NOTN- One of Alaska’s largest cultural gatherings is officially underway this evening as Celebration 2026 opens in Juneau.
Organized by Sealaska Heritage Institute, this event brings together more than 1,800 dancers from 34 dance groups and is one of the largest gatherings of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples in the world.
This year’s theme is “Enduring Strength,” honoring the resilience and cultural survival of Indigenous peoples throughout Southeast Alaska.
The Grand Entrance took place 5 p.m. downtown, kicking off four days of traditional dance, art exhibits, Native foods, cultural demonstrations and community events.
Celebration continues through Saturday with a final parade, and will be broadcast statewide with KTOO public Television, and streamed live online by SHI. So even if you can’t be here for Celebration, you can still participate in the event.
Photo Capture from Sealaska’s Youtube livestream
Celebration began in 1982 and remains a powerful expression of culture, heritage and community.
The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau.
(Photo by Greg Knight/News of the North)
The Alaska State Capitol in downtown Juneau. (Photo by Greg Knight/News of the North)
NOTN- Alaska lawmakers are in a 30-day special session to weigh a sweeping tax break for the proposed North Slope natural gas pipeline.
Juneau Sen. Jesse Kiehl, said the governor’s bill would shift the project away from the current 20-mill petroleum property tax structure and toward a volume-based tax on gas flowing through the line. He said the proposal amounts to roughly a 90% tax cut that would last as long as the pipeline operates.
“That’s one of the things we’re working on.” He said, “The governor’s proposal is about a 90% tax cut, and the governor’s proposal lasts as long as the pipeline lasts. They will not need that, right? They will not need that, past, heaven knows, past year 20 when you got almost all your debt paid off.”
Kiehl said some early tax relief is reasonable for a multibillion-dollar project that will not generate revenue immediately, but he questioned the size and duration of the proposed break.
“During the regular session, we couldn’t seem to get as many numbers, real numbers, as we needed, so we’re working on that.” He said, “A big gas line could be a huge project for the state, big for the state’s economy, a lot of jobs when it gets built. The other thing we have to make sure of is that we also protect the treasury, because the risk with these things is cost overruns, right? The oil pipeline cost could be more than double what they planned on.”
Lawmakers are seeking more complete data from project backers to determine how large a tax incentive is necessary and how long it should last.
While the gas line would not deliver gas to Southeast Alaska, Kiehl said the region’s benefit would come from new state revenues that fund public services, including schools and state troopers.
“The benefit we get from Alaska gas going to market is some money in the treasury to pay for public services, all the things we need. So, we’ve got to make sure that we watch those risks.” He said.
Kiehl also added that if the state grants a substantial property tax break, it will also need to ensure money flows to local governments along the route, such as Anchorage, Kenai and Fairbanks. Those communities would face increased demand for schools, law enforcement, road work and other services during construction.
The governor’s bill was introduced midway through the regular session and has already been vetted by House and Senate resources committees. The measure is now before the finance committees, which Kiehl said will use the full 30 day special session to scrutinize the fiscal impacts and negotiate possible changes.
If project backers do not provide the information lawmakers are seeking, he said, the Legislature could choose to “cut our losses and expenses and gavel out,” ending the special session without approving the package.
Former Gov. Bill Walker and his wife Donna wave campaign signs on Aug. 15, 2022, at the intersection of Northern Lights Boulevard and the Seward Highway in Anchorage. Walker is a fan of the state’s new ranked-choice system. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Former Alaska Gov. Bill Walker said Thursday that he is considering whether to formally file as a candidate for governor on Monday, the deadline to enter the 2026 race.
Walker and former Department of Revenue Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck filed letters of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission on Thursday, a necessary step before officially registering as candidates with the Alaska Division of Elections.
Both would run as independents if they decide to register, Walker said.
“We’ll meet a few times more over the weekend,” Hoffbeck said. “We both feel very strongly that we need to raise the level of discussion on a (state) fiscal plan and the gasline, but our consideration is: Can we move the needle? Is this the best use of our time and resources?”
