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 possibility of some action.

The Operating Budget has passed the Senate and the Capital Budget will be on the House Floor early next week. The House has already voted ‘no’ on the Operating Budget and has sent it back to the Senate. This is the first step to starting a Conference Committee to work out the differences. This will likely begin next week. When that starts,  the Legislature will  move into the “24 hour rule.” 

During the 24-hour rule, committees may notice meetings “24-hours” in advance. This means an 8 am meeting may be noticed at 5 pm the previous day. Committees will often put out notice of  “bills previously heard/scheduled” which allows committees to bring up any bill it has previously heard or scheduled but didn’t hear, without providing any other notice. This allows for multiple committees to hear the same bill on the same day. 

Election related bills:

HB 246 Voter Preregistration for Minors sponsored by Rep. Story (D-Juneau) was heard in the House State Affairs Committee on April 23rd with only invited testimony given. It is not yet scheduled for another hearing. 

The House Judiciary committee held another meeting on May 1st 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 was the 8th hearing on this bill. It has moved out of committee and is currently in House Rules.

House Bill 129 now – “Voter Registration”, Sponsored by by the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Vance (R-Homer) passed the House and was initially heard in the Senate State Affairs committee on March 5th. The Senate brought forward a Committee Substitute for this bill on May 2nd. This Committee Substitute R includes additional provisions that were previously part of SB138 and other bills. Among other things, it removes the requirement for witness signatures for absentee ballots, requires cyber-security measures by the Division of Elections, allows voters to update their registration 30 days before elections, allows for ballot curing, and requires disclosure for deep-fakes in campaign communications. Rep. Vance went on record to oppose these changes. However, the Senate State Affairs committee still moved the bill to the Senate Finance Committee.

Education related bills:

The saga for homeschoolers/correspondence students continues with no clear path between the legislature and the Governor/Dept. of Education. The Alaska court struck down an Alaska law earlier this month, which allows cash payments to homeschooling/correspondence program parents. The House met on Wednesday, April 26th and brought forward a proposal called the “Sense of the House” to indicate support to extend the judicial stay until June 2025. The proposal barely passed 20 to 18 with 2 members absent. 

The Senate has already introduced a bill, SB 266 Correspondence Study Program to try to correct the language in the current statue.  On Monday, May 6th, at 3:30 PM Senate Education will take public testimony in BELTZ 105.

And, the House Education Committee, heard a new bill,  HB 400  Correspondence Study Programs bill on May 1st with the goal of establishing a committee substitute. On Monday, May 6th at 8:00 AM House Education will take public testimony in Davis 106. 

**Breaking news: Despite the “Sense of the House” proposal which asked for a stay until 2025, the court extended the stay only until June, 2024. So it appears the legislature really needs to pass some type of legislation by then. Unclear as to whether the Governor will veto any bill or not, as he has threatened to do so.

In other education related items, SB 88 Defined Benefit Retirement System (teacher pensions) has not been heard in the House since it was passed by the Senate and referred to the House on February 2nd. There was a “motion to discharge” brought up on the House floor on April 24th. By refusing to hear the bill in committee, it effectively kills this bill for the year. A motion to discharge means that the Representatives would have to go on record to say they don’t want to take up this Senate bill this year. The vote to discharge was a 19-19 tie vote (with 2 absent) thus, the bill stays in the committee. It was just scheduled to be heard in House State Affairs committee on May 7th at 6 pm — invited testimony only.

The House Education Committee moved  SB 29 Civics Education out of committee on April 26th.  It will be heard in House Finance Committee on Tuesday,  May 7th at  10:00 AM in ADAMS 519 for public testimony.  — Please Note Time Change —

In House Finance:  The Senate bill, SB99 Financial Literacy Program in Schools sponsored by Sen. Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) was heard in House Education on March 18th, passed out of committee and referred to House Finance. House Finance will take public testimony on Wednesday May 8th at 9:00 AM in ADAMS 519. — Please Note Time Change —

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)

Wrap Up/Links

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