Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, speaks Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, on the floor of the Alaska Senate. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, speaks Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, on the floor of the Alaska Senate. (Photo 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.”
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.
The Alaska State Capitol is seen on the last day of the legislative session on May 20, 2026. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska Legislature approved a broad omnibus crime bill that will increase criminal penalties for a variety of offenses and streamline victims services. The bill includes over a dozen pieces of legislation and garnered bipartisan support.
The Alaska Senate unanimously passed House Bill 239 on Tuesday, after assembling the combination bill package over the last several weeks. Lawmakers in the House concurred with the Senate’s changes by a vote of 39 to 1 on Wednesday morning. It now advances to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for consideration.
The omnibus crime bill includes provisions to create stricter criminal penalties for AI-generated child sexual abuse material, hit-and-run incidents and sexual assault by a healthcare worker. It also raises the age of consent from 16 to 18 years old and restructures the Alaska Board of Parole, among other items.
Sen. James Kauffman, R-Anchorage, spoke in support of the omnibus bill on Tuesday. “We hear of sausage-making in the legislative process — this is a big piece of sausage,” he said. “And having seen it in Senate Finance, I was impressed with the content, the quality of how so many things came together, and it came together so well.”
Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, speaks at a March 19, 2024, news conference held by the Senate majority caucus. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, carried the omnibus bill in the Senate. He noted that the state will carry some fixed and indeterminate costs for enacting the changes across several state departments, but said it’s worth the price tag to protect public safety and improve protections for victims.
“Changing the statutes is not enough. Sometimes it calls on us to have more prosecutors, more police and more people in the field to actually enforce these crimes,” he said on the Senate floor.
“I hear consistently from the public, when we look at these public safety measures, is ‘Who’s going to be there to enforce these laws?’ This is an example in which the fiscal notes reflect that this bill will cost money, but the public really believes in it, and they want these measures to take place, and they want our public safety professionals to go and do the things they need to enforce these laws,” he said.
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, speaks Friday, April 26, 2024, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, sponsored the bill to enact state criminal penalties for AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and spoke in support ahead of the vote. She spoke in favor of concurrence on Wednesday morning.
“There’s a couple of windows that I would like tighter, however we have to get agreement with every region of the state. And I think this bill does that. This bill prioritizes justice. And this is justice for all of those who have not had a voice,” she said.
Some members of the House all-Republican minority caucus raised concerns at the number of bills included in the omnibus bill and the need for more public discussion and hearing on the individual bills. But Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, argued that hearing each bill would take legislators hundreds of hours and an omnibus bill was the best way to pass and enact needed criminal policy changes.
Rep Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, backed a bill to raise the age of consent from 16 to 18 years old, aimed at prosecuting sexual violence against 16 and 17 year olds. “For years we were collaborating on this, whether we knew we were collaborating or not,” he said on Wednesday on the omnibus crime bill.
“We have the highest rate of sexual assault in the country, and the majority of victims being young. Being younger is a risk factor,” he said. “What we are doing today is telling predators that 16 and 17 year olds are off limits.”
The omnibus crime bill now includes:
House Bill 239 — would increase criminal penalties for hit and run incidents by drivers that cause a death and knowingly fail to stop and render assistance, and it establishes mandatory sentencing of four to seven years for a first hit and run felony conviction.
House Bill 101 — would raise the age of consent from 16 to 18 years old, with provisions to allow minors to consent to sex with someone up to six years older than them. The draft bill also allows 16 and 17 year olds to consensually exchange sexual or explicit messages within the six year close-in-age gap without penalties.
House Bill 62 — would establish a statewide tracking system for sexual assault examination kits, expedite processing times and ensure that survivors can privately monitor the status of their own kit. The bill was sponsored by the governor.
Senate Bill 100 — would establish the crime of organized theft, including mail theft and medical record theft.
House Bill 242 — would redefine criminal law to prohibit any sexual contact or assault by a healthcare worker during professional treatment, a change to the current law that only applies to patients being unaware of sexual contact or assault for criminal charges to apply.
Senate Bill 17 — would establish the crime of airbag fraud for knowingly selling, installing or manufacturing a counterfeit airbag in a vehicle.
House Bill 81 — would establish that minor marijuana related convictions remain confidential on individuals’ personal records, under certain criteria.
House Bill 384 — would expand confidentiality agreements between victims and service providers by updating the definition of “victim counseling center” to include tribal organizations.
