An oil tanker sits at the dock in Valdez, where vessels pick up crude moved from the North Slope by the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. (ConocoPhillips photo)
The Alaska Senate approved a measure to boost state taxes on oil and gas production on Wednesday. Lawmakers tacked it on to what would have been a routine renewal of a state oil royalty agreement.
Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, sponsored the amendment to House Bill 194, saying it would close a corporate income tax loophole and potentially capture more than $100 million in new state revenues each year — at a time when Alaska is in dire need of revenue to pay for state services.
Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage speaks on the Senate floor on Mar. 25, 2026 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“Can we afford this loophole while we close schools? Can we afford this tax subsidy while we slash the permanent fund dividend? Can we afford this tax subsidy while our infrastructure languishes, while we struggle to recruit and retain state troopers and firefighters and maintenance crews?” Dunbar said. “The answer is no.”
The provision would impose the state’s corporate tax rate on oil and gas companies doing business in the state, at a maximum rate of 9.4% for companies whose net profits are more than $5 million per year.
Alaska’s oil prices are surging amid the Iran War, and state forecasters are projecting hundreds of millions in potential state revenue in the coming months. Despite the spike in oil prices, Dunbar said lawmaker action to capture more revenue from the oil and gas industry is long overdue.
“There is still a long term revenue problem in this state, regardless of short term prices connected to the Iran war,” he said. “Now is the time to do this. Prices for oil are high. These corporations are doing very well. You fix the roof when the sun is shining.”
The Senate approved the amendment by an 11 to 8 vote, then passed the underlying legislation by a 12 to 7 vote, with Sen. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River, absent.
The original legislation was introduced by the governor, and passed the Alaska House last year. It would renew a three-year oil royalty agreement between the state and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, for state owned oil to be processed at its refinery in Nikiski, on the Kenai Peninsula. The proposed contract is estimated to generate between $4 million to $18 million in state revenue.
However the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Soldotna, objected to the new oil tax provision, saying the Senate should take time to evaluate how the tax measure would affect the broader industry and energy supply for Alaskans.
“I’m a no vote on this amendment, because we do need a legitimate plan,” he said. “We don’t rush things. We don’t do things in a half-cocked manner, because that’s how mistakes are made.”
He said lawmakers should model potential revenue measures so they know how they will function within a state fiscal plan.
Lawmakers have been hotly debating Alaska’s oil and gas tax structure for years. A bill introduced last year, Senate Bill 92, would change the way the state’s corporate income tax applies to the oil company Hilcorp, which is an S-corporation, and the state’s largest oil producer. Hilcorp is a privately held, Texas-based energy company that since 2020 has operated the Prudhoe Bay oil field in the North Slope, as well as most of the operations in Cook Inlet.
That bill is currently in the Senate Rules Committee and has not moved this year.
The measure approved by the Senate on Wednesday would enact state taxes not just on Hilcorp but many companies, and collect revenues that would otherwise be leaving the state, Dunbar said in an interview after the vote.
“To be clear, it’s not just Hilorp that might be affected by this, but that is one of the large, obvious holes we see in our oil tax structure right now that is causing us to shift tens of millions, and over the long term, hundreds of millions of dollars, from schools and roads and the permanent fund dividend to out of state companies and individuals,” he said.
The amended bill now goes to the House for a concurrence vote.
Dunbar urged support for the measure, citing financial woes in his own district where the Anchorage School Board has voted to close three elementary schools and cut hundreds of staff positions to help address a $90 million budget shortfall.
“I hope they agree that it’s not an acceptable world where the price is high and this industry is booming and we are closing Lake Otis Elementary School because we don’t have enough money,” he said.
A polling place sign at the State Office Building in Juneau on Aug. 15, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska House of Representatives passed an elections bill aimed at streamlining the state’s voting process and updating the voter rolls with a bipartisan vote on Monday. If signed into law, the bill would implement a new ballot tracking system, provide paid postage for all absentee mail-in ballots and implement provisions for faster election results, among other changes.
The House passed Senate Bill 64 by a 23 to 16 vote on Monday evening, with Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, absent. Three members of the House minority caucus joined the majority in supporting the legislation: Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, and Rep. Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, sponsored the legislation as chair of the Senate Rules Committee and said at a news conference on Tuesday the bill was at least a decade in the making and the result of a bipartisan effort.
“We’re going to agree on the things that we can agree on, things that just fundamentally make our elections better. And after 10 years, I think this bill does that,” he said. “It’s not a perfect bill. There are still things that need to be worked on, but this goes a long way towards improving our election system for every single person in the state of Alaska.”
The House made a variety of changes to the bill that the Senate passed last year, and the bill now goes back to the Senate for a concurrence vote on Wednesday. If signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, some elections changes would be implemented immediately, like a review of the voter rolls. Changes to ballot tracking and curing would go into effect after the August primary.
Lawmakers have focused on updating the state’s voter rolls to make sure voters are currently living in Alaska. Wielechowski said the new system will help the state maintain active voter rolls.
