Hardworking Alaskans are facing barriers to employment, housing, licensing, and volunteering, leaving
Transcript: 12,747 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House State Affairs Committee to order.
The time is 3.18 on Tuesday, January 27th, 2026.
And we're here in room 120.
Please mute your cell phones today.
Members present include Representative St. Clair, Representative McCabe,
Representative Vance, representative Holland,
Representative Hymshoe, Vice Chair Story, and myself, Chair Kerrick.
We do have a quorum to conduct business, and I'd like to thank our record secretary, Cecilia Miller,
our moderators from the Juneau LAO, who I only know Zachary Lawhorn's name, but we do
have another individual there.
And our committee today is my staff Stuart Relay.
We have two items on our agenda, or three items, on the agenda today.
We're going to do our very best to manage time and get through them,
but just for committee members and for those listening.
a chance to ask questions of Alaska industrial development and export authority. Randy Raro here
regarding House Bill 124 plan to wrap that up in time for today to have some public testimony
and we will be able to come back both to Mr. Rarro and to the public
let questions go unanswered and then later this afternoon here House Bill 81 for a
reintroduction from Representative Nelson on marijuana conviction records
Representative David Nelson and finally as time allows today first hearing on
House bill 202 from representative Johnson designating a state vegetable
And we were able to get a presentation from Ada, which we are pulling up, and we'll just take a very brief at ease.
House State Affairs is back on the record and welcome to Executive Director Randy Raro of ADA and thank you very much for being here today and for your presentation.
Thank you, Adam Chair, members of the committee.
Next slide, or maybe I can advance it just with the, there we go, that's easier.
So, Madam Chair, members, I thought I'd start with an introduction to ADA.
We go back, our roots go
back to the Alaska Constitution Article 8.
which states the policy of the state
▶
2026-01-27
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill17K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-27. The committee heard HB 283 (Approp: Supplemental). Public testimony was taken with 15 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 283 — Approp: Supplemental
Votes
The vote to fill that FY25 deficit from the Constitutional Budget Reserve failed.
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (Ken Alper staff to, happy to go through, going to be short, happy if people need, going to do some)
3 testifiers (the governor, money that, the fund that)
4 testifiers (mispronouncing your name, Alicia Cressell and, relieved particularly in this, unprecedented
unprecedented)
3 testifiers (Rebecca Logan, the CEO of The, thinking back to the)
Key Topics
this thing about the DOTPF federal match the $10 million in authorization the Governor's FY27 budget Through Chair Chair Representative Last Year Little Bit
Speakers (30)
Mr. Painter(21)
Chair Representative(14)
Mr. Chairman(12)
Chair Of(10)
Chair Josephson(7)
Ms. Logan(7)
Representative Stapp(6)
Chair To(6)
Representative Hannan(4)
Representative Galvin(3)
Mr. Alper(3)
Co-Chair Schrage(3)
Chair Joseph(3)
Chair Scott(2)
Representative Bynum(2)
Chair Director(2)
Co-Chair Foster(1)
Mr. Alber(1)
Mr. Hopper(1)
Representative Allard(1)
Notable Points
That's an important, over the years, and you yourself have been in the middle of these debates.
Alternatively, if a project costs does rise unexpectedly, DOT may halt or delay another planned project because it may not have the ability to rely on an unsecured match later in a year.
In fact, I I believe the last time Alaska missed its standard funding May have been around 1985 so it's been a number of years This is unprecedented unprecedented.
And it seems, I mean, some of these logos I've never seen together seems quite remarkable.
Is it as remarkable as I think is it it is is a is an unprecedented have you seen a letter with this kind of? Consensus on what is needed and the the need to advocate on this issue Through the chair representative Schraghi.
Transcript: 17,041 words
Co-chair Foster and myself co- chair Josephson also present today our house finance committee staff committee assistance
Assistant Helen Phillips page Tallulah Lostefka secretary Brie Wiley and secretary Leah Frazier
We also have moderator Emily mesh with us
from the legislative information office
Before we start, please mute your cell phones in today's meeting
We will introduce and have our first hearing on house bill 283 titled appropriations supplemental
followed by invited testimony.
Then we will have the Legislative Finance Division presented as overview of the Governor's FY27 budget.
We're joined by Representative Stapp.
First on the agenda is House Bill 283, my staff, Ken Alper is prepared to present on
the committee bill.
Mr. Alber, please come forward, put yourself on their record.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman for the record. My name is Ken Alper staff to yourself represent a Josephson and the House Finance Committee
What you have before you today, mr.. Chairman is a committee bill introduced under the name of the finance committee
However, these are all governor's items
Meaning when governor Dunleavy introduced his fixed fiscal plan his budget in December and January
The supplemental items the the items that take effect during the current fiscal year between
That solved needs between now and June. We're all embedded within his regular operating and capital budgets
He did not have a standalone
supplemental budget and based on
Input from from the construction industry and others the you felt there was a need to get a
Supplemental budget moving sooner moving ahead so that these items could be pinned down and funded earlier
So the decision was made to pull those items from the governor's bills, the operating and capital budget,
out and create a separate bill with just the supplemental, introduce it as a
separate committee bill and try to make it into something of a fast track.
So that's the broad background.
There's not that many things here.
The spreadsheet o
▶
2026-01-27
Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill6K words
The Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-27. The committee heard HB 26 (Statewide Public & Community Transit Plan). Public testimony was taken with 74 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 26 — Statewide Public & Community Transit Plan
Motions
And with that we will move to public testimony on House Bill 33. I will open public testimony.
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (Michelle Giro, the Executive Director of, Davet Leslie and, in Fairbank, calling in support of)
2 testifiers (happy to answer any, looking at this letter)
2 testifiers (happy to answer any, looking at this letter)
2 testifiers (happy to answer any, looking at this letter)
3 testifiers (looking at this letter, Tracy Welch, the Executive Director for)
Key Topics
House Bill Conflict Interest Board Members Madam Chair
Speakers (29)
Senator Dunbar(8)
Director Of(8)
Senator Merrick(7)
Mr. Greening(4)
Senator Young(3)
Director For(3)
Representative Mina(3)
Senator Olson(2)
Chair Senator(2)
Ms. Martin(2)
Chair And(2)
Chair To(2)
Mr. Ryan(2)
Senator Yundt(1)
Representative Stutes(1)
Representative Louise(1)
Chair The(1)
Commissioner Anderson(1)
Representative Mr(1)
Chair Myers(1)
Notable Points
debate on Proposals for which they have a declared conflict Of interest or personal interest Or financial according to as 39 53 the executive branch ethics act Currently, board members are required to divulge conflict of interest if they or their immediate family members are involved in the subject being
It just allows them to debate and act as a members of board up until that moment when The sponsor believes that allowing members with expertise in particular fields to deliberate will help the boards make more informed decisions, will lead to stronger resource management statewide, and will align the process with intent as far
So I, I do not think there is a fiscal note, correct, there's no fiscal notes, but there is the requirement for a, you know, a plan in section 17.
I said, no fiscal note, there is a zero fiscal note.
There is the fiscal notes, it's a 0 fiscal.
Transcript: 6,484 words
Good afternoon. I call this meeting of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee to order let the record reflected as 1 30 p.m.
On Tuesday January 27th
2026 present today or senator Dunbar, senator Yunt, myself, Senator Merrick. This afternoon
we will hold hearings on House Bill 33, conflict of interest for the Board of Fisheries and Game and
House bill 26 statewide public and community transit plan. First we'll start with
House Bill 33, Conflict of Interest for the Boards of Fishery and Gay by Representative Stoots.
This is the first hearing on this bill.
Representative, a few in your staff, Matt Greening, would like to come forward, put yourself on the record and introduce your bill, and
please let the records reflect that Senator Olsen was here at 130.
Community Regional Affairs Committee, appreciate it.
For the record, my name is Representative Louise Stutz.
I represent House District Number Five,
which is Kodiak Cordova, Seward,
and several smaller coastal communities.
I want to thank you, Chair Merrick and committee members
for hearing House Bill 33 today.
This legislation is near and dear to my heart
and has been a priority of the Fisheries Committee
for many years.
It's also a priority of the user groups involved
in our fisheries, and it is instrumental
in the process of implementing our fishery.
So thank you again for hearing this.
Unfortunately.
Madam chair the transportation committee of which I'm also a member is another one of my priorities and Commissioner Anderson is there today presenting and so
with that I am going to
Respectfully excuse myself and turn this presentation over to my chief of staff matt greening. Thank you representative mr. I appreciate it
Thank you, Madam Chair members of the committee for the record Mac Greening staff to representative Louie's Stutes
Before you today is house bill 33 conflict of interest for The Board of Fisheries and game
This legislation would allow members Of the Board Of Fisheries in game to deliberat
▶
2026-01-27
Senate Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg13K words
The Senate Transportation Committee met on 2026-01-27. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Mills know the same question is coming for South Coast So this this slide right here is going to kind of discuss what we just got done talking about and that's the difficulty of Plowing a sidewalk once we get to a road And if I may, I think one thing that I failed to mention, and I know I've been here prior years, and so I have mentioned in prior year's, but not now, is that we actually have a different priority system for Anchorage sidewalks.
Key Topics
Through Chair Little Bit Chair Senator
Speakers (22)
Mr. Chairman(17)
Senator Rauscher(11)
Senator Tobin(8)
Senator Bjorkman(4)
Chair Senator(4)
Senator Kiehl(3)
Mr. Mills(3)
Chair We(2)
Senator Stedman(1)
Director For(1)
Senator Fields(1)
Chair Uh(1)
Mr. Resolutions(1)
Senator Russia(1)
Chair Not(1)
Senator Russell(1)
Mr. Saddler(1)
Senator Rialkman(1)
Mr. Sakhalakis(1)
Chair Again(1)
Notable Points
We do like to give members of this committee and anyone of interest on emergency response a sense of what the department is doing in the, we call it ER, but emergency-response And certainly the role of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has evolved over the last couple of years.
emergency? me personally And I think the my my chief in the back we'd probably call that a landslide Yeah, and in fact a bit more details about that.
I'd be happy to answer any questions Thank you very much miss food trail in the budget last year There was an attempt to save some money by the legislature By extending the life of the equipment fleet Those items were We're vetoed and now are some discussion about essentially re-appropriations that occurred At the Senate finance table Those reappropriation by the governor and essentially agencies This I would assume is one of them could you tell us a little bit about the equipment that you did p
Transcript: 13,264 words
Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting the Senate Transportation Committee to order. The time is 1.41 p.m.
Thank you, everyone, for your patience as
you had another
meeting that went a little bit long.
Nevertheless, we'll endeavor to
discover more about winter road maintenance across our great state. We're in a bunch of it. Room 205
Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026, members present are Senator Tobin, Senator Rauscher,
Senator Keel, and myself, senator Bjorkman,
Senator Stedman will be back shortly.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Welcome everyone to Senate Transportation.
Today, we are assisted by and please extend and esteemed.
Senate Transportation, welcome to our recording secretary, Heather Ramseth, and our LAO moderator,
Susan Quigley. The only item on our agenda today is winter operations update from the
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Here from
the department are Jason Sackalakis, Braille Nicholson, Marcus Zimmerman, Andy Mills,
Thank you all for joining us. Whichever of the team would like to join us first. That will be most excellent
Please state your name and identifying titles for the record and begin your presentation. Thank You
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you again my first opportunity to be in front of you
again, another year, Andy Mills, your legislative liaison for the Alaska Department of Transportation
and Public Facilities.
And first up, because of slide order, I'll let Christine introduce herself as well.
Hello.
Good afternoon.
Thank for that opportunity be here today.
For the record, my name is Christine Langley, the Data Modernization and Innovation Director
for The Department.
As we've done in previous years, we brought a team because it really is a statewide effort
and there's interest across the whole state.
So we wanted to bring the maintenance team and it's in most of the leadership here today
just to be sure that you, if you had a specific question or an area o
▶
2026-01-27
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg17K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-01-27.
Key Topics
Through Chair Cascade Point Yeah Through Advanced Construction
Speakers (30)
Representative Stutes(17)
Representative McCabe(12)
Representative Mina(6)
Commissioner Anderson(5)
Representative Carrick(5)
Co-Chair Ayesha(4)
Co-Chair Merrick(4)
Commissioner Catherine(3)
Commissioner Of(3)
Representative Kerry(3)
Commissioner For(3)
Co-Chair Representative(2)
Commissioner Keith(2)
Representative St(2)
Co-Chair To(2)
Co-Chair Ayeshide(2)
Director Tornga(2)
Commissioner Ryan(1)
Mr. Pinot(1)
Mr. Coach(1)
Notable Points
On today's agenda is a presentation on match funds and impact of vetoes on projects by the Department of Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson, Deputy Commissioner Catherine Keith and Department of transportation director, Don Pannon.
Yeah, so when we went forward, with Cascade point it was subsequent to the with with the contract it Was subsequent To the vetoes and so that for us the funding was secured.
I've been sort of subject to this with KGB road a number of years ago when the Valley delegation upset Governor Walker and he removed $200 million from the KGB So how does that accomplish? I mean, he didn't do it through a veto.
And I think interest in the project has waxed and waned at different points in time, but had the funds been obligated for Cascade point prior to the governor's veto of the re-appropriated funds? So, since 2023, the department, we've spent about four and a half million dollars on the design work, feasibility studies, you know, all that technical information that we need in environmental studies to really get it to that point for the Design Build Contract.
The balance of the appropriation was encumbered and obligated when we finalized the contract, before the veto's in, before the effective date of the bill in July 28th, was when we finalized that design bill.
Transcript: 17,072 words
This meeting of the House Transportation Committee will now come to order
It is now 1.01 p.m. on Tuesday
January 27th in Capra room 124
members present are
Representative Stutes
represent Garrett Nelson
represent McCabe
represent Mina
represent St. Clair
Co-chair Representative Kerrick and myself co-chare represent Ayeshide
that the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones
for the duration of the meeting, and thank you for that.
Before we begin, I would like to thank
Jordan Nicholson from House Records,
as well as Chloe Miller from the Juneau LIO
for staffing the committee today.
Our committee aides are Meredith Trainor
and staff are Griffin Saquail.
Thank you, for your help.
Without you, this work is not possible.
And that is so true.
On today's agenda is a presentation on match funds
and impact of vetoes on projects by the Department
of Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson,
Deputy Commissioner Catherine Keith
and Department of transportation director, Don Pannon.
Welcome to the House Transportation Commission Committee,
Commissioner Anderson.
My apologies, Director, Deputy Commissioner Keith and Mr. Pinot.
Please approach the dice, put yourself on the record and begin your presentation.
And then as you are getting ready, I just want to know I tried to, for questions, you know,
unless the presenters ask for them to wait at the end,
I'll try to give after each slide my members a chance to ask questions.
And my, my pattern is to get you a question and then two follow-ups.
And I like to move on to somebody else.
So, just try and create some expectations so you're not surprised.
But we'll keep going unless it looks like time is running out.
Well, thank you, Coach Eisheid,
Coach Eric Eric,
thank for having us today at the transportation,
the House Transportation Committee.
So for the record, my name's Ryan Anderson.
I'm the commissioner of the Alaska Department
of Transportation and Public Facilitie
▶
2026-01-27
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg16K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-01-27. Public testimony was taken.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Through Chair Long Term Gas Supply
Speakers (30)
Mr. Schwanke(12)
Co-Chair Representative(7)
Chair Mears(7)
Co-Chair Holland(6)
Representative Costello(4)
Co-Chair Of(4)
Representative Cop(3)
Commissioner Stevens(3)
Chair To(3)
Chair Espindola(3)
Mr. De(3)
Chair Mirrors(2)
Representative Kopp(2)
Mr. Colossa(2)
Chair Yes(2)
Chair For(2)
Mr. Klossa(2)
Chair Represent(2)
Chair Co-Chair(2)
Representative Edgmon(1)
Transcript: 16,595 words
Good morning, and welcome to the House Energy Committee. We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order
the time is
What 104?
On Tuesday January 27th members present are representative Edgeman representative cop representative Costello
Co-chair representative mirrors and we have in the room also representatives act fields
and I'm Kai Holland, co-chair of the Energy Committee.
Thank you all for joining us today,
looking forward to the meeting that we have planned,
and appreciate all the work that's gone in.
Those of you that were able to attend,
particularly with the weather,
and the folks that have done all of
the worked to prepare for the presentations.
Let's see I'd like to remind members please silence your cell phones also note that we're allowing the use of electronic devices during committee meetings
Just a reminder that staff and members the audience may not approach the table if you need to pass a note to committee members
Please get the attention of my committee aid Tim Truer who's up here
And he'll help you out
I like the recognize that representative reference has joined us
Continuing, and importantly, I'd like to thank Cheryl Cole, the House Energy Committee
Secretary over here, who has been with us for a while and knows an incredibly large
amount about all these issues now, Zach Lahorn and Jude Augustine in the back from the LIO
who are providing support for the technology and teleconferencing support that we'll rely
on today.
Thank you for that.
begin the meeting today
The first item of business before the committee is going to be a presentation of the regulatory Commission of Alaska and rail belt gas import facilities
Last year the Committee posed a question to the RCA what statutory changes might ensure that the RC a takes a more holistic approach
This was in regards to our concern about the potential of multiple large energy projects
developing in the Cook-Inlet area, including in this case LNG, which will be a significant
focus today. But it also co
▶
2026-01-27
Senate Majority Press Availability
transcript4K words
The Senate Majority Press Availability met on 2026-01-27. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Governor's proposing to require some outside companies to pay Alaska taxes by changing the apportionment provisions It's similar to it's Similar to one of the provisions that was vetoed by the governor and that the legislature Just failed to override a couple of days ago At its peak that provision would raise 16 million dollars I should mention the sales tax provision it expires In, I believe, 2032, the governor also in the corporate income tax changes is setting to zero the ball corporate-incom
Key Topics
Million Dollars Earnings Reserve Permanent Fund
Speakers (19)
Senator Wielechowski(4)
Mr. PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(2)
Senator Kawasaki(2)
Senator Kiehl(2)
Senator Willska(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Co-Chair Of(1)
Senator Sure(1)
Co-Chair In(1)
Representative Andrew(1)
Senator Wojcowski(1)
Mr. Landfield(1)
Senator Birch(1)
Senator Carla(1)
Senator Ocasio(1)
Senator Likowski(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Senator Wolk(1)
Senator Esteban(1)
Notable Points
And then we debate pretty heartily over how, you know, what the dividend should be.
I disagree with a lot of aspects of it, but I applaud him for put something forward, and let's have a debate over it.
