Legislative Wrap-up - 2024 We started out the year with a hope for election process improvements, increased education spending, and campaign finance reforms. Throughout the session, we watched to see whether there would be some level of gun safety legislation, required civics education, protections against AI interference in elections, and support for teacher pensions. These [more...]
12 days and counting… The end of session will be May 15th this year, likely late in the night, if prior years’ are any indication. There is a provision to extend 10 days, if both bodies agree. The focus, is of course, on the budget. But there are a few bills still left with a [more...]
Just over a month left in this session… The focus now is on the budget. There is an agreement this year that the House would have an operating budget ready by April 12th in order to pass it over to the Senate for consideration. The Senate has to finalize the capital budget and pass [more...]
No BSA funding — Now what? Unable to override the Veto By now you all have heard of the Alaska Legislators vote to uphold the Governor’s veto of SB140. The fallout - closing schools, laying off teachers, increasing class sizes are seen across the state. What next? House News: Public Testimony Wednesday, 8:00 am House [more...]
Mid-session blues… No news from the Governor yet on the fate of SB140. Gov. Dunleavy has until March 14th to either sign, or veto, or let the bill stand without his signature. Even if he lets the bill stand, he still has the power to line item veto any funding that would be included in [more...]
Education Compromise House News: During the last two weeks in the House of Representatives, the sessions have centered around SB 140 - Internet for Schools. The House Rules committee modified it to include a number of provisions including changes to charter schools, correspondence schools, the Base Student Allocation (BSA), and others. Most of you are [more...]
It’s a Leap Year! At this time of year, it always seems like things are moving ever so slowly. Sure, there are a lot of committee meetings, and bills assigned. But there aren’t many decisions being made. The big items we’re watching in February remain election processes, gun safety and education. For anyone who is [more...]
Repeal Ranked Choice Voting moves forward As the session gets moving, more of the bills are lined up for hearings. You can go to AKLEG.org and find out the current status of bills, listen to audio from the meetings and much more. We’ll try to keep you informed as well with action alerts as the session [more...]