“We have 105% more registered voters than we have eligible citizens in the state of Alaska,” Wielechowski said, calling the discrepancy a “fundamental problem.”
“Everyone in Alaska knows that our elections in Alaska are probably the most difficult elections to conduct in the United States for a variety of reasons, but mostly because of geography, because of weather, because people are just spread out over such a vast area,” he said.
Under SB 64, the Division of Elections would send a notice to confirm address and residency in Alaska if the voter has:
Registered to vote in a another state
Received a driver’s license in another state
Registered a vehicle in another state
Served on a jury in another state
Receives a residential property tax exemption in another state
Receives public assistance in another state
If the bill passes, the Alaska Division of Elections will review the voter rolls and, based on a list of factors, send a postcard by mail to verify a voter’s address and establish residency. Once the notices are sent, voters have a period of 45 days to respond and confirm their Alaska residency to the division — or be moved to an inactive voter list for a period of 28 months or two elections.
Some members of the Republican House minority caucus expressed concern that military members stationed overseas would be kicked off the voter roles.
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer and a member of the minority caucus, spearheaded the House version of the bill and said that even if voters are inactive, they will still be on a master voter list for eight years, under federal law.
“We cannot cancel, according to federal law, someone off of the master register for eight years. So this includes the military voters,” she said. “But I want to make sure that everyone else understands they’re not going to be inadvertently canceled either.”
Under the bill, voters would be able to show identification issued from a federally recognized tribe to register to vote or for voting. To confirm active voting status, voters would be able to contact the division by calling, emailing or by voting.
Under the Senate’s version of the bill, the state would have done away with the requirement of a witness signature for all absentee mail-in ballots, but the House objected to that change and opted to keep the witness signature.
If passed, the bill would also allow voters to fix mistakes on their ballot – a process called ballot curing — by requiring the division to contact the voter by phone or email within 24 hours. Within two to five days, the division would send notification by mail. The voter would have to return a form to correct the ballot with a copy of identification by email or by mail within 10 days of the election for their ballot to be counted.
If passed, the bill would require the state to provide paid postage for all absentee mail-in ballots. The state would also enact a new tracking system so that voters will be notified when their ballot is received and counted.
Wielechowski said that will help with transparency, as will new provisions to get election results published faster. Additionally, the elections department will start reviewing ballots 12 days ahead of Election Day — five days earlier than under current law — to allow more ballots to be counted on Election Day.
Require all absentee ballots to be received within 10 days of Election Day;
Establish a new rural community liaison position within the Division of Elections to support rural districts, including recruitment and training of poll workers;
Require the Permanent Fund Dividend Division to share data to improve the accuracy of the voter rolls’
Require the state to develop a cybersecurity program, and notify the public if there is a data breach;
Require the division to publish results for all rankings in the precinct results.
Require presidential ballots to include a line for write-in votes for president and vice president
Updates crimes of unlawful interference with an election, ballot tampering and election official misconduct
Wielechowski said the new rural liaison established by the bill would be charged with helping small, rural communities prepare to hold their elections, coordinate equipment and polling places, and hire poll workers to improve operations on Election Day.
“That person is responsible for working with the local villages … working with those communities to ensure that all the citizens are able to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” he said.
“The polls never opened in Wales in 2024 in the primary. The polls in Anaktuvuk Pass in 2024 opened up 30 minutes before closing, and roughly seven people out of about 250 were able to vote in that election in person,” Wielowski said.
The changes to Alaska’s process of voting and elections this year could come amid potential sweeping changes to national elections.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case that would require all ballots to be received by Election Day in order to be counted for federal elections.
All ballots received after that deadline would be thrown out, which could potentially disenfranchise thousands of Alaska voters who cast ballots that may be delayed by weather, flight delays or election logistics challenges.
“It’s going to create some havoc in our election system, and it may very well require a special session for us to come in and deal with it,” Wielechowski said. “And so you could get in a situation where you have ballots coming in that don’t count for the federal election, but do count for the state election. And so there would have to be some kind of way that you figure out how to process those ballots in a different manner.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule next summer.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is putting pressure on the U.S. Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would, in part, require voters to present identification and proof of U.S. citizenship in person when they vote.
Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has loudly opposed the bill, saying it’s logistically impossible for most Alaskans, as the state only has six in-person elections offices and fewer than a dozen DMV offices. Republicans U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III have supported the bill, saying they don’t think it would be hard to comply with its requirements.
The U.S. Senate is currently debating the bill amid another contentious debate around funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ending a five-week partial shutdown for the department. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate may drop the voting bill in order to reach an agreement with Democrats over funding DHS, and return to it after Easter, according to reporting by Politico.
Tuesday morning press briefing with City Officials and the Army Corp of Engineers.
NOTN- Juneau is hosting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week as the community presses for answers on long-term protections against glacial lake outburst flooding.