Senate Bill 233 — would reassign the administration of the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee from the Department of Law to the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.
Changes to the Board of Parole
The provision to restructure the Alaska Board of Parole was originally introduced by Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, as Senate Bill 62 last year. The provision expands the Board of Parole from five to seven members, enacts term limits of no more than two five-year terms and implements new criteria for board seats.
The Board of Parole is appointed by the governor, and is charged with reviewing applications and eligibility for parole, for which there were 199 applicants last year. Advocates and lawmakers have raised concerns around Alaska’s parole approval rates dropping significantly in recent years — to some of the lowest rates in the nation.
Tobin and proponents of the changes to the parole board said the board’s workload was a reason to expand the board and said the added criteria for the board seats is important for fairness and accountability to those under review for parole.
The new criteria for board seats would require that one member be a licensed physician, psychologist or psychiatrist, one member have experience in the field of criminal justice, one member have experience in providing drug or alcohol addiction recovery support or who has personal experience with addiction, and one member of a federally recognized tribe in the state.
The entrance to the Anchorage Correctional Complex is seen on Aug. 29, 2022. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Senators also added criteria for parole eligibility so that parole board members consider an applicant’s age at the time of offense.
While the officials with the Alaska Department of Corrections have said rising costs across the prison system are in part due to an aging population and increasing medical needs, the Board of Parole has not granted anyone geriatric or medical parole in the last five years, according to state data.
Senators included a new provision to allow the corrections commissioner to authorize medical parole of a prisoner, with electronic monitoring, if that prisoner has a terminal, permanent or progressively degenerative disease and is deemed to not pose a threat to public safety. Senators also included legislation introduced last year, Senate Bill 31, to establish an address confidentiality program to help protect victims of domestic violence or stalking and police or correctional officers and their families. Individuals enrolled in the program will have their mail forwarded to a designated post office box to help keep their home address private.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, talks with Senate staff before resuming work on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, talks with Senate staff before resuming work on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. (James Brooks photo/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.
“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.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak (left) and Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, watch the voting board in the Alaska Legislature as lawmakers vote on a veto override Tuesday, May 19, 2026, for the pension bill, House Bill 78. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak (left) and Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, watch the voting board in the Alaska Legislature as lawmakers vote on a veto override Tuesday, May 19, 2026, for the pension bill, House Bill 78. (Claire Stremple photo/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, speaks during a joint session of the Alaska Legislature as lawmakers vote on a veto override Tuesday, May 19, 2026, for the pension bill, House Bill 78. (Claire Stremple photo/Alaska Beacon)
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.
The Alaska State Capitol in Juneau is seen on Apr. 24, 2026. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Less than two years after Alaskans approved a ballot measure creating a mandatory sick leave law, the Alaska House of Representatives has voted to partially repeal it.
By a 22-18 vote on Saturday, the House approved an amendment that would cancel the law’s application for seasonal workers and for workers employed by a business with nine or fewer employees. The cancellation would take effect immediately, if the bill is signed into law.
Seasonal workers are defined as those who work at a specific job for less than six months per year.
All of the House’s Republican members voted for the amendment, including Reps. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, and Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, who are members of the House’s predominantly Democratic majority caucus. Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, also voted for the amendment.
All of the House’s Democratic members and its remaining independents opposed the amendment.
The amendment was to House Bill 193, which would create a mandatory paid leave program for new parents, starting in 2030. That bill advanced from the House on a 36-4 vote and was scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Monday afternoon.
The four opposition votes all came from Republican lawmakers in the House’s minority caucus.
It was not immediately clear whether the bill had the necessary support to pass the Senate before the end of the legislative session on Wednesday night.
The amendment, introduced by Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage, was largely identical to House Bill 161, a rollback measure that failed to advance in the Capitol this year despite significant lobbying efforts from business groups.
The state’s fishing industry, tourism industry, construction industry, the state chamber of commerce and several local chambers of commerce all haveadvocated HB 161.
Speaking ahead of the vote, several Republican lawmakers said they were heeding that call and voting yes on the amendment to HB 193.
“It’s actually been my number one priority since I got back here this year,” said Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, speaking about the rollback.
Much of the desire for the rollback, Stapp explained, is because during its first year, seasonal employees saved their sick leave until the end of their term, then used it right before their departure, leaving employers short-staffed.
