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 areas.
If you don't live in Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau,
you must either travel a long way to an office
or mail documents, which is expensive,
time consuming, and stressful.
So hello, my name is Hayden Johnson,
and I would just like to say hello
to the House Judiciary Committee.
And so Alaska was one of the first states
to allow online applications in 2019.
However, in 2021, the Department of Allah,
put a stop to this because the statute did not explicitly allow
online applications. Today we are the only state in the country that is not
enabled online card replacements for its residents
and each year 15,000 Alaskans need a replacement
social security card that means that 13,400 residents must travel to one of three
3,318 to Fairbanks, and 1,108 to Juneau.
The remaining 1.600 people mail in their original documents, which could be quite time-consuming and expensive.
There is currently no cost implementation to house bill 213,
and this could operational in four to six weeks after an actman.
Those who would still like to visit an office or mail-in documents for replacement could still do so.
This just makes applying online optional.
If it is the will of the committee, I can go through the sectional analysis.
I would be happy to do so.
Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
Please go ahead and walk us through this sectionial analysis, of course.
So section one amends Alaska statute 28.05.08
to remove a reference to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators
sharing information beyond what is mandated by the Real ID Act of 2005.
Section 2 amends Alaska Statute 28.05.068
to convert an outright ban on data sharing
with a private entity to a provision that allows them to do so
only as necessary under the provision added in Section 3.
On the Section 3 provision adds a subsection to Alaska Statute 28.15.151, allowing for information sharing with entities approved by the United States Social Security Administration to facilitate driver's license data verification.
And then Section 4 simply says that the effective date is immediate under Alaska statute 1.10.070.
Um, are there any questions from the committee?
Representative Mina.
Thank you Chair. I'm a little bit unfamiliar with that what happened in 2021 and the driver
license data verification service. So could you provide a bit more context on that?
Yes we can and to do so we have Dustin Brown, head of the legislative affairs at the social
security administration on the line to testify and answer questions.
So Mr. Brown could please take yourself off mute and put yourself on
Yes, hello. My name is Dustin Brown. I am the head of legislative affairs at Social Security.
It's very good to be with Chairman Gray and the members of the committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to come before you today.
I regret I couldn't be there in person.
Though I have enjoyed watching the last three and a half hours of floor debate from Washington, D.C.
It was a real honor and privilege to be able to meet so many representative senators and
your staff during my visit to your capital last week on this very issue.
As we were discussing it, I think the question that came up is that I understand HB 213 and
would give elasticity and BB authority needed to resume participation in the driver's license
data verification system, which is operated by a nonprofit intermediary, the American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
And my understanding to the question from Representative Nina is that there was a bound
not to be sufficient authority.
to continue participation in 2021,
based on a legal review that was done by the DUPE.
Paula?
Through the chair, and thank you for calling in
and for your patience,
who initially did give the authority for Alaska
to participate in that verification service.
My understanding is that the DMV,
although, and this is to the chair,
to representative, is my understanding,
though it'd be good to confirm that it's with the DMB
and the BMB, I believe they did have the authority
to initiate that data sharing program in 2019.
Thank you.
Thank-you.
Representative Eishide.
Thank you, Chair Gray. Through the chair, the question I have is when people apply for
this replacement card, whether it's online in other states or through the laborious
mail process, snail mail, is there any statutory guidance that says Social Security Administration
I'm just curious about that because I think a lot of times we send applications away or we do an online
Application we just wonder when will we hear back?
I was to mr. Brown
Yes through the chair. I happy to respond to that as a representative
There is not a statutory
guideline or standard that exists. However, it will take about seven to 10 days to get
a social security card replaced if that is done online. If you choose to do that through
the mail, then it takes approximately 45 days.
Follow-up. Through the chair to Mr. Brown, has the Social Security Administration had
as has been reported for many federal agencies
Recently within the last year that affects that processing time
Mr. Brown
To the chair back to the representative our
timelines for replacement cards have not been
impacted over the past year and
And the metrics that we are reporting,
you can go see on SSA.gov slash performance.
There have been pretty significant improvements consistently
across all of our business lines.
Thank you. Representative Costello.
So I'm looking at the bill and then I am looking
at documentation and it seems like the
bill title doesn't address the.
Social Security replacement effort.
Thank you.
Can.
Either Miss Gunn or Mr. Johnson address.
I actually, it might be a question for ledge legal.
I mean, I don't know.
I do want to speak to the title.
Chair Gray, yes, just specifically what's keeping us
from doing the online.