Governor's proposing to require some outside companies to pay Alaska taxes by changing the apportionment provisions It's similar to it's Similar to one of the provisions that was vetoed by the governor and that the legislature Just failed to override a couple of days ago At its peak that provision would raise 16 million dollars I should mention the sales tax provision it expires In, I believe, 2032, the governor also in the corporate income tax changes is setting to zero the bal
I know that you had some questions for the governor's administration on the timing needed backfilling his vetoes for that funding.
We're about halfway through the process of the vetoes.
Transcript: 4,167 words
Today we have Senators Giesel, Wilkowski, Stedman, Keel and Kawasaki and myself, Stevens.
Last week the governor announced he would introduce an omnibus fiscal plan.
Bill was formally introduced yesterday, giving us a first chance to look at it and try to
understand the full proposals we're facing.
Carefully evaluate both its impacts and its revenue generating components
We will be sending that bill
Additional committee at first I sent it to finance also going to send it two resources as well
So those two communities will look at it
Senator Wollikowski has
Reviewed the various elements of the bill and senator could you walk us through the the major components and what your initial observations might be?
Thank you, mr. President
Yeah, my office did take a look at the bill.
It's a 55 page bill that probably the major component is the sales tax.
It is a 4% sales taxes from April 1 through September 30th, dropping to 2% for the rest of the year.
According to the fiscal note that was provided, that would raise.
up to $815 million by 2032.
Some questions that have come up about, well, what's included?
What's not included, it includes goods and services.
Food is taxed except for those that purchase both WIC
or SNAP benefits.
Gasoline diesel fuel heating oil is also taxed.
Jet fuel is exempt.
Netflix, Amazon sales, Etsy sales services for such things as accountants, plumbers,
lawyers, home repairs.
This would stack on top of any sales tax that local municipalities have.
There are a number of municipalities that have this.
However, under the bill, the governor's proposal,
the state would take charge of collections and then return the local taxes back to communities.
under existing law municipalities can currently exempt things like food, utilities.
Juneau recently passed an initiative where they did exempt certain things.
Under this bill, local exemptions would be prohibited.
The next change would corporate income tax changes.
Governor's proposing to require some outside com
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-27
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg9K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-01-27.
Key Topics
what to continue moving forward in the budget Through Chair Chair Senator Senator Stedman Last Year Capital Budget
Speakers (19)
Senator Stedman(25)
Mr. Chairman(12)
Chair Senator(9)
Chair Hoffman(8)
Commissioner Of(4)
Senator Kiehl(4)
Commissioner Anderson(3)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Kaufman(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Director Lacey(1)
Senator Or(1)
Mr. Dom(1)
Chair For(1)
Commissioner You(1)
Chair We(1)
Senator Stapp(1)
Senator Money'S(1)
Notable Points
We had one item which is the overview of the governor's FY 26 budget vetoes, we are going to have a presentation from the Office of Management Director Lacey Sanders.
Today, for The Committee, we were asked to walk through the FY26 vetoes that were enacted into law last session when the legislature, after the Legislature passed their versions of operating capital and mental health bill.
We do have three spreadsheets that are in the committee's packet I do have with me here in the room today Commissioner Anderson and his team from the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities happy to walk through some slides that they prepared on the the veto related to the state Transportation Improvement Plan or excuse me statewide For the step So with that senator or chair Hoffman, I'm happy To start with the spreadsheets that we have in The committee's packet I'll provide a brief o
Each year, we go through a confidential and deliberative process of reviewing the items that are included in a budget and determining the governor determines which items that he would like to veto.
So the veto is totaled about $122 million. in total The budget at that point as the budget was signed into law had approximately 141 million dollar surplus As we discussed yesterday the price boil continued to decline If we were looking at the Budget that was enacted into Law Without any supplemental additions
Transcript: 9,058 words
Call the Senate Finance Committee meeting to order two minutes after 9 a.m. We're in state capital Senate finance room
Please silence all your cell phones
We have with us Senator Stedman, Senator Olson and keel are on their way
Senator Merrick, senator Kauffman senator crock
Today's agenda.
We had one item which is the overview of the governor's FY 26
budget vetoes, we are going to have a presentation from the Office of Management Director Lacey
Sanders.
Please come to the table, introduce any guests that you might want to assist you, and begin
with your presentation.
Good morning, everyone.
of the Office of Management and Budget for the Governor.
Today, for The Committee, we were asked to walk through the FY26
vetoes that were enacted into law last session when the legislature,
after the Legislature passed their versions
of operating capital and mental health bill.
I don't have a presentation today.
We do have three spreadsheets that are in the committee's packet
I do have with me here in the room today Commissioner Anderson and his team from the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
happy to walk through
some slides that they prepared on the the veto related to the state
Transportation Improvement Plan or excuse me statewide
For the step
So with that senator or chair Hoffman, I'm happy
To start with the spreadsheets that we have in The committee's packet
I'll provide a brief overview and then let allow the committee to ask questions, please great. Thank you
So I'm going to start with the spreadsheet that is titled office of management and budget fy
2026 budget bill hb-53
See if I can I apologize
Did he aid showed me how to do this and I am not going to be able to get to the full screen, so
I'll just I just start from here. It's a reference to very small anyways, yeah, okay,
so
As we spoke about yesterday when I provided an update on the governor's proposed budget for fiscal year
2027 when we left session last year
the budget was balanced and we were w
▶
2026-01-27
House Community & Regional Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills6K words
The House Community & Regional Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-27. Bills discussed included HB 255 (Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle), HB 255 (Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle). Public testimony was taken with 8 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 255 — Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle
HB 255 — Senior Citizen Grants Dividend Raffle
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (out of chair and, Vivian Stuyler and, testifying today as the, curious about where the)
4 testifiers (Vivian Stuyler and, testifying today as the, curious about where the, sure also benefit seniors)
Key Topics
Through Chair Chair Representative Department Health Madam Chair Education Raffle
Speakers (30)
Representative Stapp(12)
Chair To(10)
Representative Prax(7)
Representative Holland(5)
Commissioner Of(4)
Representative Nelson(3)
Chair Representative(3)
Representative Stevens(2)
Representative Garrett(2)
Co-Chair Him(2)
Mr. Rexford(2)
Representative Hall(2)
Chair Through(2)
Mr. Newman(2)
Representative Mears(2)
Representative Kai(1)
Representative Mike(1)
Representative Carolyn(1)
Co-Chair Rebecca(1)
Chair Donamiers(1)
Notable Points
On Thursday we'll be conducting a joint hearing with the House Tribal Affairs Committee to hear a presentation titled Alaska State Emergency Operations Center Update by Brian Fisher, the Director of the Division of Homeland Security Please note that we will be meeting in the Davis room 106.
It is our intention for the committee to work with the House Tribal Affairs Committee to do a deeper dive into all of things, disaster response and emergency management this session.
I'm wondering, is there a set of fiscal anticipated costs if we were to look at the education the amount of time, energy, and expense departments are putting in to manage the education raffle that would allow us to put some sort of estimate on the fiscal note for this program rather than just leaving it indeterminate when we have potentially a parallel program we could look right at and say this is a starting point to understand the impact.
Thank you Thank You is that one of our fiscal notes was from you are To the Chair I believe so I think the first one is Department of Revenue Taxation and Treasury appropriation and the second one looks like it's Perhaps the same and a third one as Department Of Health that I have in my package Representative staff.
Yeah, thank you Madam Chair through the chair actually I'm gonna take a second buying it repolence question my excellent staff actually put the initial fiscal note from 28 to from the education raffle in front of me because that was in my little binder here and I did not notice so to answer Representative Collins question directly initially as a $4,000 operating startup cost And follow-up.
Transcript: 6,803 words
I call the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee meeting to order.
Today is Tuesday, January 27th, and the time is 8.04 AM.
Members present are...
Full House, we have Representative Kai Holland,
Representative Mike Prox, Representative Carolyn Hall,
Representative Steve St. Clair,
Representative Garrett Nelson,
co-chair Rebecca Hymshoot, and myself,
co chair Donamiers,
we've have a full house on Quorum to do business.
I'd like to remind members, staff and folks in the audience
who are allowing members to use electronic devices
during committee meetings,
but please silence your cell phones
and be subtle about it.
As a reminder, staff and members of the audience may not approach the table if you need to pass a note to committee members
Please get the attention of my lovely committee aid Talia Ames and she will take care of it
Thank you Talian. Thank You to co-chair him shoots committee aide. That's your brow
Before we get started, I'd also like to thank recording secretary
So if he had any and helping us from the Juneau LIO
Chloe Miller, welcome to see you. Hi, Chloe
We have one bill on our agenda today, which is HB 255,
Senior Citizen Grants, dividend raffles,
sponsored by Representative Stap.
This is the bill's introductory hearing.
But before we welcome Representative Staff to the table,
we'd first like to welcome our two newest committee members
and give them time to introduce themselves,
Representative Garrett Nelson, Representative Saint Claire.
Please take a couple minutes to tell us about yourself,
Anything about your interest and serving on this committee?
They were aware
Representative Nelson, yes, thank you madam chair
My name is Garrett Nelson represent district 29 which goes from fish hook to Valdez
essentially and I've served on the Sutton Community Council for
the last I think seven years and i chaired that for the Last Five and
You know, a lot of the issues that come before this particular committee are ones that we've dealt with between, I me
▶
2026-01-27
House Tribal Affairs Special Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill17K words
The House Tribal Affairs Special Committee met on 2026-01-27. The committee heard HB 123 (Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas).
Bills Heard
HB 123 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
Key Topics
the Alaska Native Tribal Education Consortium Through Chair Alaska Native Tribal Education
Speakers (23)
Representative Story(7)
Representative Carrick(7)
Representative Ruffridge(6)
Dr. Isaac(5)
Chair Dibert(4)
Director For(4)
Chair To(4)
Representative Frier(3)
Representative Schwanke(3)
Dr. Joel(3)
Director And(3)
Representative Reference(3)
Chair Of(2)
Representative Refriges(1)
Representative Burke(1)
Representative Rushbridge(1)
Representative Care(1)
Chair If(1)
Representative Refrage(1)
Mr. Rosebury(1)
Transcript: 17,396 words
Good morning, the Tribal Affairs Committee will now come to order.
The time is 8.02 AM, Tuesday, January 27th,
2026 in capital room 106.
Members present are from my left to right, representative Freer,
and myself chair diver.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
to conduct business and a quick reminder
to please silence your cell phones.
I would like to thank Jordan Nicholson,
the Tribal Affairs Secretary from Records,
and Susan Quigley from the Juneau LIO
for staffing the committee today.
Thank you so much.
I also would also like
to recognize Almaria Alcatra.
From my office who is our committee aid for the tribal affairs committee and for all of her hard work getting us going for
The session if there's anything you need from her during our Committee meetings
Please signal for her attention and she will be happy to assist
and
Like let the record reflect that we have been joined by representative schwanke at 803 good morning
Before we begin, I would like to thank you
for joining the committee this session.
Oops, ahead of myself.
Even though we have two items on the agenda day,
let me start that again.
Before being, we had two item on agenda today.
First,
we will have a presentation on
the Alaska Native Tribal Education Consortium.
After that, we will have a presentation from Elisagvic College in respect to both presenters.
I will be having a hard stop at 9.20 for the first presentation to allow time for our second
presentters. And with that I would also like to welcome Representative Ruffridge to House Tribal
And thank you for joining the committee of this session.
This is representative Refriges first meeting with us.
Thank you, even though.
I don't, we don t want to be too hard on you.
We did break up the all-female committee, but we're very happy to have you and to do this.
We can change that.
Welcome.
Thank you for joining us.
I'm looking forward to discussions with you, and the committee members, on just,
things that our tribes face here in the state of
▶
2026-01-26
Senate Education Committee
akleg4K words
The Senate Education Committee met on 2026-01-26.
Key Topics
School Week Day School Four Day Four Days Academic Achievement
Speakers (11)
Mr. Gray(10)
Senator Kiehl(3)
Senator Tobin(3)
Ms. Day(3)
Director Of(3)
Senator Bjorkman(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Representative Data(1)
Senator Fields(1)
Chair Mr(1)
Senator Mike(1)
Notable Points
And the primary hypothesis for that right now is that their data mostly comes from before the 2008 Great Recession.
And before the recession, a lot of schools that were choosing the four days school week were driven by a desire to increase attendance.
They had issues with students, particularly at the high school level, rather than schools post the Great Recession who have tended to do this for cost savings reasons and that might be some indicator for schools who are able to put cost savings towards things that increase academic achievement.
Transcript: 4,662 words
(No transcript available)
▶
2026-01-26
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills10K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-01-26. Bills discussed included SB 138 (Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas), SB 138 (Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas).
Bills Heard
SB 138 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
SB 138 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
Motions
With that, I will move to the next slide, unless there are questions. Yes, there is a question, Mr.
Okay, let's move to slide 21, then please. Okay.
If we could move to slide 22, please. Yes.
Key Topics
kind of framework agreements which applied and in the event both those taxes were repealed that report Lng Canada Next Slide Lng Project Property Tax Final Investment
Speakers (18)
Senator Dunbar(17)
Mr. Fulford(14)
Senator Kawasaki(7)
Senator Wielechowski(7)
Senator Claman(6)
Senator Myers(4)
Senator Giessel(2)
Senator Wieckowski(2)
Chair Kiehl(2)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Director Of(1)
Mr. Nick(1)
Director Facilities(1)
Mr. Palford(1)
Senator Mahes(1)
Mr. Fauffer(1)
Senator Wieckowski'S(1)
Chair And(1)
Notable Points
I think the remarkable thing about this project from for the purposes of today's committing people at home is that it's literally just a few hundred yards from the Alaskan border.
So given that amount of time and the dialogue which took place, I think it would be surprising if there discussion around the project economics.
Transcript: 10,911 words
I call Senate Resources Committee to order.
Today is January 26th, 2026.
The time is 3.31 p.m.
So, today, members present, Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Clayman, senator Dunbar, and myself,
Senator Giesel.
I believe that Senator Wieckowski
will be along shortly.
Two of the members are delayed today.
Senator Raucher,
Senator Myers, they'll be joining us later.
What we do have a quorum to conduct business.
So, thank you Heather, who is keeping the records for us today
and Renzo and Doug who are helping us out with the audio.
Today, we're continuing a presentation from Gaffney Klein
on LNG, West Coast L&G, the various projects that are out there,
the one that is being proposed for Alaska.
their senior director of gas, LNG, and energy transition.
Mr. Nick Fulford is online,
and he is being joined by Andrew Duncan,
director facilities and costs.
Mr Fulford was with us on Friday afternoon,
and we didn't quite get through the PowerPoint,
his PowerPoint presentation.
We ended at slide seven.
with slide 8, I also have asked Mr. Fulford to discuss briefly the Wood Mackenzie report
that was completed November 19, 2024.
It's entitled Economic Viability Assessment and Economic Value of Alaska LNG Project Phase 1.
We understand that Glenfarn is referencing as a guide to what the state of Alaska would possibly be proposing in terms of tax.
reductions and things like that.
So it would be very beneficial to this committee
to have an overview of that report.
We will at some point have Wood McKenzie presented themselves
but I asked Mr. Fulford if he would
be able to comment on some of the aspects
of That Wood Mackenzie report,
let the record reflect that we are joined
by Senator Wilakowski.
So Mr Fulford, I see you online, welcome.
I will let you begin your presentation wherever you wish.
If the wood Mac or we can continue on with slide eight of your PowerPoint.
Thank you, Chaggy Zil and good afternoon committee.
I think with further delay, I
think it would be useful to proceed with the d
▶
2026-01-26
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript13K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-26. Public testimony was taken with 6 testifiers.
Motions
It seemed the natural next move to grow my business and expand our Alaska footprint. All of those plans have now been shelved.
Public Testimony
6 testifiers (sure it was just, within their purview
That, Kevin McKinlay, the chair of the, not sure if your, not sure that)
Key Topics
Tax Credits Health Care Health Insurance Through Chair Small Business
Speakers (30)
Representative Saddler(16)
Director Of(7)
Mr. Olson(6)
Representative Carrick(5)
Ms. Carpenter(5)
Chair Representative(5)
Mr. Chairman(4)
Senator Sullivan(3)
Senator Murkowski(3)
Mr. Cozen(3)
Ms. Butcher(3)
Director Wing(2)
Chair For(2)
Mr. Robicoff(2)
Chair Rep(2)
Representative Bynum(2)
Mr. Mckinley(2)
Director Rob(2)
Chair To(2)
Representative Let(1)
Notable Points
I am not gonna get health care Okay, that might work for a while, but inevitably people get sick The problem with that is eventually you will get too sick to stay away and by the time you need services, you're going straight to the emergency department.
You don't want to wait until you're going to get too sick, so you'll go get health care where you probably not going find anyone to take you and so your going to go to the one place that we'll and that again is the hospital emergency room.
I don't know if any of you have been to an emergency room lately.
And so if you're deciding that, hey, I need health care, I'm going to go to the emergency room again.
How many will choose to forego? How many we'll choose the emergency room in the fashion? It but the potential is absolutely there and we don't really have room right now to deal with that.
Transcript: 13,005 words
I call the House Labor and Commerce Committee to order.
The time is 3.16.
Members present are representatives.
Carrick, Freer, Fields, Paul, Nelson, and Sadler.
We have a quorum, please silence your cell phone.
Feel free to pass a note through our committee aid,
Evan Anderson.
Thank you, Andrew, Madison,
and Chloe for committee and teleconference support.
We had two items on the agenda.
First up is an informational hearing about what is driving increasing costs of health care.
We have two expert presentations followed by invited speakers who have experienced these steep costs increases.
And after that, we'll have a first hearing on a house bill 243 by Representative Carrick on Barber's Hair Dressers.
An aesthetic licensing.
First step in the informational hearings is Jared Kosen, CEO of the Alaska Hospital and Health Care Association.
Mr. Koesen, thank you for.
being here and giving this presentation.
All right, thank you. Can you guys hear me okay? All
right. For the record, my name is Jared Kosen. I am the president CEO of the Alaska
Hospital and Healthcare Association, and today I'm going to talk about the
expiration of enhanced premium tax credits. And in doing this, I'll really talk
the impact on costs and the pressure that it ultimately puts on the health care system.
So my comments will be brief, happen to answer questions throughout or at any point as you see
fit. And so to start, I would like to just really set the context for what this is,
because honestly, it gets pretty confusing. The first thing to
start with are advanced premium tax credits. Advanced premium
are essentially the subsidy that was created for people who are in poverty,
according to the federal poverty level, that need to buy insurance coverage on the
Affordable Care Act exchange. The advanced premium tax credits were set up
to create a subsidy so basically people can afford it, depending on your poverty status.
or they were increased. And that's what we're really talking about today is th
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-26
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill16K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-26. The committee heard HB 53 (Approp: Operating Budget; Cap; Supp).