“That is creating a workforce crisis at the end of the season that is going to progressively get worse and worse and worse for our fishing industry, for our tourist industry, for our construction industry,” he said.
Speaking on the floor ahead of the vote, Coulombe said she had hoped to cancel sick leave for all workers at businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but she received a legal memo indicating that doing so would be illegal because Alaska’s constitution prohibits the Legislature from repealing a ballot measure within its first two years, and such a large exemption would have covered roughly half of the state’s workers.
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said the sick leave law is “gutting the small businesses in my community.”
“We need to be listening to our business community right now, that so many of them (came to us) and said, ‘We need help,’” she said.
Rep. Zack Fields, D-Anchorage, was among the lawmakers who urged the House to reject the amendment.
“I think it’s very problematic to substantially gut a ballot initiative less than two years after it was passed by voters,” he said.
Exempting seasonal workers means exempting multinational tourism and fishing businesses that operate in Alaska, he noted.
“Do we really need to exempt all the employees of massive multinational businesses like Holland America Princess?” he asked.
During the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, fish processing plants and cruise ships were hotspots of infection and disease. Outside the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism occasionally brings waves of influenza and norovirus to coastal communities.
“When we have a tourism dependent economy, it is not in our interest to push sick people to come to work when they’re serving food, when they’re doing hospitality,” Fields said.
In 2024, Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, was one of the key organizers behind the sick leave ballot measure. Like her Democratic colleagues, she opposed the sick leave rollback but ultimately voted for the underlying bill even though it contained the rollback.
“The bill is a great bill, and you can just see the strong bipartisan support,” she said. “This whole building is an area of trying to figure out compromises and figuring out the ways where we can do good things that are supportive for families and can really address these issues about migration that our state has been facing. It’s not over for the bill or for paid sick (leave), so we’ll just see what happens on the Senate side.”
House lawmakers watch the voting board Friday, May 15, 2026, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives as they vote for the state’s capital budget. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
Days before the end of their regular legislative session, the Alaska Legislature has almost finalized the state’s annual capital budget, one of four regular budget bills that pass through the Capitol annually.
Passed by the state House in a 24-16 vote on Friday, the capital budget contains $2.5 billion in spending, including $323 million for drinking water projects, $148.3 million for K-12 public school repairs and construction and $42.5 million for the University of Alaska.
Various federal programs are expected to pay for the bulk of the bill — $1.8 billion in total. State accounts would be used to pay for the remainder.
Even with the increase, spending remains short of what’s needed to cover deferred maintenance. Two years ago, the statewide deferred maintenance backlog was estimated at $2.4 billion, with $180 million per year needed to keep that figure from increasing.
The part of this year’s budget devoted to deferred maintenance is near that amount — it does not significantly reduce the backlog.
The capital budget covers spending in fiscal year 2027, which starts July 1. If oil prices are higher than predicted during the first half of that year, the state would earn millions of dollars in extra revenue, and the bill calls for diverting that money to a variety of maintenance and construction projects statewide.
Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage and co-chair of the House Finance Committee, speaks Friday, May 15, 2026, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
“This capital budget, to be honest, is in some ways a huge step forward over last year,” said Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage and co-chair of the House Finance Committee in charge of the capital budget.
“We see a much larger investment in being able to address some of our key areas in the state, but it also, I will recognize, does not go far enough, given the levels of deferred maintenance and other needs throughout our state,” he said.
Before the final vote, House lawmakers spent two days considering possible amendments to the bill but adopted only two. The most substantial restored some federal funding for the West Susitna Access Project, a proposal to build a road into the western Matanuska-Susitna Borough in order to support mining projects.
Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake and a booster of the project, thanked his colleagues for restoring that money but said he couldn’t vote for the bill because it didn’t contain full funding for the access project.
Even then, “It’s a decent bill. It’s got things in there for just about everybody,” McCabe said.
Before that vote, House and Senate leaders negotiated an agreement that would allow the House to add no more than $100 million in projects funded by general-purpose state dollars to the capital budget.
The House-passed version abides by that agreement, and Senate aides familiar with both the budget and the agreement said they do not expect senators to object to the House’s additions.
House and Senate lawmakers are negotiating a compromise operating budget and a compromise mental health budget; those are expected to pass from the Capitol on Wednesday, the last day of the regular session. Legislators and Dunleavy previously approved the supplemental budget, the first of the four regular budget bills.