The deadline to file as a candidate in this year’s statewide elections is 5 p.m. Monday. If Walker formally becomes a candidate, he would be the 19th in this year’s race.
Walker, elected as an independent in 2014, served four years in office. When he ran for re-election, a scandal involving then-lieutenant Gov. Byron Mallott caused Mallott to resign less than a month before Election Day 2018. Walker suspended his re-election campaign, and Republican Mike Dunleavy went on to be elected, defeating Democratic candidate Mark Begich in the process.
Walker ran for re-election in 2022 against Dunleavy and Democratic candidate Les Gara. Dunleavy won that race but is term-limited and cannot run again. That’s led to a wide field of options for the 2026 election.
“There’s a flavor for everybody, no question about that,” Walker said.
During his term in office, Alaska experienced a sharp drop in oil prices that led to a fiscal crisis. Walker slashed the state’s budget and vetoed a portion of the 2015 Permanent Fund dividend, becoming the first governor in state history to do so.
Since then, successive editions of the state Legislature have set the annual dividend amount themselves, rather than using a formula.
During Walker’s term, he proposed a comprehensive state fiscal plan that would have shifted Alaska away from a reliance on oil revenue, but lawmakers failed to adopt it.
In his final year, legislators approved one aspect, an annual transfer from the Alaska Permanent Fund to the state treasury. That transfer is now the No. 1 source of general-purpose revenue for the state, used for dividends and services alike.
By phone on Thursday, Walker said he was concerned about a state fiscal plan in 2014, and he still is.
“They got some of it passed but not enough of it,” he said, referring to the proposal he made while in office, “and so we need a fiscal plan. I haven’t heard a lot of discussion on the campaign trail from (other candidates) about what they’d do on the fiscal side, and — well, I’m not a very good spectator when there’s work to be done.”
Hoffbeck, who would serve as Walker’s lieutenant governor, was his revenue commissioner from 2014 through 2017, when he resigned to become an interim minister, working at churches whose ministers had recently departed.
“It won’t be an easy job, but you know, we can sit back on the sideline and just complain, or we can get involved and actually try and do something, and I think that’s kind of where Bill and I are at,” Hoffbeck said. “I like being retired, I like what I’m doing right now, but I’m also frustrated with what I’m hearing and seeing, and so, I guess at some point in time you’ve got to stop talking and do something.”
In addition to the surprise possible return of Bill Walker, the last days before the candidate filing deadline have brought a flurry of lieutenant governor candidate announcements.
Democratic candidate Tom Begich announced former U.S. Department of Agriculture official Julia Hnilicka as his running mate on Wednesday, while Republican candidate Adam Crum declared former healthcare CEO Robert Craig as his choice for lieutenant governor on Thursday morning.
Hours after that, Democratic candidate Matt Claman said Sarah Skeel, former chief administrative officer of Providence Alaska Medical Center, would be his lieutenant governor pick. Independent candidate Meda DeWitt has scheduled an announcement event on Saturday.
If a gubernatorial candidate does not have a registered lieutenant governor candidate by 5 p.m. Monday, they are ineligible to run.
Registered candidates have until June 27 to drop out. If a candidate for governor withdraws, the lieutenant governor candidate may take their spot and pick a new lieutenant governor. A lieutenant governor candidate who withdraws may be replaced with another.
Candidates for Governor
Former state Sen. Tom Begich (Democratic) with Lt. Gov. candidate Julia Hnilicka (Democratic)
FILE - North America's tallest peak, on Aug. 12, 2025, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer,File)
FILE – North America’s tallest peak, on Aug. 12, 2025, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer,File)
AP- Rescuers are trying to reach four climbers who fell on Alaska’s Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest peak, the National Park Service said Thursday.
