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Members of the Alaska Senate issued warnings Wednesday as they approved a draft operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Senators’ draft, which includes an estimated $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend for eligible Alaskans and a small year-over-year increase for K-12 education, also cuts services. The proposal would cut proposed funding increases for early education programs, reduce funding for state prisons, eliminate the state’s office of citizenship assistance, mostly defund the state militia, reduce road maintenance, and deny salary inc... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives has approved a formal letter asking Congress to extend a series of Affordable Care Act tax credits that are set to expire at the end of the year. Unless the credits are extended, Alaskans insured through the federal health insurance marketplace — about 25,000 people — could see their rates rise by an average of 67%. The House passed House Joint Resolution 9 by a vote of 26-14 on Monday. It is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health and Social Services Committee on Tuesday. If approved by the Senate, the... Full story
Alaska’s public schools might get more money, after all. Nine days after Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a significant increase to the state’s K-12 public school funding formula, the Alaska Senate has approved a compromise education bill that includes a smaller increase. The bill includes some — but not all — of the policy changes that Dunleavy said were necessary to prevent another veto. House Bill 57, originally drafted to restrict public school students’ cellphone use, was amended by the Senate before being approved on a bipartisan, 19-1 vote... Full story
The Alaska Legislature has voted to uphold Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bill that would have significantly increased the funding formula for Alaska’s K-12 public schools. Dunleavy vetoed House Bill 69 last week, citing cost concerns and the lack of policy measures he endorsed. With the House and Senate meeting in joint session, the vote to override Dunleavy was 33-27, sustaining the veto. Forty of the Legislature’s 60 members were needed for an override. In its final version, HB 69 would have increased the state’s base student allocat... Full story
Members of the Alaska Legislature said this week that they’re likely to use the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve to fix a roughly $173 million budget deficit for the 12 months that end June 30. Lawmakers are confronting another, larger deficit as they craft the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, but it remains possible that some tax increases — on oil, business income and online sales — could offset the need to spend from savings for that year. When it comes to the current fiscal year, things are more certain. Passing new tax... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives is asking the Trump administration and Canadian government to step back from a brewing trade war. In a 33-4 vote Monday, the House approved a resolution saying that state lawmakers oppose “restrictive trade measures or tolls that would harm the unique relationship between Canada and Alaska or negatively affect our integrated economies.” If approved by the Alaska Senate, the resolution would be sent to national officials in both the United States and Canada. Monday’s vote comes amid continued threats by the T... Full story
The state of Alaska is still facing a significant budget deficit despite a revised state revenue forecast published Wednesday by the Alaska Department of Revenue. Oil revenue makes up about 40% of Alaska’s general-purpose revenue, leaving state finances unstable and dependent upon estimated oil prices. The Department of Revenue updates its outlook twice per year, and its changes can radically alter the state’s budget process. For the 2025 fiscal year, which ends June 30, the department is estimating $6.23 billion in general-purpose rev... Full story
A voting error led one Alaska House of Representatives minority-caucus member on Wednesday to vote to move a public-school funding increase one step closer to passage through the Alaska House of Representatives, at a time when the House’s majority caucus has a narrow margin. Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole, joined 20 members of the House majority in voting to move House Bill 69 from the House Education Committee to the House Finance Committee. Twenty votes were needed. If signed into law, HB 69 would permanently increase the state’s per-student pu... Full story
The state of Alaska is bringing in less money than it is spending, and is on pace to finish the current fiscal year with a deficit of $171 million, according to figures presented Tuesday. Lacey Sanders, Gov. Mike Dunleavy's top budget official, told the Senate Finance Committee that spending from the Constitutional Budget Reserve likely will be needed to close the gap. To do this would require support from three-quarters of the House and three-quarters of the Senate. That's a critical... Full story
President Donald Trump’s order to pause the spending of billions of dollars in federal grants triggered a wave of anxiety, fear and uncertainty on Tuesday in Alaska, a state dependent more than any other on federal spending. “For me, it was pandemic-level chaotic,” said Nils Andreassen, director of the Alaska Municipal League, which works with cities and boroughs statewide. A federal judge’s ruling late Tuesday temporarily blocked the presidential order, but that only defers an act with broad consequences. “We’re waiting for the other shoe... Full story
Federal prosecutors are recommending that an Alaska fisher serve six months in prison, pay a $25,000 fine and be banned from commercial fishing for a year after lying about fishing catches and trying to kill an endangered sperm whale. Dugan Paul Daniels pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor earlier this year, and prosecutors released their sentencing recommendation on Tuesday. According to court documents, Daniels became infuriated in March 2020 when a whale began taking fish from his longline fishing gear and damaging equipment. This kind...