Bills Heard
HB 53 — Approp: Operating Budget; Cap; Supp
Key Topics
the vetoes from fiscal year 2026 the Dalton Highway hear the Office of Management and Budget present on the Governor's FY26 vetoes Through Chair Chair Representative Yeah Through Dalton Highway Chair Josephson
Speakers (30)
Chair Representative(23)
Chair Josephson(15)
Representative Bynum(12)
Representative Stapp(10)
Representative Galvin(9)
Chair Yeah(8)
Representative Hannan(7)
Director Of(6)
Mr. Penone(5)
Commissioner Anderson(5)
Chair To(5)
Director Sanders(4)
Chair Represent(3)
Mr. Chairman(3)
Director And(3)
Chair Commissioner(3)
Representative Allard(3)
Representative Moore(2)
Chair Johnson(2)
Chair Too(2)
Notable Points
That sounds sort of like the debate over the Juneau access road that the dollars are obligated.
I mean it it as long as we get the money by July no problem I don't sense a lot of worry from you I'm trying to just reconcile that with this meet the match letter I've gotten where there's in my view an unprecedented coalition of businesses and They've come together and that seemed really Very concerned about us being able to provide the match to secure these federal funds Why why the concern and uncertainty from industry when I? Gather that everything's just fine from from what we've heard tod
In today's meeting, we will hear the Office of Management and Budget present on the Governor's FY26 vetoes.
But before we dive into those, I just wanted to just provide some brief remarks overall regarding the vetoes from fiscal year 2026.
So, the Spring forecast has $68 a barrel at the time that the governor was addressing the bills and through the veto review process and signing them into law. a $64 a barrel projection.
Transcript: 16,355 words
The House Finance Committee to order let the record reflect that it is 1.33 p.m. on Monday,
January 26th, 2026.
Present today are Representative Hannon, Representative Moore,
Representative Stapp,
Representative Bynum,
Representative Thomas Shefsky,
Representative Galvin.
and the three co-chairs, co chair, foster,
cochair Josephson, and co Chair Truggy.
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff,
Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Tallulah-Lestefka, Secretary Brie Wiley,
and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh
from the Legislative Information Office with us.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear the Office of Management and Budget present on the Governor's FY26 vetoes.
With us today is Lacey Sanders, the OMB Director.
Joining her from the Department of Transportation will be when he gets here, Commissioner Ryan Anderson.
With this is his Administrative Services Director, Dom Pannon.
Director Sanders and I think Mr. Pannone,
please come forward and put yourselves.
Or whatever you're most comfortable with, rather do it separately, that's fine.
Put yourselves on the record and begin your presentation.
Presentation.
Presentations.
Thank you Chair Josephson.
Good afternoon members for the records.
My name is Lacey Sanders.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget for
I am not going to start with the House Finance Committee
presentation.
That's before everyone.
There should be a variety of spreadsheets in your packet.
But before we dive into those, I just
wanted to just provide some brief remarks overall regarding
the vetoes from fiscal year 2026.
As the legislature exited the legislative session last year and
passed their versions of the operating mental health and capital bills.
If you recall from my presentation on Friday,
the budget was built at a much higher dollar value based on the spring forecast,
which was proposed to be at the $68 value.
price per barrel. At the time in
▶
2026-01-26
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript4K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-26. Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers.
Public Testimony
4 testifiers (Chuck cop, accompanied by my able, certain you have, happy to take questions)
Key Topics
Senate Labor Labor Commerce Senate Bill Electronic Pull Committee Substitute
Speakers (13)
Mr. Chairman(9)
Senator Dunbar(6)
Mr. Jackson(5)
Senator Bjorkman(4)
Representative Cop(2)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Representative Chuck(1)
Representative For(1)
Representative Cobb(1)
Vice Chair And(1)
Chair Senator(1)
Notable Points
Chairman for the record Conrad Jackson staff to Senator Bjorkman and the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee The CS before the members version backslash G is in golf only has a couple of changes the first being a title change which adds a An immediate effective date the second change Happens in with section 38 on page 22 lines 3 through 9 and we're inserting a new section The same or a very similar section is also inserted on page 51.
effective date for section 52, and then 54 and 55 have conforming changes.
Transcript: 4,006 words
Good afternoon. The time is now 132 and I'd like to call this meeting the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee to order
We are in Belts room 105 at the Thomas Stewart building in the nation's most beautiful
Rainy and snowy capital city of Juneau, Alaska. Today is Monday, January 26th,
2026 members present are Senator Merrick, Senator Dunbar,
Senator Yunt, and myself, senator Bjorkman. Senator Ray Jackson has an excused absence today.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct a business. Welcome everyone to
we have House Bill 78 retirement systems and defined benefit option as well as Senate Bill 170
gaming electronic pull taps but first if you could please turn off our silencer cell phones
and join me in extending a warm Senate labor and commerce welcome to our recording secretary
Kerry Tupoe and our LAO moderator Susan Quigley and Kyla Tupou.
House Bill 78, retirement systems, defined benefit option.
This is our second hearing on the bill.
Today it is my intention to have a brief recap of the Bill.
Present to CS, to the committee for consideration.
Take invited testimony and set the bills aside for further consideration
with us for a Brief Recap we have the honorable Representative Chuck Kopp
and his staff, Julia O'Connor.
Thank you for joining us today at Senate Labor and Commerce.
Please place yourselves on the record and begin a brief recap of the bill
Thank you chair Borkman and
members of The Committee
My name is Chuck cop a house representative for district 10 and I am accompanied by my able team member
Julia O'Connor staff to representative cop
Thank You
Committee for bringing us back up, so a brief recap if the football games this
weekend cause memory loss is we are addressing three things in this bill.
One is the bleeding of talent in our state,
the personnel who lead in mentor and train.
We just heard from the Department of Law just 30 minutes ago that their biggest challenge is they're not able to maintain their mid-level and senior managers
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-26
House Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill12K words
The House Judiciary Committee met on 2026-01-26. The committee heard HB 47 (Generated Obscene Chld Sex Abuse Material). Public testimony was taken with 6 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Bills Heard
HB 47 — Generated Obscene Chld Sex Abuse Material
Votes
The NSPCC told us, developers who create AI software and social media sites where images are often shared have objectively failed to put safeguards in place to prevent their products from being exploited by offenders, and that the government must put child protection A home office spokesperson said, we're working closely with law enforcement partners, the IWF, technology experts and other child protection charities, to identi
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Trevor Stores president, ready when you are, seeing no one else)
2 testifiers (ready when you are, seeing no one else)
1 testifier (going to bring up)
Key Topics
Attorney General Supreme Court Quality Life Make Sure
Speakers (26)
Representative Gray(15)
Representative Mina(5)
Representative Vance(5)
Representative Costello(4)
Representative Eischeid(2)
Mr. Skidmore(2)
Chair Representative(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Mr. Story(2)
Vice Chair Cop(1)
Representative Underwood(1)
Director On(1)
Representative Holland(1)
Director Stacey(1)
Director That'S(1)
Director Of(1)
Representative But(1)
Representative Ayesha(1)
Representative Aisha(1)
Representative Sarah(1)
Notable Points
Supreme Court case, the first question is are you going to weigh in at all? This is a very controversial case.
Now, I did not have any kind of authorization to take a position on that controversial case, but what I was able to do is offer a brief where we could articulate the special, you know, situation that Alaska has with respect to his geography, remoteness, and articulate to the U.S.
When you said that this is a controversial case, this is the case having to do with the counting ballots after election day, did you find that that was controversial among Alaskans? I wouldn't say that I didn't do any research into But my experience is that with respect to election law and how the rules are said is that it's highly controve
controversial in any state.
Transcript: 12,984 words
This meeting of the House Judiciary will now come to order.
The time is now 1.04 p.m. on Monday, January 26th, 2026.
We are meeting in the Grunberg room, Capital Room 120.
The following members are present.
Vice Chair Cop, Representative Eisheid,
Representative Underwood,
Representative Costello,
Representative Mina,
and myself Representative Gray, Chair.
Like the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business
I would also like to recognize the staff supporting this meeting Sophia Tenny from house records Zach log horn from
The genome LIO and my staff Dylan Hitchcock Lucas
We have two items of business on today's agenda. The first will be an overview
Department of law update with attorney general Stephen Cox and deputy attorney General Corey Mills and Deputy Attorney General Angie Kemp
We will then hear HB 47 and it's first hearing.
This is generated of seeing child sex abuse material
by representative Vance.
She is here today, but she's going to come in at that point.
So as our first item of business,
Attorney General Stephen Cox is going
to provide an update on developments
at the Department of Law and his vision
for the department moving forward.
Please put yourself on the record attorney general
and begin your testimony.
Thank you, Chair. My name is Stephen Cox, Attorney General David Nee. This is my first legislative
hearing. First legislative session, it's a privilege to be here. It's privilege
to in this role of Attorney general. But it is a
privilege be in front of you at this committee. Let me let me start with the
Many of these names and faces will be familiar to you, of course, at my left and my right.
On this slide, I've got my two trusted deputies, Cory Mills, as you know,
handles our Civil Division and Angie Kemp,
is our Deputy Attorney General for the Criminal Division.
You'll see that Rachel Whitty remains our Director on the Civil Division.
She oversees a number of sections that focus mainly on sort of the attorney advice side
of The House
▶
2026-01-26
House Finance: Law Subcommittee
transcriptakleg8K words
The House Finance: Law Subcommittee met on 2026-01-26.
Motions
And last year, Mostly, what you see on this slide, all the green that were included for the most part was labor relations being moved to the Department of Law within the Civil Division. That was a move that Governor Dunley v. pursued through an administrative order first, and then the budgetary actions after, and so the Labor Relations Unit now lives within the Department of Law.
That was a move that Governor Dunley v. pursued through an administrative order first, and then the budgetary actions after, and so the Labor Relations Unit now lives within the Department of Law.
Key Topics
Through Chair Last Year Chair Representative Department Law Attorney General
Speakers (23)
Chair Josephson(11)
Chair Gray(9)
Chair Representative(6)
Representative Costello(4)
Representative Cop(3)
Representative Allard(2)
Director For(2)
Chair To(2)
Representative Underwood(1)
Representative Ayeshaide(1)
Representative Mina(1)
Chair Of(1)
Director Is(1)
Director Stacey(1)
Ms. Kemp(1)
Chair On(1)
Mr. Skidmore(1)
Representative Copan(1)
Representative Weishek(1)
Representative Aishide(1)
Notable Points
But are you talking about more than that actually being a named party? Is that what's under debate in some circumstances? Chair Josephson, yes.
What happened in the veto process is the governor vetoed this repeal really a re-appropriation making the funds available through FY26.
Transcript: 8,271 words
Good afternoon. I call this meeting of the House Finance
Affirmative Law Subcommittee for the microphone.
I called this being the house finance department law
subcommittee to order. Let the record reflect that it is
12.03 on Monday, January 26, 2026. Present today, our
representative Underwood, representative Ayeshaide,
Representative Costello, Representative Mina,
Representative Allard, Judiciary Chair Gray, and myself,
Chair of the Senate Committee, Andy Josephson.
Also present today are Alexander Schroeder,
our Committee Aid and Moderator, Zach Lahorn,
from the Legislative Information Office.
As always, please remember to mute your cell phones.
Before we begin our presentation today,
note that binders have been provided to all committee members.
was posted on basis under the documents section of the meeting. Any questions right now about
the content so far? Okay. In today's meeting, we will hear the Department of Law present
its FY26 mid-year status review. I'm not sure that we've typically done this, but we decided
to do this in a number of subcommittees, if not all of them. With us today from the department
Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Division, also available online is Amber LeBlanc,
Administrative Services Director for Department of Law.
I see that the Deputy Attorneys General have come forward. Please put yourself on the record
and begin your presentation. Okay, again, Corey Mills, Deputy
Attorney general overseeing the civil division of the Department Department
of law. Good afternoon, Angie Kemp overseeing a Deputy
Attorney-General overseeing criminal division with the department law, welcome.
And Chair Josephson, again, Corey Mills for the record.
As you mentioned, Amber LeBlanc,
our administrative service director is online.
In case we have other questions,
I think she is actually gonna go over our first slide here.
So I'm gonna hand it off to Amber
to kind of just lay out the budget.
And then we'll go from there.
Great.
Miss Leblanc.
Hello, are
▶
2026-01-26
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-26.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-26
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-26.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-26
House Education Committee
transcriptakleg8K words
The House Education Committee met on 2026-01-26. Public testimony was taken.
Motions
Representative Story: You may move to another curriculum, but there are parents on those committees. There are educators.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Superintendent Taylor Superintendent Robbins Professional Development Through Chair School District
Speakers (19)
Co-Chair Story(7)
Representative Dibert(3)
Representative Elam(2)
Representative Eischeid(2)
Chair Hymn(2)
Representative Underwood(2)
Chair And(2)
Co-Chair Him(2)
Co-Chair Himschoot(2)
Representative Wonky(1)
Co-Chair Stories(1)
Representative So(1)
Mr. Robbins(1)
Chair Superintendent(1)
Commissioner Bishop(1)
Chair Again(1)
Director Ketchikan(1)
Director Knick(1)
Dr. Joel(1)
Notable Points
The recent unfortunate failure to override Senate Bill 113 provided yet another missed opportunity to help support funding of this act.
Transcript: 8,721 words
I call the House Education Committee meeting to order this morning.
It is Monday, January 26th, 2026, and the time is 9.01.
I know there have been major snow challenges all over Juneau this
morning, so thank you all for being here.
And I note co-chair story is on her way, but held up by the snow.
And, I think she's been working on shoveling and getting here for quite
some time,
so I don't know what state she'll be in when she gets here,
but she is, on, her, way.
Okay, members present this morning are representative Elon representative Diber representative wonky
Representative eyeshide and co-chair stories on her way, but I am here co chair hymn shoot
We have a quorum to conduct business. I'd like to remind members to please silence your cell phones
We are in the Betty Davis committee room
106 in this state Capitol building here in beautiful snowy downtown Juneau
The documents for today's meeting have been distributed
to members are available on the table outside the door
and on basis, and I want to thank our recording secretary,
Jordan Nicholson, thank you for being here, Jordan,
and our moderator from the Juno-LIO is Chloe Miller
under the supervision of Zach Lawhorn,
so it's gonna be a great day for Chloe
getting up to speed with us.
And our committee aids today are Tammy Smith and Ella Lubin,
who have gotten the room ready and gotten us all ready.
And we are joined at 9.02 by Representative Underwood.
Welcome.
OK.
Welcome to the first House Education Committee
meeting for the second session of the 34th legislature.
I'm glad you're all here and safe.
We're going to work hard this year on good policy and oversight, but we all know that
the budget is incredibly restrained. So that's going sort of be a focus of everything we do,
I think, for at least this session and for some time to come probably.
So looking for great policy wins where we can get them also looking
for what we could do to be as conservative as possible with the dollars we have.
look for education inf
▶
2026-01-26
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg14K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-01-26.
Key Topics
the governor's Through Chair Chair Senator Senator Keel Fiscal Year Million Dollars
Speakers (30)
Mr. Chairman(28)
Senator Stedman(20)
Senator Kiehl(20)
Senator Kaufman(15)
Chair Senator(13)
Chair Hoffman(8)
Ms. Sanders(6)
Senator Cronk(5)
Director Of(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Director Lacey(1)
Mr. Germant(1)
Senator Gail(1)
Chair To(1)
Mr. Copperman(1)
Senator Cockerman(1)
Mr. Follow-Up(1)
Mr. Bjorkman(1)
Notable Points
Yes, the Governor vetoed down disaster relief funding and then we had unexpected costs that have, you know, are difficult to project when it comes to disasters this year's budget.
So it's not surprising that he has the statutory dividend in there.
The budget that And if you'll recall, there were vetoes that we will discuss later that brought the amount of the budget down to the $6 billion amount, leaving a surplus of approximately $141 million.
Did the line item vetoes and enacted the bill into law? We were working closely with the Department of Revenue on Evaluating what the price of oil was looking like at that point in time so in June of 2025 And we had seen that we were experiencing as a state a significant decrease in the amount of revenue forecasted Compa
Clearly the one didn't work last year when we did fire and we had a veto and a month and half later a request for the money back.
Transcript: 14,189 words
Call the Senate Finance Committee to order where it's 9 a.m.
We're in the state capital Senate finance meeting.
Please silence your cell phones.
Joining me today is Senator Stedman, Senator Olsen,
Senator Keel, senator Merrick,
Senator Kaufman,
Senator Cronk and in
the audience we have Senator Geisel.
Today's agenda, we had one item on today's
agenda we are going to have the overview of the governor's.
fiscal year 2027 budget we have the Office of Management Director Lacey Sanders
please come forward introduce yourself and give us the presentation good morning
For the record my name is Lacey Sanders I am the director of the office of management and budget for the governor and
Today I have been asked to provide a presentation on the overview of The FY
2027 budget that was delivered to the legislature on
December 11th
And with that I'll get started
Please proceed great
Okay, so to get start of this year I wanted
to take a moment to do a little bit of a look back
at where we were when we left the legislature last year.
And the FY2026 budget was signed into law.
So on the slide before us today,
we've provided what the price of oil was
in the spring 2025 budget.
or excuse me in the spring 2025 fall forecast or spring forecast that was used to develop the
fiscal year 2026 budget. At that point the budget was developed on $68 a barrel and the
total revenue coming to the state was just at $1.2 billion. The budget that
And if you'll recall, there were vetoes that we will discuss later that brought the amount
of the budget down to the $6 billion amount, leaving a surplus of approximately $141 million.
Did the line item vetoes and enacted the bill into law?
We were working closely with the Department of Revenue on
Evaluating what the price of oil was looking like at that point in time so in June of 2025
And we had seen that we were experiencing as a state a significant decrease in the amount of revenue forecasted
Compared to the 68 dollar a barrel that was projected in March t
▶
2026-01-23
Task Force on Education Funding
transcriptakleg16K words
The Task Force on Education Funding met on 2026-01-23. Public testimony was taken with 1 testifiers.
