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Alaska cities and boroughs consider higher sales taxes to help pay for public services

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

“I voted” stickers are seen on display in the headquarters offices of the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

Election day is around the corner for most of Alaska’s local governments, and many communities are considering whether to raise local sales taxes to pay for the escalating cost of public services, including basic infrastructure like road repairs and landfills.

Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage, holds its elections in the spring, as do Valdez and Cordova, but most of the state’s 150-plus municipal governments will have their elections in the next week.

In the state capital, Juneau, where voting has been underway by mail since late September, voters are considering three ballot measures with major implications for the City and Borough of Juneau budget.

Measure No. 1 would tighten the cap on local property taxes below current rates, effectively cutting city revenue by about $1 million and eliminating the city’s ability to raise rates. 

The second measure would exempt food and residential utilities from local sales taxes. That would eliminate between $10 million and $12 million per year from the city budget.

To compensate, there’s also Measure No. 3, which would raise the city’s sales tax from 5% to 7.5% in the summer and lower it to 3% in the winter. If that measure passes, it would roughly balance the lost money if Measure No. 2 passes.

If ballot measure No. 3 doesn’t pass, Juneau city officials expect to significantly cut local services in order to balance the budget.

Juneau is one of several communities deciding whether to pass sales tax hikes this month.

In Skagway, voters are considering a seasonal sales tax increase from 5% to 7% in the summer, with some of the proceeds earmarked for water, wastewater and garbage services in order to lower local rates.

In neighboring Haines, voters are deciding whether to raise the local sales tax from 5.5% to 7% in the summer within the Haines townsite, with a smaller increase in the rest of the borough. The sales tax would fall to 4.5% in the townsite during the winter, 3% in the rest of the borough, and groceries would be exempted.

In Ketchikan, borough residents are being asked whether they want to extend part of the local sales tax through 2032. The borough has a 2.5% sales tax, but half of a percent is dedicated to construction and renovation projects at local schools. That’s what voters will consider renewing.

Slightly north, in Petersburg, voters will decide whether to reduce a senior citizen sales tax exemption so it applies only to low-income residents. 

Ketchikan city voters consider seven ballot measures

While voters in the Ketchikan borough contemplate a sales tax measure, voters within the city of Ketchikan itself will also have seven other ballot propositions to consider.

First is a $15 million bond to pay for sewer mains and upgrades to the city’s water treatment facility. Those upgrades are being mandated by the state and federal governments. 

Voters in the First City also will decide six different amendments to the city charter. Proposition No. 2 would eliminate a 30-day waiting period for city ordinances to take effect. No. 3 would allow the city manager to live outside city limits, but only on the road system of Revillagigedo Island, where the city is located.

Proposition No. 4 would remove the requirement that voters approve the sale of any city property worth more than $30,000. Instead, the city council would have the authority to approve those sales.

The fifth proposition would allow the city to award large contracts to someone other than the lowest bidder, and the sixth would allow the city to approve sales or contracts with city employees and elected officials as long as there are at least three cost quotes and the chosen contract is “the most advantageous to the city.”

The last proposition, the seventh, would allow the city’s annual fiscal audit to take more than four months.

In addition to those ballot measures, three candidates are running for two seats on the Ketchikan City Council. There’s also a two-way race for borough mayor, two contested borough assembly races and two contested school board races.

Voters in Sitka will consider two ballot measures. The first would allow the city to use proceeds from the local tobacco tax and the sale of the local hospital for parks and recreation. 

The second, if adopted, would require all ballot measures to include a comprehensive economic impact study report before reaching the signature-gathering phase. 

Six people are running for two seats on the Borough Assembly in Sitka, and there are three candidates for two seats on the local school board.

In Petersburg, two candidates are running for mayor and five candidates are running for two seats on the borough assembly. There is one candidate and two open seats for the school board. 

In Skagway, the one candidate for mayor is running uncontested, after the previous mayor resigned earlier this year. There are four candidates for two assembly seats, and one candidate for two open school board seats. In Haines, there are four candidates for two assembly seats, and two candidates for two school board seats. 

