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 it over to the House also on April 12th. Both bodies will consider the budgets and could make changes. So, it is then likely the budget will go into a conference committee to work out the details and come to an agreement.

In the mix is education funding, and a number of bills still in process. With only about 35 days left, it is not clear how many more bills will be moving forward, nor is there yet an agreement on the size of the PFD. One bill, HB 358 (read on) could pass the House soon. But the fate of the others is unclear.

House News:

Two election related bills were heard and discussed:

HB 246 Voter Preregistration for Minors sponsored by Rep. Story (D-Juneau) will be heard in the House State Affairs Committee on April 11th. This will be the first hearing for this bill. According to the sponsor statement: “HB 246 permits citizens who are at least 16 years old to pre-register to vote. In accordance with existing statute, they would then become eligible to be placed on the voting rolls 90 days before their 18th birthday. Current statute allows Alaskans who are 17 years old to be able to register to vote within 90 days of their 18th birthday.” Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow 16 and 17 year olds to pre-register. The LWV of Alaska has written in support of this bill.

The House Judiciary committee held another meeting discussing HB 358 Prohibit AI-Altered Representations. There have been many changes to this bill since its inception. This bill is primarily focused on preventing deepfakes in election related material. This bill states that a person may not knowingly use a deepfake in an electioneering communication with the intent to influence an election and provides remedies for damages. It also includes additional language to prevent AI generated images of child sexual abuse. This bill has been moved out of the Judiciary committee and moved to Rules.

Education related bills discussed in the House:

The House Education Committee, led by co-Chair Rep. Allard, moved quickly through the HB 392 Education Funding bill on April 8th. There were a number of amendments proposed, although all were rejected, except for one which modified the Charter school section. It does include $680 BSA funding. There is no guarantee, however, that the Governor will approve the funding even if it passes the House. There may be other amendments proposed if it gets to the House floor. The bill passed the committee with recommendations of “DP” (Do Pass) from Reps. Prax, McKay, and Allard, “NR” (No Recommendation) from Reps. Himshoot and Ruffridge, and “AM” (Amend) from Reps. McCormick and Story. It was moved to House Finance where it is not yet scheduled.

The House Education Committee heard initial testimony on SB 29 Civics Education sponsored by Sen. Stevens (R-Kodiak) on March 27th. Lisa Boudreau from iCivics/CiXNow and John Pugh, former UAS Chancellor both testified in favor. It has not yet been scheduled for another hearing.

Should you want to email your comments on any of these bills to the Education Committee, here are the members:

Representative.Justin.Ruffridge@akleg.gov
Representative.Jamie.Allard@akleg.gov
Representative.Mike.Prax@akleg.gov
Representative.CJ.McCormick@akleg.gov
Representative.Tom.McKay@akleg.gov
Representative.Rebecca.Himschoot@akleg.gov
Representative.Andi.Story@akleg.gov

In House Finance: The Senate bill, SB99 Financial Literacy Program in Schools sponsored by Sen. Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) was referred to House Finance and has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

Senate News:

SB 17 Campaign Contributions sponsored by Sen. Kawasaki was passed by the Senate Judiciary committee and is now in Rules awaiting movement to the full Senate for a vote.

Other Bills We Are Tracking

Elections/Campaigns

House Bill 129 – “Voter Registration”, Sponsored by by the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Vance (R-Homer) has passed the House and was heard in the Senate State Affairs committee on March 5th. No further action to date.

House Bill 4 – “Repeal Ranked Choice Voting”, no further action to date.

Gun Safety

SB 173 An Act Authorizing Handguns for School Employees/Volunteers, was introduced in January by Senator Hughes and co-sponsored by Senators Shower and Myers. This bill was heard March 1st and no further action has been taken.

Reminder: If you miss any of the hearings or testimony, follow the links to the bills and you can listen at any time. Also, if you wish to supply written testimony, here’s a link to the Senate page and to the Representatives’ page. Committee members are listed here.

Legislative Calendar and Events

  • April 14, 2024 – 90th day of the session (By law (AS 24.05.150))
  • May 15, 2024 – 121st day of the session (Per the Alaska Constitution)

How are we doing?

The League always needs volunteers! Writing letters, talking to your legislators, and helping out by giving us your feedback – it doesn’t have to be a total commitment.

We would LOVE to hear from you. Please encourage others to take action by sharing this Legislative Newsletter, Action Alerts, and Calendar Events. Contact us at alaskalwv@alaskalwv.org, and/or work to get the word out with your local leagues.

Expanding the League’s impact helps us to Empower Voters and Defend Democracy as a community! We’ll keep these links accessible here for you.

You can see your LWV Alaska Board members and Officers and their contact information on the AlaskaLWV.org/Board/ site.

League of Women Voters of Alaska
PO Box 101345
Anchorage, AK 99510-1345

Email us at alaskalwv@alaskalwv.org
Website: www.alaskalwv.org