Mayor Beth Weldon said the Corps arrived in Juneau Monday afternoon, taking a helicopter tour to inspect the basin area and visiting the city’s HESCO barrier installations before holding formal meetings today.
At a Committee of the Whole meeting in February, City and Borough of Juneau leaders detailed new modeling that shows a worst-case glacial lake outburst flood could send an estimated 118,000 cubic feet per second of water down the Mendenhall River, far beyond anything the city has experienced.
Maps presented at the meeting showed that a maximum event could push water beyond the Central valley, crossing Riverside Drive and Mendenhall Loop Road, affecting neighborhoods on both sides of the river.
Scientists from the University of Alaska Southeast, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and Tribal representatives from Tlingit and Haida identified a “lake tap” of Suicide Basin as the preferred enduring solution.
During a press conference this morning, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders outlined plans to expand and reinforce temporary flood barriers along the Mendenhall River while continuing to study more permanent solutions to GLOFs.
“We’re here today because we wanted to make sure that we are in tight, close communication with the local government here, ahead of the 2026 glacial outburst flood that we expect.” Said Assistant Secretary of the Army Office for Civil Works, “This is something that when I was a nominee for this position and going through Senate confirmation, Senator Sullivan called me into his office, and he very effectively impressed upon me the criticality of this issue to this community. Every time I’ve spoken about this publicly, including in a public hearing in September, and most recently in a public hearing last month, I’ve said we have to look at this short term, medium term and long term. And I’ve consistently conveyed that from the very first time I’ve ever spoken about this issue until now, short term, medium and long term. And we’ve had an outstanding discussion this morning with our Senate offices, local community leaders, and then all four levels of our Corps of Engineers organization to make sure that we’re all on the same page in terms of what we’re doing to address this challenge. And so we’ll get into some of that as the questions come but that’s really the reason we’re here.”
Officials said immediate work for 2026 includes raising existing HESCO barriers by 1 to 2 feet and extending the system by roughly 4 to 4.5 miles along both sides of the river, officials also the Corp is adding more armoring along the riverbanks and deploying pumps and technical experts to manage any water that gets behind the barriers.
Telle also mentioned a ‘Medium’ term solution, and here is what he said when asked the clarify.
“In the medium term, we’re looking at more permanent and more survivable barriers that can be implemented, as well as continuing to look at potential channel modifications. Those are all on the turn on the table for the short, medium term, we’re obviously continuing to look at long term options that will require significant technical analysis and engineering. We’re getting down that path every single day.” He said, “In my view, we can’t wait a decade to deliver, or six years, or 15 years, we can’t wait that long to deliver results for the citizens in this community, and so we’re tackling short medium with the same aggression that we’re tackling long.”
Those potential channel modifications could look like dredging or reshaping.
“There’s been conversation within the community for years about straightening the channel. This can be done relatively quickly and for low cost. The question is, does that straightening actually just move the risk to a different part of the community? And so we want to be very careful about that. We’ve got extensive modeling underway right now.” Telle said.
The long-term solution remains under study.
“This is, I’ll just say, glacial outburst flooding is a unique challenge here in Juneau. This phenomenon that we have here is unique to the Corps of Engineers entire portfolio. I think with that uniqueness comes a lot of uncertainty from an engineering and technical perspective, and we’re trying to really reduce that uncertainty as fast as we can.” Telle said.
Telle said that among the “big universe of options” for a long-term solution, a tunnel or lake tap “at this moment appears to be the most viable technically” Still, he emphasized that no option has been taken off the table and that significant technical and cost uncertainties remain.
When asked by The Juneau Independent’s Mark Sabbatini what had changed since last month’s announcement suggesting the Army Corps had “pulled back” from the lake tap solution, officials said their position had remained consistent, saying “nothing has changed other than the reporting.”
“That’s one of the reasons we appreciate the Secretary and the Generals and the Colonel for coming here face to face.” Said Mayor Beth Weldon, “There’s not going to be a miscommunication problem at all. We appreciate their enthusiasm and dedication to a short, medium and long term solution.”
“You know, the HESCO barriers are exactly what needed to happen. They showed they were, but they also showed they were just a triage method.” Said President Richard J. Peterson of Tlingit and Haida, “We’re trying to make sure we come together. We had a charrette last year, we came together all unanimously on an enduring solution, but in the meantime, they have to do their job and look at all solutions. And I think that might have been where the miscommunication came in. It wasn’t pivoting away from this, but the messaging was, ‘we’re doing our due diligence to look at everything’. We have to turn to them. And this meeting was that opportunity for us to understand where we’re at.”
Authorities say they are mindful of the clock the community is under, and said coordination between federal agencies, the City and Borough of Juneau and tribal partners will continue as preparations accelerate in the months ahead.
And for those wondering, despite our recent poor weather, work on flood-protection infrastructure has continued.
Brotherhood Bridge has officially closed starting today for installation of Phase 2 HESCO barriers.