After being transmitted to the governor, all budget bills are subject to his line-item veto powers. Dunleavy may eliminate or reduce specific items in the budget but cannot add any or increase their amounts.
Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox, with Goov. Mike Dunleavy, speaks at a Feb. 12, 2026, news conference in Anchorage about drug enforcement. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/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. Loki Tobin, D-Anchorage, speaks Thursday, May 14, 2026, during a joint session of the Alaska Legislature. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
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.
Rep. Steve St. Clair, R-Wasilla, speaks on the House floor Thursday, May 14, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
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.
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.
Members of the Alaska Senate watch the voting board as Stephen Cox fails to be confirmed as Alaska’s attorney general on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
Members of the Alaska House of Representatives convene on the first day of the second session of the 34th Alaska State Legislature on Jan. 20, 2026 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Lawmakers in the Alaska House passed a bill that aims to stabilize budgets for Alaska school districts by redefining how they calculate their student counts. The student count makes up the base of the state’s education funding formula.
Lawmakers passed House Bill 261 by a 31 to 9 vote, with bipartisan support, on Tuesday. Under the new calculation of the student count, the bill would provide an additional $143 million in state funding to school districts next year.
But with competing education funding and policy proposals in the Legislature — and just seven days left in the legislative session — the bill heads to the Alaska Senate for consideration and its future is uncertain.
Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, speaks on the House floor on May 11, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, would allow school districts to make their student counts and budget estimates earlier in the year. Currently, schools make an estimated student count in October, and revise it in the spring. Under the proposed legislation, districts would use the previous three-year average of their student count — or the previous year’s count, if it is more than 5% higher.
Story described the change as a way for school districts to get off a budgeting “rollercoaster” and allow districts to have firmer budget estimates, including more certainty in offering contracts to teachers and staff in the spring.
“This is such a policy change that would so help Alaska stabilize education and get more relief and more certainty, and less stress for our families,” she said Tuesday, after the vote.
Alaska school districts are grappling with major budget deficits and rising costs, which have them planning cuts and teacher and staff layoffs across the state — at least 11 schools are slated for closure — amid years of ongoing debates among legislators and Gov. Mike Dunleavy on how much the state should fund education.
School districts currently estimate their student counts in October and draft budget estimates in the spring, and sometimes up to the first day of school in the fall. But with declining enrollment and other changes among student populations, those budget estimates can change, leaving districts uncertain about what staff or programs will be offered in the fall — as well as how much state funding they will receive. Under the new legislation, districts would instead have a solid student count number to budget off of in the year ahead.
Additionally, the bill would change how districts count students who receive intensive special education services. Districts could use the previous year’s count, or the current year’s count in October or in February.
“And what’s great about smoothing is it can help them plan for their educational programs when they are in a climate of declining enrollment,” Story said. “Other states are doing this, and they don’t have the volatility that we do. Because our process, our funding process timeline, is messed up, it really is.”
Alaska has seen a steady decline in enrollment in public schools in recent years, with more students and families opting to enroll in homeschool programs and private schools, or leaving the state altogether. When student numbers decline sharply, the state has a “hold harmless” provision which protects districts from funding dropping dramatically, and phases funding down over three years. Proponents of the legislation say the more predictable student counts and budgeting will help districts with long term stability, their ability to retain teachers and attract new students.
The adjusted student count would have varying effects on school districts statewide — a state fiscal analysis projects the Anchorage School District would receive $31 million more next year. Sitka would see $2 million more, and Yukon-Koyukuk would see $3.8 million in additional funding. But several districts would see less funding under the new calculation, like the state-run boarding school Mt. Edgecumbe High School.
Members of the Alaska House debated and passed an amendment to the bill which would also change the calculation for local municipalities’ contribution to school districts in the state’s complex funding formula, known as the local contribution.
Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, sponsored the amendment that would cap municipalities’ contribution at a fixed increase of 2% annually, which would relieve boroughs seeing rapidly rising property assessments — those assessments inform how much they contribute to their local schools. Ruffridge said large boroughs like the Kenai Peninsula, Matanuska-Susitna and Anchorage, which are seeing rising property values, are shouldering education funding that should be placed on the state. The adjustment is estimated to cost the state $30 million next year.
Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, speaks on the House floor on May 11, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“What you’re seeing in a lot of districts with high increases to property assessment values is their required local contribution is going up and up,” Ruffridge said in an interview on Wednesday. “As a result, they’re being required to pay a significantly higher portion, so to the state it looks like the state funding to schools is going down. That’s what it looks like. And on the municipal side they’re being asked to pay more and more and more.”
The amendment passed by a 24 to 16 vote, with Story among those opposing. After the vote she called it a “significant change” and said she had concerns about capping funding for education.
The prospects of the bill are uncertain. Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, who chairs the Senate Education committee said Tuesday the policy changes will need to be vetted by the Senate with just days left in the session.
Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, speaks in support of a new state pension plan on Apr. 28, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“Bringing everybody along while we are also trying to deal with property tax bills and sales tax proposals and a Rural Health Transformation Fund and all these different healthcare compacts, along with the omnibus crime bill, and of course, the budgets, it might just be too much for us to take that large of a bite,” Tobin said. “But I do believe that components of House Bill 261 will end up in the final package.”
“I’m not trying to be a future teller by saying what is and is not going to continue to be considered by this body,” she added, and said that it’s likely the policy changes will be taken up by the Task Force on Education Funding. “This could be a part of that overall package you see introduced in the 35th Legislature.”
The draft bill redefining districts’ student counts would cost an estimated $113 million, plus additional provisions, for a total of roughly $143 million.
Meanwhile, the Senate is in the process of considering another “mini-bus” education bill, also originally authored by Story, which would fund an additional $82 million for schools, including targeted funding for transportation, energy relief, reading instruction and career and technical education programs.
A draft budget passed by the Senate includes up to $100 million in one-time funding for schools, if oil prices remain high. The House drafted a budget with nearly $158 million in one-time education funding — the two proposals are currently being negotiated and compiled by a conference committee of three senators and three representatives over the next few days.
The bill is subject to a reconsideration vote on Wednesday at the request of House Minority Leader Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, which delays the bill’s transmittal to the Senate.
The Alaska State Capitol in Juneau is seen on Apr. 24, 2026. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
NOTN- With just over a week left before Alaska lawmakers adjourn on May 20, the Legislature is entering its busiest stretch of the year as lawmakers scramble to pass budgets, major policy bills and a contentious natural gas tax proposal that lawmaker’s say has become the Governor’s biggest priority this session.
Alaska Public Media conjectured the final days of the session will likely center on three major areas: the state budget, the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline project and a flood of remaining legislation that must pass before the end of the two-year legislative cycle. Bills that don’t pass by adjournment will die and have to be reintroduced in a future session.
Negotiations are now underway between the House and Senate on the state operating budget. The House version includes a $1,500 Permanent Fund dividend, one-time school funding and expanded spending on child care and social programs. The Senate’s proposal is more conservative, with a $1,150 payment that includes an energy relief component and less education funding overall. Final negotiations may depend heavily on oil prices, which have recently remained above forecast levels.
Lawmakers are also debating how much tax relief should be offered to support the proposed Alaska LNG gasline project. Governor Mike Dunleavy has proposed replacing the state’s existing property tax on oil and gas infrastructure with a lower tax tied to pipeline throughput.
At the same time dozens of other bills are moving quickly through committees and floor votes, including a broad crime package, which includes bills targeting AI generated Child Sexual Abuse content, Sexual Assault kit tracking and raising the State’s age of consent.
There is a pension bill for state employees, a long time win for the legislature, that many expect Governor Dunleavy to veto before lawmakers leave Juneau.
But, the big question remains- will legislators pass these bills by the scheduled end of the session?
Juneau Senator Jesse Kiehl says it’s unclear pointing to that massive gas line bill that could push work into overtime.
“The Governor’s number one priority this year is the Gas line bill. He waited until two thirds of the way through the session to give us that.” He said, “The Resources Committees have been working like crazy, meeting multiple times a day. This is billions and billions of dollars worth of decisions, the kinds of things that will have impacts for 30 years to come. We’re working as hard and as fast as we can. Boy, it’s tough to see that passing before the end of the regular session. This time of year, it always looks like it’ll be overtime. Sometimes it is. Sometimes we can avoid it. But when I look at the issues that are pretty big, and may result in extra innings, we got that gas line bill on day 80 out of 121.”
The Alaska State Capitol is seen behind other buildings on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in downtown Juneau. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
The Alaska State Capitol is seen behind other buildings on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, in downtown Juneau. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
A late amendment to a bill nearing final passage in the Alaska Capitol would exempt some Alaska Native village corporations from public financial disclosures required by state law.