Public Testimony
1 testifier (Mike Hanle for the)
Key Topics
Next Slide Task Force School District Make Sure
Speakers (30)
Co-Chair Tobin(7)
Director Chang(6)
Representative Story(4)
Senator Kiehl(4)
Commissioner Of(4)
Co-Chair Representative(2)
Commissioner Michael(2)
Representative Reference(2)
Representative Hymshu(2)
Representative Ruffridge(2)
Mr. Turner(2)
Representative Roughridge(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Senator Lucy(1)
Representative Aishide(1)
Representative Dibert(1)
Senator Yundt(1)
Director Heidi(1)
Director Barbara(1)
Mr. Hall(1)
Notable Points
The funding package that the US House of Representatives passed this week keeps the funding the same at $129 million and also makes some additional positive changes in terms of allowing those funds to be used for short-term emergency motels days and we'll see what the Senate does after the snowstorm next week.
Transcript: 16,269 words
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this joint meeting of the legislative task force and education funding to order.
It is 3.33 p.m. here on Friday, January 23rd.
We are blessed to be back in June at our state Capitol building,
and we are meeting in the Betty Davis committee room.
For folks who are interested to follow along today,
this meeting is being streamed live on AKLTV.
I just want to remind folks here in
the room if they please could mute their cell phones.
Members present today is co-chair representative hymns chute representative story representative roughridge
I'm also joined by senator keel senator kronk and myself senator lucy giltoben
additional co chair
I also want to acknowledge that we are joined by several other lawmakers here in the room.
We are join by Representative Aishide, Representative Dibert.
We also are also joined with President Stevens and also by Senator Yunt.
I think I have gotten everyone.
If I miss you, please let me know.
I want think our Juno-LIO moderator today, David Amrenzo, for ensuring that have quality
sound and have the presentation up and available for you.
Today, we will begin with opening remarks by former
Dean Commissioner Michael Hanley, and then we
will proceed on to presentations on chronic absenteeism
from a tenant works executive director Heidi Chang.
We also will receive a presentation
on serving our houseless and homeless students
from Schoolhouse Connection, executive
director Barbara Dunfield, who is joining us on team.
We have also with us the Kenai Peninsula School
McKinney-Vento program, Kelly Keene. We also have the ASD Ingrid School District
Coordinator for the Child and Transition Program, David Mayo-Keely, and also we
will have a presentation today from the Reason Foundation from their senior
policy analyst. And I apologize as I cannot pronounce this individual's last
name so I will wait till they are on the record so that they can help ensure that
Again, for the public, we are not takin
▶
2026-01-23
Senate Resources Committee
transcriptakleg3 bills11K words
The Senate Resources Committee met on 2026-01-23. Bills discussed included HB 4 (Presidential Write-in Votes), SB 138 (Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas), SB 38 (Office of Information Technology).
Bills Heard
HB 4 — Presidential Write-in Votes
SB 138 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
SB 38 — Office of Information Technology
Motions
And so in the early days of that, 2013, a decision was made to move to a built type arrangement. The main reasons for that were that the the local county Were concerned about volatility and their taxing income Equally, it was felt that Encouraging a capital asset of that scale.
Key Topics
Property Tax Next Slide Gaffney Klein Baker Hughes Slide Please
Speakers (23)
Senator Wielechowski(13)
Mr. Allard(10)
Senator Myers(6)
Mr. Fulford(5)
Senator Claman(4)
Senator Bjorkman(4)
Senator Stedman(4)
Senator Kawasaki(3)
Director Of(3)
Senator Rauscher(1)
Senator Dunbar(1)
Vice Chair Senator(1)
Senator Kiehl(1)
Senator Jesse(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Senator Behind(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Mr. Clarke(1)
Mr. Falford(1)
Director At(1)
Notable Points
So in 2024, they decided to go back to a PILT and in fact, it was retroactive as well to address some of these budgetary issues that they'd encountered.
Transcript: 11,537 words
Okay, thanks, I don't mean.
I call Senate Resources Committee order to order.
Today is Friday, February, excuse me, January 23rd, 2026, and the time is 3.30 p.m.
So welcome everyone to our first meeting of the year.
Committee members present today, we have Senator Rouscher.
Senator Meyer is here.
Senator Dunbar is excused.
Senator Clayman, Senator Kawasaki.
Vice Chair Senator Wilakowski and myself Senator Geese.
So we have a quorum to conduct business.
Recording secretary today is Heather, and helping us out with the audio today, is Jude.
On the agenda today we are three subjects.
The first one is Senate Bill 75, timber management leases.
Then we'll go into a presentation by Pegasus.
Global holdings and lastly a presentation from Gaffney Klein.
So I'm starting out with Senate Bill 75.
I've gotten several emails in the past 15 or 20 minutes from people who have serious concerns about this piece of legislation.
It is offered by the governor related to timber management leases.
I made a commitment to the Governor.
He urgently requested that this bill be heard and moved.
I can fulfill my commitment 50%.
I will have some testimony on the bill today, one person,
invite a testimony, and then we'll set the Bill aside.
So, I'm inviting Senator Jesse Bjorkman forward.
Welcome, Senator Bjarkman.
Senator Bierkman?
will not have this bill in any of his committees.
He has a lot of state land and state timber resources
on the Kenai Peninsula in his district,
and he had some concerns.
I wanted to give him a venue to express it.
I also want to welcome Senator Stedman,
who's watching the committee today.
Welcome, Senator Steadman.
In the past,
Senator Steinman has been part of this committee,
but in the last few years,
he's been busy on finance.
Welcome, Senator Bierkman, welcome.
Senator Giesel, thank you for this opportunity and for hearing the bill.
As we look at and consider the hearing that you all held back in February of last year on
this bill, I think it's important that as a
▶
2026-01-23
House Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript1K words
The House Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-23. Public testimony was taken with 5 testifiers.
Public Testimony
5 testifiers (David Nelson, Joe and this is, more easy for me, Michael Smith, the International Representative for)
Key Topics
health, medical Department Defense Hiring Goals
Speakers (15)
Representative For(3)
Chair To(3)
Co-Chair Fields(2)
Mr. Kaiser(2)
Mr. Smith(2)
Representative David(1)
Chair Hall(1)
Director Of(1)
Director Effective(1)
Co-Chair The(1)
Mr. Cuffchek(1)
Representative Cronk(1)
Representative Coulombe(1)
Mr. Co-Chair(1)
Representative Saddler(1)
Transcript: 1,839 words
I call the Health, Labor, and Commerce Committee to order.
Time is 3.15, January 23rd.
Members present are representatives,
Carrick, Colomb, Freer, Fields,
and Nelson.
Thank you, Andrew Magneson,
the LNC Secretary and Zach Lawhorn,
the LIO for support.
We just have one item on the agenda today,
H.J.R. 20 by Representative David Nelson,
this is the first hearing for the bill.
We'll take invite them public testimony.
Go ahead, represent Nelson if you'd like to introduce yourself
and begin your presentation.
Thank you, Co-Chair Fields and Co Chair Hall and members of the House Labor and Commerce
Committee.
For the record, I'm David Nelson, representative for House District 18, which is including
joint-based Elmentor Fritjordson, Government Hill and East Anchorage.
Thank you for the opportunity to present House Joint Resolution No. 20, which encourages
United States Congress to establish hiring goals for apprentices and veteran apprentices.
The resolution aims really to assist veterans and those preparing to transition from the
armed forces to civilian life.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2024, 60% of unemployed veterans were aged
through 54, meaning a majority of the unemployed veterans are in their prime working age.
These veterans were rigorously trained by the Department of Defense, making them skilled and
motivated, and making it highly valuable in the workforce. House resolution number 20 would
encourage Congress to establish hiring goals for domestic DOD construction projects, namely
for individuals who are participating in qualified apprenticeships or post-secondary programs.
These hiring goals would be no less than 10% of the total workforce employed in the performance of
the project, with no more than ten percent of those being veterans. Promoting the inclusion of
veterans in DOD-funded construction projects would enhance the workforce with individuals who are
accustomed to working in complex and demanding environments. This would create a sol
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-23
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg10K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-23.
Key Topics
both of these administrative orders the Governor's FY27 operating budget Through Chair Chair Representative Chair Josephson Fiscal Year Million Dollars
Speakers (30)
Co-Chair Josephson(18)
Chair Representative(11)
Representative Galvin(8)
Representative Hannan(7)
Representative Bynum(6)
Director Sanders(6)
Co-Chair Foster(4)
Commissioner Of(2)
Chair Through(2)
Chair Joseph(2)
Representative Allard(1)
Representative Moore(1)
Representative Thomas(1)
Co-Chair Neil(1)
Director Lacey(1)
Director At(1)
Director Saunders(1)
Chair Represent(1)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Director We'Re(1)
Notable Points
I know there's been a debate over the years as to why are we seeing declines in shutdowns and in subsistence fishing up the Kaskikwim and the Yukon. as much as we want to reduce fishing by whether it's just large commercial fishing boats.
This is associated with the, I'm sure everyone recognizes the veto that was made last year of the reappropriations.
Transcript: 10,676 words
I call this meeting the House Finance Committee to order.
Let the record reflect that it is 135 on Friday, January 23rd, 2026.
Present today are Representative Ballard, Representative Hannon,
Representative Moore, representative Bynum,
Representative Thomas Shefsky,
Representative Galvin, myself, co-chair Josephson.
And I saw, yes, I think as well, all right.
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff, Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Tallulah-Lestufka, Secretary Brie Wiley, and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We've been joined by co-chair Neil Foster.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh here from the Legislative Information Office.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear the Office of Management and Budget present its overview of the Governor's FY27 operating budget.
With this today from OMB is Director Lacey Sanders. Good afternoon. Happy New Year
Director Sanders, please come forward put yourself on the record and begin your presentation
Good Afternoon everyone for the Record. My name is Lacy Sanders
I am the Director at the Office of Management and Budget for The Governor
today as noted
by the chair I will be providing an overview of the governor's FY 27 budget
that was introduced in December and I
will walk through both operating and capital today as well as the
supplemental's that were included in that budget on December 11th all right
please proceed thank you
So with that, I am I was going to start the presentation today doing a little bit of a look back and where we are today
So I'm going start with fiscal year 2026
This is the budget that was passed last year by the legislature and enacted into law
At the time when the Budget was signed we had a spring revenue forecast of 68 dollars a barrel
and a total budget of just over $6 billion
in unrestricted general funds.
At that time, that provided a surplus
of about $141 million.
However, at that, time we worked with
the Department of Revenue on what
what real
▶
2026-01-23
Senate Judiciary Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill5K words
The Senate Judiciary Committee met on 2026-01-23. The committee heard SB 136 (Firearm Financial Privacy).
Bills Heard
SB 136 — Firearm Financial Privacy
Key Topics
Attorney General Financial Institutions Through Chair Senator Keel Senator Tobin
Speakers (22)
Senator Kiehl(11)
Mr. Chairman(10)
Senator Tobin(7)
Senator Cronk(6)
Chair To(6)
Senator Claman(4)
Ms. Mead(4)
Senator Stevens(3)
Senator Tilton(2)
Vice Chair Senator(1)
Mr. Menkey(1)
Senator Allard(1)
Senator Mike(1)
Senator Sullivan(1)
Senator Solvin'S(1)
Senator Judiciary(1)
Mr. Apologize(1)
Senator Fields(1)
Chair For(1)
Mr. Mayor(1)
Notable Points
Usually when a party needs an injunction, a preliminary injunction in particular, there's some sort of emergency or some right away to prevent somebody from doing something or forcing them to do something and joining them.
Transcript: 5,674 words
I want to thank Julie and I sing the Senate Judiciary Secretary who makes sure we have
a transcript of our meetings when Jude Augustine from the Genoa LAO who make sure
we sound.
I think Jude is new to our adventures.
Welcome.
At this time we remind committee members in all those in the room to please silence your cell phones present today
We have first and welcome to the committee senator tilton
Senator stevens
My vice chair senator keel and myself senator claiming we have a quorum to conduct business our first
And only item of on our agenda today is Senate bill 136 firearm financial privacy sponsored by senator krunk
This is the first hearing the bill on the Senate Judiciary Committee here to present the
bill, and I would note that Senator Tobin has also joined us at 131.
Here to represent the Bill of Senator Cronk and his staff, Paul Menke, online in a
veil for questions is Tracy Rina from the Division of Banking and Securities, Senator
Cronke.
Mr. Menkey, please come forward, put yourselves on their record, you may begin your presentation.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
We're thankful for having it here in this year, you know,
and just being able to hear the bill.
Senate Bill 136 is the title as an act relating
to the privacy of firearm transactions relating
to discrimination against firearm retailers
by financial institutions and payment networks relating
to their disclosure of financial records
by Financial Institutions and Payment Networks.
Over the past decade,
There have been instances in lower 48 and even in Alaska, and there's actually a letter attached to shows in
Alaska where certain financial institutions and states have looked to require firearm codes to
identify, merchant spires, in all transactions involved with firearms. These financial
institutions in payment networks have used the presence of these codes
And in some cases, outright decline lawful transactions involving firearms, which is discriminatory
and blatant infringement
▶
2026-01-23
Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
transcript10K words
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee met on 2026-01-23. Public testimony was taken. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
What happened is we entered about a three-year period where the state's actuary Mercer gave critically bad advice, the state and the lawsuit, felt it was borderline criminal because when Mercer discovered their error, they failed to disclose to the State that we were under-contributing.
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
Next Slide Defined Benefit Public Safety Defined Contribution Work Years
Speakers (23)
Mr. Chairman(11)
Representative Cop(5)
Senator Yundt(4)
Chair Bjorkman(3)
Representative For(2)
Chair To(2)
Chair Senator(2)
Representative Cobb(2)
Director Ramos(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Gray(1)
Representative Chuck(1)
Commissioner In(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Mr. David(1)
Senator Or(1)
Commissioner Of(1)
Senator Yantez(1)
Representative So(1)
Representative Tomaszewski(1)
Notable Points
Committee members we are excited to pre before you what we see as really an emergency fiscal response to what We see going on it to in our communities across the state and into our ability to deliver critically needed public services to the State of Alaska.
When we look at that, we realize what we're talking about today is an emergency fiscal response.
Transcript: 10,511 words
Good afternoon. Welcome to Senate Labor and Commerce. The time is at 1.32 p.m.
And I would like to call this meeting of the Senate labor and commerce committee to order.
We are in belts room 105 at the Thomas Stewart building in the nation's most beautiful capital city of
Juneau, Alaska. I'm excited to be with all of you again today. We will have our
typical cast of labor commerce characters here with us throughout the year.
our state auditor, many folks from the Division of Insurance, and all manners of folks that
really make many things in our private economy run here in the state of Alaska. I would like
to take a moment to recognize someone who has moved on from our typical slate of folk
who might hear from here at Labor and Commerce this year. Steve Ramos from The
Department of Administration has left the state, unfortunately, and we will miss his expertise on many issues here before the committee.
So we certainly wish Director Ramos well, in Idaho.
Very well.
Today is Friday, January 23rd. Members present today are Senator Merrick, Senator Ray Jackson,
Senator Yunt and myself.
Chair Bjorkman let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business
Please turn off our silencer cell phones. I would like to extend and especially warm Senate labor and commerce. Welcome to our recording secretary
Carrie Tupo and our LIO moderators Susan Quigley and
Renzo Moses. We have one in one bill only on our agenda for today. It is House Bill 78
retirement systems defined benefit option brought to us by the House Finance Committee here to present the bill
is the honorable representative Chuck Kup and his staff, Julia O'Connor.
Please join us at the table.
This is our first hearing on the bill,
so we'll go through a rundown of the Bill,
get a general overview.
I think three of us may be familiar with the
bill but as it is a new legislature and
a New Labor and Commerce Committee hearing this bill this time around,
we will have a thorough hearing
on The Bill and then move
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-23
House Resources Committee
transcriptakleg13K words
The House Resources Committee met on 2026-01-23.
Key Topics
Through Chair North Slope Cook Inlet Little Bit Representative Fields
Speakers (30)
Representative Fields(14)
Representative Saddler(11)
Representative Prax(11)
Chair Jimmie(7)
Chair Frier(6)
Chair For(6)
Representative Mears(5)
Representative Elam(4)
Chair Dibert(4)
Representative Coulombe(3)
Representative Hall(3)
Representative Myers(3)
Commissioner Designee(3)
Co-Chair Representative(2)
Director To(2)
Representative Brooks(2)
Representative Story(2)
Representative Paul(2)
Chair Through(2)
Director Nottingham(2)
Notable Points
So that is truly unprecedented in our entire industry.
Transcript: 13,488 words
This meeting of the House Resources Committee
will now come to order.
It is now 1.02 PM, Friday, January 23rd, 2025
in Capital Room 124.
Members present are Representative Fields,
Representative Colomb, Representative Hall,
Representative Meers,
Representative Elam,
Representative Sadler,
Co-chair Representative Diber,
and myself Co Chair Representative Freer,
as well as Representative Prox just joined us.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum
conduct business. Please take this time to silence your
cell phone for the duration of the meeting. I'd like to
thank Jordan Nicholson from Records and Zach Lawhorn from
the Juno LIO for staffing the committee today. On today's
agenda, we have an update from the Department of Natural
Resources on oil and gas production and lease activity on
the North Slope and Cook Inlet in 2025. Before the
committee, today, We have Commissioner Designee, John
Crowther, and Division of Oil and Gas Director, Derek
Welcome to your house resources, and thank you for joining us. Please come to the table and begin your presentation
Jane thank, you very much chair freer and members of the committee my name is john crow there commissioner designee for the department not to resources for
The record it's an honor to be here and we're very happy to share our presentation today
As i'm sure you're aware of The department historically has presented up
our production forecast, so the technical details of the material about
upcoming production that we share with the Department of Revenue to inform the
revenue sources book. We typically do that for the finance committees this
first week of session.
We're very pleased and appreciate the committee's request to dig a little bit more into production
and activity so that you all have that information, naturally the jurisdiction of the Committee
about our use and development of our resources.
So we're here to share that today.
In very quick summary and we'll get into the details, what we describe as a good n
▶
2026-01-23
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-23.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-23
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-23.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-23
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg6K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-01-23.
Key Topics
Fiscal Year Revenue Forecast State Revenue Production Tax Permanent Fund
Speakers (21)
Mr. Chairman(9)
Mr. Stickle(4)
Senator Kiehl(3)
Senator Cronk(3)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Hoffman(1)
Commissioner Janelle(1)
Senator Giesell'S(1)
Commissioner And(1)
Director For(1)
Mr. Stickel(1)
Ms. Earl(1)
Mr. Stickelst(1)
Mr. Stickler(1)
Chair As(1)
Senator Gill(1)
Chair So(1)
Chair That'S(1)
Notable Points
recession built into our Stable passenger accounts around 1.7 million cruise visitors that assumes that the tourism activity will remain Fairly constant around the record levels.
Transcript: 6,698 words
Good morning everybody, I'd like to go ahead and call the Senate Finance Committee to
order.
