Here’s what passed and what didn’t in the state legislative session

Thirty-one bills passed House and Senate this year, the third fewest of any first-year session since statehood

By James Brooks Alaskabeacon.com

Alaska’s legislative session ended last month, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy has yet to consider most of the 31 bills passed by both House and Senate this spring.

The Legislature’s 31 bills are the third-fewest of any first-year session since statehood. Only 2017 (26 bills) and 2019 (29 bills) had fewer.

It isn’t clear which, if any, bills Dunleavy will veto. He already nixed one of the 31, vetoing a bill that would have turned down pay increases for members of the executive branch.

The veto was the first step in a complicated process that saw legislators and the governor collaborate to install new public-salary board members who approved raises for both legislators and the governor.

The Legislature failed to pass a bill negating the board’s new recommendations, which means legislators will be paid $84,000 per year, plus up to roughly $37,000 in per diem expense payments

The biggest bills of the year are the omnibus budget bill and the annual mental health budget. Dunleavy could veto or reduce line items within the budget before the start of the state’s fiscal year on July 1, but with one month to go, he hasn’t given any clues about his thinking.

With oil prices far below last year’s expectations, lawmakers were also forced to approve a fast-track supplemental budget bill that allows the state to spend from the Constitutional Budget Reserve in order to balance the budget through June 30.

First year of two for the 33rd Legislature

The Legislature operates on a two-year cycle, and in all but one Legislature since statehood, more bills became law in the second year than the first. The exception was the first Legislature, in 1959.

That’s because it takes time for legislators to understand what a colleague is seeking to pass. The usual goal for lawmakers is to have a bill pass one half of the Legislature in the first year, then get it across the finish line in the second year.

Even if it doesn’t become law, it’s positioned to move quickly when the new Legislature convenes, after the election.

Sen. David Wilson, R-Wasilla, was stymied last year in his attempt to criminalize the harassment of 911 operators and dispatchers; the Legislature passed the bill this year, in part because lawmakers were already familiar with it.

The same thing happened in the House, where Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, urged the Legislature to restrict the state’s ability to close shooting ranges and halt gun and ammunition sales during a declared disaster.

The request came as a result of actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, and both House and Senate passed it before the end of the session.

Former state Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks, had urged lawmakers to deregulate electric bicycles, proposing legislation to do so before he decided against running for re-election in 2022.

The person who took over his seat was his chief of staff, now-Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, and she guided the bill through the Capitol this year.

Regular topics return again

The various state’s boards and commissions always get attention from the Legislature; this year, lawmakers amended the membership and rules for the board covering architects and engineers.

The Alaska Minerals Commission, state medical board and the board of certified direct-entry midwives all had their duties extended for a few more years; state law requires most boards and commissions to be reauthorized by the Legislature every so often.

Legislators decided to remove the expiration date from the state’s renewable energy grant fund, making that account permanent. The fund, occasionally stocked with cash by the Legislature, distributes grants to projects statewide.

Legislators went the other way with five defunct programs, voting to repeal them from state law under an effort from Sen. James Kaufman, R-Anchorage.

Ceremonial holidays are another common occurrence in the Legislature, and lawmakers approved three this year.

The Legislature declared October as FilipinoAmerican History Month, made September 10 Alaska Community Health Aide Appreciation Day and established June 9 as Don Young Day

Legislators also passed the state’s regular revisor’s bill, which fixes typographical errors and minor mistakes in legislation passed during the previous two-year legislative cycle.

Lawmakers are required to authorize new commemorative license plates, which makes bills designating new ones a regular occurrence in the Capitol. A proposal that Sen. Kelly Merrick, R-Eagle River, calls “the license plate bill to end all license plate bills” would shift the authority to the Department of Motor Vehicles. It passed the Senate, but not the House, before the end of the regular session.

Health care and going backward to go forward

Veterinarians were exempted from the state’s opioid-abuse-fighting prescription drug database, and the laws governing the state pharmacy board were modernized in a pair of bills introduced by Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, and passed by the Legislature.

Another major pharmacy-related bill, regulating pharmacy benefit managers, was introduced by Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, but didn’t get a hearing during the session. Several states have passed laws regulating benefit managers, citing excessive profit-taking that contributes to rising health care costs

The veterinarian bill was intended to resolve a problem created by the Legislature itself eight years ago.

Lawmakers this year also passed a bill intended to fix a problem created when they allowed the state’s Power Cost Equalization Endowment Fund to be managed in a manner similar to the Alaska Permanent Fund.

In the first year after the switch, the billion-dollar PCE fund, managed by the Alaska Department of Revenue, posted negative returns. In response, the Legislature voted this year to switch the fund’s management from the Department of Revenue to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. Lawmakers considered, but ultimately did not advance, a bill from Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, that would have switched the management of the annual Permanent Fund dividend from the department to the corporation.

The Senate — but not the House — passed a bill that provides a new formula for the Permanent Fund dividend. Disputes over the dividend’s amount remain the most contentious topic in the Capitol.

Two State of the State goals accomplished

In his State of the State address, Dunleavy said the passage of a bill extending Medicaid coverage for new mothers was a priority. Legislators agreed, passing that bill in early May after Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, expanded it to cover even more women than the governor had proposed.

Separately, before the end of the session, the Legislature combined two bills dealing with home care for seniors and the disabled, then passed them under one umbrella. The original bill was one proposed by the governor.

Also during the State of the State, Dunleavy asked lawmakers to pass a pair of bills that would allow the state to make money from the emerging market in carbon dioxide containment. Legislators passed one of those bills, which allows the state to set up a system of carbon credits using state forest land.

The Legislature didn’t pass a bill that would allow the state to make money from companies that collect carbon dioxide and inject it underground. That bill remains in process, but lawmakers did take one piece of the bill and put it into the bill that passed.

That section allows the state to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to take over regulation of some types of injection wells. Native corporations accomplish goal

Alaska Native corporations got help from the Legislature this year after lawmakers voted to change the threshold needed for them to change their articles of incorporation.

Corporations established before July 1, 1989 — which includes almost all Native corporations — need shareholders representing two-thirds of outstanding shares to approve amendments to their articles of incorporation, the corporate constitution.

Many Native corporations have been expanding their shareholder base, making the two-thirds threshold increasingly difficult, and they sought a change requiring only a bare majority to approve. The Legislature passed the bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage. Environmental bills pass

The Legislature voted to ban the use of PFAS —