On Monday afternoon, the Alaska Senate’s labor and commerce committee voted to amend House Bill 126 with a new section that reduces and caps the number of Native corporations required to share information annually with the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities.
Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski and chair of the labor and commerce committee, declined to answer questions when asked Tuesday about the change.
In Monday’s committee hearing, Bjorkman said, “I think members of the media might be interested in information therein, but at the end of the day, I don’t know that information is their business because it happens within the confines of a Native corporation.”
State law currently requires corporations with at least 500 shareholders and $1 million in assets to provide financial documents to the state, which treats them as public records.
Because Native corporations are exempted from federal disclosure requirements, existing state law provides the only free public avenue for non-shareholders to inspect their work.
Of the state’s 200-plus Native corporations, 59 are currently required to file reports with the division, and the number is growing over time because shareholders are splitting their shares and passing them to their descendants, pushing more corporations over the 500-shareholder limit.
The new definition would limit disclosures to corporations with 500 shareholders when they were created, regardless of how many they currently have.
That change would exempt at least seven village corporations — the division isn’t sure of the exact number and is reviewing another 30. None of the 12 regional corporations would be affected by the change because each had more than 500 shareholders when they were created.
Shareholders of each exempted corporation would still have access to financial information, but members of the public would not.
Curtis McQueen, executive director of the Alaska Native Village Corporation Association, is supporting the change and wrote to the committee, saying that the modification brings state law back to its original intent.
“The amendment will exempt, as was originally intended, smaller village corporations from the filing requirements. This amendment will allow their staff and leadership to focus their time and energy on improving the health of their communities and providing benefits to their shareholders, not filling out forms and complying with the complex requirements of the division of banking and securities,” he said.
Attorney Christopher Slottee, representing the Village Corporation Association, testified separately, writing that no other private corporation in the state is subject to the same reporting requirements as Alaska Native corporations.
“It means that an ANC’s non-Native competitor in the same federal contracting market … faces no public disclosure obligation, while the ANC must publicly expose the financial details that inform its pricing, overhead structure, profit margins, and executive compensation to the exact same competitors,” he wrote.
The original bill was from Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome. On Monday, members of the labor and commerce committee asked a Foster aide if he was open to the change.
“It’s not core to what the bill itself does, but we are not opposed to it,” the aide said.
Alaska has more than 200 village corporations and 12 regional corporations, which were created as part of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
Since that act, many of these corporations — legally distinct from tribes, which are sovereign governments — have become a powerful force in Alaska, holding vast swaths of land and employing tens of thousands of Alaskans.
Many corporations have also become important nationally because they receive preferential treatment under federal contracting rules. Under the 8(a) program — named for the relevant section of federal law — some Native corporations have become successful behemoths with more than a billion dollars in annual revenue.
Most had humble beginnings, with just a few hundred initial shareholders. Federal law prohibits those shares from being publicly traded or sold, so Native corporations are not required to file documents with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, as publicly traded corporations are.
On Monday, Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, proposed an amendment with a different exemption criteria, but members of the committee rejected that proposal.
After Monday’s action, members of the committee voted to advance the bill to the Senate Rules Committee, the last stop before a vote of the full Senate.
Because the bill has already passed the House, Senate approval would trigger a single up-or-down vote in the House, which would be asked to agree or disagree with the change.
What are Native corporations required to disclose?
In the state-operated portal, you can find copies of all documents that qualifying Alaska Native corporations are required to disclose. As described by attorney Christopher Slottee, these include:
Named individual compensation — the total compensation of each of the five most highly compensated persons of the corporation and its subsidiaries, identified by name, including all deferred compensation, pension, and retirement plan contributions (3 AAC 08.345(b)(2));
Full audited consolidated financial statements — including balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, and all footnotes (3 AAC 08.365);
Management’s Discussion and Analysis — a narrative analysis of financial condition, results of operations by segment, liquidity, and capital resources that reveals the internal financial architecture of the business (3 AAC 08.365);
Related-party transaction details — descriptions of all financial transactions exceeding $20,000 involving directors, executive officers, their family members, or entities in which they hold interests (3 AAC 08.345(b)(3)); and
A full description of the corporation’s business operations and subsidiary structure — including the principal products, services, markets, and significant subsidiaries through which operations are conducted (3 AAC 08.365).