It's January 23rd, 2026, times 932, sorry for the delay.
We were having a meeting with dealing with our potential gas line this morning, so we
had to take care of that before we started here.
to silence our cell phones, and we will proceed with me today as Senator Olsen, Senator Keel,
Senator Merrick, senator Koffman, sir, Cronk, sinner, Hoffman.
And we are going to talk about the revenue forecast.
And for the upcoming year, we've invited the department to come.
And then we have the.
We have here we've got a acting revenue commissioner Janelle Earls and we have
familiar face
Mr. Stickle down stickle like to have you both come forward
Jump into hot seats
Maybe the acting Revenue Commissioner could
Introduce yourself to the community committee for a little bit. I'd like to note that Senator Giesell's here on the audience
Give us a bit about your background
And tell us about
How you're gonna make sure that all the compliance measures are in check at the Department of Revenue before we go forward it seems to be a
issue that's
timely
Good morning. Thank you for having us here. My name is Janelle Earls, Acting Commissioner
and Administrative Services Director for the Department of Revenue. I have about 21 years
of experience with the state, mostly working in budget and finance. 13 years were with
the department of health and social services and I've been with The Department
Oh, about a year and a half, almost two years.
And I just like to thank you for having us here today.
And you'll follow all your fiduciary duties?
I will, to the best of my ability.
I'll be good, and we'll talk about that in future meetings,
that subject in probably more detail than some would like.
But it's an issue.
Mr. Stickel are you going to help out your new boss or you're gonna let her hang the poor
Gal out on the table
For the record dance tickle chief economist with the Department of Revenue
Mr.. Chair
▶
2026-01-22
Senate Majority Press Availability
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Majority Press Availability. Date: 2026-01-22.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
Governor's State of the State Address
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Governor's State of the State Address. Date: 2026-01-22.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill1K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-22. The committee heard SCR2. Public testimony was taken.
Bills Heard
SCR 2 — Support Crisis Care & Medicaid Reform
Public Testimony
0 testifiers
Key Topics
the constitutional amendment and votes needed for a veto override Two Thirds
Speakers (7)
Senator Wielechowski(6)
Senator Bjorkman(2)
Senator Gray(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Chair Kawasaki(1)
Senator Claman(1)
Senator For(1)
Notable Points
I would like to thank Kerry Tipoe from Senate Records and Chloe Miller as moderator On today's agenda, we just have one item and that is the second hearing on Senate joint resolution number two regarding the constitutional amendment and votes needed for a veto override.
As we mentioned before, Senate joint resolution 2 would propose an amendment that would be presented to the voters to amend Article 2 Section 16 of the Constitution to lower the override requirement for revenue and appropriation vetoes from three-fourths of the legislature in joint session to two-thirds.
Improve the balance between the legislature and the executive branch and I think it's a good question to put in front of the voters We remain the only state in the country to have over-ride thresholds of that of that level and and certainly we Saw today that even getting to a two-thirds Override threshold is not easy.
My question is, are there states that have lower thresholds? Or is this fairly standard? Are there states where it's just a majority that you need to override? What's the status of the other states? And I know you have a document in this file, but for the public that's listening and maybe it doesn't see our documents, I think it'd be helpful for them to understand.
So in broad measures, I would say the majority of states have two-thirds override threshold for pretty much every kind of legislation. three quarters for revenue matters, meaning new taxes, but not for appropriations matters in Arizona, it's two-thirds, and I can't remember which state but one of the states has a three-quarter override for emergency measures, you know, like so t
Transcript: 1,091 words
I'd like to call the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order. Let the record
reflect. It is Thursday, January 22nd, 2026. Time now is 3.30 pm. We are here in the
Belts Committee room in Juneau, Alaska. Members, President, Senator Wielikowski,
Senator Gray Jackson, senator Tilton, my self-chair Kawasaki.
We do have a quorum to conduct business. I would like
to thank Kerry Tipoe from Senate Records and Chloe Miller as moderator
On today's agenda, we just have one item and that is the second hearing on Senate joint resolution number two regarding the constitutional amendment and votes needed for a veto override.
We have Senator Clayman and his staff Carly Dennis here. They'd like to summarize the bill one last time. Take a minute or two.
Welcome to the Senate State Affairs Committee. Thank you. It's good to be back.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
For the record, I'm Matt Clayman, State Senator for Senate District H in West Anchorage.
Thank you for again hearing Senate Joint Resolution 2.
As we mentioned before, Senate joint resolution 2 would propose an amendment that would be presented to the voters to amend Article 2 Section 16 of
the Constitution to lower the override requirement for revenue and appropriation vetoes from three-fourths of
the legislature in joint session to two-thirds.
Improve the balance between the legislature and the executive branch and I think it's a good question to put in front of the voters
We remain the only state in the country to have over-ride thresholds of that of
that level and and certainly we
Saw today that even getting to a two-thirds
Override threshold is not easy. And so I I
think that if anything I lower threshold will
Encourage engagement between The executive Branch and The legislature
And if there's questions, happy to answer any questions you all may have.
Are there any question?
For the records, Senator Bjorkman is present.
I guess I don't have any any other questions either.
I appreciate this
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
House Health & Social Services Committee
transcriptakleg1 bill13K words
The House Health & Social Services Committee met on 2026-01-22. The committee heard HB 232 (Minor Mental Health: Age of Consent). Public testimony was taken with 30 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 232 — Minor Mental Health: Age of Consent
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (learning more and more, going to blame parents)
2 testifiers (not aware of, gonna be just wonky)
3 testifiers (not aware of, gonna be just wonky, going to absolutely result)
3 testifiers (not aware of, gonna be just wonky, going to absolutely result)
4 testifiers (gonna be just wonky, going to absolutely result, going to wrestle with, going to make)
Key Topics
Mental Health Behavioral Health Health Services House Bill Through Chair
Speakers (29)
Representative Gray(13)
Representative Prax(10)
Representative Mina(9)
Mr. Johnson(9)
Senator Giessel(7)
Representative Fields(7)
Director Of(4)
Representative Schwanke(3)
Chair If(3)
Representative Mears(2)
Chair To(2)
Ms. Groh(2)
Dr. Scott(1)
Representative Chunky(1)
Dr. Lupar(1)
Representative Green(1)
Dr. Jimmie(1)
Senator Kiehl(1)
Representative Ruffridge(1)
Representative Box(1)
Notable Points
Students these days, and you have to actually be in the setting where you're talking to these young people, they are surprisingly astute, they're certainly aware that they have challenges that need to be addressed.
There have been no disciplinary actions within for prescribing physicians or prescribing naturopaths in those states and we heard that quite a few patients that come to emergency rooms are really seeking primary care and we have a primary-care shortage in Alaska primary care physicians.
Madam Chair, just to the risk of stating the obvious, the primary reason that it's hard to get consent from parents on issues as simple as permission to go ice skating at recess is because kids lose notes, parents work two jobs.
emergency room for suicide attempt related needs were 11 to 14 year olds and 15 to 19 year old for 1000 ER business.
Chair Mina, I move House Bill 147, Work Order 34-LS 0136G, from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
Transcript: 13,115 words
This meeting of the House Health and Social Services Committee will now come to order.
It is 3.19 p.m. Thursday, January 22nd, 2026 in Davis 106.
Members present, our representatives, Swanki, Meers, Gray, Fields, Prox, and myself, Representative
Mina Chair.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones for the duration of this meeting.
Staffing the committee today, we had Andrew Gianati as our Health & Social Service's
Secretary David Monroe as our LIO moderator and Katie Giorgio, my committee aide.
If you need anything during the meeting, please don't hesitate to get their attention.
First on the agenda today, we are returning to House Bill 147 by Representative Prox on
the practice of naturopathie.
I had previously set an amendment deadline for yesterday, January 21st at noon.
Since it's been a few months since we last heard this bill in committee
I would like to invite Representative Prox and staff Riley Knight to come to the presenters table and please give us a recap of House Bill 147
So thank you chair Mina I'm representing Mike Proxx
represent District 33 and sponsoring House Bill 137 and with me is my aide Riley nigh
and we did hear
Several hearings on this bill, so I'm not going to go through all of the details, but at a high level
what we're trying to do is just establish a
licensing procedure that meets
the
that allows naturopaths to work up to their level of education and training and very much not the same standards necessarily but very
much what we do with all the other medical professions is they establish the standards at their accredited universities and we recognize those standards.
The licensed Alaska natural path who passes appropriate pharmacology exams approved by the department may apply for a temporary endorsement
to prescribe medications, and what that temporary endorsement allows is for them to enter into a collaborative agreement
with an MD for the minimum of a year,
col
▶
2026-01-22
House State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg11K words
The House State Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-22. Public testimony was taken with 4 testifiers. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
I am going to remove my objection to adopting this committee substitute and hearing no objection.
Public Testimony
2 testifiers (sure we have, assuming you)
2 testifiers (definitely very open to, wondering if Ada wouldn)
Key Topics
the ADA board increased board size a project that it is economically advantageous project, employment projections and data the appointment of new board members aid abonding the the impact of this Stuart Relay Through Chair Chair Representative
Speakers (30)
Representative St(14)
Representative Holland(13)
Chair To(12)
Vice Chair Story(9)
Representative Vance(6)
Representative Himschoot(5)
Chair And(5)
Chair Merrick(4)
Representative Him(4)
Representative Carrick(4)
Chair For(4)
Representative McCabe(4)
Chair Representative(3)
Representative Saint(2)
Mr. Elam(2)
Representative Can(1)
Representative Hymshoe(1)
Chair Reps(1)
Ms. Lieben(1)
Chair As(1)
Notable Points
We just Fought a floor fight on a veto override that would be a tenth of that So we're looking for revenue seems to me we may have found it in Ada If we just let him alone and let them do their thing.
Am a fiscal guy I looked at the broke down DCCED, DOH, and DMVA, how much they anticipated they would have to pay in their fiscal notes.
However, well, you're kind of giving the same look on thinking that the fiscal notes might be off a little bit.
There are no changes to the other sections, except for the last section, which is the effective date.
Expire when the legislature confirms at least two of the governor's new appointees. appointed eight of board members appointed by the governor after the effective date of the Act are as follows, and it's important to note that these are for the public members.
Transcript: 11,087 words
I'd like to call this meeting of the House State Affairs Committee to order.
The time is 3.19 on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026, and we're here in room 120.
Please remember to silence your cell phones today.
Members present include Representative St. Clair, welcome to the house state affairs committee.
representative Vance, representative Holland,
representative Hymshoot, Vice Chair Story,
and myself, Chair Kerrick.
Let the record reflect we have a quorum to conduct business.
Additionally, our record secretary today is Cecilia Miller
with Andy Magneson.
Thank you for being here.
And our moderator from the Juno-LIO is Zach Lawhorn.
Our committee aid for today's hearing is Stuart Relay.
So on today's agenda, we have two items we are taking up House Bill 133 on payment of contracts from representative him shoots office and
Following that continuation of last year's work. We will have an introductory hearing today on House bill 124
Related to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority from my office
Which had gotten
Way backlogged on the queue last year, and so we're finally bringing that one up, starting out this session.
So to start out today, our first item is House Bill 133 on payment of contracts from Representative Hymshoot.
The House State Affairs Committee heard this bill twice last
year towards the end of session for members information.
The plan today is to roll out and adopt a committee substitute as our working document,
has just a few technical changes in it and then after that CS has been adopted to do a reintroduction of the bill for the sponsor and staff so just for members info we're going to make a motion to have the committee substitute be adopted as the working document present the summary of changes which are technical in nature and
Vice chair story. Can I get a motion? Thank you, madam chair
I move the house state affairs committee adopt committee substitute for a house bill 133
Also known as three four dash l s 0 1 1 4 backslash l as our
▶
2026-01-22
Alaska Supreme Court: James R. Seigle v. State of Alaska
transcript10K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: James R. Seigle v. State of Alaska met on 2026-01-22. 3 votes were recorded.
Votes
And of course, it said that the fact that there was no objection still weighs in the analysis.
And I tried to get into this a little bit in my brief, but we're in a plain error posture because there was an improper comment, first of all, and then because there was no objection.
It's State versus Christensen, and I can certainly drop a supplemental authority if they need that, where there was an improper closing argument, there was no objection.
Key Topics
Cumulative Error Plain Error Closing Argument Court Appeals Reasonable Doubt
Speakers (5)
Mr. Seigle(26)
Mr. Seigle'S(11)
Ms. Jura(6)
Mr. Soderstrom(2)
Ms. Jura'S(1)
Transcript: 10,027 words
- [Bailiff] The Honorable Justices
of the Supreme Court of the State of Alaska.
- [Chief Justice Carney] Good afternoon.
You may be seated.
- The Supreme Court is now in session.
- We are on the record in the case of James Seigle
versus the State of Alaska.
Ms. Jura, I understand you will be arguing
on behalf of Mr. Seigle,
and Mr. Soderstrom on behalf of the State.
Ms. Jura.
- [Counsel Jura] May it please the court.
My name is Emily Jura, and I represent the petitioner,
Mr. Seigle, in this matter.
Mr. Seigle was convicted after a trial where the
prosecutor engaged in multiple improper closing
arguments throughout her opening
and rebuttal summation.
The court of appeals found it to be a close call but
affirmed Mr. Seigle's convictions under a prejudice
standard that is higher than the standard
this court set in Hess v. State.
My plan today is to start by talking in more depth
about two of the improper arguments the
prosecutor engaged in.
Then I plan on talking about how the Court of Appeals
erred by using the cumulative error standard.
And finally, I will discuss why constitutional error
should apply and why reversal is required here.
The first improper argument I'd like to discuss is the
prosecutor adversely commenting on Mr. Seigle's
decision not to testify.
There's no dispute that constitutional error occurred
when the prosecutor said that S.N.
is the only person in the room that night that has to
testify, thereby naturally and necessarily bringing
up Mr. Seigle's decision not to testify,
not to tell the jury what happened,
thereby implicating his guilt.
Part of the state's burden in disproving harmlessness
with regards to this is proving harmlessness in the
context of the prosecutor's entire closing argument,
including the other improper arguments that were made,
including other adverse comments on Mr. Seigle's
decision not to testify,
or comments that at least amplified that harm.
"He didn't take that opportunity.
He never articulated that story.
You never hear
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg8K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-22.
Key Topics
the topics above passenger vessel fisheries, et cetera hear the Department of Revenue present its fall 2025 revenue forecast Fiscal Year Through Chair Revenue Forecast Million Dollars Unrestricted Revenue
Speakers (28)
Representative Hannan(12)
Mr. Stickle(10)
Representative Stapp(8)
Co-Chair Josephson(7)
Chair Joseph(5)
Commissioner And(4)
Chair Mr(4)
Chair So(3)
Chair To(3)
Representative Allard(2)
Representative Bynum(2)
Mr. Stuckel(2)
Representative Moore(1)
Director For(1)
Mr. Stichl(1)
Representative Valerie(1)
Representative Galvin(1)
Mr. Sticklett(1)
Mr. Stickel(1)
Chair Director'S(1)
Notable Points
So thanks mister Stickel consistent with where I think Represent the staff is going There are smart people on both sides of this debate and there will be a litigation on this issue if it hasn't commenced.
The corporate income tax forecast did incorporate a bit of a slowdown for the end of fiscal 25 and the beginning of Fiscal 2026, but then steady growth thereafter, no recession baked into the forecast.
Transcript: 8,781 words
Good afternoon. I'll call this meeting in the House Finance Committee to order
I let the record reflect that it is 1 33 p.m. On Thursday January 22nd
2026 a present today are representative Ballard representative Hannon representative Moore representative Bynum
representative staff represent Thomas chef ski
Alvin and the three co-chairs
Mr.. Foster Josephson and Schruggie
Messers
Also present today are Hough Finance Committee staff, Committee Assistant Helen Phillips page to Lula Lestufka,
Secretary Brie Wiley, and Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator Emily Mesh from the Legislative Information Office with us. Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
Today's meeting, we will hear the Department of Revenue present its fall 2025 revenue forecast.
Yesterday we heard about anticipated production.
I was thinking that it's not really a fair fight in a contest between anticipated
production, anticipated revenue.
This department has a greater challenge for reasons that we all know.
In today's meeting, as I said, we'll hear from revenue as it presents its forecast.
With us today from the Department of Revenue, our Janelle Earls Acting Revenue Commissioner.
Dan Stickel chief economist for the tax division also
The oh sorry acting commissioner, please come forward if you will the two of you and we'll put your names on the record and begin your presentations
Thank you, it's great to be here Janelle Earls acting Commissioner and
Administrative Services director for The Department of Revenue
Today, I am going to turn it over to Chief Economist Dan Stickel.
He should be able to answer any questions you have far better than I would be
able, too, and I will let him go ahead and present.
Thank you, Eric.
Mr. Stichl.
All right.
For the record, Dan Stickl, Chief economist with the Department of Revenue.
And thank you for the opportunity to come before the committee and
12, 2025 revenue forecast.
Do not do what I thought it was going to do.
All right, slide two is ju
▶
2026-01-22
Senate Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg12K words
The Senate Transportation Committee met on 2026-01-22.
Key Topics
project choice and clear scoring Through Chair Fiscal Year Chair Senator Make Sure Highway Safety
Speakers (27)
Senator Tobin(16)
Senator Stedman(11)
Mr. Chairman(11)
Senator Bjorkman(7)
Senator Kiehl(6)
Senator Rauscher(6)
Commissioner Of(3)
Chair Senator(3)
Senator Foster(2)
Senator George(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Commissioner And(1)
Director Dom(1)
Senator Tom(1)
Representative Dleyna(1)
Chair Be(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Senator Tomah(1)
Senator Trowban(1)
Senator Schopenh(1)
Notable Points
And it was very surprising to me to see in July this memo come across our desks about why we couldn't continue to pursue actions that had been committed and had been discussed and have been talked about for the last four years.
Not to say that there was discussion, you know, but that was that what I saw Please continue, okay, thank you Okay, one other thing we're recognizing as we go through some of these challenging Lane reductions and these controversial projects is it's important that you Know we are making the most of all of our safety resources in the state This when we get into the traffic and safety world You know, we have people spread out.
We set it up to start with the highway safety improvement program And then run through some of other items with with match the veto impacts and then end with this step if that's okay chair Bjorkman, that'll be great.
So our budget request to the legislature was for additional match so that we could deliver our plan at the time and we received the re appropriation of match we already had in lieu of that. ultimately reduced the match through the vetoes.
And the match for the redistribution that you came up with, kind of curious where you got it, and then why it wasn't used in the decision process for the match that was vetoed in an decision process.
Transcript: 12,073 words
Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting of the Senate Transportation Committee to order at 1 31 p.m.
We are in Butchovich room 205
in the nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska. Today is Thursday, January 22nd,
2026. Members present are Senator Tobin, Senator Keel, senator Rauscher, and myself,
Senator Bjorkman. Senator Steadman will be joining us soon.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please turn off our silencer cell phones.
I would like to welcome our newest member to the Senate Transportation Committee,
Senator George Rauscher.
Thank you for joining us, sir.
We look forward to you being here.
Thank You.
I'd also like recognize in the audience, Senator Merrick, who has joined us today.
Also, we had our recording secretary, Heather Ramseth, and our LAO moderator, Doug Bridges.
Our only item on the agenda today is a presentation from the Alaska Department of Transportation
and Public Facilities on The Update to the STIP Plan for 2026 to 2029.
We'll chat a little bit about the FY26 Match Vito Impacts and the H-SIP Spending Plan
Updates.
Special Assistant to the Commissioner and the Mills
Would one or both or all of you like to join us at the table we will begin
Okay, well, thank you chair Bjorkman and members of the Senate Transportation Committee definitely appreciate
The opportunity today to present my name's Ryan Anderson. I'm the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
And with me is director Dom I know it's discussed
We have a presentation today. We set it up to start with the highway safety improvement program
And then run through some of other items with with match the veto impacts and then end with this step if that's okay chair
Bjorkman, that'll be great. Thank you. Okay, so with that, we'll just start right in and
Yeah
to get through the materials.
OK, so for the first slide, this has been a lot of discussion
and good discussion about safety projects in Alaska.
It
▶
2026-01-22
House Energy Special Committee
transcriptakleg2 bills13K words
The House Energy Special Committee met on 2026-01-22. Bills discussed included HCR 27 (Supporting State Energy Development), HJR 27 (Supporting State Energy Development). Public testimony was taken with 16 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HCR 27 — Supporting State Energy Development
HJR 27 — Supporting State Energy Development
Motions
move that further in this second session. We have a series of bills that we'll be picking up that the last session that will be looking at supporting each of those from the diversified energy to net metering to rural energy fund issues the LNG imports and I'm looking forward to all of these issues and again just want to put this back into
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Timothy Truer, actually the first hearing, hoping that the discussions)
7 testifiers (still here, CEO of, the majority owner of, going to just use, research and development, not anti, happy to entertain quest)
6 testifiers (calling blueprint for Alaska, based on personal income, sure it, getting down here into, because we do not, outside labor)
Key Topics
Oil Gas Next Slide
Speakers (24)
Representative Holland(8)
Mr. Clair(6)
Representative Edgmon(4)
Co-Chair Mears(4)
Representative Ruffridge(3)
Dr. Ortiz(3)
Representative Johnson(2)
Commissioner Of(2)
Mr. Fuse(2)
Representative Costello(1)
Chair More(1)
Co-Chair During(1)
Representative Kai(1)
Mr. Frier(1)
Dr. Lorna(1)
Co-Chair Mirrors(1)
Commissioner In(1)
Mr. Chor(1)
Commissioner Crowther(1)
Representative Cop(1)
Notable Points
And one area of focus that's a component of all this is renewable energy, which the current federal administration has less of an emphasis on which my view is short-changing our As we get into the debate of the nuts and bolts of their resolution, I might have some suggestions along those lines.
And then at that time, because of Ted Stevens, And then the surprising one was of everyone who's retired up here and the money that's coming back to them, they're 20% of our autonomy, our retirees, and they never get any better.
It is the number one threat to food security for our western and Arctic residents and we need to make sure that we have the highest level of prevention services, which we provide through the Marine Exchange of Alaska, through vessel tracking, monitoring, emergency response.
Transcript: 13,727 words
This meeting of the House Energy Committee will now come to order.
The time is 1 10 p.m. on Thursday, January 2nd.
Members, President.
Present.
Representative Edgman, Representative Costello,
Representative Johnson, representative Ruffridge,
co-chair, Rep. Holland, and myself, co chair, Mears.
full house and therefore harm to do business.
I'd like to remind members,
please silence your cell phones,
but please, if you may also use them for communication
during the meeting, but, please be subtle about it.
As a reminder, to staff and members of the audience,
please do not approach the table.
If you need to pass a note to committee members
please get the attention of my committee aid,
Griffin Flush.
new to the Energy Committee, welcome Griffin.
And he will take care of it.
Importantly, I'd like to thank Cheryl Cole returning to us
this year as the House Energy committee secretary.
We have Zach Lawhorn in the back, along with Renzo Moises
from the Juneau LIO for Tech and teleconferencing.
Welcome.
I also want to mount welcome. We've got two new members to the Energy Committee this year,
Representative Johnson and Representative Ruffridge. Welcome. And I do want
to acknowledge that we've a lot of leadership at the table here. I think that speaks to
the importance of this issue for Alaska.
I appreciate all of your interest in being here and working on these issues together.
I'd like to give co-chair Holland the opportunity for some opening comments before we get on
to our short agenda today.
Great, thank you, Co-Chair Mears.
And it's a pleasure to be back here again.
It seems like it has been a while,
but then it seems it is only been
a moment since we were here last.
So thank for being here and those of you
that are joining us.
A couple of things I wanted to just frame
that Co Chair Mares and I had discussed
about this committee and the work ahead of us,
this session, in terms of some broad areas
of focus and interest.
And they really build on where we
were last session.
▶
2026-01-22
House Transportation Committee
transcriptakleg15K words
The House Transportation Committee met on 2026-01-22.
Key Topics
Through Chair Little Bit Representative Mina Chair Representative Road Diet
Speakers (30)
Representative Mina(13)
Representative McCabe(11)
Representative Nelson(6)
Representative Stutes(5)
Co-Chair Representative(5)
Representative St(3)
Co-Chair Carrick(3)
Co-Chair Of(3)
Co-Chair Eischeid(3)
Co-Chair Merrick(2)
Co-Chair Kerry(2)
Representative Stedman(2)
Chair So(2)
Chair Represent(2)
Representative McKay(1)
Director For(1)
Co-Chair Kirk(1)
Co-Chair Rep(1)
Co-Chair Reference(1)
Ms. Olson(1)
Notable Points
HSAP projects can be among our most controversial and the reason why is that because we're so focused on maximizing life saves and reducing serious injuries, we are looking at oftentimes interim solutions, projects that are within the right of way and that may not have an for community purposes.
But these projects can be controversial. maybe I'll go first and then have my co-chair go.
controversial and Yeah, it seems like that would certainly be the case with potentially some of those options co-chair eyeshide Thank You co chair karaoke Co-chare kareke you took my question, but I I would just like to reinforce the Minnesota Drive median fence, the so-called cheese grater, I don't have any str
So, the other things to consider is impacts to emergency response, To freight you know all these different things that come in so the real goal with why that chief engineer directive then came out Why we're working with amats on the system wide analysis is to make sure the the network as a whole remains safe and Works for everyone to still get around and
We just, for our own level of confidence, need to know the road in itself as a vacuum has got the capacity, everything looks great, you know, we're not delaying emergency services, all of those things that are in the chief engineer directive, and then that system analysis, which I cannot imagine is, you now, too far down the Road if they've got a contract underway, there's always the things that take time, but within the fiscal year, You know what goes what should g
Transcript: 15,921 words
Like to call this meeting of the house transportation committee to order. It is currently 102 PM on Thursday January 22nd
And we are in the barns room 124 in The Alaska State Capitol members present today are representative St. Clair. Welcome
Representative Nelson also welcome to new members today
Representative Stutes representative Mina
Representative McKay bright under the wire coach air eyeshide and myself coach Eric Eric
Let the record reflect. We have a quorum to conduct business and please take this time to silence your cell phones during our meeting
Before we begin, I'd like to thank Jordan Nicholson from House Records
Susan Quigley from the Juneau LIO and her counterpart who's brand new today, Jude Augustine. Welcome
Our committee aid is my staff Griffin Suquayo and Meredith trainer from my co-chairs office. Thank you for being here today
on today's agenda. we are hearing a presentation from
the Department of Transportation on Pedestrian Safety and Fatalities, we will be having before us
Pam Golden, our statewide traffic engineer Alex Reed,
our central region design and Shannon McCarthy,
our communications director. Welcome to the House Transportation Committee.
Thank you so much for being here today and please remember to state your names for the record
before we begin. Come on up to join us.
And during this presentation today while they're coming up,
if members would like to ask a question,
just feel free, we can take questions
while the presentation is ongoing.
Yeah.
It's my new special seat right across from my wheels
and it's a technical thing.
It sure is not easy.
This is, I feel like I'm being punished here.
It is your lucky one.
You're moving on up on the table.
I'm the referee.
Yeah, I'd rather be done with it.
It makes it much easier for me to shoot spit wads that way.
That's not right.
We can also revisit the seating chart before.
Oh, that's right, just kidding.
I don't know what to say.
You know me.
I can make trouble from any seat.
Right, so th
▶
2026-01-22
Alaska Supreme Court: Benjamin Booker v. Kalen Tyson
transcript2K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: Benjamin Booker v. Kalen Tyson met on 2026-01-22.
Motions
Tyson, opposition to respondent's motion to reconsider.
And that basically said that delay alone is not insufficient reason to deny a motion to amend.
We moved to Colorado from 2010 until 2014. She relocated back to Alaska in August of 2014.
Key Topics
personal jurisdiction Armstrong Versus Versus Chance Raised Issue Pro Litigant
Speakers (2)
Mr. Booker(8)
Ms. Olson(6)
Transcript: 2,526 words
- [Baliff] The Honorable Justices
of the Supreme Court of the State of Alaska.
The Supreme Court is now in session.
- [Chief Justice Carney] Good morning, Mr. Booker.
We are now on the record in court in the case of
Benjamin Booker versus Kaylen Tyson.
Ms. Tyson is not participating, so you have
15 minutes to tell us whatever you think we
need to hear.
We have read your brief and the excerpt and gone
through the record, so don't feel like you have to just
summarize your brief,
but you may tell us whatever you think is important
for us to hear.
We are likely to ask you questions,
so we're not doing that just to rattle you,
but that's kind of how we work.
Okay?
- [Mr. Booker] Thank you.
Good morning.
May it please the court.
My name is Benjamin Booker, and I'm appearing pro se.
As a pro se appellant,
it's an honor to be able to address the highest court
in Alaska, and I'd like to
thank you for this opportunity.
Before I begin to discuss some of the issues of the
appeal, do Your Honors have any specific agenda that
you would prefer this oral argument to take
or any initial questions that I can address?
- It's up to you.
We're likely to ask questions as they occur
to us while you speak to us.
- Understood.
Okay.
As Your Honors are aware from familiarizing yourself
with the case, the primary issue here, I believe,
is just the personal jurisdiction issue.
Sorry.
And so, as is clear in the case,
I am not a resident of Alaska,
have been a resident of Colorado since 2016,
and I do have a daughter that lives in Alaska.
- Mr. Booker, at some...
- Go ahead, Chief Justice.
- Mr. Booker, at some time in the past,
you did live here, is that right?
- Yeah, so Ms. Tyson and I
actually met in Alaska originally.
We moved to Colorado from 2010 until 2014.
She relocated back to Alaska in August of 2014.
I joined her in the summer of 2015.
We were not in a relationship at that time,
but to be near to my daughter,
I relocated to Wasilla and then relocated back to,
first, California and th
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
Alaska Supreme Court: Thomas Andrew Murray v. Kathy Lynn Murray
transcript6K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: Thomas Andrew Murray v. Kathy Lynn Murray met on 2026-01-22.
Key Topics
Alaska Aerofuel Superior Court Life Insurance Judge Lyle During Marriage
Speakers (4)
Ms. Limã³N(11)
Ms. Rogers(4)
Mr. Murray(3)
Mr. Gibson'S(1)
Notable Points
We are in recess for now until our 11:00 oral argument. - Thank you. - Thank you.
Transcript: 6,688 words
- [Bailiff] The Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court
of the State of Alaska.
- [Chief Justice Carney] Good morning.
You may be seated.
- The Supreme Court is now in session.
- We are now on the record in the case
of Thomas Murray v. Kathy Murray.
Ms. Limón, you will be...
I understand you're arguing for Mr. Murray.
- [Ms. Limón] I am, Your Honor.
- And Ms. Rogers,
you will be for Ms. Murray.
- [Ms. Rogers] Yes, Your Honor.
- Ms. Limón, you may begin.
- Okay.
Good morning, Justices.
May it please the court.
My name is Lynda Limón, and along with my co-counsel,
Randi Vickers, we are the attorneys
for Thomas Murray today.
I will be using Tom and Kathy's
first name for this argument.
It's a bit easier.
I'd like to start by presenting to the court that when
we started this divorce case many, many years ago,
there was already a plan in place.
I didn't have that plan.
Kathy didn't have that plan.
The attorneys didn't.
Tom had a plan.
He had a plan because he wanted
to give away to his ministries.
He had this plan long before he met Kathy.
He is a devout member of his religious faith since 1975
and has been engaged in ministry work and giving
since that time.
Tom had this plan with his late wife,
Denise, of 27 years.
Since Tom founded Alaska Aerofuel in 1982,
Alaska Aerofuel tithed to ministries and missions.
Twenty-five to 30% of their net
profits they donated to ministries.
When Kathy and Tom married in 2008,
Tom's plan was in place.
It was being executed.
Nothing changed when Kathy came into the picture.
Tom took concrete action and steps to implement
his plan of giving prior to Kathy and after his
marriage to Kathy.
Now, in 2018, this court issued the Kessler opinion.
This court...
- It may not have clarified things as much
as we were under the impression it did.
- Yes.
This court clarified the law in Alaska on transmutation
by implied interspousal gift in the Kessler case.
Question one, whether the owning spouse, not Kathy,
Tom, in this case, whether the owning
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
Alaska Supreme Court: Kerri L. Stoltenberg f/k/a Kerri L. Rehak v. Matthew S. Rehak
transcript6K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: Kerri L. Stoltenberg f/k/a Kerri L. Rehak v. Matthew S. Rehak met on 2026-01-22. 6 votes were recorded.
Votes
The trial court failed to consider the overwhelming amount of evidence that corroborated this loan.
It has to show its work. - This trial court, despite having found that Kerri Rehak committed marital waste both during the marriage and during separation, and despite stating that it would account for the waste in the property division, failed to make appropriate findings that would give you the ability to review what happened.
The result was an ad hoc adjustment to the property division, an adjustment that failed to specify the amount of the adjustment to the overall property division.
I mean, it seems like a mis... - Because it failed to date one of the states... - It's a confused ruling, but what do you think of that? - Well, I would say that there is evidence on the record from Kerri herself that the marriage was a bad marriage for seven years prior to the actual serving of divorce pages, which means that during this time that
There's no question. - Which personal property, was that the baseball cards? - Yeah, that's the baseball cards. - Didn't the court find that ultimately that Kerri wasn't responsible for the loss of those? - Yeah, the court did say that Kerri failed to safeguard Matt's possessions. - True. - But could not...you know, there was no testimony because, you know, how could there be testimony saying, you know, Kerri did X to the cards.
Kerri failed to safeguard the cards that were in the home that she had sole possession of, and that Matt was not permitted to come into. - Well, in order for it to be something that would be recaptured, there'd have to be this intent to deprive Mr.
Key Topics
the conduct by Kerri the Alaska Airlines miles Trial Court Property Division Shareholder Loan Nodak Electric Alaska Airlines
Speakers (6)
Ms. Stoltenberg(17)
Mr. Rehak(7)
Ms. Luce(5)
Ms. Vickers(3)
Mr. Stoltenberg'S(2)
Mr. Jones(1)
Notable Points
We're in recess now until our next argument at 10:00.
Transcript: 6,515 words
- [Bailiff] The Honorable Justices at the Supreme Court
of the State of Alaska.
- [Chief Justice Carney] Good morning.
You may be seated.
- The Supreme Court is now in session.
- Good morning.
We are here on the record in the case of
Kerri Stoltenberg versus Matthew Rehak.
Ms. Luce, I understand that you'll be arguing
on behalf of Ms. Stoltenberg
and Ms. Vickers
on behalf of Mr. Rehak.
Ms. Stoltenberg.
Ms. Luce, I'm sorry,
- [Ms. Luce] Good morning.
My name is Melissa Luce,
and I am representing Kerri Stoltenberg in this matter.
And for simplicity, I will use the party's names
throughout, first names.
May it please the court.
This is not a case of mere dissatisfaction with
the outcome of a divorced property settlement.
This is a case where the
record does not support the outcome.
The record shows that there are a number
of mistakes in the property division,
and many of the adverse findings the court made
about Kerri are unsupported by the record,
and several are actually contradicted by the record.
This case has been very comprehensively briefed,
so I would like to jump right in and discuss the
mischaracterization and undervaluation
of the loan from Kerri's father, Ed Stoltenberg,
for the marital residence.
This debt was valued at zero in the findings,
and the record does not support the zero valuation
of the debt to Mr. Stoltenberg.
The trial court failed to consider the overwhelming
amount of evidence that corroborated this loan.
And based on the documentary evidence,
zero valuation of the loan was clearly erroneous.
- [Justice Henderson] Ms. Luce, would you agree
at least that the evidence
regarding both the amount of the debt
and whether it would be collected on was mixed?
Would you agree that there was evidence
from both parties' perspectives testimony?
- That it was mixed?
- That it was mixed evidence.
- Well, if I recall correctly,
Mr. Stoltenberg did testify that he intended to expect
whoever was awarded the marital residence
to honor the debt and continue t
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
Joint Legislative Session
transcript2 bills10K words
The Joint Legislative Session met on 2026-01-22. Bills discussed included SB 113 (Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business), SB 113 (Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business). 3 votes were recorded.
Bills Heard
SB 113 — Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business
SB 113 — Apportion Taxable Income;digital Business
Votes
Under this legislation, SB113, that was passed on a very large bipartisan basis, we've captured existing revenue from digital businesses in Alaska that are operating here that have a Without this bill, it is Alaskan small businesses who, and the brick and mortar, mom-and-pop shops, the small business that pay differentially.
Will the House members please indicate their presence by voting? Has any member representative Prox failed to vote representative proxis We will give him an additional moment Will the clerk please tally the board 40 members present Thank You madam secretary, please announce the combined tally there are 60 members president Thank you with 60 members present this joint session has a quorum to conduct busi
So by a vote of 35 yays to 25 mayes, the joint session has failed to override.
Key Topics
Income Tax Corporate Income Tax Structure
Speakers (30)
Mr. PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(44)
Mr. Speaker(13)
Senator Yundt(4)
Senator Wielechowski(3)
Representative Prax(3)
Senator Myers(3)
Senator Claman(2)
Senator Cronk(2)
Senator Dunbar(2)
Senator Giessel(2)
Senator Hoffman(2)
Senator Kaufman(2)
Senator Kawasaki(2)
Senator Kiehl(2)
Senator Merrick(2)
Senator Olson(2)
Senator Rauscher(2)
Senator Stedman(2)
Senator Tilton(2)
Senator Tobin(2)
Notable Points
They didn't go up there Nor they're coming up here Revenue sources will be lost and not gaining for Alaska And if Netflix prices ever are raised it won't be because of this bill It's because they know we will still pay to watch heated rivalry Same on Netflix same on buffering same bill Thank you, Representative Jimmy.
This is not controversial in other States, it's just not.
President and I appreciate the sincere debate today. want to align myself with a few comments, certainly from the comments from the member behind me from district 32 and I appreciate the the effort and work that he puts into these fiscal issues.
I thing the timing on this at the starting of the this session is not the right time and certainly hope that we continue to have this debate as session goes off.
But as I listen to the debate, and I know about the progression of this bill through the legislature, it's been awkward.
Transcript: 10,288 words
Will the House please come back to order in accordance with the provisions of uniform rule 51
I turn the gavel over to the president of the Senate the Honorable Gary Stevens
Thank you, mr. Speaker
We'll join session of The Last State Legislature. Please come to Order Madam Secretary, please call the role of a Senate
Senator
Senator Bjorkman
Senator Klayman, Senator Cronk,
Senator Dunbar,
Senator Giesell,
Senator Gray-Jackson,
Senator Hoffman,
Senator Kaufmann,
Senator Kawasaki,
Senator Keel,
Senator Merrick,
Senator Olsen, Senator Rauscher,
Senator Stedman,
Senator Tilton,
Senator Tobin,
Senator Wilakowski,
Senator Yunt,
President Stevens.
Here, there are 20 senators present.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Will the House members please indicate their presence by voting?
Has any member representative Prox failed to vote representative proxis
We will give him an additional moment
Will the clerk please tally the board 40 members present
Thank You madam secretary, please announce the combined tally there are 60 members president
Thank you with 60 members present this joint session has a quorum to conduct business. The joint section was called under article
two
section 16 of the Alaska State Constitution for the sole purpose of
Considering the governor's veto of Senate bill 113 relating to a person in taxable income and digital business
Not a majority later
Mr. President, Mr.. Speaker, I move that the legislature override the governor's veto of Senate bill 113
Madam Secretary, please read the title
Senate Bill number 113 an act relating to the multi-state tax compact relating
To a portionment of income to this state relating
To highly digitized businesses subject to The Alaska net income tax act and providing for an effective date
Thank you. We are in the discussion.
We're going to be shrugging
Thank You Senate president I rise today just to speak briefly because on this issue
I have received a ton of outreach from my constituents both through email communications and also just
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
Senate Finance Committee
transcriptakleg6K words
The Senate Finance Committee met on 2026-01-22.
Key Topics
Per Day North Slope Last Year Pick Phase Production Forecast
Speakers (16)
Senator Stedman(10)
Chair Hoffman(5)
Senator Cronk(4)
Mr. Chairman(3)
Mr. Peltier(3)
Senator Kiehl(2)
Mr. Nottingham(2)
Senator Olson(1)
Senator Merrick(1)
Senator Kaufman(1)
Commissioner Designite(1)
Commissioner Designee(1)
Director Of(1)
Chair Senator(1)
Senator Sevein(1)
Director Notting(1)
Transcript: 6,540 words
Call the Senate Finance Committee meeting to order.
Silence your cell phones, it's a couple of minutes after 11 o'clock.
We do have time constraints.
Many people want to go to the luncheon.
So we're going to be out of here, try to
be on here by a quarter two.
let's try to get done. We have, joining us today, we have Senator Stidman, Senator Olson,
Senator Keel, senator Merrick, and Senator Cronk and senator Kauffman.
We are going to be dealing with the production forecast from the Department of Natural Resources.
We're going have the presentation by Commissioner Designite John Crother.
Please identify yourself, come forward, identify
yourself and identify your team as well.
Thank you, Chair Hoffman.
For the record, my name is John Crother, Commissioner Designee
at the Department of Natural Resources.
Appreciate yourself Chairman and members of the committee.
In light of our time constraints this morning, I'll just be very brief for an introduction
Let my team do a quick introduction of themselves, and then we'll proceed right to our presentation
In short summary, we're here to present our production forecast is something we do annually
And we are continuing to see a tremendous amount of activity in the slope and we will summarize that today
Consequently our our Production forecast does at 10 years out have us over 650,000 barrels per day in in
the 2034 window, which we think is a very significant is
Part of the hard work of that apartment and part of all the investments that are going on in the slope right now
So very exciting story to share today. We'll move quickly in light of The Committee's schedule limitations
I'll let my team introduce themselves and we'll look forward. Thank you
The record I'm Derek Nottingham the director of Division of Oil and Gas and I will be very brief and just turn it over to Travis at this point for
the presentation
For the record my name is Travis Peltier
I'm a petroleum reservoir engineer and the resource evaluation section of the di
▶
2026-01-22
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-22.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-22
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-22.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-21
--Canceled -- House Labor & Commerce Committee
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: --Canceled -- House Labor & Commerce Committee. Date: 2026-01-21.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-21
Alaska Supreme Court: Calista Corporation, Bering Straits Native Corporation, NANA Regional Corp. v. Chugach Alaska Corporation, Ahtna Inc. and Sealaska Corp.
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Alaska Supreme Court: Calista Corporation, Bering Straits Native Corporation, NANA Regional Corp. v. Chugach Alaska Corporation, Ahtna Inc. and Sealaska Corp.. Date: 2026-01-21.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-21
House Finance Committee
transcriptakleg13K words
The House Finance Committee met on 2026-01-21.
Key Topics
point three and four on first oil pricing capital discipline Other projects that have been out there Per Day Through Chair Barrels Oil Oil Per North Slope
Speakers (30)
Mr. Peltier(18)
Chair Josephson(14)
Chair Representative(10)
Representative Stapp(8)
Representative Hannan(8)
Representative Galvin(6)
Mr. Piltier(4)
Chair Of(3)
Representative Moore(3)
Co-Chair Schrage(3)
Chair To(3)
Representative Bynum(3)
Representative Allard(2)
Chair Mr(2)
Chair So(2)
Representative Tomaszewski(1)
Representative Jimmie(1)
Chair Foster(1)
Representative Thomas(1)
Director For(1)
Notable Points
So, regarding point three and four on first oil pricing capital discipline, we've seen a kind of a remarkable investment in capital and not only in existing infrastructure exploration wells and this year and last year from our wonderful partners in industry.
One point I want to make about per debate the unit itself makes over 200,000 barrels of oil per day So having a decline rate less than 2% is pretty phenomenal for a field that large This is the backbone of the volume that makes into the trans-elaska pipeline system.
So the operator has gone out and done a remarkable job in adjusting the operation, how they're drilling the wells, but also in the facilities to make them and adapt them to, handle this amount of oil again.
Their priority is natural gas development out of necessity for consuming to ensure homes are heated, So if we take a look at, I know I'm being cognizant of the time, I am just going to jump down to the production chart where we have production changes and just in bulk.
Pildt here yeah through the chair representative Bynum it's a great question and something we actually debate internally a fair amount what I would say for this specific forecast is we did not take into account any actions of a new federal administration with respect to Willow you know we know there's new exploration going on in the And a lot of these exploration wells, we're not sure because there's no fo
Transcript: 13,923 words
Good afternoon, everyone. Beautiful day today on January 21, 2026. This is the House Finance Committee
I'm Andy Josephson, the chair of the operating budget. I'll call this meeting to order
Let the record reflect that it's 132 on the 21st of January of Wednesday
present today are
Representative Moore
Representative Tomaszewski, Representative Stapp,
Representative Jimmy is absent today.
Representative Galvin, representative Hannon,
co-chair Schraghi, co chair Foster, and myself,
as I know to cochair Josephson.
Also present today are our House Finance Committee staff.
Normally, we have them introduce themselves,
but we're in year two.
We have committee assistant Helen Phillips.
I think of her as one of my many bosses along with Jessica Gary and my constituents and others.
We have a new page to Lula Lestufka, Secretary Brie Wiley, and Secretary Leah Frazier.
And Representative Thomas Shefsky is here.
We also have our moderator, Emily Mesh, from the Legislative Information Office.
Looks like she's training someone.
Also committee members are presenters and the public should be aware that our committee business today has a hard stop at 2 55
In today's meeting we will hear the Department of Natural Resources present the fall 2025 oil production forecast
With us today from the department is Derek and Nottingham
Director for the Division of Oil and Gas and Travis peltier petroleum reservoir engine year for The Division Of Oil And Gas
Representative Allard is not here for the record.
So I'll clarify that record,
Director Noddingham and Mr. Peltier,
please come forward, put yourself on the
record and begin your presentation.
Thank you, Chairman Josephson,
members of the committee.
For the Record, my name is Derek Naudingam.
I'm the Director of the Division of Oil and Gas, and on behalf of Commissioner Designy, John Crowder,
I wanted to just say thank you for the opportunity to present the production forecast today.
He could not be with us.
He got called away to a cabinet mee
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2026-01-21
House Resources Committee
transcriptakleg5 bills13K words
The House Resources Committee met on 2026-01-21. 5 bills were discussed, including HB 50 (Snow Classics), HB 4 (Presidential Write-in Votes), SB 138 (Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas), and others.
Bills Heard
HB 50 — Snow Classics
HB 4 — Presidential Write-in Votes
SB 138 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
SB 38 — Office of Information Technology
SB 138 — Taxation: Vehicle Rentals, Subpoenas
Motions
Even from my own knowledge of Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope, you know, the understanding of that reservoir and its complexities and the different producing strata has continued to evolve quite materially. 12 years ago, there was an expectation that Prude Bay would have to move to a gas blowdown mode at some point by now. And obviously, it hasn't.
And as we mentioned, the facilities capital costs If we could move to the next slide, please. Large project will, virtually all significant upstream projects are managed in a typical stage gate process, which I've illustrated here, and I believe the committee has been But at each stage leading up to the final investment decision at the end of the development decision, all aspects of this pr
Key Topics
Through Chair Lng Project Property Tax Lng Canada Little Bit
Speakers (30)
Representative Fields(11)
Representative Prax(9)
Mr. Fulford(8)
Representative Saddler(6)
Representative Mears(5)
Representative Hall(4)
Representative Elam(3)
Representative Story(3)
Representative Myers(2)
Co-Chair Through(2)
Co-Chair Of(1)
Representative Dibert(1)
Chair Representative(1)
Mr. Nick(1)
Co-Chair Freya(1)
Director At(1)
Mr. Dunbar(1)
Representative Sadly(1)
Representative Sound(1)
Chair We(1)
Notable Points
So based on today's delivered price that represents about a 10% cost burden if you like and not surprisingly that is one of the key focuses of dialogue going forwards as it was in back in 2014.
So, exactly what those changes to property tax look like remains to be seen as a matter for the legislature to debate.
be asked to stand behind some aspects of the credit, for example, with the tariff payments and so forth, and clearly that, you know, will be a major debate on its own. And then talking about the Alaska advantage principles, which I referred to earlier, turning that deals with the transition and any tarif
Transcript: 13,758 words
This meeting of the House Resources Committee will now come to order.
It is now 1.02 PM Wednesday, January 21st, 2025 in Capital Room 124.
Members present are Representative Fields, Representative Gloam,
Representative Hall, representative Mears,
Representative Prox,
Representative Elam,
Representative Sadler,
co-chair of Representative Dibert,
and myself, co chair Representative Freer.
Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business.
Please take this time to silence your cell phones
for the duration of the meeting.
Thank you.
I'd also like to thank Cheryl Cole from Records
and Zach Lawhorn from the Juneau LIO
for staffing the committee today.
And of course, a warm welcome to Representative Prox
who newly joined the Committee.
On today's agenda, we have a presentation
from Gaffney Klein who will share a summary
of a report that they prepared on the Alaska LNG project
for The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee,
copies of the report and today's presentation are available outside the
room and online. Presenting today in the room is Mr. Nick Fulford of Gaffney
Klein who is the lead author of The Report and joining us virtually we'll
also have Mr Andrew Duncan also from also of gaffey Klein and a
contributing author. Mr Fulford welcome to House Resources and thank you for
being here. Please join us at the table and begin your presentation.
Okay. Thank you very much, co-chair Freya. For the record, my name is Nicholas
Fullford. I'm Senior Director at Gaffney Klein Energy Consulting.
I always welcome the opportunity to be able to speak about LNG, in my own
association with the industry goes back really to the 1980s. When, of course, it
During my career I've seen billions of dollars of value being created through
LNG projects around the world of which there are now multiple examples from
which we can learn today. And in my
career, I have been involved with commercial structuring, selling purchase
agreements and a whole range of features. So my involveme
▶
2026-01-21
Alaska Supreme Court: Fairbanks North Star Borough v. Victory Ministries of Alaska, Inc., and Camp Li-Wa, Inc.
transcript7K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: Fairbanks North Star Borough v. Victory Ministries of Alaska, Inc., and Camp Li-Wa, Inc. met on 2026-01-21. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
And each of those ordinances failed.
Key Topics
Superior Court Board Equalization May Appealed Error Valuation Directly Superior
Speakers (2)
Mr. Lohse(7)
Ms. Claman(3)
Notable Points
We will be in recess now until our next argument at 1:30 this afternoon.
Transcript: 7,896 words
- [Baliff] The Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court
of the State of Alaska.
- [Chief Justice Carney] Good morning.
You may be seated.
- The Supreme Court is now in session.
- We are here on the record in the Fairbanks North Star
Borough versus Victory Ministries of Alaska
and Camp Li-Wa.
Mr. Lohse, I understand
you'll be arguing for the borough
and Ms. Kamai for Victory Ministries.
Welcome back.
Mr. Lohse, you may begin.
- [Counsel Lohse] Thank you, Chief Justice Carney.
Good morning.
May it please the court.
I'm Ehren Lohse, on behalf
of the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
And this case asks a narrow but important tax
administration question under AS 29.45.200(c).
When a municipal assessor denies an exemption,
does the Board of Equalization have jurisdiction
to hear that appeal?
The Superior Court answered that question
by focusing on a single word, may,
and concluding that taxpayers can choose their forum.
That answer is wrong.
The Board of Equalization exists
to equalize valuations, not exemptions.
The Board's not a standing tribunal
for all tax disputes.
It's a deadline-driven forum for valuation appeals
whose work serves the larger purpose
of orderly tax collection.
By statute, this work must be done each year by
June 1st so that municipalities can set the mill rate
by June 15th and tax statements
can be mailed out by July 1st.
So allowing all exemption determinations to be appealed
to the Board could bog it down in thorny legal issues
and distract from its core equalization function.
The Board should retain some discretion to hear mixed
appeals rather than split the exemptions to court and
the valuations to the Board for efficiency's sake.
- [Justice Pate] Counsel, what'sâ¦
- [Justice Borghesan] Go ahead.
Go ahead.
- What's the authority for even a mixed appeal,
statutory authority, state statute?
Is there any statutory provision that says, yeah,
they can hear the appeal that doesn't...
- So I understand your question, Justice Pate,
and it's a good question.
No documents linked.
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2026-01-21
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-21.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-21
Alaska Supreme Court: Jamie Marie Gilreath v. Keosaengsay Cye Souriyasong
transcript1K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: Jamie Marie Gilreath v. Keosaengsay Cye Souriyasong met on 2026-01-21. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
The courts also failed to address entire categories of pleaded claims, including retaliation for OSHA reporting, gross negligence, intentional torts, employment misclassification, and payment with counterfeit currency.
Key Topics
Due Process
Speakers (3)
Mr. Souriyasong(5)
Ms. Oyola(4)
Ms. Jimmie(1)
Notable Points
And so we'll end this hearing now and we will be in recess until 11 when we go back in court to do another hearing.
Transcript: 1,386 words
- [Baliff] The Honorable Justices
of the Supreme Court of the State of Alaska.
The Supreme Court is now in session.
- [Chief Justice Carney] Good morning,
Ms. Oyola.
I understand your name is no longer Gilreath,
and so this case is now
Oyola v. Souriyasong.
- [Ms. Oyola] Souriyasong, Your Honor.
- Souriyasong, thank you.
- You're welcome.
And he is not participating this morning,
so you will have 15 minutes to tell us what you want
us to know.
We have read everything that you have submitted in
writing, so don't feel like you need to just go
back through that.
We may ask you questions.
We're not trying to trip you up.
We just want to know things
that we aren't clear on, okay?
- Okay.
- You have 15 minutes.
You may begin.
- Okay, thank you.
May it please the court.
My name is Jamie Marie Oyola.
I'm nervous.
I'm sorry.
- That's fine.
- Formerly Gilreath, appearing pro se.
This appeal arises from a civil action in which the
trial court entered a default judgment while denying my
timely jury demands, conducted no hearings,
made no factual findings and relied
on unrelated civil records.
The result was a denial of due process and
an abuse of discretion requiring reversal.
Your honors, I would also like to let you know that I
have prepared a structural outline to ensure accuracy
and I will refer to that as I proceed.
Multiple due process violations compounded into a
structurally unfair proceeding resulting in a legally
defective default judgment and denial of a jury trial
involving no hearings, no jury,
no fact finding, reliance on unrelated records,
and damages just pulled out of thin air.
Issue number one,
denial of jury trial plus due process.
The first and most fundamental error in the denial of
my jury trial in violation of Alaska civil rule 38 B
and constitutional due process.
The jury demand was timely, never withdrawn.
There was no waiver, no hearing explaining denial.
- Ms. Oyola, can I ask you a question?
- Yes.
- So what a default judgment means to me
is that the
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-21
Alaska Supreme Court: J.B. (Father) v. State, DFCS, OCS
transcript8K words
The Alaska Supreme Court: J.B. (Father) v. State, DFCS, OCS met on 2026-01-21. 2 votes were recorded.
Votes
But if you parse it out and put it into chronological context, what you see is that each worker was really just reiterating the same effort that had previously failed.
And that is what failed here, because OCS had within its power the ability to go to CITC and talk to the visitation people and wait until visitation is over, wait in the lobby, try to encounter Jayce, try to encounter him and engage him, because he actually did seek help.