The Alaska House of Representatives passes a resolution to urge the Trump administration waive a $100,000 visa fee for international teachers on Mar. 20, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska House of Representatives approved a resolution urging the Trump administration to waive a steep visa fee for international teachers. The vote comes amid a growing teacher shortage throughout the state.
Lawmakers are calling for the Trump administration to waive the fee for teachers hired through the H-1B visa program, which allows employers to recruit highly-skilled workers from overseas. The federal government raised the fee from $5,000 to $100,000 for each new applicant to the H-1B visa program in September.
The House passed the resolution by a 38-0 vote on Friday, with Reps. Bill Elam, R-Kenai, and David Nelson, R-Anchorage, absent.
Rep. Alyse Galvin, I-Anchorage, sponsored the resolution. The former teacher said the cost is impossible for Alaska school districts.
Rep. Alyse Galvin, I-Anchorage, speaks on the House floor on Mar. 20, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“We know it’s a deep concern,” Galvin said on the House floor Friday. “In Alaska, in particular, in our rural areas, we are desperate for more teachers, qualified teachers in the classroom before our students. We have a true need here that can be met, and this is one tool that I hope all of us will raise our voice together and send to our federal delegation so they can use it.”
Rep. Ted Eischeid, D-Anchorage, a former science teacher, noted international teachers are also employed in urban districts like Anchorage.
”At last count, we had 66 teachers that work for the Anchorage School District providing critical education,” Edischied said, referring to the number of international teachers. “So if the most important educational reform is to have a highly qualified teacher in front of kids every day, this resolution moves us in that direction. So I support this.”
Rep. Nellie Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay, said 60% of teachers in the Kuspuk School District in her district are international hires. “The Kuspuk district cannot recruit teachers fast enough off the road system. You can’t train somebody to be a teacher overnight,” she said. “Ten teachers at a $100,000 rate visa, that’s a million dollars. Do we have a million dollars in our budget to spare for these teachers? I don’t think so.”
Jennifer Schmitz is director of the Alaska Center for Recruitment and Retention, a division of the Alaska Council for School Administrators, which supports districts in recruiting and hiring teachers and staff. After the vote, Schmitz said she was glad to hear legislators’ support because districts are hiring now.
“I’m thrilled that it passed, especially that it was unanimous,” Schmitz said. “Legislators all seem to understand that this is an issue and that they’re supportive of helping our international teachers get here more easily.”
There are nearly 600 teachers in Alaska hired through the H-1B visa program, which lasts for five years. Despite that, Schmitz said the center’s job board has over 700 job openings across the state, including for teachers, administration, para-professionals and staff.
“Special education is always at the top and then often harder to fill,” Schmitz said. “Positions can be secondary specialties like math, science, and chemistry, those higher level classes, those are often harder to fill and harder to find qualified candidates. But we have openings in every possible position.”
Schmitz said the center recently held several job fairs, including connecting University of Alaska students with education jobs as well as recruiting from around the United States and internationally.
“We are hopeful that people can find teachers from that. But we’re just really at a standstill,” she said for international hiring because of the visa fee. “And our attorney is looking at ways around that and other kinds of visas, but we just don’t know if they’re going to work… And we need to get their paperwork going now if we want them here by fall.”
The resolution now goes to the Senate where it is expected to garner support. The initiative backs federal action in the U.S. Congress, where Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan are cosponsoring a bill in the Senate to waive the $100,000 visa fee for all public school employees. A similar bill in the U.S. House is urging the Trump administration to waive the visa fee for health care workers.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaks Thursday, March 19, 2026, on the floor of the U.S. Senate, in this screenshot of a video broadcast by the Senate. (Screenshot)
An elections bill being debated by the U.S. Senate could cost thousands of Alaskans the ability to vote in this year’s elections, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday in a lengthy speech on Capitol Hill.
The SAVE America Act, supported by President Donald Trump and most congressional Republicans, is ostensibly intended to prevent noncitizens from voting in American elections, but its implementation could prevent many Americans from being able to vote.
“While disenfranchisement may not be the intent of the SAVE America Act … I think that we will see that. In fact, I fully expect it to be an outcome of this,” Murkowski said.
The act would require that voters present photo ID when they vote, and that people present documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. That would mean presenting proof of citizenship in person at an elections office or other specially licensed state license.
“This would be a major, major departure from how most Alaskans currently register to vote,” Murkowski said.
In 2024, about 29,000 Alaskans registered to vote. Most of those — 25,000 or so — would have run into problems if the current bill had been law at that time, she said.
Most of Alaska’s voter registrations are done online or through the state’s motor-voter or PFD voter process. The bill could allow citizenship verification, but it’s not clear how that would happen, Murkowski.
Mandating in-person registration would have big effects in Alaska.
Some other state agencies might also be able to accept that proof, but the bill’s requirements take effect immediately, and it contains no funding for states to make changes that would allow remote offices to verify ID.
In practice, that means the bill would require rural residents to fly to urban Alaska, Murkowski said.
