The 30th Alaska Legislature convenes Tuesday. On Friday, lawmakers released the last batch of prefiled legislation before the start of session. Here are one-sentence summaries of those bills:
[First round of prefiled bills]
HOUSE
HB 34 — No one can sell alcohol within 500 feet of a school or church, but places that already have a license can stick with the old limit of 200 feet.
HB 35 — Creates a state fund for giving towns and boroughs money for public safety. If the Legislature cuts state revenue sharing, this fund takes up some of the slack.
HB 36 — Most for-profit organizations have to pay a corporate tax.
HB 37 — If a policeman or firefighter has to take leave from work because of an on-the-job injury, he or she still earns service days toward retirement benefits.
HB 38 — Increases the amount paid by an employer to a permanently disabled employee, and if an employee is killed on the job but has no family, the employer has to pay a death benefit to the employee’s estate.
HB 39 — Limits predator control.
HB 40 — Trapping game is not allowed within 200 feet of a hiking trail or a campsite.
HB 41 — A group of legislators can all be lead sponsors of the same bill.
HB 42 — Eliminates civil forfeiture, except under specific circumstances.
HB 43 — A doctor can’t get in trouble for prescribing a test drug or treatment to a fatally ill patient.
HB 44 — Legislators can’t vote on a topic if they have a conflict of interest, or if their immediate family does.
HB 45 — The state’s minimum wage is $15 per hour starting Jan. 1, 2018.
HB 46 — Raw milk can be sold without state regulation, and Alaska seafood gets a bigger preference under state purchase contracts.
HB 47 — The 60 or so towns that lost at least 25 percent of their population between 2000 and 2010, and didn’t keep up with their contributions to the state’s employee retirement system, get to pay a smaller interest penalty.
SENATE
SB 15 — You must be at least 19 to buy an e-cigarette or e-liquid.
SB 16 — When you die, your will can require someone to delete your Facebook account, Twitter account, your internet browser history, and they can take possession of your “digital assets.”
SB 17 — Establishes an exchange program for political science students at the universities of Hawaii and Alaska.
SB 18 — Limits the powers of third-class boroughs.
SB 19 — A doctor can’t get in trouble for prescribing an experimental drug or treatment to a fatally ill patient.