So, security guard replacement is this data sharing
under the Social Security Administration.
So what the bill is doing does speak to the title of the
bill, but the problem that it is fixing is secondary.
Oh, can we have somebody from Legile explain that
just so that we know?
I've never seen this before.
Can we get this legal on the line?
We'll go at ease while we go to Legil.
Always try to get legends go on the line
Next question
Representative vats. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This is not a question.
This Is more of a statement that I'm really pleased with the way this bill is drafted because it's very clear on
narrowly defining the
Information the data that is being shared
Uh, that's a concern that I had yesterday on the same topic in a prior committee is, um,
Alaskans care deeply about the security of their data and who it's being shared with.
And I really appreciate how, how tight the language is on this bill and that it, it just
does the one thing that we need to help so many Alascans.
So thank you for your diligence on.
I'm gonna ask a question to Mr. Brown.
Mr Brown, can you walk us through the step-by-step process
of what it looks like when somebody applies
for a new security card online?
Yes, I am happy to do that.
It looks as if the very first step of the process
is an individual logged into my SSA account,
which requires authentication.
they request then a replacement card.
That request, then, goes to AMBA,
which is the intermediary, who gets a data feed from the DMV
in Alaska that verifies whether or not there is a match.
If SSA can identify or verify that the data from drivers license
patient identification card matches the data held by the jurisdiction that issued the credentials
it can then process the transaction. It's important to note at no point is that
data coming to SSA. SCA only receives a true false on whether or not the
It's also worth noting that AMBA, the intermediary organization,
does not store any data and deletes the information immediately
after the verification process is completed.
Thank you. Any other questions?
At this time, we'll take a brief at ease to hopefully get
Back on the record allegedly go should be calling in momentarily in the meantime. I would like to ask a question to
Mr. Brown
Mr, Brown if we were to amend
the second page of the bill
Line 7
to specify what type of entity that the DMV can share
information with if wheat
made it clear that it could be shared with a non-profit or tribal entity, but not a for-product entity.
Would that in any way affect the ability for this bill to move forward?
Chair, my understanding is it would not affect
the authority according to new court.
Thank you.
Addis will wait for lunch legal.
Back on the record another question for mr. Brown
Mr. brown, can you but I think you said it's a mva
Can you just tell us a little about the entity that we are sharing information with?
Chair yes happy to describe that a bit more
That's the American Association of Motor vehicle administrators
And they provide this service, obviously, for 49 states through data sharing agreements.
They have an online service that has undergone comprehensive cyber security testing.
It is also only accessible through the secure mind, secure, my SSA portal, and they are a nonprofit entity.
Thank you for that answer
We'll go at ease while we wait for ledge legal
The record, so we're just having a brief discussion just verifying and this can be for the staff of
Representative Nelly Jimmy and for Mr. Brown
that
The Social Security Administration is not receiving any data. It's only receiving or true or false from the verifying entity
Which is AMVA. Is that correct? Yes
And Alaska already uses the AS VMA
to already share data between states for passport verification and lawful status of verification programs.
Thank you. We have Claire Radford from Ledge Legal, so we'll go back to Representative Costello to repeat her question about the bill's title.
This is a statutory fix to a problem that solves a different issue, but I'm curious about how narrow the bill's title is.
Ms. Rodford.
I think, yeah, let's go ahead.
The intent of the title is to give reasonable notice of what is within the bill without being
so broad as to lose the function of notifying people of that bill's contents.
So this is a little bit more narrow than other titles might be with the intent that provides
that notice rather than just saying, you know, relating to data sharing, for example.
Thank you, Ms. Rodford. Any questions for Representative Mina?
Through the chair, oh, I don't know who to ask this question to me for the bill sponsor.
Do you need to have a
state ID or a
driver's license with the DMV in order to apply for a Social Security card?
I'm not sure I am going to turn that question over to Mr. Brown.
Mr Brown?
Can you answer the question if somebody must have a state-issued ID of some sort in order to apply for a Social Security card online?
Through the chair to the representative question, that is kind of preferred identification source and having a driver's license.
Uh, uh, possibly there are other forms of identification that can be used to get is so security replacement card, including state identification. We did verify, um, this question came up in my meeting with representative, that tribal IDs are also a potential form of
identification, it can use if there's not a driver's license. So there is a whole series of criteria of different forms
Through the chair, then, so my understanding is that Alaska tried to pursue the online social security renewals in 2019 and then there was a different interpretation in 2021 and so perhaps when the law was initially enacted in
2019 were Alaskans able to renew online with other forms of verification such as a tribal ID, just I'm just thinking about the
Uh, verification outside of the DMV.