In addition, anyone seeking to register would have to have either a passport — roughly 50% of Alaskans don’t have one, Murkowski said — or some other form of appropriate ID.
Alaska driver’s licenses wouldn’t be good enough to register to vote, nor would most tribal IDs, because they don’t specifically label someone as a citizen or not.
The bill allows someone to self-certify their citizenship if they sign an affidavit, but that clause only applies if the person has already made “reasonable efforts” to obtain a copy of a valid ID.
It isn’t clear what that means, Murkowski said.
The bill also would end Alaska’s practice of allowing anyone to cast an absentee ballot for any reason. It would restrict absentee voting to a subset of specifically identified voters, including people living out of the state where they are registered to vote.
Murkowski said she hasn’t seen evidence that these kinds of measures are needed to address a small-scale problem.
Voting by noncitizens is rare in Alaska. A report obtained by the Alaska Beacon through a public records request showed 70 possible cases since 2015. At least 11 people on that list have been charged in state court.
“That’s basically seven a year,” Murkowski said.
“You look at what we’re trying to chase here with this balance — with disenfranchising so many who would be faced with almost insurmountable challenges in order to register or vote — I look at this and on balance, it doesn’t weigh,” she said.
Earlier this year, Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, voted in support of the bill as it passed out of the House, saying afterward that he doesn’t think it will be hard to comply with the bill.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, has said he supports the act despite its ramifications for the state.
“I do think that having the ability to show an ID and proof of citizenship to keep elections safe is important, and it’s supported by the vast majority of Americans,” he said in response to a question during a February forum hosted by the Juneau Chamber of Commerce.
At that forum, he was confronted by an angry attendee who questioned how he could speak on Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, a state holiday honoring an Alaska Native civil rights leader, and support a bill that would have detrimental effects on Alaska Native voters.
“I have a very, very, very strong record as it relates to the franchise for our people, in particular, the Alaska Native community,” he said, referring to actions he took during the 2010 Alaska election, when he served as attorney general.
“I think voting, in my view, should be easy, but cheating on voting should not be,” Sullivan said.
While Sullivan has said he supports the bill, he also told reporters last month that he doesn’t support overriding the Senate’s filibuster to pass it.
In practice, the filibuster means that the bill would require 60 votes, not 50 and the vice president, to advance through the Senate.
With all of the Senate’s Democrats and Murkowski opposed to the SAVE Act, the bill — at least as of Friday — lacks the support it needs to become law.
Judy and Eric Edwards pose for a photo at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new universal changing station installed on the first floor of the Alaska State Capitol on Mar. 19, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Judy Edwards and her son Eric traveled from Palmer to advocate for people with disabilities at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau this week, and now one part of that process is a bit easier.
A newly installed universal changing station on the first floor of the Capitol is a clean, safe space for people who need assistance when using the restroom. The changing station is adult-size and adjustable, for people who use adult diapers and need help changing them. This is an upgrade for Eric, who is 18-years-old and has quadriplegic cerebral palsy with dystonia and uses a power wheelchair.
Previously he and his mother would have had to use the floor.
“This will make life easier for everybody,” Judy said. “Parents, especially younger parents, they just deal with things, but they shouldn’t have to. You know, parents hurt themselves because they’re trying to lift from the floor.”
At a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, lawmakers and advocates with the Key Coalition — a group of people with disabilities, their caregivers, service providers and supporters — gathered to applaud the new installation.
Judy and Eric Edwards gather with Reps. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau and Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, and Capitol facilities manager Serge Lesh for a ribbon cutting ceremony for the installation of a new universal changing station at the Alaska State Capitol on Mar. 20, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“I am so sorry that you’ve had to advocate for this and that those of us who are able bodied don’t automatically think about it,” said Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, who oversees a committee that runs maintenance in the Capitol.
Hannan said the universal changing station cost the state less than $20,000 total, including the cost of the device, shipping and electrical costs for installation. She said the committee is in the process of reviewing and making accessibility upgrades around the Capitol, including plans to widen the door frame and install an automatic door opener for the first floor accessible restrooms.
The Edwards family travel often for medical care. They are among the advocates who have been raising concern and pushing for more changing stations around the state. A new bill now introduced in the legislature, House Bill 141, would require at least one universal changing station be included in construction or renovation of all state or local government owned public buildings.
Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, sponsored the bill.
“We’re looking at different ways to approach the issue, whether just on a funding level or policy, but ultimately, the goal is to just have types of changing facilities across the state,” Carrick said in an interview. “As legislators, the more we can do to just help all Alaskans have their basic needs met — that’s really where the motivation for this bill came from, and the awareness around this being a major challenge is so important.”
Advocates and lawmakers are focusing first on Alaska airports. The Edwards family was involved in raising awareness around access, resulting in a new universal changing station being installed at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in 2024.
There is also a changing station at the Mat Su Health Foundation, and a temporary station was installed last summer at the fairgrounds of the Alaska State Fair. Edwards said she also wants to see one installed at Providence Alaska Medical Center hospital in Anchorage.
