Day: June 19, 2026

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy extended his record-high veto rate Thursday by vetoing nine of the 82 bills passed by lawmakers in the second year of the 34th Alaska State Legislature.

Among the vetoed bills were measures that would have provided mental health lessons to kids in public schools, created a retirement plan for private-sector workers who don’t have one and updated the state’s corporate income tax system.

Two of the vetoed bills — one expanding the power of pharmacists and the other covering the state’s board of engineers and architects — were put into law Friday after lawmakers overrode the governor.

Dunleavy has now vetoed or attempted to veto almost one-fifth of all bills passed by the 34th Legislature. Other governors have issued more vetoes, but none have vetoed a higher proportion of bills than Dunleavy.

Pharmacists’ powers expanded

State legislators voted 43-17 on Friday to override Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 195, which gives pharmacists more authority to prescribe medicines and conduct simple medical tests. Forty votes were needed.

Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, spoke in favor of the override, saying the bill will enable Alaskans to get cheaper medical care from pharmacists instead of more expensive providers.

Rep. Zack Fields, D-Anchorage, offered an example: For a parent with a child suffering from strep throat after their pediatrician had closed for the day, going to an urgent care clinic might cost hundreds of dollars, and an emergency room visit could cost thousands. 

“This bill allows a parent to take their child to a pharmacy” and get a strep throat test, he said. 

“We have a growing number of families in Alaska that cannot afford health insurance. If they can’t take their kid to a pharmacy, they’re just not going to get treated,” he said.

Some antiabortion advocates lobbied against the bill, saying they believe the bill could allow pharmacists to more easily dispense abortion-inducing drugs.

Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, spoke to that point, but Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole and a strong antiabortion advocate himself, said that information is incorrect.

Alaska law limits who may perform an abortion in the state, Prax said.

“It just simply isn’t an issue, and therefore the benefits of this bill clearly outweigh any of the risks,” he said.

Interior designers added to architecture board

Lawmakers also overrode Dunleavy’s veto of House Bill 314 by a 45-15 margin. Forty votes were needed.

A revised version of a bill Dunleavy vetoed last year, HB 314 will regulate some aspects of interior design in the state by adding them to the State Board of Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors. 

The bill also renewed the board’s legal authority, and when Dunleavy vetoed HB 314, it could have at least temporarily eliminated the board as a side effect. While the duties of the board would have been assumed by the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, lawmakers said they did not want to eliminate the board just as the state considers a state-spanning natural gas pipeline.

No extra oversight for for kids’ psychiatric facilities

Forty of the Legislature’s 60 members are needed to override the veto of a policy bill, and legislators failed to reach that threshold on three votes Friday due to the opposition of Republican lawmakers.

On House Bill 52, which would require increased oversight of youth psychiatric facilities, the vote was 36-24. The bill, from Rep. Maxine Dibert, D-Fairbanks, was introduced in response to reports of widespread problems at North Star psychiatric hospital in Anchorage.

If enacted, the bill would have required unannounced state inspections of facilities like North Star and reports on the use of physical and chemical restraints on children, among other items.

In his veto message, the governor said that while he supports oversight, he believes the bill duplicates what the state is already empowered to do.

No mental health education in public schools

Despite an impassioned speech from Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, the Legislature declined to override Dunleavy’s veto of Senate Bill 41, which would have required the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to draft a mental health curriculum in the same way that it has a physical education program.

Alaska Legislature approves plan for mental health education in schools

Local districts would have been responsible for implementing that curriculum.

The override vote was 38-22, two votes short of what was needed.

The issue, Gray-Jackson told legislators Friday, is nothing short of a matter of life and death. 

Alaska has the highest suicide rate in the nation, she said, and “in many rural communities, suicide rates are nearly four times that the national average. Teaching our students how to recognize mental health challenges, to seek help and support one another, is one of the most basic and meaningful steps we can take to address this crisis.”

In his veto message, the governor said, “this bill places the state in the role of imposing upon school districts to mandate the development of mental health education at a time when districts are already working to meet existing requirements.”

“Decisions about sensitive classroom instruction, especially instruction involving a student’s mental and emotional health, should remain as close as possible to parents, local school boards, and communities,” he said.

Gray-Jackson lambasted that statement, saying it repeated “false” and “harmful” misinformation from “online blogs and commentators.”

“SB 41 didn’t remove parents from the conversation, it didn’t strip authority from local school boards, it didn’t replace community values with a one-size-fits-all mandate,” she said. 

“The reality is much simpler,” Gray-Jackson said. “The governor vetoed a bill with the potential to save lives in every community represented in this chamber, and I can’t emphasize that enough.”

No retirement plans for minimum-wage workers

Legislators failed by a single vote to override Dunleavy’s veto of Senate Bill 21, which would have provided state-run retirement plans for workers in businesses that do not currently offer retirement benefits.

