Nearly 130 bills and resolutions were formally introduced on the first real work day this session for the Alaska State Legislature, including a proposal by Gov. Dunleavy establishing tribally operated public schools and a Juneau lawmaker seeking to make guessing snow accumulation a form of charitable gaming statewide.
Most of the legislation introduced during the House and Senate floor sessions on Wednesday was prefiled before Tuesday’s start of the session, with bans on student cellphones in schools, various changes to election law and changes to retirement benefits for public employees among the bills introduced by multiple lawmakers. The new bills published for the first time Wednesday included 16 House bills, nine House resolutions and two Senate resolutions.
Nine of the House bills were Dunleavy’s, including four related to his proposed budget for next year and supplemental budget requests for this year. The other five covered a wide range of issues that in some cases overlapped bills sponsored by legislators.
HB59 would establish a five-year pilot program for State-Tribal Education Compact schools involving five tribal organizations, which likely would include The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The proposal builds on the framework of a bill the Legislature passed in 2022 to authorize such schools, and a subsequent operational plan published last year by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.
The plan calls for $1.5 million in grant funding from the Legislature to get the first tribally operated state schools up and running, with participating districts receiving 45% more in state per-student funding than the standard Base Student Allocation for one year. Dunleavy’s bill also contains provisions mandating reporting on student data and enrollment to ensure accountability, annual progress reports to the Legislature, and a comprehensive review at the end of the five-year period, according to a press release issued by his office Wednesday.
Another Dunleavy bill would make multiple changes to the election process, including eliminating automatic voter registration by people applying for Permanent Fund Dividends, closing early voting five days before Election Day, and requiring absentee ballots to be received by Election Day. Currently ballots sent by mail must be postmarked by Election Day, and can be received by an elections office within 10 days of the election (15 days for overseas ballots).
While such provisions may not find favor with the Democratic-led majorities in the House and Senate, at least one provision that provides postage-paid return envelopes for absentee ballots is found in a wide-ranging election bill generally expanding voter access by Rep. Calvin Schrage, an Anchorage independent in the majority caucus.
Hannan introduces her first three bills
Juneau state Sen. Jesse Kiehl and Rep. Andi Story each prefiled two bills before the start of the session. On Wednesday the first bills from the third member of Juneau’s all-Democratic delegation, Rep. Sara Hannan, were introduced.
One revives her past effort to raise the age to purchase tobacco products to 21 instead of 19, and imposing a 25% tax on vaping products (HB49). A companion bill has been introduced by Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican.
Another bill by Hannan reintroduces a proposal by another legislator from last session that increases potential funding for the Alaska Civil Legal Services Fund, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents in civil matters. The Legislature in 2018 originally allowed 25% of court filing fees to go to the fund, which was later lowered to 10%, and Hannan’s bill seeks to restore the 25% ceiling.
“Since 1984, the number of Alaskans eligible for legal services has more than doubled, from 41,000 to over 128,850,” a sponsor statement accompanying last year’s bill noted. “Yet currently, the state’s contribution to the Alaska Legal Services Corporation is only a fraction of what it was 30 years ago.”
Hannan’s third bill is a first-time effort to allow statewide events similar to the Alyeska Snow Classic, where ticket buyers guess total snow accumulation for a specific location and time on the mountain. Winners of the Alyeska event split a pot of some of the money collected, with the rest benefiting a local school program.
State law specifically limits a “snow classic” to Mount Alyeska. Hannan said she introduced her bill because the Juneau Nordic Ski Club, among others, has expressed interest in holding similar fundraising events.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