Advocates with the Key Coalition flew to Juneau for an advocacy day on Wednesday, when they held a march and rally in front of the Capitol and met with lawmakers urging policy changes to increase access and services.
Demonstrators with the Key Coalition march through downtown Juneau to rally at the Alaska State Capitol for disability rights and increased services on Mar. 18, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)Demonstrators with the Key Coalition rally at the Alaska State Capitol calling for disability rights and increased services on Mar. 18, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“Having a disability could happen to any one of us,” said Michele Girault, board president for the Key Coalition. “So we’re creating communities where accessibility is at the top of the leaderboard, access to housing and good workforce and all the things that you might need to be supported, are available when you need it.”
Advocates are pushing for the state to eliminate the waitlist for people with disabilities applying for Medicaid services. Girault said they also want to reduce wait times for reimbursements for service providers.
“So that people who provide the service to people with disabilities and elders across the state are reimbursed at a rate that keeps them in business,” Girault said. “Some people have left the state because they were tired of waiting for services, and some families are opting not to even put their names on the wait list.”
Girault said the Key Coalition is continuing to support increased funding and expanded access for infant learning programs and early intervention services for youth experiencing developmental delays, which support families and children from infancy to age three.
Last year, Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill to provide $5.7 million to increase funding for the state’s 17 infant learning programs. But lawmakers are trying again this year, with Senate Bill 178, sponsored by the Senate Health and Social Services Committee, to expand eligibility for the programs and increase funding.
A bill to update the state’s guardianship statutes is also supported by the Key Coalition. Girault said Senate Bill 190 would strengthen protections for people involved in the state guardianship system, including for medical guardians, partial guardians and in conservatorship. They’re also pushing for improvements to access to public transportation.
Sara Kveum speaks to the crowd rallying at the Alaska State Capital for disability rights and increased services on Mar 18, 2026. She is beside Michele Girault, director of the Key Coalition of Alaska, which organized the rally as part of an annual legislative fly-in, and includes people with disabilities, their families, service providers, educators and advocates. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“Transportation is in the top five barriers for people with disabilities. When you think about all the snow we’ve had this winter, how do you get to the bus stop? Once you’re at the bus stop, is the bus stop cleared?” Girault said. The Key Coalition is supporting House Bill 26, which would require a new state transportation plan to include access for people with disabilities.
“This transportation bill requires the state to create a plan that actually thinks about all of the points of access for people across the state of Alaska, not just in major cities, but in rural areas as well,” Girault said.
More than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. have some type of disability, including mobility, hearing, vision or cognition disabilities, and advocates say they want to see improvements across Alaska to expand access, care and dignity for all.
For the Edwards family, and many advocates and families with disabilities, flying to Juneau isn’t easy, but Judy Edwards said it’s worthwhile — and she wants to see more changes to increase access across Alaska.
“I’m 67, but when I was a kid, you didn’t see people with disabilities out in public, really, much,” Edwards said. “And so today, it’s like, why not? I mean, we’ve come such a far way. Why not? We need to keep going.”
Members of the Alaska House minority talk strategy during a break in the Wednesday, March 18, 2026, session of the Alaska House of Representatives. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Members of the Alaska House minority talk strategy during a break in the Wednesday, March 18, 2026, session of the Alaska House of Representatives. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska legislators have sidetracked a bill originally intended for the legislative fast track.
In a pair of votes Wednesday, the Alaska House and Senate voted to send House Bill 289, the state’s supplemental budget bill, to a conference committee empowered to iron out differences between two different versions respectively enacted by the House and Senate.
Lawmakers took that unusual action after the House failed to approve a Senate-passed plan to pay for the bill with more than $373 million from the state’s principal savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
The committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
HB 289 is intended to fund expenses in the current state fiscal year that were incurred after lawmakers adjourned last year’s legislative session.
That includes money needed to respond to last summer’s wildfires and ex-Typhoon Halong, which devastated Western Alaska in the fall.
One key item in the bill — $70.2 million intended to unlock federal construction grants — is time sensitive. For months, the state’s construction industry has been lobbying for fast action on that money, saying that without surety on federal grants, they cannot make hiring and purchasing decisions for this summer’s construction season.
In February, the House passed a version of HB 289 with more than $500 million in expenses and proposed to pay for it by spending from the reserve.
It takes 30 votes in the House and 15 votes in the Senate to unlock the reserve. This month, in order to meet the threshold in the Senate, lawmakers there cut the bill to slightly over $373 million.
For more than a week, that caucus has been united in opposition to spending from savings, saying that a forecast boon to state finances — caused by higher oil prices amid the Iran war — should be enough to pay for the extra spending.
Members of the House majority, meanwhile, have been just as adamant in their position that it is unwise to rely on war-driven oil prices.
Sens. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; and Mike Cronk, R-Tok, were appointed to represent the Senate on the committee. Reps. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage; Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage; and Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks; will represent the House.