The climbers’ conditions weren’t immediately known following the fall, which was reported to Denali National Park and Preserve rangers overnight, and rangers were seeking a weather window to allow them to reach the area by helicopter, a statement from the agency said. The four climbers were part of a seven-person team.
The three others climbing attended to those who fell, and then returned to camp, the statement says. The fall occurred near Denali Pass, at about 18,200 feet (5,547 meters). The climbers returned to an area known as high camp around 17,000 feet (5,181 meters), the statement says. McKinley stands at about 20,310 feet (6,190 meters).
Park officials have been in contact with the three climbers, said Scott Carr, a park service spokesperson. He said additional information would be released “if and when it becomes appropriate.”
Over the years, many climbing injuries and deaths have occurred on the traverse between the high camp and Denali Pass, mainly resulting from unprotected falls, according to the park.
Park rangers and mountain guides install and maintain snow pickets — which are used to help build anchors for extra protection on areas like steep slopes — between the high camp and Denali Pass, the park says. Climbers are urged to have their own pickets in case the protection placed by rangers and guides is missing.
Weather conditions didn’t improve the way rescuers had hoped. Carr said late Thursday that conditions throughout the day had been variable, with low cloud ceilings and limited visibility, and that authorities were still awaiting an opportunity to safely fly.
“Helicopter operations will start when a weather window opens up,” he said.
A typical climbing season for Mount McKinley begins in late April and continues into mid-July, according to the park. There were 516 climbers on the mountain as of Thursday, Carr said by email.
On Wednesday, two climbers as part of a separate incident were evacuated from the mountain by helicopter around 11 p.m., but the park service said it did not have additional information to share.
Late-afternoon sunlight bathes the ConocoPhillips building in downtown Anchorage on March 10, 2026. A legal dispute over confidentiality of data from exploratory wells drilled by ConocoPhillips in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska came down to interpretations of the federal Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is seeking to release the information publicly, and an appeals court ruled in the state’s favor. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The state of Alaska has the right to make public data from exploration wells drilled by ConocoPhillips in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, an appeals court has ruled.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, issued Wednesday, overturns a 2023 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason that allowed well data to remain under wraps.
At issue is a collection of wells drilled in the reserve, which is federal territory. ConocoPhillips argued that data confidentiality is explicitly guaranteed in federal law and that federal law supersedes state law, but the appeals justices disagreed.
On the National Petroleum Reserve, “Alaska has its own authority to gather — and disclose — data collected from oil and gas exploration, authority that it exercised even before Congress opened the Reserve to private exploration,” the appeals court ruling said.
The Indiana-sized National Petroleum Reserve is of keen interest to energy companies. It is underlain by a formation called the Nanushuk, the source of oil for ConocoPhillips’ huge Willow project, which is under development, the Santos-operated Pikka project, which recently started production, and other prospects. A lease sale held in the reserve in March, the first since 2019, drew a record $163 million in high bids.
Under state law, data from exploratory oil and gas wells is to be disclosed publicly after those wells are completed. State law provides for a 24-month period of confidentiality, after which the AOGCC is to make the data publicly available, unless the Department of Natural Resources commissioner grants an exemption to keep the information confidential for a longer period.
After ConocoPhillips’ request for a DNR exemption was denied, the company in 2022 sued the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to keep the data confidential.
ConocoPhillips argued that the federal Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act expressly prevents the AOGCC and Gas Conservation Commission from disclosing data from the wells, which were drilled on federal leases.
Gleason’s March 8, 2023, ruling came to a slightly different conclusion that nonetheless backed ConocoPhillips. She found that the federal law implicitly protects data confidentiality, despite state law.
The appeals court judges agreed that the federal law has no explicit restriction on state release of well data, but they drew a different conclusion from that finding than Gleason did.
For the state, the appeals court ruling is a victory that is good for future development, Acting Attorney General Cori Mills said in a statement.