A two-hour debate on Alaska fisheries issues turned contentious in its final moments as Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich criticized incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola over an ad stating that a Begich victory would mean “our fish are gone.” The exchange was the lone heated issue between the two frontrunners in Alaska’s U.S. House election, which will decide one of only a few tossup races in the 435-seat House of Representatives. With the House closely divided between Republicans and Democrats, the winner of Alaska’s race is like... Full story
Voters in Alaska's capital city have rejected a resident-written ballot proposition that would have banned large cruise ships on Saturdays and the Fourth of July.Tuesday was municipal election day for most of Alaska's cities and boroughs, and in preliminary results in Juneau, about 60% of participating voters sided against the "ship-free Saturdays" initiative. Some ballots have yet to be counted but are not expected to change the result. Elsewhere across the state, municipal elections saw... Full story
This year's Permanent Fund dividend, plus a one-time energy rebate bonus, will be a combined $1,702 per recipient, the Alaska Department of Revenue announced Thursday. The amount is slightly higher than previous estimates from the spring, in part because the number of recipients is lower than expected. The payments will be direct-deposited into Alaskans' bank accounts starting Oct. 3. Paper checks, for those Alaskans who requested them, will be mailed later in October. This year's combined... Full story
Officials with the U.S. Postal Service intercepted a threatening envelope sent to the Alaska Division of Elections on Tuesday, one of a number of similar packages sent to elections officials in other states, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced. Dahlstrom, who oversees elections work in the state, said in a written statement that the Postal Service notified the division that it had been targeted and that postal inspectors had seized a suspicious envelope and its contents for further investigation. Further details about the Alaska-bound envelope... Full story
A ballot measure that could repeal Alaska’s ranked choice election system is headed to a vote in November, the Alaska Supreme Court confirmed Thursday. In a brief order, the court’s five members upheld a lower court decision that certified Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the laws that created the state’s ranked choice general election and open primary election. The order came shortly after justices heard oral arguments in an appeal claiming that the Alaska Division of Elections improperly certified the measure. “Today the Court quickly... Full story
Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is withdrawing from the race for the state's lone U.S. House seat, she announced Friday via social media. With most votes counted, Dahlstrom is expected to finish third in the state's top-four primary election, behind Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola and fellow Republican challenger Nick Begich. Her withdrawal means the expected No. 4 finisher, Republican Matt Salisbury, will likely advance to the general election alongside Begich and Peltola, as would... Full story
A three-judge panel at 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower-court decision that could have temporarily halted troll fishing for salmon in Southeast Alaska. The appellate court decision, announced Friday, clears the way for the region’s troll fishery to continue. It had been threatened by a lawsuit from the Washington-based Wild Fish Conservancy, an environmental group. The group filed suit in 2020, arguing that National Marine Fisheries Service rules applied to the fishery were inadequate when it came to protecting endangere... Full story
Forty-three people spent the night in Juneau's emergency shelter at Floyd Dryden Middle School on Monday night as a record-high flood from the Mendenhall Glacier inundated homes. Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the total number of people who evacuated their homes is likely several times that; shelters are usually a last resort for people who cannot stay with family, friends or in a hotel. "You can imagine how hard it would be to wake up with water in your house, not expecting there to be... Full story
Seattle has more power in the U.S. House of Representatives than the state of Alaska. And yet, ahead of this year’s House elections, there’s as much at stake with Alaska’s race than all four of the contests in King County combined. The vast majority of the 435 seats in the House are firmly Democratic or firmly Republican. Alaska is among a dwindling number of exceptions that could go in any direction. More than that, it’s one of just five places in the country that voted for Donald Trump as president in 2020 yet elected a Democrat to the Hou... Full story
Supporters of Alaska’s ranked choice election system are asking the Alaska Supreme Court to rule on one final attempt to keep a repeal measure from this November’s election ballot. Earlier this month, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin ruled that there was insufficient evidence to disqualify the measure from a statewide vote. While Rankin disqualified some signatures from a petition seeking to force a repeal vote, a recount by the Alaska Division of Elections confirmed that enough signatures remain for that vote to take place. On T... Full story
In closely watched oral arguments last Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated that it is unlikely to grant an environmental group’s petition for an order that could halt — at least temporarily — the valuable Southeast Alaska king salmon commercial troll fishery. In May 2023, a judge in the U.S. District Court covering western Washington issued an order stating that federal officials were allowing Alaska fishermen to harvest king salmon at rates that harmed an endangered population of killer whale...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is prodding the state of Alaska over its failure to update water pollution rules. Last Thursday, the EPA issued a formal determination that the state should update pollution limits that are based in part on the amount of fish consumed by state residents. Under federal law, those limits are supposed to be reviewed every three years, but Alaska hasn’t updated its limits since 2003. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has been working since 2013 on an updated list of water quality s... Full story
The 33rd Alaska State Legislature came to a shuddering but active end early Thursday morning as lawmakers passed the state’s annual budget and a series of high-profile bills addressing crime, climate change, the looming Cook Inlet energy crunch, and problems with the state’s correspondence education programs. “I think it was a great session,” said Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla. “We’ve taken care of energy … we were able to take care of the correspondence folks. And we had a great crime bill that we passed. So I think it was... Full story
After a court ruling that overturned a key part of Alaska’s education correspondence programs, members of the state Legislature have proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow public money to go to private and religious schools. House Joint Resolution 28 is scheduled for hearings Wednesday and Friday next week in the House Judiciary Committee. If approved by two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate and voters this fall, HJR 28 would remove the part of Article VII, Section 1, that says, “no money shall be paid from public fun... Full story