Key Topics
substance use and abandonment the China finding Active Efforts Trial Court Best Interest Substance Abuse Court Should
Speakers (10)
Ms. Cella(6)
Ms. Wolff(4)
Ms. Teller(2)
Mr. Marjoris(2)
Ms. Fanning(2)
Ms. Pickett(1)
Ms. Wilson(1)
Ms. Morrison'S(1)
Mr. Turpin(1)
Ms. Morrison(1)
Transcript: 8,071 words
- [Baliff] The Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court
of the State of Alaska.
- [Chief Justice Carney] You may be seated.
- The Supreme Court is now in session.
- Good morning.
We are here on the record in
a case that we will call Jayce B.
versus State Office of Children's Services.
Ms. Cella, you're here for Jayce
and Ms. Wolff is here for OCS.
Ms. Cella.
- [Counsel Cella] Thank you.
May it please the Court.
My name is Rachel Cella
from the Public Defender Agency.
I am representing the father, Jayce B.,
in this appeal from the termination
of his parental rights.
As I prepared to discuss this case today,
it occurred to me that what went wrong in the trial
court and what I perhaps did not adequately brief is
the fact that ICWA is a remedial statute.
It's got to be interpreted in light of the problems
that it was designed to address and in recognition
of Congress's explicit finding that compliance with
ICWA is in an Indian child's best interest.
As Justice Gorsuch explained in his concurrence
in Holland versus Brackin,
ICWA did not emerge from a vacuum.
In 1978, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act
to curb, "abusive child welfare practices that
had led to the unwarranted destruction of Indian
families and thus posed an existential
threat to tribes."
Years of hearings and investigation leading up to the
law's passage revealed that Indian children were
removed from their families at significantly higher
rates than non-Indian children,
that they were often placed in non-Indian foster care
and adoptive homes, and that this caused long-lasting
harm to the children who lost their Indian identity and
to the tribes who were deprived of their only real
means for the transmission of tribal heritage.
And they revealed that these removals were often
unwarranted, driven by a lack of culturally competent
state child welfare standards for assessing the fitness
of Indian families, systematic due process violations
against both Indian children and their parents
during child c
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-20
Senate State Affairs Committee
transcriptakleg4 bills3K words
The Senate State Affairs Committee met on 2026-01-20. 4 bills were discussed, including HB 57 (Schools: Comm. Devices/Class Size/Funding), SJR 13 (Appointment of State Judges), SJR 2 (Const. Am: Votes Needed for Veto Override), and others. Public testimony was taken with 39 testifiers.
Bills Heard
HB 57 — Schools: Comm. Devices/Class Size/Funding
SJR 13 — Appointment of State Judges
SJR 2 — Const. Am: Votes Needed for Veto Override
SJR 2 — Const. Am: Votes Needed for Veto Override
Public Testimony
3 testifiers (Laura Capel and, president of, sure if they won)
3 testifiers (Laura Capel and, president of, sure if they won)
10 testifiers (Caroline Storm
Today, speaking as, the first day of, so unseemly what could, going to label Mr, married to Thomas, overly passionate, trying to make an...)
10 testifiers (Caroline Storm
Today, speaking as, the first day of, so unseemly what could, going to label Mr, married to Thomas, overly passionate, trying to make an...)
13 testifiers (Caroline Storm
Today, speaking as, the first day of, so unseemly what could, going to label Mr, married to Thomas, overly passionate, trying to make an...)
Key Topics
the fact what I just summarized very briefly Scott Senate Joint Joint Resolution Senate State State Affairs Affairs Committee
Speakers (17)
Senator Claman(6)
Chair Kawasaki(4)
Senator Wielechowski(3)
Senator Matt(2)
Ms. Obermeyer(2)
Mr. Chairman(2)
Senator Bjorkman(1)
Senator Gray-Jackson(1)
Senator Tilton(1)
Senator For(1)
Ms. Dennis(1)
Ms. Capella(1)
Ms. Story(1)
Senator Kowalzaki(1)
Ms. Overmeyer(1)
Mr. Stoltman(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Notable Points
In June 2025, we witnessed an unprecedented line item veto to cut the Bay Student Allocation in statutory formula.
We have Senate Joint Resolution 2 it's a constitutional amendment on votes necessary for a veto override We had a second hearing scheduled on Senate resolution 13 appointment of state judges So there's no business before the committee yet We will first bring up Senate joint resolution to constitutional Amendment is by Senator Matt Klayman and if senator Kleyman And his staff, Carley Dennis, w
It would amend Article 2 Section 16 of our Constitution to lower the override requirements for revenue in appropriations vetoes from 3-4 of the legislature sitting in joint session Alaska has the highest requirements for overriding a veto of an revenue or appropriations matter of any state.
Arizona has a high override standard of three quarters, but only for vetoed revenue bills, not for appropriations matters.
The other 48 states have lower override requirements for revenue and appropriation bills.
Transcript: 3,731 words
I'd like to call the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order.
I let the record reflect that it's Tuesday, January 20th.
At the time now is 3.30 PM, present today are Senator Bjorkman, Vice Chair.
Senator Wielikowski, Senator Gray-Jackson, senator Tilton, my self-chair Kawasaki.
We do have a quorum to conduct business.
We'd like to thank Kerry Topoe from Senate Records.
Thanks for being here again.
And Zachary Longhorn, a moderator
with the Legislative Information Office.
Thank you.
We also wanted to say thanks to Joe Hayes,
the staff to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Today we have hearing, we're the first hearing of the day.
We have Senate Joint Resolution 2 it's a constitutional amendment on votes necessary for a veto override
We had a second hearing scheduled on Senate resolution 13 appointment of state judges
So there's no business before the committee yet
We will first bring up Senate joint resolution to constitutional Amendment is by Senator Matt Klayman
and if senator Kleyman
And his staff, Carley Dennis, would like to come up to present the bill to the committee.
Thank you Mr. Chair and members of the Committee for the record.
I'm Matt Klayman, State Senator for Senate District H in West Anchorage.
First, I'd like thank you for hearing Senate Joint Resolution 2.
The Senate Joint Resolution 2 makes an important change to our state constitution to improve
the public's ability to influence executive and legislative decisions on revenue and appropriations
matters.
It would amend Article 2 Section 16 of our Constitution to lower the override requirements
for revenue in appropriations vetoes from 3-4 of the legislature sitting in joint session
Alaska has the highest requirements for overriding a veto of an revenue or
appropriations matter of any state.
Only one other state, Arizona, comes close.
Arizona has a high override standard of three quarters, but
only for vetoed revenue bills, not for appropriations matters.
The other 48 states have lower overr
▶
2026-01-20
Senate Committee on Committees
transcriptakleg153 words
The Senate Committee on Committees met on 2026-01-20.
Speakers (6)
Senator Hoffman(1)
Senator Giessel(1)
Senator Wieckowski(1)
Senator Cronk(1)
Senator Volkowski(1)
Mr. Chairman(1)
Transcript: 153 words
The Committee on Committee's Meeting is called to order today is Tuesday, January 20th,
2026.
The time is 133 and the attendance are myself, Stevens, Senator Hoffman, senator Giesel,
Senator Wieckowski and Senator Crock.
So we have a quorum to conduct business.
that being an updated Committee on Committee's Report
for the second session of the 34th legislature,
kind of a motion, Senator Volkowski.
Mr. Chairman, I move we adopt the Committee
on committee's report dated January 2026 as presented.
Thank you, and I will object for purposes of discussion.
Do we members have any questions
or discussion on adopting this report?
With no further questions or discussion, I'll remove my objection. Is there any further objection to the motion?
With a no-further objection the Committee on Committee Report data January 20th
2026 is adopted
Members, please proceed to sign the report with no farther bit for the business
We are adjourned at
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-20
Senate Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: Senate Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-20.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-20
House Floor Session
No transcript available for this meeting. Title: House Floor Session. Date: 2026-01-20.
(No transcript available)
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-20
Senate Majority Press Availability
transcript5K words
The Senate Majority Press Availability met on 2026-01-20.
Key Topics
Last Year Social Security Senator Hoffman Task Force Looking Forward
Speakers (18)
Senator Giessel(8)
Senator Hoffman(7)
Senator Tobin(4)
Senator Stedman(4)
Mr. PresidentDistrictCParty:RepublicanCity:Kodiak(3)
Senator Hoppen(2)
Senator Kopp(2)
Co-Chair Of(2)
Senator Wieckowski(2)
Senator Volkowski(1)
Senator Sedwin(1)
Senator Proposal(1)
Co-Chair Representative(1)
Senator Wielechowski(1)
Senator Stevens(1)
Ms. Argyzal(1)
Senator Dan(1)
Representative Gray(1)
Notable Points
Becky bore with the Associated Press Senator Hoffman had mentioned revenue measures as priority one that passed last year the online Tax bill was vetoed by the governor and I'm wondering if Leadership is still viewing a joint session for overrides as a requirement versus optional and if so when that might occur Yes, absolutely be glad to explain where we are how that's transpired I've been working closely with the Speaker of the House and we had
override today, but the Governor has asked us to postpone that to give him a little more time to reach out to some other folks in the Senate and House.
So we'll give the override at that time.
Folks that don't normally always get along about the 70 million that The Governor vetoed that you had approved last year and he talked about funding source issues and the general access road money but they're saying if it's not approved very quickly then the match of the 700 million won't be allowed to be used in the construction season.
So this is a top issue, again, the veto was senseless, we need to find a way to fund it, thank you.
Transcript: 5,873 words
Well, I'll pause here.
So good morning, everyone.
Thanks so much for being here this afternoon.
We'll gavel in in the second session
of the 34th legislature at 1 PM today's.
And I just want to say, it's great to have you here,
you place such a key role in making sure
the public knows what's going on here
and appreciate your professionalism.
And truthfulness, and it's been great work for you in the past.
I don't see anybody I haven't worked with, or maybe a few back there, but good to see
all of you back.
So today, our press availability will include Senator Giesel, Senator Volkowski,
Senator Hoppen, senator Sedwin,
Senator Tobin, my self-stevens.
As we all expect, the upcoming session is going to be challenging in many ways.
But we have a lot of experience at this table and in the Senate majority, a
lot knowledge to help us tackle these challenges. We know we're facing even
tighter revenue constraints than before.
We now that demands are will continue to rise, as I always have.
Interesting that our finance co-chairs alone bring 90 years of
experience. 90
Anyway, pleased to have them here as well.
We have a well-rounded leadership team,
and we're looking forward to truly hitting
the ground running this year.
In spite of those challenges,
our focus will remain on fiscal discipline,
on protecting the essential services that we provide,
the people of Alaska,
and on making responsible decisions
that a laskin's gonna afford now,
and that they can afford as we move into the future.
Senator Steadman and Senator Hoppen are here to give us a snapshot
What the Senate's finance Senate finance committee is seeing in this upcoming budget and the path that we're going to take to balance the governor's proposed version
Senator
proposal. He has a dividend, a full dividend.
proposed in his budget, which given the forecast for this year, last year it was based upon
FY26 on $65 a barrel. This year that number for the fall forecast is down to $62 a
barrel, that makes it more complicated
No documents linked.
▶
2026-01-20
Legislative Budget & Audit
transcriptakleg1K words
The Legislative Budget & Audit met on 2026-01-20. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
Is there any objection? Seeing no objection, the Agenda is approved.
Key Topics
Lng Project Alaska Lng Senator Giesel
Speakers (20)
Senator Giessel(5)
Senator Hoffman(4)
Chair Of(4)
Senator Stedman(3)
Senator Gray(3)
Representative Fields(2)
Representative Josephson(1)
Representative Cop(1)
Senator Wielechowski(1)
Representative Coulombe(1)
Senator Essell(1)
Chair To(1)
Senator Gray-Jackson(1)
Senator Giesel'S(1)
Senator Geisel'S(1)
Chair Who(1)
Representative Foster(1)
Representative Stutes(1)
Representative Bynum(1)
Chair We'Ve(1)
Transcript: 1,583 words
Good morning everyone, I call the legislative budget and audit committee to order.
Today is Tuesday, January 20th, and the time is 10.
02 AM, please silence all cell phones.
We have the following members present.
Representative Fields, Representative Josephson,
Representative Cop, Senator Stedman, senator Hochman Senator Giesel,
Senator Wielikowski, And myself Senator Great Jackson.
So we have a quorum to conduct business.
I'd first like to thank Sophie from,
Sophie Tenney from the House Workers and David Munro
from LIO for supporting our committee today.
We've also been joined, I see in the audience,
by Representative Colombe.
Today, the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee is meeting for the sole purpose of considering
a contract with Pegasus Global Holdings, Inc. to provide independent consulting to the
legislature related to mega projects with a focus on the Alaska LNG project.
This request comes at the direction of Senator Essell, Chair of the Senate Resources Committee,
who has asked that the legislature secure specialized expertise to assist members as the project advances on an accelerated timeline,
and potentially approaches key investment and governance decisions.
We've also been joined by Speaker Edgman.
We anticipate a brief meeting, so let's approve the agenda, and then we'll consider the approval of this request.
Vice Chair Fields, may I please have a motion for the approve of agenda?
I move and ask unanimous consent to the legislative budget and audit committee approve the agenda as presented.
Thank you. Is there any objection?
Seeing no objection, the Agenda is approved.
Now, item number three, consideration of contract award for Pegasus Global Holdings.
Mr. Vice Chair, may I please have a motion?
I moved and asked unanimous, consent of the Legislative Budget and
Authorize the chair to enter into a contract with Pegasus Glivel Holdings Incorporated to provide independent expert analysis related to planning and execution of mega projects, such as th
▶
2026-01-15
Select Committee on Legislative Ethics
transcriptakleg14K words
The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics met on 2026-01-15.
Motions
I would ask for a motion to approve the Minutes.
So I would need someone to make a motion to approve the amendments as amended.
I could ask for a motion to approve in minutes as presented with Senator Stevens.
chair staff: If there isn't any other business, is there a motion to adjourn? So moved.
move that into it too. I support the word show I do too I need to yeah, but I did too and I Do think it should be with the other section really Otherwise people are gonna have the same I mean this is the second or third time I I thank we've had this issue Okay, well, all six O happens to be confidential information, whic
Key Topics
Subject Complaint Dan Wayne Scope Investigation Madam Chair Little Bit
Speakers (17)
Representative Galvin(11)
Representative McCabe(7)
Senator Stevens(7)
Chair Of(3)
Representative Dick(3)
Senator Tobin(2)
Mr. Wayne(2)
Representative For(2)
Representative McKay(2)
Senator Young(1)
Chair Selected(1)
Representative Gilman(1)
Chair Yes(1)
Representative Cabot(1)
Representative Mckee(1)
Representative Olson(1)
Chair Stapp(1)
Transcript: 14,168 words
Lame it Charlie. Got it. Okay, and we're good here too. All right, all right. I'm gonna call the
full committee of the select committee on ledges ethics to order and it is 237 on January 15th
and the recording is on. Is my understanding? Yes.
Okay. Kevin, could you take roll call please?
Senator Young is not with us yet
Send or representative Galvin here
Representative McCabe I am here. Thank you madam chair
here Connor
I'm here Deb Fancher
She will not be able to make the meeting and skip cook
And Carl White, I'm here.
Madam chair.
OK, we have a quorum.
Great, thank you.
We also have staff present.
We have Jackie Eagle and Jenny Benton from our ethics
office.
And is there anyone online?
Doesn't appear to be.
OK?
There are none.
There aren't none, OK.
Dan Lane was going to try to attend the meeting this morning, but the legislative affairs agency legal staff is having a meeting that's important. And so he was unable to be here. So I just wanted to mention that please committee members, if you can identify yourselves each time you speak, that would be great.
Today we do have a full committee meeting and I do expect the meetings to last the full 12 hours.
So who?
Senator Stevens, any objection?
None. Okay, motion passes.
Item three on the agenda is the chair of the whole committee.
I just wanted to point out that the the Chair selected
by the House subcommittee shall share the full committee
beginning the first day of
the regular session in even number of years.
And that happens to be Connor.
So, congratulations Connor,
beginning with the legislative session.
He will be chair this year.
Um, I will be conducting this meeting since it is before the first day of the regular session and, um, and I send on chair of
the Senate subcommittee, which becomes chairing and an odd number here.
So the next item on the agenda is item four, uh, vacancies, public member vacancies.
You do have a handout in your back and under number four and um.
Just a quick review and then I'll have K
▶
2026-01-15
Select Committee on Legislative Ethics - House Subcommittee
transcriptakleg1K words
The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics - House Subcommittee met on 2026-01-15. 1 vote was recorded.
Votes
I would entertain a motion to adjourn. the without objection the meeting is adjourned once again that's 2 p.m.
Motions
We're now at approval of agenda, so I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda.
Chair if: I would entertain a motion to adjourn. the without objection the meeting is adjourned once again that's 2 p.m.
Key Topics
executive sessions and rules of procedure section 5 Hear Skip Executive Session Roll Call
Speakers (3)
Representative Galvin(2)
Representative McCabe(1)
Chair Connor(1)
Transcript: 1,504 words
start everybody. I think everybody's we've done a sound check. We'll do another round
once we do it. Okay, I'm going to call the meeting to order today's date. This is the
House Subcommittee of the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics. Today's day is Thursday,
January 15th. The time is 1.02 p.m. Alaska Standard time. And if we could do before we
do a roll call, maybe we can do real quick soundcheck. So this is Connor Thomas and
I'm thinking people can hear me.
So we'll go from there.
So skip.
Yes, I am here.
OK.
And we're not doing a roll call.
I just want to make we are doing
a sound check.
Deb, do you hear a skip?
You can't hear skip!
Are Deb can you here me?
No.
I can here Connor.
I could hear Skip.
I hear everybody.
We can do it.
We could here at the LIO.
We couldn't here Skip!
Okay, Connor, if I may, please.
If I can just do a roll call and we can see
if we've got everyone,
if there are communication issues
and one location or the other cannot hear someone,
I could restate any comments that they make.
Does that meet with your approval?
Mr. Chair?
Yeah, let's go ahead and do the roll called in.
And I mean, I
can
here everybody so okay so here's the important thing folks since we are doing
this by teams please make sure that you close to the mic so that we can hear
you the other thing in the upper right hand corner of your team's meeting please
make
sure
that your mic is unchecked and for the those of you that are at a different
location please
make
Your audio for example if you're on the laptop that your your speakers are
Unmuted, okay, so with that in mind we'll do a roll call
representative Galvin
present
representative McCabe present
chair Connor Thomas
here
Joyce Anderson
here
skip cook
here
Deb Fancher here
Carl White
All right, mr. Chair we have a quorum I hear everyone now can any of the locations not hear another location
The LIO in Anchorage. I believe you said
You could not your skip wait Kevin. This is a bridge Lio. We cannot hear on her skip
No, Co
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