Cronk and Stapp are members of their respective minority caucuses; the other four lawmakers are representing their respective majority caucuses.
Additional meetings are expected after Thursday’s initial organizational hearing.
Senator Jesse Kiehl presenting SB 247 to the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee on Tuesday March 17, Photo courtesy of Gavel Alaska
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would expand criminal penalties for child sexual abuse material to include images generated using artificial intelligence and other digital tools.
Senate Bill 247, Sponsored by Juneau Sen. Jesse Kiehl, would create new crimes for the possession and distribution of “generated” child sexual abuse material, also known as CSAM, including images that appear to depict minors but may not involve real children.
Under the bill, distributing such material would be a felony, with harsher penalties for repeat offenders. Possession of generated CSAM would also be a felony offense.
Distribution under this bill is relatively broad and includes sharing or posting such content online.
United Nations, just this January released a warning on escalating AI threats to children.
The staggering amount of harmful AI-generated online content has prompted an urgent call from across the UN system for a raft of measures to protect children from abuse, exploitation and mental trauma.
This is a new form of sexual exploitation, the rapid progression of AI means lawmakers are struggling to craft legislation to prevent such harm from happening.
“Artificial intelligence is leading to the ability to generate images, generate videos, generate vast amounts of content, and that ability is growing fast, unfortunately, along with the ability to modify or create your own cute cat videos, some people use these technologies to terrible effect.” Said Kiehl, ” Senate Bill 247 addresses computer generated or otherwise generated Child Sexual Abuse materials. It amends Alaska law to create parity between generated Child Sexual Abuse materials and non generated Child Sexual Abuse materials, what we think of as photos or videos that have not been modified of real children. We know that artificial intelligence is, when it comes to images, a highly sophisticated collage machine, and that those images are made ultimately from things that are real, those are the data sources of millions, often billions, of real images on which these large language models, these artificial intelligences, are trained. The bill sets the punishments for generated Child Sexual Abuse materials on par with, and equal to non-generated CSAM that avoids overburdening bogging down law enforcement resources, court system resources, with the difficulty of proving that an amalgamated image has a real child under the age of 18 in it.”
The proposal also updates existing laws to include manipulated or altered images of real minors, even if the material was digitally created or modified.
In addition to criminal penalties, the bill would require the permanent revocation of teaching certificates for individuals convicted of certain sex offenses involving minors, including those tied to generated materials. It would also prohibit people convicted of those crimes from obtaining school bus driver licenses.
“The real prevalence of child sexual abuse is not known because so many victims do not disclose or report their abuse. However, adult representative or retrospective studies by the CDC has shown that one in four women and one in six men were sexually abused before the age of 18, and we know Alaska has one of the highest rates per capita of child sexual abuse in the nation.” Said Trevor Storrs, the President and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust, “Ai generated CSAM represents one of the most urgent and fast moving threats facing children today. In 2023 the National Center for Missing Exploited Children, received 4700 reports of AI related CSAM, by 2024 that number had grown to 67,000 and in the first half of 2025 alone, they received more than 400,000 such reports, an average of over 2000 every single day. At the same time, extortion, where offenders use real or AI generated images to blackmail children, continues to surge.”
Lawmakers say the bill is part of a broader effort to modernize Alaska law while technology continues to evolve, it’s one of several bills currently making their way through the legislature meant to strengthen protections for children.
SB 247 is set to be heard again in the legislature on Thursday.
Economist Dan Stickel talks to the Alaska House Finance Committee on Monday, March 16, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Economist Dan Stickel talks to the Alaska House Finance Committee on Monday, March 16, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has left oil markets more uncertain than they were during the Great Recession, a state expert told the Alaska Legislature on Monday.
In a pair of hearings, Alaska Department of Revenue economist Dan Stickel told state legislators that the volatility of global oil markets is the second-highest on record, leaving future forecasts particularly unreliable.
“The level of uncertainty around future prices in the oil markets now is higher than during the peaks of the Great Recession in 2008-2009 and it’s higher than the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it’s higher than any of the COVID spikes other than the initial April 2020 spike,” he said during a Monday morning hearing of the Senate Finance Committee.
“The message here is to plan for the possibility that revenue doesn’t come in exactly at what we forecast for the next couple of years,” Stickel said.
Oil is the second-largest source of general-purpose revenue for the Alaska state budget, and Stickel’s testimony came days after the department released a new Alaska revenue forecast showing $545 million more in current-year revenue than projected in the fall. Most of that higher prediction is due to the price of oil.
That forecast has snarled relations in the Alaska House of Representatives, which has repeatedly postponed discussion of a bill that would fund a variety of amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget passed by lawmakers and Gov. Mike Dunleavy last spring.
On Monday, after more than two hours of acrimonious debate, House legislators again declined to take up the bill.
Soon after the House adjourned its floor session, Stickel testified in front of the House Finance Committee, and told lawmakers that “the level of certainty that we will hit our exact forecast is low.”