The program under SB 21, similar to efforts already launched by other states, would have principally affected minimum-wage workers and those in small businesses. Unless they opt out, eligible workers would have had 5% of their paychecks automatically deducted and deposited into an investment account managed by the state.

In his veto message, the governor said he opposes a mandate, even with an opt-out provision.

“Although employees may opt out, the bill relies on automatic enrollment and places employers in the middle of a state-run investment program. Alaska businesses should not be required to

administer or facilitate retirement savings accounts created by the State when private retirement

and investment options are already available,” Dunleavy wrote.

The vote on an override was 39-21, with Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, casting the last and decisive vote to sustain the governor’s decision.

No updates to corporate or tobacco taxes

Of the governor’s nine vetoes, legislators declined to vote on four, permitting them to stand without a vote. 

Dunleavy vetoed two bills — House Bill 280 and Senate Bill 24 — saying that he is unwilling to approve tax changes without a comprehensive fiscal plan that brings state expenses and revenue into line over the long-term.

Both bills had been passed in different forms by prior editions of the Legislature and were also previously vetoed by Dunleavy. If SB 24 had been enacted, it would have imposed Alaska’s first tax on e-cigarette products. HB 280 would have modernized the state’s corporate income tax system, taking tax revenue for online sales from other states to the Alaska treasury by declaring that sales to Alaskans take place in Alaska, not at the location of a warehouse or computer server operated by the seller.

House Bill 23, also vetoed by the governor, would have subjected nonprofit businesses to the authority of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, which handles discrimination complaints against employers.

“While I support protecting Alaskans from unlawful discrimination, this bill expands the commission’s reach over nonprofit employers, including charitable, educational, and religious organizations. That expansion creates uncertainty for small community organizations and risks unnecessary administrative proceedings and litigation,” the governor wrote in his veto message.

The last of the vetoes, Senate Bill 258, would have forbidden the state from signing computer software deals that lock in the state to a particular company or limit the software to a particular geographic area.

The governor’s veto message said in part that the “bill places rigid statutory limits on how the State and political subdivisions may contract for software in a highly technical and rapidly changing marketplace.”

“Software licensing, cybersecurity requirements, cloud services, support, hosting, and pricing

models are complex and often negotiated together. Restricting those negotiations in statute could reduce flexibility, limit access to needed products, and increase costs for agencies and local governments,” he wrote.

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James Stephen Shook was born Sept. 24, 1941 and passed away May 27, 2026. Over his lifetime of 84 years he accomplished many things, beginning at the age of 11 when he, his mother and father, sister Susan and dog Bitsy drove up the Alcan for his father to accept a job at Fort Richardson, near Anchorage. As his father was a bit of a vagabond, by the time Jim graduated from high school, the family, which now included brother Scott, had lived in Anchorage, Eagle River and Homer – finally settling in Haines. Jim left shortly after that move and went to Juneau where he worked as a hotel clerk and played drums at a club at night for extra money. While there, he met Michelle and soon after their wedding, they left for California to attend college. 1968 found them heading back up the Alcan Highway, Jim newly graduated from college and with a year-old daughter, Katrina. He had always wanted to be in law enforcement, so he went immediately into the trooper academy. He loved being an Alaska State Trooper. He traveled all over the state, was the first trooper on the North Slope during the pipeline construction, was an investigator, had motorcycle duty, and made lifelong, lasting friendships both in the troopers and in the communities where he served. Second daughter Rebecca joined the family in 1973. While his first marriage did not last, he was a very proud, loving father to his two girls.

1980 found Jim and his second wife, Ann, the owners of a lodge on the Alaska Highway – The 1260 Inn. He took a hiatus from the troopers and they ran the lodge for eight successful years. When this marriage ended, Jim headed back to Haines, where he first worked at a lumber mill and then on the movie White Fang being filmed in Haines. In 1992 he reconnected with high school sweetheart, Julie. They were married for 34 wonderful years, living in Fairbanks for almost 10 years and then in Haines for nearly 25. Jim returned to law enforcement as a probation officer and then, just before his retirement in 1999, as a corrections officer at the Fairbanks Correctional Center. Through all this, he was always the “go to” guy. “Hey, Jim, how do I fix this?” “Hey, Jim, do you have this part?” He was never happier than when he was in his work clothes, down in his garage, puttering, making a tool if one could not be found or did not exist, and just helping friends and neighbors. Jim never met a stranger and he was a great storyteller with a never-ending supply for any occasion. He was an artist and a carver.