“Alaska relies heavily on our resources and resource development. We are also stewards of those resources for the citizens of Alaska. Alaska’s law both allows resource development now, and encourages further development and exploration in the future. We’re pleased that the Ninth Circuit recognized that federal law has not overridden Alaska’s balanced approach,” Mills said.
ConocoPhillips is still considering its next steps, a company spokesperson said. “ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. has received the court’s decision and is evaluating it. ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. has not decided on whether to appeal the decision,” company spokesperson Megan Olson said by email.
The well data that is the subject of the case remains confidential, according to court documents. Confidentiality has been maintained all the time that the court case has been active.
Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, presides over the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday, May 18, 2026. (James Brooks photo/Alaska Beacon)
Civics education would be included among graduation requirements for all Alaska high schoolers, under a bill passed by the Alaska Legislature in the final hours of the legislative session last week.
The new requirement aims to bolster Alaska students’ knowledge and understanding of the U.S. government and civic responsibilities. It comes amid declining public trust in government, the bill’s sponsor, Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, told the Alaska Beacon last month.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, is seen ahead of a vote on the operating budget on May 7, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Students would have three options to choose from to complete the requirement: complete and pass a semester of civics curriculum, pass a civics exam or complete a civics project-based assessment.
Lawmakers passed Senate Bill 23 by a combined vote of 57 to 3. The bill now goes before Gov. Mike Dunleavy to sign, veto or allow it to pass into law without his signature.
Under the proposal, school districts would be able to develop civics curriculums based on open-access, no cost resources provided by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development across 14 areas of government and public affairs:
the founding history of the United States, including foundational documents and the principles of government of the United States; federalism, including the role and operations of local, state and national governments;
the institutions of the United States government, including the responsibilities of the executive, legislative and judicial branches;
the rights and responsibilities of United States citizenship;
civil liberties and civil rights;
the Constitution of the State of Alaska and the Constitution of the United States;
political parties and interest groups;
campaigns and elections;
the United States Congress;
domestic policy;
foreign policy;
comparative systems of governments used globally and by Alaska Native people;
international relations; and
major issues facing local, state and the United States governments.
The initiative comes at a time when the United States is seeing a growing public distrust in government and deepening political polarization. A survey last year by the non-partisan Pew Research Center found public distrust is at one of its lowest points in the nation’s history, with just 17% of respondents saying they trust the federal government to “do what is right.”
Stevens declined to comment on the bill passing the Legislature when asked at the Capitol on Wednesday. He said he would wait to comment after the governor’s decision on the bill. Lawmakers have passed 114 bills in this two-year legislative term. But Dunleavy has vetoed 12 bills so far and will consider dozens more in the next few weeks.
Lawmakers are in a high-stakes 30-day special session called by Dunleavy to discuss potential state property tax relief for the proposed Alaska LNG gas line project. The special session is expected to go to June 21.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a news conference on Friday, March 15, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a news conference on Friday, March 15, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
NOTN- Alaska lawmakers will continue holding hearings this week during a 30 day special session on Senate Bill 2001, and separately House Bill 381, the governor-backed gas pipeline tax proposal tied to the proposed Alaska LNG project.
The Alaska State Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to meet today, Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. in Juneau to hear presentations and discussion on the bill.
Today and Thursday’s hearings will include presentations from consulting firm GaffneyCline. Friday’s meeting is also focused on continued review of the legislation.
The House met yesterday, and will continue work this week in Anchorage.
Governor Mike Dunleavy called the special session after lawmakers failed to pass a gasline bill during the regular session, lawmakers received the governor’s proposal on day 80 of 120.
The governor is pushing for larger tax breaks and incentives for the project’s developers.
According to reporting from the Alaska Beacon following an Energy Conference in Anchorage, state and local governments would eliminate 90% of the property tax that would be levied on gasline-related infrastructure in exchange for future opportunities to tax natural gas as it moves through the yet-to-be-built system.
Though legislators are currently sitting on both sides of the fence, some argue the proposal would reduce future revenue for both the state and local governments along the pipeline route.
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.