North Slope voters contemplate big borrowing plan

In the North Slope Borough, two of four assembly races are contested, and only one of four school board races is contested. Borough voters also will consider eight different bond proposals. That’s more ballot propositions than any other municipal election taking place this month in Alaska. 

The borough is proposing to borrow a combined $204 million for public facilities, including light, power, water, sewage, public safety, education and flood control.

At Utqiagvik, the borough’s largest town and the northernmost town in the United States, voters will choose between two candidates for mayor. There’s also two city council races, only one of which is contested.

Voters also are being asked to choose whether or not to extend Utqiagvik’s 20% wholesale tobacco tax to cover “alternative nicotine products and equipment,” such as vape and e-cigarette products. 

Within the Northwest Arctic Borough, there are four borough assembly seats on this year’s ballot. Only one race is contested, and one seat — covering Ambler, Kobuk and Shungnak — has no candidates at all.

Similarly, among three races for school board, none are contested and one of the three seats has no candidates.

In the Kotzebue city election, two seats on the city council are on the ballot, and each race has two candidates. Another seat was vacated by the resignation of Ruth Moto in September, and someone will be appointed to fill that seat after the election, with the replacement being up for election in October 2026. 

The Nome Nugget noted “meager interest to run for public office” in Nome this year, with two city council seats and two school board seats unopposed, but voters there will also be asked whether to raise the city’s sales tax from 5% to 6%. 

This week, the Nugget reported that if the tax increase doesn’t pass, city officials will cut services.

In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Houston considers sales tax hike

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough holds its elections in November (as does Metlakatla in Southeast), but the cities within the Mat-Su borough vote in October.

Wasilla has no ballot measures; its city election includes three city council races, only one of which is contested.

In Palmer, five people are competing to become the city mayor, the most competitive single municipal race this fall. Three people are competing for two three-year seats on the city council. There also is a one-year seat on the council, and two people are vying for it.

Palmer voters are also being asked if they want to change the city charter so the city manager is no longer required to live within the city. The change would allow the manager to live within five miles of city limits.

Within Houston, six people are running for three spots on the city council. Houston also has four ballot measures. One asks whether voters support a city-owned airport. A second asks voters to approve a 2% sales tax increase (from 2% to 4%) in order to pay for road repairs. The third and fourth measures ask voters to approve the “Matanuska Thunder Festival” and “Founder’s Day” as city holidays. 

Many ballot measures in the Kenai Peninsula Borough

Within the Kenai Peninsula Borough, voters will decide five different ballot propositions. The first would require elections officials to hand-count ballots and ban electronic tabulators. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has already taken a similar move.

Proposition No. 2 would create a special taxing district in Ninilchik to fund a new local swimming pool there. No. 3, if approved, would increase the property tax exemption in the borough so the first $75,000 of a homeowner’s residence would be exempted from local property taxes. The current exemption applies to the first $50,000.

The fourth proposition would raise the borough’s sales tax cap every five years. Currently, sales taxes only apply to the first $500 of a purchase.

Proposition No. 5 would shift borough elections to November, aligning them with state and federal elections, much as the Mat-Su borough has done.

Five seats on the Kenai borough assembly are up for election, and three of the races are contested. Three school board seats are on the ballot as well, with two races contested.

Among city elections on the Kenai Peninsula, only Soldotna has a ballot measure. That proposition asks voters to approve or reject the annexation of 2.63 square miles of nearby land into the city limits. 

In the Interior, none of Fairbanks’ three local governments have ballot measures this year, but this year’s ballot will decide three seats on the borough assembly and two on the borough school board. There’s a two-person race to become Mayor of Fairbanks, and two seats on the city council are up for election. 

Southeast of Fairbanks, in North Pole, four seats on the city council are up for election. There are only four candidates, but the order of the candidates will determine who gets a three-year term, a two-year term or a one-year term.

Kodiak will pick a new mayor

In Kodiak, voters will pick between two candidates for borough mayor, five candidates for two seats on the borough assembly, and they will vote on a variety of service area boards.

Within city limits on Kodiak, four people are running to replace longtime Mayor Pat Branson, and four candidates are running for two seats on the city council.

In southwest Alaska, Bethel has four open city council seats but only three registered candidates and one write-in candidate. 

In Unalaska, Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. is running unopposed for re-election, and three people are running for one of the two city council seats on the ballot. The other incumbent for city council is unopposed. On the local school board, three people are running for one of two school board seats; the other seat is held by the incumbent school board president, who is unopposed in his re-election bid.

Within the Aleutians East Borough, which includes Sand Point, King Cove and Cold Bay, two of three borough assembly seats have unopposed races, and the third has two candidates. All three school board seats on the ballot have candidates running unopposed.

Further north in Dillingham, two city council seats have two candidates apiece, and three people are running unopposed for three school board seats.

Within the Bristol Bay Borough, based in Naknek, three people are running for two seats on the borough assembly, and there are five candidates for the two school board seats on the ballot.

In the Lake and Peninsula Borough, two borough assembly members and two school board members are running unopposed. Those elections, like those in Juneau, are conducted by mail, and ballots must be postmarked by Oct. 7 and received by the borough clerk before Nov. 7.

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Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson announces run for Alaska governor

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson speaks in May 2022 at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson said Thursday in Fairbanks that he intends to run for governor in 2026, becoming the 13th candidate and 12th Republican in next year’s race.

Incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and unable to run again, which has caused an unusually large number of early entries into the governor’s race.

Only one Democratic candidate, former Anchorage state Sen. Tom Begich, has entered the race. Other Democrats say they are awaiting the possible run by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who had the highest favorability rating among top candidates, according to one poll this summer.

Republicans face no such obstacle. In addition to Bronson, the Republican field of candidates includes former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom of Eagle River; Anchorage businesswoman Bernadette Wilson; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer; Bruce Walden of Palmer; former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum; and former Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.

All of those candidates have filed letters of intent or statements of candidacy with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, which allows them to fundraise and spend money on a campaign.

They have not yet registered with the Alaska Division of Elections, which officially places a candidate on the August primary ballot. 

Republican Henry Kroll of Soldotna, who has not registered with the Public Offices Commission, is the lone candidate to have registered with the Division of Elections.

The deadline to file with the Alaska Division of Elections is June 1, 2026.

In Alaska, the top four vote-getters for a state office, regardless of political party, advance from the August general election to the November general election.

Wilson has vowed to withdraw from the election if she finishes in the top four but isn’t the top Republican. She has encouraged other Republicans to take similar vows in an attempt to consolidate support for the top Republican front-runner in the general election.

Bronson, who delivered brief remarks in Fairbanks before participating in a panel discussion with six other Republican candidates, said he supports increased spending on infrastructure and the Permanent Fund dividend, saying he would like to see a constitutional amendment that would mandate a dividend paid according to a formula that was used from 1982 through 2016. 

That would require spending an additional $2 billion per year for dividend payments above what lawmakers and Dunleavy approved this year. As a whole, the state’s operating budget is currently $5.9 billion. Bronson did not explain how he intends to pay for the increase.

An experienced pilot, Bronson was elected mayor of Anchorage in 2021, months after the incumbent Democratic mayor resigned during a sex scandal and amid a conservative backlash against COVID-19 mitigation efforts imposed by the Anchorage assembly. 

He served a single term and was endorsed for re-election by Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan but lost in 2024 to current Mayor Suzanne LaFrance.

Bronson’s time in office was marked by major conflicts with city employees, public health officials and the assembly. In 2023, the city manager Bronson appointed and fired, sued him and the city, alleging illegal and unethical acts. The assembly settled that case in 2024 for $250,000 after Bronson left office.

In January, Dunleavy appointed Bronson to manage Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. After less than eight months, he announced his resignation from that job in August.

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Alaska preparing to maintain essential services if federal shutdown occurs

NOTN- The State of Alaska is preparing to continue essential services and minimize disruptions in the event of a federal government shutdown, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office said today.

Dunleavy has directed state executive branch departments to review federally funded programs and create contingency plans to ensure critical services continue wherever possible. Some programs, such as Medicaid and Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance, are expected to continue without interruption due to existing authorizations or advance funding.

Other programs may face adjustments depending on congressional action and guidance from federal agencies, officials said. Historically, Alaska has been able to keep most federally funded programs running during past shutdowns, and the state expects to do the same using available funds.

If a shutdown lasts beyond a month, the state said it will reassess and prioritize programs most directly affecting Alaskans’ life, health, and safety.

Roughly 4,800 state executive branch jobs are at least partly funded by the federal government. Those employees are expected to continue reporting to work and receiving pay for now, while a small number of federal employees embedded in state departments will follow their agencies’ shutdown procedures.

According to States Newsroom, the Trump administration began posting plans over the weekend that detail how hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be furloughed during a government shutdown, while others will keep working without being paid. 

A shutdown will begin Wednesday unless Republicans and Democrats in Congress reach agreement on a stopgap spending bill. Congressional leaders were set to meet Monday afternoon with Trump, but it was unclear if any agreement would result that would avert a shutdown.

States newsroom also published a list of the departments that have posted updated contingency plans in September:

Here is a list of the departments that hadn’t posted updated contingency plans as of Monday afternoon:

  • Agriculture Department contingency plan
  • Commerce Department contingency plan
  • Energy Department contingency plan
  • Housing and Urban Development contingency plan
  • Interior Department contingency plan
  • Transportation Department contingency plan
  • Treasury Department contingency plan
  • Veterans Affairs Department contingency plan

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development has developed a FAQ to answer Unemployment Insurance questions from federal employees who may be furloughed.

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Alaskans are receiving $1,000 cheques; Here’s why

A sign advertising the cashing of Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, or PFD, checks hangs outside a business in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

AP- The truck that arrived ahead of schedule at Allyssa Canoy’s home in Fairbanks brought enough heating fuel for the frigid winter months ahead — and a surprise bill for $2,600.

Canoy and her two sons have checks arriving that will cover that expense and leave some money for the boys, too. Starting Thursday, Alaska plans to begin distributing to residents their annual dividend derived from the state’s $83 billion oil wealth fund, a sort of bonus that Alaskans get for living in the state.

For some, it’s extra spending money for a new set of tires or a vacation to a sunnier clime during the long, dark winter. For others, it’s a vital supplement in a state where the cost for internet service, gas and groceries can be sky-high.

Here’s what to know about the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend:

This year’s payout is one of the lowest in 20 years

Alaskans are getting $1,000 per person — the lowest amount since 2020, when they each received $992. The payout has been below $1,000 only two other times since 2006.

There used to be a formula for calculating the amount, tied to the fund’s market performance. But lawmakers widely consider that formula unaffordable and within the last decade have abandoned it.

Politicians now set the amount. It’s often one of the last items settled during sensitive budget negotiations. Lawmakers must weigh the check’s size against other programs and public needs, including education, and in 2018 began using earnings from the fund — long used to pay dividends — to also help balance the budget.

This year, $1,000 is what lawmakers argued they could afford while also backing an increase in K-12 funding and trying to limit draws from savings.

Had the old formula been followed, residents would be getting about $3,800 each.

The Alaska Permanent Fund is nearly 50 years old

Voters created the fund in 1976, during the heady, early years of oil in the state. The goal was to save some of Alaska’s mineral wealth. The fund has grown through investments, and while the state constitution protects the fund’s principal, its earnings can be spent.

Dividends have been paid since 1982. Proponents saw them as a way to ensure Alaskans maintained a vested interest in the Alaska Permanent Fund.

More than 600,000 of Alaska’s roughly 740,000 residents are set to receive this year’s check. To qualify, one must meet residency and other requirements.

Three times, including last year, Alaskans received an energy relief payment along with their dividends, according to the state.

Plenty of ways to use the money

For some Alaskans, the check is a nice extra. Some put it into college funds or savings accounts or donate to charities. Others rely on it for necessities, such as heating oil, winter tires or snowmachines, which are critical modes of transportation in rural villages where residents rely on hunting or trapping.

Canoy, a single mom of two, is selling her home and downsizing. She had planned to fill her home’s fuel tank as a gift to the new buyers at closing, but the fuel truck came early while she was away. So instead of putting the $3,000 her family is receiving toward other projects, as she’d hoped, she’s using it to pay that bill. She plans to let her sons spend the remaining $400.

Canoy said she lives comfortably and sees the dividend as a blessing. Still, she wishes lawmakers would find a better way to set the amounts — “at least to just give Alaskans maybe a little peace of mind that, yeah, we’re actually doing everything that we can to make sure that you guys get the most out of the permanent fund dividend.”

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Murkowski, Sullivan join 10 US senators urging reversal of funding cuts for Native students

By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (Alaska Beacon file photos)

Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan signed on to a letter with 10 other U.S. senators, calling on the U.S. Department of Education to reverse the decision to cut millions in congressionally approved grant funding for Native American-serving colleges and universities nationwide. 

The letter, addressed to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, argues that an estimated $36.1 million in grant funding already allocated under the Higher Education Act should be distributed to colleges and universities serving Native students nationwide. 

Senators wrote the funds are already authorized and appropriated by Congress and should go toward its intended colleges and universities nationwide, “including dollars that are part of ongoing grants – projects, programs, and services that are already in motion and that are serving currently enrolled students,” they said. 

“These institutions are statutorily authorized to receive federal support from the Department to strengthen their capacity to serve American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students, and rely on this federal support to adequately serve enrolled students,” they said. 

“The Department’s decision to reprogram this critical source of funding for these colleges jeopardizes not just their continued existence, but also undermines the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations to provide Native students an education,” they wrote.

Earlier this month, Sec. McMahon announced that $350 million in congressionally approved funding for minority-serving institutions, a federal grant category that includes funding for Black, Hispanic, Asian-American and Native American students, would be reallocated. McMahon cited “racial quotas” as discriminatory and unconstitutional. “To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas,” McMahon said. 

The group of three Republican and nine Democratic senators rejected the claims, saying “to be clear, these grants do not impose racial quotas or restrict admissions based on race, but support institutions that deliver on the federal trust responsibility to provide an education for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians because of their unique legal status and political relationship with the United States.”

In Alaska, University of Alaska officials say they are still reviewing the extent of the funding freeze, but University of Alaska Fairbanks officials report the grant elimination totals at least $8.8 million across campuses. 

Senators argued that the funding cut contradicts the Trump administration’s expressed focus on career and technical education, and said the funds boost capacity for institutions serving not only Native students, but wider student populations. 

“As such, we again urge you to reverse the decision,” the senators wrote, “to release these funds, as appropriated by Congress, so that the work these schools do to support the trust responsibility, as well as the next generation of leaders as part of our nation’s bright future, can continue.

The letter was signed by Murkowski, as the chair of the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and committee co-chair U.S. Sen. Brian Shatz, D-Hawaii; along with Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina; Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico; Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona; John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado; Michael Bennett, D-Colorado; Mark Kelly, D-Arizona; Tina Smith, D-Minnesota; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota. 

A spokesperson for Murkowski said as of Wednesday they have not had a response from the department

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Murkowski: Help for health care, public broadcasting, is needed in shutdown-averting budget plan

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaks at an Aug. 4, 2025, news conference in her Anchorage office. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Alaska’s three members of Congress differed on a series of votes Friday intended to keep the federal government funded past the end of the month, and avert a government shutdown.

Alaska’s sole U.S. House Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, voted in favor of a seven-week budget extension, but that measure died in the U.S. Senate when lawmakers were unable to garner the 60 votes needed to pass the U.S. House measure or an alternative proposed by Democratic members of the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was absent from both votes. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted against both proposals.

“I voted against both measures as I felt that they were not serious (enough) to meet the situation that we are currently in today,” she said in a recording provided by her office.

The Republican-controlled House passed its stopgap funding bill 217-212, with one Democrat voting for it and two Republicans voting against it.

“The House did its job,” Begich said in a written statement afterward. “We passed a responsible, short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open and give Congress time to complete the appropriations process. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats chose obstruction over solutions, blocking this clean measure.”

Murkowski and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, voted against the House-passed plan, while Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, voted for it. Eight senators did not vote, and the measure died 44-48.

The Democratic counterproposal failed 47-45.

Murkowski said that counterproposal included “a Christmas list” of Democratic ideas, including items that would have reversed big parts of the Republican “Big Beautiful Bill Act” from earlier this year, which contained core tax cuts and spending policies of Trump’s second presidential term. Murkowski and Sullivan voted for that bill, which was later signed into law.

On the other side of the coin, Murkowski said the Republican plan failed to include an extension of subsidies for health care plans passed through the federal insurance marketplace, something that is critical for Alaskans. It also didn’t include additional funding for public broadcasting or opposition to President Donald Trump’s unilateral budget clawbacks, known as recissions.

“I’m going to be busy in the next 10 days, trying to build a level of consensus that keeps the government open, because there is no side — no Republican, no Democrat, the White House — nobody wins when there is a government shutdown,” she said.

“It’s possible that my proposal will equally annoy both sides, but maybe, just maybe, it will get the conversation going in a way that advances serious discussion and positive outcomes,” Murkowski said.

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Alaska’s 2025 Permanent Fund dividend will be $1,000 and arrives starting Oct. 2

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

 People line up outside of the downtown Anchorage Permanent Fund Dividend office on March 31, 2023, the last day to submit applications. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

This year’s Permanent Fund dividend will be $1,000, an amount set by the Alaska Legislature in House Bill 53, the state’s annual operating budget bill, earlier this year.

Ordinarily, lawmakers allocate an amount of money for the dividend, which makes individual payments dependent upon the number of recipients. 

The Alaska Department of Revenue then announces the final amount in September.

This year, lawmakers set a specific dividend amount, which turned the Alaska Department of Revenue’s fall announcement, released Friday, into an anticlimax.

Alaskans whose PFD applications were filed electronically, whose applications were approved as of Sept. 18, and who requested direct deposit, will begin to receive their payments Oct. 2. 

Those whose applications are approved by Oct. 13 will receive their dividends starting Oct. 23.

That includes people who applied for the dividend on paper forms or requested paper checks.

Paying a $1,000 dividend to all recipients was expected to cost $685.3 million, making it one of the largest single expenses in Alaska’s annual state budget.

Only the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development ($1.4 billion) and the Alaska Department of Health ($1.1 billion) are more expensive.

The 2026 dividend is expected to be larger, if lawmakers agree to spend from the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve. 

Since 2020, lawmakers have approved larger dividends in election years than in non-election years.

The Alaska Permanent Fund, an $83 billion state trust fund, is the largest source of general-purpose revenue for state services, paying for between 50-60% of state operations in an ordinary year. Oil revenue, by comparison, supplies only about a third of state revenue. 

Since 1982, a portion of the fund has been paid out to Alaskans in an annual dividend. The payment was set by formula until 2016, when lawmakers — facing severe budget shortfalls — began setting it by fiat. The formula remains in state law, but legislators are not obliged to follow it.

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No public comment or hearings on environmental review of oil leasing in Alaska’s Cook Inlet

By: Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon

 Cook Inlet waves roll onto the beach at Kenai on Aug. 14, 2018. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is preparing a supplemental environmental impact statement to address legal deficiencies in a 2022 lease sale. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Federal regulators will accept no public comments on a pending environmental study of oil leasing in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, a U.S. Department of the Interior agency announced through a Federal Register notice published Thursday.

There will be no public comment period and no public hearing on a draft supplemental environmental impact statement for a Cook Inlet lease sale that was held in 2022 but found to be legally flawed, said U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which manages oil and gas development in federal offshore areas.

The rejection of public comments is in accordance with Trump administration changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, the 55-year-old law that guides federal decisions about activities that may have environmental impacts. The changes are aimed at speeding up environmental reviews and developing infrastructure projects.

BOEM is following the administration’s updated NEPA regulations and a new department handbook on the law, which went into effect on July 3, said Elizabeth Pearce, a U.S. Department of the Interior senior public affairs specialist.

“This Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is narrowly focused on addressing the court’s concerns, without a separate public-comment round – streamlining what is typically a protracted, multi-year process down to a few months.” Pearce said by email on Thursday.

Although no public comments will be accepted, the public will be able to read the new environmental impact statement when it is finished, Pearce added. “The completed Supplemental EIS will be posted online so Alaskans and other stakeholders can see exactly how we addressed the court’s limited concerns,” she said.

The Cook Inlet environmental study stems from a federal lease sale that was held on Dec. 30, 2022. It drew only one bid.

Earlier in the year, the Biden administration had planned to cancel the sale because of lack of industry interest. But at the urging of former Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the Inflation Reduction Act that narrowly passed Congress that year included a mandate for the sale to take place. Hilcorp Inc., the dominant oil and gas operator in Cook Inlet, submitted the only bid.

In response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups days before the lease sale was held, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled in 2024 that the lease sale had been held without adequate study of impacts to endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales. Her ruling put the lease sale results on hold, and she ordered BOEM to conduct a new review addressing impacts to the belugas.

BOEM’s announcement about the lack of public comment opportunities was blasted by environmental plaintiffs in the case.

“BOEM’s decision to exclude the public from its supplemental environmental statement is unacceptable. Public participation is not a box to check — it is the heart of NEPA,” Loren Barrett, co-executive director the water conservation non-profit Cook Inletkeeper, said in an emailed statement.

BOEM’s earlier lapses concerning Cook Inlet belugas were “not minor oversights; they are serious errors that must be corrected with rigor and transparency and a proper review that allows the time for public input,” Barrett added.

Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director for the Center for Biological Diversity, also cited risks to the endangered beluga population, which is estimated to number a little over 300.

“This secrecy around exploiting public waters for fossil fuels is completely unacceptable. It would only take one oil spill to devastate Cook Inlet and its beluga whales, which is why the law requires transparency for these dangerous sales,” Monsell said in a statement. “The court found that federal officials failed to look at several important factors that could harm endangered belugas, including vessel noise. If the agency hides its analysis, we won’t know whether these critical issues have been addressed to better protect the belugas.” 

Hilcorp currently holds eight federal leases in Cook Inlet, including the sole lease acquired in the disputed 2022 sale. The company relinquished seven other federal leases in Cook Inlet. The BOEM website does not list any Hilcorp plans for exploring its remaining leases in the inlet.

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Fair-courts group argues that Dunleavy’s appointment to judge-picking board is unconstitutional

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

A copy of the Alaska Constitution is seen on Thursday, July 28, 2022. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

In Anchorage Superior Court on Wednesday, attorneys for the state of Alaska defended Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to name a former attorney to a public seat on Alaska’s judge-picking board, saying the choice was within the governor’s powers under the Alaska Constitution.

The governor’s choice of John W. Wood has been challenged by lawsuits filed by Juneau resident James Forrer and Alaskans for Fair Courts, a group devoted to the defense of the court system as an independent, apolitical branch of government.

They argue that if Wood’s appointment stands, it would give attorneys four of the six seats on the Alaska Judicial Council, the state board that accepts applications for judicial vacancies, selects nominees and forwards them to the governor for final selection.

Under the Alaska Constitution, the council consists of three attorneys picked by the Alaska Bar Association and three non-lawyer members of the public appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. In ties, the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court may cast a seventh vote.

The state contends that Wood is no longer an attorney and that he was a valid pick for an open seat. Both sides have asked for summary judgment, allowing Judge Yvonne Lamoureux to decide the case short of trial.

Wood’s appointment has been challenged on three main points. First, was the governor’s choice a valid recess appointment? Second, is Wood an attorney? Third, was he employed by the state at the time of the appointment?

Dunleavy appointed Wood in a letter dated May 29, filling a position that had been vacant since March, when a prior appointment expired. That was after the Legislature had adjourned for the year.

Under the Alaska Constitution and state law, a governor may fill vacant positions on boards and commissions when the Legislature is out of session, but the appointee will be subject to confirmation during the next regular legislative session.

Attorney James Reeves, arguing on behalf of Alaskans for Fair Courts, said his group contends that because a position on the Judicial Council became vacant during the legislative session, Wood may not begin serving until a confirmation vote takes place.

That contradicts existing practice, and Alaska Department of Law attorney Claire C. Keneally said in court on Wednesday that “it’s also not supported by the history of the (Alaska) Constitution” or the clause of the constitution that deals with appointments that take place when the Legislature is out of session.

“This is not a new or novel practice,” Keneally said of Dunleavy’s decision to not fill a March vacancy until May.

In 2015, then-Gov. Bill Walker filled a public seat on the Alaska Judicial Council in October; that seat had also been vacant since March, when the Legislature was in session.

Because of that timing issue, Keneally argued both in court and in writing, the case should be dismissed. Other arguments would be ripe for discussion only if the Legislature approves Wood’s appointment.

Wood was granted a law license in 1972, but it was suspended in 2000 because of a failure to pay dues to the Alaska Bar Association. Under a sworn affidavit, Wood said he has not practiced law since 2000 and has no intention of practicing law.

But in court on Wednesday, Reeves with Alaskans for Fair Courts said, “the Constitutional Convention history, which both sides have cited, indicates that the framers who discussed this understood the word non-attorney to mean layman or lay member. Is a lawyer who chooses not to practice law a layman?”

Reeves and attorney Joseph Geldhof, who was representing James Forrer in a separate but combined lawsuit also challenging Wood’s appointment, argued that because Wood held a state consulting contract at the time of his appointment, he was ineligible to serve on the Judicial Council.

The contract calls for Wood to advise the Alaska Department of Law on labor relations matters and to provide advice to the governor’s office when needed.

The Alaska Constitution states that no member of the Judicial Council may hold “any other office or position of profit under the United States or the state.”

But Keneally noted that the Alaska Supreme Court has previously interpreted that phrase to mean “salaried, non-temporary employment” with the state, and that other members of the Alaska Judicial Council, including some current members, have also held state contracts while serving on the council. 

Lamoureux, who heard Wednesday’s arguments, said she intends to issue a written order within 30 days, the timeline requested by both sides of the case in order to allow a speedy appeal.  

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Former Alaska attorney general Treg Taylor is 11th candidate to announce run for governor in 2026

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor speaks at a news conference on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. (Photo by James Brooks / Alaska Beacon)

Treg Taylor, the former Alaska attorney general, is running for governor, he announced Wednesday morning.

“I have a four-and-a-half-year proven record as the attorney general of fighting crime, fighting Biden, and fighting for Alaska,” he said by phone.

In a campaign video and written statement, Taylor promoted himself as a “fearless conservative” who is the best successor to incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run for another four years in office.

Taylor is the 10th Republican and 11th candidate overall to enter the 2026 Alaska governor’s race. 

The lone non-Republican in the race is former state Sen. Tom Begich, an Anchorage Democrat. 

The other Republicans are Anchorage business owner Bernadette Wilson; former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom of Eagle River; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; and Bruce Walden of Palmer.

“That is a ridiculous number of people in the race,” Taylor said when asked how he distinguishes himself from the other Republicans. “My answer is that I am the only candidate that has a proven record of fighting on behalf of Alaska. When I was the attorney general for four and a half years, I fought crime, I fought Biden, I fought for Alaska’s economic future. I’ve been heavily involved with the Trump administration. I helped draft Trump’s first day Executive Order unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential. And I’ve worked hard with the Trump administration, with (Department of the Interior), (Department of Justice), to see fulfillment of that executive order, which is going to push Alaska’s economic future.”

Asked about his campaign plans, Taylor said, “over the next few months, I’ll be hard at work, visiting with groups, visiting with individuals, working up support, fundraising. Obviously, I think the biggest tell in this race is going to be when everybody divulges their fundraising and our goal is to be at the top of that list, and I think we’ve got a good plan for getting there.”

Taylor, a longtime attorney with a degree from the Brigham Young University law school, worked in private practice and for Arctic Slope Regional Corp. before joining the Alaska Department of Law in 2018. He was head of the department’s civil division in 2021 when Dunleavy picked him as attorney general following the resignations of two other men amid sexual misconduct scandals.

Taylor, who has never held publicly elected office before, ran unsuccessfully for the Anchorage School Board in 2011 and for that city’s Assembly in 2016.

Taylor’s entry into the governor’s race marks an unusually early start for an Alaska campaign. Eight years ago, when now-Gov. Dunleavy launched his campaign in July 2017, he was the first high-profile candidate to challenge then-Gov. Bill Walker. This time around, three candidates had entered the race before June. 

While the race is unusually crowded, additional candidates are still possible. Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has not ruled out a campaign, and a run by former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, is also possible.

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