He had a great sense of humor that never failed him and he would eat almost anything, so long as it had mayonnaise and/or butter on it. He was an avid community volunteer, working with the American Bald Eagle Foundation, the American Legion, the Haines Sheldon Museum, the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association, the Chilkat Valley Historical Society and others. He was preceded in death by his parents, Leon and Betty Shook, and younger brother, Scott. He is survived by wife Julie Shook, daughters Katrina Hooper and Rebecca Serpas (Rob); granddaughter Miranda Shook; grandson Taylor Cowan (Margarette, nee Jones), sister Susan Johnston (Fred) and niece, Andrea Deppner (Herky). A celebration of life is planned for late this summer in Haines.

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There will be a celebration of Dave Nanney’s life on June 25 at 5:30 p.m. at the Haines Sheldon Museum. Nanney, 83, died from heart failure May 13 in hospice care in Anchorage, according to cousin Joe Parnell. “Dave was worldly, transcendental and brilliant. He was able to talk about just about any subject intelligently,” Parnell said. “He lived a full life.”

A former Haines city administrator and planner, Nanney created the first modern plat and parcel map of the area. He was also a commercial fisherman, artist, entrepreneur, musician and served on fisheries, planning, economic development and tourism boards and commissions. 

Friend Steve Waste noted that for 50 years Nanney continuously advocated for preserving the natural assets of the valley while developing a sustainable economy and that he “cautioned against outside interests seeking short-term gain” using local natural resources. 

As a vocal proponent of the creation of the 48,000-acre Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in 1982, Nanney was subjected to animosity and physical threats. “Dave was young, bright and idealistic, but didn’t always know the ins and outs of small-town politics – not that any of us really do,” former Haines Borough Assembly member Tresham Gregg said. 

Later, Nanney joined former state lawmaker and fisherman Bill Thomas to lobby for the funding for the Douglas Island Pink and Chum (DIPAC) hatchery and DIPAC’s Boat Harbor chum fishery. After learning of his friend’s death, Thomas said he reminded younger fishermen to “say a thank you to Dave Nanney” when they are in Boat Harbor this season, “because he helped you get rich.” Nanney also had a hand in the building of the Small Boat Harbor ice plant and the guidelines for the historic district in Fort Seward.

Gregg, Nanney’s college roommate and lifelong friend, introduced him to Haines at the end of their freshman year at Stanford. Gregg invited Nanney to work in Haines for the summer at the Gregg family buildings in Fort Seward. Gregg said that on the milk run from Seattle, Nanney struck up a conversation in the men’s room of the Ketchikan airport with a friendly guy who later introduced himself as Gov. Bill Egan. That encounter, and the beauty of Haines, made Nanney a born-again Alaskan. “There was no doubt in his mind that Haines would be home,” Gregg said.

David Young Nanney Jr. was born to David Young Nanney Sr. and Lucille Cook Nanney on March 11, 1943, during World War II in the Panama Canal Zone. His father was a colonel in the Army and his mother took care of Dave and his three siblings. The family lived all over the world. Nanney was especially influenced by their time in Turkey.  He spoke several languages and was a student of global culture.

After retiring, the senior Nanneys settled in Palo Alto because Colonel Nanney wanted his children to attend Stanford. All four did. Nanney earned a master of arts degree in architecture. He served two years in the Army as a Unit Commander of field artillery and received the National Defense Service Medal. After his discharge, Nanney took the Orient Express from Turkey to France and he and first wife Nancy Roberts spent time in Japan where she taught school before they settled in Haines.

Here, young Nanney worked on a grant-funded project to map the area and was hired as an administrator and planner. He later fished the gillnetter Jeannie C. 

Nanney and his second wife, teacher Donna Truax, operated the Eagle Bed and Breakfast gallery and bakery in their Soaps Suds Alley home. They were a couple during her children Crystal and David’s formative years and Truax said Nanney was a good influence on them. “Both have master’s degrees and Dave valued education,” Truax said. “He was always a gentleman and he was always kind.”  

Into his 80s Nanney punctuated sentences with “groovy” and “trippy.” One day he could be in a government office discussing land-use issues dressed in a white button-down shirt and the next he’d be sitting cross legged on the floor playing a sitar. He had a gentle sense of humor, even when it came to his own quirks. He was curious and passionate about his many pursuits including eagle-viewing tours for journalists and researchers, promoting John Muir’s connection to the Chilkat Valley, painting, photography, videography, and especially music. In addition to the sitar, he played keyboards, flute and drums. He lent sound equipment and instruments to locals and visiting entertainers and filmed events in the Chilkat Center. He painted the mural-sized map of Haines and northern southeast Alaska for the Haines Sheldon Museum and played music at art openings there and created kite and light shows in theater productions. For a time, he co-owned a seafood business and a downtown art gallery. 

Former mayor Fred Shields said he will remember his neighbor and friend as “a good human being who contributed significantly to our community.”

Nanney is survived by siblings Suellyn Fry, Sylvia Fitzgerald and Don Nanney, and cousin Joe Parnell.

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