Um, so hi, my name's, oh, uh,
so it's Hayden Johnson speaking and through the chair. Um.
So in 2021, the change wasn't prompted by a statutory change, but by the,
but on the advice of The Department of Law, um,
the Alaska statute, a 28 dot 15 dot one five doesn't allow the DMV.
I should say at the time, didn't or still now does not allow
the DMB to share confidential information needed.
to do the data verification process
by the American Association of Motor Vehicles Administrators.
Thank you.
I think what I represent as I was asking is
in that period between 2019 and 2021,
were we getting replacement social security IDs
with people using their tribal ID
as a verification for the online process?
I'm not sure so I am going to turn it back to Mr. Brown.
Mr Brown, are you able to answer that question?
Through the chair, I do not know specifically about the use of tribal IDs.
I have data that may be helpful just to show the amount of participation that was happening
through the online request.
In 2019, 2578 were successfully receiving their replacement cards online.
in FY 2020, 8,894, and for about half of fiscal year 21,
there was another 8248 successful online replacement card that issued.
Just a follow-up, then, this might be for the bill's sponsor.
Alaskans in rural areas be able to apply for an online social security renewal using their tribal ID?
So through the chair to the best of my knowledge, yes.
Can I may do another follow up to Miss Radford.
Could you also help clarify that?
That what this bill is changing in the law would also allow?
All nine social security renewals using tribal IDs.
Ms. Ratford.
Through the chair, representatives do that.
I'm not very familiar with the process for social
security identification renewal,
especially as it takes place online,
but I am happy to look into that for you.
Thank you
Thank you, Ms. Radford. Any other questions for lunch legal or for Mr. Brown or the sponsors at this time?
Representative Mina, thank you chair great. I guess just a quick comment
There is clearly a huge need for a lot of Alaskans who have these barriers just related to Social Security.
Especially since we've seen a lotta closures of those offices, and I know those barriers are compounded in rural areas.
And so what I'm thinking is if we're making it a possibility to allow this online renewal again for
Social security via the DMV, if there's other forms of verification such as tribal IDs,
address these barrier issues in both urban and rural Alaska.
Mr. Brown, is it your understanding that tribal ID that our bill would allow for tribal
IDs to be used as the verification ID for the renewal of a Social Security card?
I would have to look into whether that is part of the data exchange from, you know, through
AMPA.
I know it is something we can use to issue a replacement car, but I do not know whether
or not that would enable online requests.
Thank you.
Thank You.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm looking it up right now.
I am because I've been working on another bill with the inclusion of federally recognized tribal IDs, and there is a distinction and
many of the
updated federally-recognized tribal ID
are more extensive, do include photos and
looking online at what the Social Security Administration policy is on tribal ids.
It's saying that it's
It's not automatically on their core list of primary identity documents,
but they do have it part of their program operations manual system
and if there's precedent in certain areas that they can accept it.
But Repmina's question is directly online.
So I think it would determine if it's in their system, and it is going to be a very region specific federally recognized tribal ID question
that we may have to ask a more specific question on their and depending on the tribe if they have their systems online.
I'm just curious if you could find out if other states have found a way for people with
federally recognized tribal IDs to get a replacement social security card online so that we can
learn how that state did it.
Thank you so much seeing no further questions at this moment. We will now take up public testimony
Public testimony for hospital 2013 is now open. Is there anyone in the room that would like to testify?
Is There anyone online that we'd like you testify
Seeing no one online or in The room who would Like to testify public Testimony is Now closed I
Would now like To set Amendment deadline
for House Bill 2013 for Tuesday, February 17th at 5 p.m.
Please work with the committee aid to ensure that amendments are on time.
This should give us time to speak with Mr. Brown and see what needs to be done.
We will now set House bill 213 aside and bring it back up on Friday.
I am not seeing anyone from, I see grace, however, at ease.
Back on the record we will take up House Bill 136 on a different day
That concludes today's business for the committee before we adjourn. Here's a quick preview of Friday. We
will
Addis
The record
We will hear House Bill 239 criminally negligent homicide failure to assist and its introductory hearing and we will
hear house Bill 64 surrender of infants infant safety device second
hearing in the committee but the first time this year. The time is now 5.02 p.m.
and this hearing of the house judiciary is adjourned.