Author: alaskaadmin

Alaska will recognize Hispanic Heritage Month under a new law signed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

The month recognizing Hispanic heritage will be September 15 to October 15 each year. The legislation encourages schools, community groups and other public and private organizations to honor the history and culture of Hispanic Americans.

Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, is the bill’s sponsor, and said in a statement that the month is a time to honor and celebrate “the rich cultural tapestry that Hispanic and Latino Americans have woven into the fabric of our nation.”

There was no bill signing ceremony. A spokesperson for Dunleavy’s office said the governor signed the bill to acknowledge those contributions. “He believes it is important to recognize the rich traditions, history, and achievements of Hispanic Americans,” said Jeff Turner, Dunleavy’s communications director, by email Tuesday. 

The period also marks the anniversary of the independence of several Central American countries from Spain, including Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico. 

“While Alaska may seem distant from the heart of Latin America, the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Alaskans to our state’s history, culture, and economy are undeniable. From pioneers and settlers to artists, educators, and business leaders, Hispanic and Latino individuals have made significant impacts in every corner of our state,” Gray-Jackson wrote. 

Gray-Jackson said in an interview Tuesday her goal since being elected to the Alaska Senate was to spearhead recognition of diverse cultures in Alaska by enshrining them in law. Since 2019, she’s sponsored legislation to recognize Black History Month, Alaska Native Heritage Month, Filipino American History Month, Juneteenth and Women’s History Month, which passed last year. She said next she’d like to see June recognized as LGBTQ Pride month.

“All it takes is one person to begin the effort, and that one person happens to be me,” Gray-Jackson said. “And I’m grateful for all the support that I’ve gotten since 2019 and, No. 1 when it comes to our very diverse communities, I’m just really proud to welcome our neighbors to Alaska who enrich our communities.”

“I see them; I value them,” she added. “I appreciate their contributions to not only our community, but to the world.”

The law will take effect on August 6. 

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

Last week, a state court approved the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s plan to resume killing scores of brown bears, including newborn cubs, across a 40,000 square mile area in southwest Alaska. The goal of the extensive bear kill effort, according to ADFG, is to reduce the number of predators in order to increase the size of the Mulchatna caribou herd. 

The court stated:

“The Court is in no position to second guess the Department’s biologists in their technical conclusions. The Court must give deference to the Department on these technical game management decisions… The information considered by the Board (of Game) at the July 2025 meeting could be problematic or incorrect. However, the Court is not in the position, nor does it have the authority, to make that determination at this point in the proceedings. The Court simply does not possess the technical and specialized skills to do so.”

Indeed, this is a perpetual problem, and one that Rep. Andy Josephson’s bill, HB364 — “An Act relating to intensive management of big game prey populations” — seeks to resolve by requiring independent scientific peer review of all predator control proposals from the state. Science requires independent peer review.  

Regarding the ruling, the ADFG commissioner stated: “We are happy that science prevails.” They may be happy, but science clearly did not prevail.  

What did prevail is the state’s continued reliance on inadequate, anecdotal information to advance its objective of killing predators as political spectacle to mask its mismanagement, including its wildly unrealistic population goal of 30,000 – 80,000 for the Mulchatna caribou herd. Science points to lack of adequate nutrition, rather than predation, as the main driver of Mulchatna caribou numbers — a fact the state conveniently ignores.

Regarding HB364, the administration did not endorse the bill and the Legislature has ignored it entirely.  Obviously, predator control advocates do not want independent scientific review of their proposals, as they know such proposals would not survive independent scientific scrutiny.  

So “we the people” are left not to trust the state administration, the legislature or the courts on such matters of natural resource policy. And scores of brown bears will be killed in the next few weeks, without solid scientific justification, ostensibly on behalf of all Alaskans.

Hopefully, our next governor will better appreciate science and the need to apply it effectively in resource policy.

SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.

A late amendment to a bill nearing final passage in the Alaska Capitol would exempt some Alaska Native village corporations from public financial disclosures required by state law.

On Monday afternoon, the Alaska Senate’s labor and commerce committee voted to amend House Bill 126 with a new section that reduces and caps the number of Native corporations required to share information annually with the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities. 

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski and chair of the labor and commerce committee, declined to answer questions when asked Tuesday about the change. 

In Monday’s committee hearing, Bjorkman said, “I think members of the media might be interested in information therein, but at the end of the day, I don’t know that information is their business because it happens within the confines of a Native corporation.”

State law currently requires corporations with at least 500 shareholders and $1 million in assets to provide financial documents to the state, which treats them as public records. 

Because Native corporations are exempted from federal disclosure requirements, existing state law provides the only free public avenue for non-shareholders to inspect their work. 

Of the state’s 200-plus Native corporations, 59 are currently required to file reports with the division, and the number is growing over time because shareholders are splitting their shares and passing them to their descendants, pushing more corporations over the 500-shareholder limit.

The new definition would limit disclosures to corporations with 500 shareholders when they were created, regardless of how many they currently have. 

That change would exempt at least seven village corporations — the division isn’t sure of the exact number and is reviewing another 30. None of the 12 regional corporations would be affected by the change because each had more than 500 shareholders when they were created. 

Shareholders of each exempted corporation would still have access to financial information, but members of the public would not.

Curtis McQueen, executive director of the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association, is supporting the change and wrote to the committee, saying that the modification brings state law back to its original intent.

“The amendment will exempt, as was originally intended, smaller village corporations from the filing requirements. This amendment will allow their staff and leadership to focus their time and energy on improving the health of their communities and providing benefits to their shareholders, not filling out forms and complying with the complex requirements of the division of banking and securities,” he said.

Attorney Christopher Slottee, representing the Village Corporation Association, testified separately, writing that no other private corporation in the state is subject to the same reporting requirements as Alaska Native corporations.

“It means that an ANC’s non-Native competitor in the same federal contracting market … faces no public disclosure obligation, while the ANC must publicly expose the financial details that inform its pricing, overhead structure, profit margins, and executive compensation to the exact same competitors,” he wrote. 

The original bill was from Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome. On Monday, members of the labor and commerce committee asked a Foster aide if he was open to the change.

“It’s not core to what the bill itself does, but we are not opposed to it,” the aide said. 

Alaska has more than 200 village corporations and 12 regional corporations, which were created as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.

Since that act, many of these corporations — legally distinct from tribes, which are sovereign governments — have become a powerful force in Alaska, holding vast swaths of land and employing tens of thousands of Alaskans.

Many corporations have also become important nationally because they receive preferential treatment under federal contracting rules. Under the 8(a) program — named for the relevant section of federal law — some Native corporations have become successful behemoths with more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. 

Most had humble beginnings, with just a few hundred initial shareholders. Federal law prohibits those shares from being publicly traded or sold, so Native corporations are not required to file documents with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, as publicly traded corporations are.

On Monday, Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, proposed an amendment with a different exemption criteria, but members of the committee rejected that proposal. 

After Monday’s action, members of the committee voted to advance the bill to the Senate Rules Committee, the last stop before a vote of the full Senate. 

Because the bill has already passed the House, Senate approval would trigger a single up-or-down vote in the House, which would be asked to agree or disagree with the change.

SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE