Tag: ketchikan

By James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

The Alaska Legislature has approved a state driver’s license data-sharing bill that would allow some travelers to speed through security at airports in Alaska.

On Wednesday, the Alaska Senate voted unanimously to approve Senate Bill 237, from Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks. Because the House voted to pass the bill 40-0 on Tuesday, the Senate’s vote sends the bill to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for final approval or veto.

As originally drafted by Kawasaki, SB 237 would have only allowed the state Division of Motor Vehicles to share driver’s license information with “a nonprofit organization, governmental, or tribal entity.”

That would allow Alaskans to apply for a replacement Social Security card over the internet. Currently, someone who needs a replacement must visit an office in Juneau, Anchorage or Fairbanks in person. 

Alaska is the only state that does not allow residents to get a replacement card online.

In the House, Rep. Steve St. Clair, R-Wasilla, proposed an amendment that would allow the state to share driver’s license data with “an entity participating in the Transportation Security Administration’s Registered Traveler Programs.”

That includes CLEAR, a for-profit company that offers fast-lane service at airport security checkpoints across the country.

“There’s actually a contract between CLEAR and the (Anchorage) airport right now, they just can’t do anything or share data until we pass legislation saying that they can,” St. Clair said. 

House lawmakers approved that amendment unanimously.

At the urging of Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, lawmakers also amended the bill with a section that will allow Alaskans to store digital copies of their driver’s licenses on their smartphones. 

If a police officer performs a traffic stop, that digital copy would be valid ID.

That amendment was originally a separate bill, House Bill 180, from the Office of the Governor. 

“For anyone who lives their life on their phone, this would be a wonderful convenience that the administration would like to offer,” Gray said.

That amendment passed the House by a 38-2 vote, and SB 237 proceeded toward a final vote in the Legislature without opposition.

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

A vote pending on the last day of the Alaska Legislature’s regular session could end up canceling a long-planned ballot measure that would restrict financial donations to political candidates in the state.

Late Tuesday night, the Alaska Senate voted 12-8 to approve House Bill 16, which would impose limits on the amount of money that individuals and groups can donate to political candidates. 

That action sends the bill to the House for a simple up-or-down concurrence vote. Success would send it to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for enactment or veto.

HB 16 is substantially similar to a ballot measure scheduled for a vote during the August primary election. Under the Alaska Constitution, if lawmakers enact a substantially similar law to a ballot measure scheduled for a vote, the ballot measure vote is canceled. 

Both methods would change state law, but there’s one key difference: A ballot measure cannot be repealed for two years after voters approve it. A law may be repealed the following year if legislators and the governor approve.

In 2018, a scheduled ballot measure dealing with legislators’ conflicts of interest was removed from the ballot after legislators passed a substantially similar law. In 2019, they rolled back that law.

Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, arranged Tuesday night’s vote on HB 16. He has previously sought to impose campaign finance limits.

“I think (the ballot measure) is going to pass overwhelmingly, and this would save a little bit of money,” he said of the decision to advance HB 16. 

State law requires ballot measure information be published in a pamphlet that is sent to voters. In addition, the Division of Elections is required to hold in-person presentations at locations across the state to explain each ballot measure.

Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, helped orchestrate the ballot measure and House Bill 16.

Late Tuesday, he said he was surprised by the Senate’s action and was not informed until shortly before it took place.

“To see them pass it relatively unchanged was quite surprising, and a pleasant surprise,” he said, noting that he and his colleagues have been seeking new campaign finance limits in Alaska for five years.

In 2021, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Alaska’s then-existing campaign finance limits were unconstitutional.

The Alaska Department of Law declined to appeal that ruling. Speaking to reporter Nat Herz months later, Dunleavy said, “You know me: I’m the guy that wants people to be able to drive four wheelers on the road. I’m a freedom guy,” he said. “My tendency is to just let people do what they want in campaign finance law, as long as it’s disclosed and it’s accurate.”

As a result, the state’s 2022, 2024 and 2026 elections have operated with no restrictions on the amount of money a person can give to a candidate.

The Alaska House passed Schrage’s bill in April 2025, but the Senate took no action before adjourning that year. That inaction meant the 2026 election cycle opened without limits. 

“We took it up last year, and there just wasn’t the support to do it at that time,” Wielechowski said.

What changed?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, people just — honestly, it just kind of got buried in everything else, and just going through bills, we saw it was there, and we said, ‘Well, I have a chance to maybe take it off the ballot and pass it.’”

Neither Wielechowski or Schrage have talked to Dunleavy about whether he would veto the measure or allow it to become law.

If HB 16 becomes law, or if the proposed ballot measure is adopted by voters, new limits would be in place for the 2028 election. 

The new individual limits would be $2,000 in donations per candidate in each two-year election cycle. For the governor’s race, where a lieutenant governor candidate and governor candidate run together on a single ticket, the limit would be $4,000. The limit for donations from one person to a political party or group would be $5,000.

If a group wants to donate to a candidate, the limit is $4,000, or $8,000 for the governor’s race.

Those limits would be adjusted for inflation every 10 years.

Schrage said he’s open to either HB 16 or the ballot measure.

“It is very widely popular, and so — one way or another, I just want to see this taken and taken up and put back into law,” he said.

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Alaska’s public employees and public school teachers will not have access to pensions this year.

In a 33-27 vote Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature failed to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bill that would have created a new pension system for teachers, municipal employees and state employees in Alaska. Forty votes were needed for an override.

The failure was expected. Lawmakers had passed the pension bill, House Bill 78, by a combined vote total of 33-27 last month, and there was no sign that any legislator had changed his or her position since that vote. 

Alaska has been without a pension for new public employees since 2006, when lawmakers closed the existing pension plan to new applicants and mandated a 401(k)-style retirement system.

Though Dunleavy himself receives a public pension, he is opposed to opening a new system for current employees. In a veto message to lawmakers on Monday night, he expressed concerns about potential long-term costs and risks to the state.

“Pension obligations extend for decades, and the full cost of this bill may not be apparent until years after its enactment,” his veto message stated in part.

Despite the governor’s concerns, he was willing to allow the bill to become law as part of a grand compromise: If legislators approved a gas pipeline tax relief bill he supports, he would not veto the bill.

That arrangement fell apart on Monday afternoon after the House failed to advance the governor’s preferred proposal. The governor issued his veto about 10:39 p.m. that night.

Under the Alaska Legislature’s current interpretation of the state constitution, lawmakers are required to meet in joint session within five days to consider a veto override.

Under previous interpretations, legislators frequently skipped holding joint sessions if they either didn’t want to discuss an override or knew they lacked the votes to do so.

On Tuesday afternoon, though legislators knew an override was not in the cards, advocates and opponents spoke for a combined two hours before the final vote.

Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage and the pension bill’s most vocal proponent, said the bill is intended to reduce the amount of staff turnover in the state. While the bill was expected to cost $73 million per year to implement, Kopp expected it would save over $240 million in training costs for new employees and overtime needed to cover positions left vacant by staff who had resigned.

“House Bill 78 is not a retirement bill. … It is a workforce bill, and it’s a resource development bill. We cannot build a gasline through this state unless we can retain our engineers. We cannot permit a mine when the permitting office turns over in 18 months. We can’t drill on the North Slope when the Haul Road isn’t being maintained,” he said.

Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, gave a 25-minute speech rejecting Kopp’s argument, saying in part that the lack of a pension system is not causing the vacancy problem. If the state’s Supplemental Benefit System — not used by some municipalities — is included with the state’s 401(k)-like public employee retirement system, Alaska has generous retirement benefits, he said.

Stedman suggested that higher salaries may be part of the answer to the state’s vacancy issues. Alaska used to be No. 1 in the country for teacher salaries. It’s now ranked below Washington state, he said.

Rep. Jeremy Bynum, R-Ketchikan, said that in his experience as an employer, higher salaries helped but weren’t a complete solution.

“That still didn’t solve the problem of retention, because people still cannot live in our communities affordably, so we’ve got a lot of challenges ahead of us,” he said.

Stedman also warned that the bill is based upon actuarial estimates that may or may not be accurate. The state’s prior pension plan was left only partially funded because of an actuarial error that led to a years-long lawsuit and left a multibillion-dollar shortfall.

Sens. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, and Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, each suggested that the proof of the need for the bill is in the state’s lived experience. Alaska has experienced 13 consecutive years of negative migration, and state and municipal governments continue to struggle to fill positions.

“This will make a tremendous difference if we override this veto and put back the option of a modest defined benefit pension for Alaska’s public servants,” Kiehl said.

The legislature’s regular session ends Wednesday night. 

Any new pension bill would have to restart from scratch in January, when the 35th Alaska Legislature convenes for its first year.

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

In a historic vote, Alaska lawmakers rejected Stephen Cox as the state’s new attorney general by a 29-31 vote that saw Cox become just the second cabinet appointment in state history to fail confirmation.

Thirty-one votes were needed for confirmation as the 40-person state House and 20-person state Senate met jointly Thursday to vote on 75 nominations for state boards, commissions and the governor’s cabinet.

Speaking in the Capitol on Thursday, opponents said they viewed Cox as a Republican ideologue who favored party-supported policies at the expense of Alaskans. In particular, opponents pointed to Cox’s support for a lawsuit that could end birthright citizenship and his failure to support the state’s absentee voting program.

The Legislature’s rejection is likely to have limited long-term effects. Immediately after the vote, Dunleavy announced he had named Cox as “Counsel to the Governor,” a position he will take immediately.

“Stephen Cox has a strong understanding of Alaska law and the challenges facing our state,” Dunleavy said in a written statement. “His experience, professionalism, and commitment to public service make him a valuable asset as Counsel to the Governor. I look forward to working with Stephen as we continue advancing policies that strengthen Alaska’s economy, uphold the rule of law, and serve the people of our state.”

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, opposed Cox as attorney general but supports the new role. 

“I think it makes perfect sense,” Gray said. “I think that’s actually a perfect fit. I think Stephen Cox would make an excellent attorney to the governor because they have a lot of alignment and similar priorities.”

The new position was created specifically for Cox within the Office of the Governor.

“The governor has those choices,” said Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “That’s within his power.”

Dunleavy also named Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills as the acting head of the Department of Law.

Dunleavy may designate a permanent replacement who can serve until he is replaced by a new governor in December.

State law prohibits the governor from reappointing Cox as attorney general.

The governor’s other cabinet appointees, including officials in charge of natural resources, the environment and the treasury, received wide support and were confirmed by near-unanimous votes.

Legislators have not rejected a cabinet appointment since 2009, when the Legislature failed to confirm then-Gov. Sarah Palin’s choice of Wayne Anthony Ross to become attorney general.

Speaking Thursday, Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, criticized Cox’s decision to hire an out-of-state attorney with no experience in Alaska as the state’s first Solicitor General.

Following that hire, Cox led the Department of Law in joining Alaska in more than 100 friend-of-the-court briefs on national cases. In some of those cases, Gray said, the briefs were contrary to Alaska law and Alaskans’ interests.

“I believe that Stephen Cox would make probably a good attorney general in a state, just not in our state. He is not the right choice for Alaska,” said Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Lӧki Tobin, D-Anchorage, was particularly critical of Cox’s signature on a letter supporting President Donald Trump’s attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship in the United States.

“That stance threatens my rights. It threatens your rights,” she said, speaking to Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. “It threatens every Alaskan’s rights.”

Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, appeared to offer a rebuttal to that argument, noting that in general, “attorneys are mercenaries.”

“Somebody’s their boss, whether you’re paying them or whether the governor or the executive hires them. So I suspect that a lot of what we are talking about here is not some rogue attorney general off on his own. I think that he’s had directions that have been provided to him. He’s doing a certain number of things that his boss is telling him to do,” he said.

Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, responded to that argument. He said the case against birthright citizenship isn’t just wrong on a moral basis, it’s wrong on a factual basis, and it was unethical for the state to back it.

“We should not have signed on to it, and a qualified attorney should not have signed on to it. I don’t know if the governor pressured the Attorney General to sign on to it, or if he did it voluntarily. It actually doesn’t matter to an ethical attorney,” Dunbar said. “An attorney being asked to make those spurious arguments and sign on to an amicus brief that would repeal birthright citizenship should have resigned rather than go forward with that argument.”

Legislators rejected only two other appointments. 

Hannah Mielke was turned down for a public seat on the Alaska State Medical Board.

Mielke is an 18-year-old who graduated from high school last year and currently works as an office assistant for Dunleavy.

Opponents said she was unqualified to supervise the state’s doctors and medical professionals. Supporters noted she would be the only female member of the board and significantly younger than other members.

“Frankly, I think a fresh perspective would be good,” said Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole. “It really doesn’t matter if you’re 20 or 69, soon to be 70.”

Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said a large number of young women are skeptical of the medical industry, and Mielke’s perspective could be useful.

Mielke’s nomination failed 13-47.

Lawmakers also turned down Crystal Herring for a seat on the State Board of Professional Counselors. Tobin, speaking in opposition, said her appointment may not follow state law, which requires the appointment go to someone involved in mental health treatment. Herring just provides transportation, she said.

Other objections were raised over the conduct of a COVID-19 pandemic emergency clinic she ran under a contract with the city of Anchorage while donating financially to then-Mayor Dave Bronson.

Her nomination was rejected 28-32.