As he spoke, on the other end of the Capitol’s fifth floor, the Senate Finance Committee was simultaneously hearing from Office of Management and Budget director Lacey Sanders, who said the governor’s office was requesting another $18 million in spending for the current fiscal year.
Altogether, the governor has requested almost $427 million in additions to the budget. Add in additional spending proposed by lawmakers, and there’s only about a $30 million difference between the new revenue forecast and the additions proposed by the governor and legislators.
At the latest forecast prices, said Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, a $2 change in the average price of a barrel of North Slope oil is worth $30 million.
He asked Stickel what the odds were that the forecast misses low by more than $2.
“Roughly a slightly less than 50% chance that we come in more than $2 below the forecast,” Stickel said, then alluded to the fact that there’s a similar chance of coming in above the forecast.
“The level of certainty that we will hit our exact forecast is low in either direction,” he said.
Currently, members of the House majority are advocating that legislators unlock the state’s principal savings account to provide surety for some of those budget additions.
Doing so would avoid problems if oil prices turn out to be lower than forecast.
But spending from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, the state’s principal savings account, requires 30 votes in the House and 15 votes in the Senate.
The House’s multipartisan coalition majority has 21 members, which means they need support from the all-Republican House minority caucus.
Members of that group have been arguing against unlocking the budget reserve right now, saying that the new forecast and the current balance of the state’s general-purpose accounts demonstrate it isn’t needed.
In addition, as currently written, the supplemental budget bill in the House would allow spending from savings regardless of the price of oil. That could allow the majority to dictate extra spending even if prices stay high.
The Senate has already approved spending from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, and on Monday morning, Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka and co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said a draw from the reserve would act as a “safety net.”
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, said senators don’t intend to spend dollars from savings unless it is needed.
“If they are not needed, they will stay in the CBR,” he said, adding that without permission to spend from savings, there’s a chance that lawmakers would need to return in August to fix budget problems in a special session.
U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, speaks to a joint session of the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, speaks to a joint session of the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
The filing deadline for this year’s Alaska Permanent Fund dividend is March 31, and if Rep. Nick Begich III has his way, this year’s dividend will be tax free.
On March 3, Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House introduced a bill that would exempt the dividend from federal taxes.
When Begich mentioned it during his address to state lawmakers this week, it garnered a standing ovation in the state Capitol.
Begich said afterward that passing the bill into law “is going to be a lift,” but in his first year as a Representative, Begich has found an unusual amount of success. On the day he introduced the tax-free dividend measure, he had a sixth prime-sponsored bill pass the U.S. Senate and advance to President Donald Trump.
Those six bills include two Congressional Review Act resolutions that repealed regulations adopted by the administration of President Joe Biden.
When members of Alaska’s Congressional delegation speak to the Legislature, it’s usually a platform to talk about their recent accomplishments, and Begich had plenty to talk about this year.
The number of bills he passed through Congress in his first year is a record, his office said.
According to the Center for Effective Lawmaking, when Begich’s sixth bill becomes law, he will tie former Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Arizona, for the most bills that became law in a freshman term.
The 119th Congress still has several months to run, and if Begich manages a seventh, he would set the record.
“No other House freshman in our data (going back to 1973) had six or more,” said Colin Achilles, the center’s associate director, by email.
At least some of Begich’s success is attributable to groundwork laid by his immediate predecessors, Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Rep. Don Young.
He’s also received help from Alaska’s two senators, Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, who have been able to guide his legislation through the Senate after passing the House.
Begich’s House-and-Senate passed bills to date include:
A legal change making it easier for disabled Alaska Natives to qualify for some federal aid programs;
A measure repealing Biden-era limits on oil and gas leasing within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;
A law that distributes extra land to Alaska Native village corporations by eliminating an inactive trust;
A bill granting land to the Alaska Native village corporation for Saxman, in Southeast Alaska;
And a bill extending the amount of time that Alaska Native Vietnam War veterans or their families have to pick grants of federal land.
While the measures repealing Biden-era actions advanced along party lines, taking advantage of Republican control of the House, Senate and Presidency, Begich’s other bills have gotten unanimous support in the House, from Democrats and Republicans alike.
Speaking to the Alaska Legislature, Begich said that “not every bill is a touchdown pass, but every bill puts (points) on the board. We are getting points on the board for the state of Alaska, and we will continue to look for opportunities to do that.”
After his speech, he acknowledged that the dividend bill is something closer to a deep pass than a short run down the middle, but it helps to be ready for an opportunity.
“You have to have these bills in existence in order for them to have an opportunity to pass. And sometimes a must-pass piece of legislation will show up, and you’ll have an opportunity to attach a priority for your district,” he said. “In our case … we wanted to make sure that we had this in the clip ready to go. When that opportunity arrives, sometimes it happens faster than you think it will. Sometimes it takes a while, but you have to have the legislative text ready to go for the moment that arrives, and that’s what we’re doing on that bill.”
