Seventy six bills from approximately 28 lawmakers were released Friday morning prior to the start of the 34th Legislature. Here’s a look at some of the more notable pending legislation.
Interior legislators
Six Interior legislators were among the group of 28 lawmakers to release proposed legislation.
Sen. Mike Cronk (R-Tok) filed a bill that would make producing, sharing or removing a disclosure statement of synthetic media in election communication, colloquially known as a deepfake, a claim for defamation in superior court. Cronk was unable to be reached for comment. A deepfake is a photo, audio or video recording of a person that is altered by artificial intelligence in a way that appears real.
Sen. Robert Myers (R-North Pole) filed a bill that would make a person who surrenders an infant in an infant safety device at a hospital, emergency department, birth center, doctor’s office or law enforcement facility immune from prosecution. Another bill would prevent prisoners in state correctional facilities from possessing a telephone, computer or electronic tablet unless for approved reasons, including to facilitate their rehabilitation, employment, education, vocational training, access to legal materials, visitation or health care.
Rep. Mike Prax (R-North Pole) proposed adding a driving while under the influence diversion program within the Alaska Court System. A first-time DUI offender would petition to participate in the program, plead guilty or no contest to the charge, and could apply for the court to dismiss the charges at the end of the one-year program. Prax told the House State Affairs Committee in April 2024 that the program would keep people accountable while they receive treatment and education, and that the program would reduce recidivism rates. “This is not a free pass,” he told the committee. The bill did not move out of the committee in 2024.
Rep. Will Stapp (R-Fairbanks) prefiled bills that clarify that the Department of Health administers burial assistance programs and another repeals programs for catastrophic illness assistance and medical assistance for chronic and acute medical conditions.
“They are bills that are designed to cut and eliminate wasteful programs,” Stapp said Friday. “I’m looking to make government more efficient for voters.”
He said that programs for catastrophic illness assistance and medical assistance for chronic and acute medical conditions were cut from the budget in 2024 but are still law.
Other lawmakers
Other legislators want to move the Alaska Legislature to Anchorage, make airbag fraud a crime, repeal ranked choice voting and prohibit chokeholds by police officers.
Rep. Ky Holland (NP-Anchorage) wants to create an office of entrepreneurship and a 19-member Alaska Innovation Council within the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. The bill would waive the $50 business license fee for the first five years of a new business in Alaska. The Alaska Innovation Council would be required to prepare an innovation and economic competitiveness plan for the state.
Holland told the News-Miner that his involvement in the “innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem” is to explore opportunities to create new jobs and new businesses. He referenced a 2018 University of Alaska Anchorage study that found that 89% of new job creation in 10 years stemmed from businesses less than 5 years old.
The entrepreneurship office was based on a national movement called Right to Start, designed to increase and encourage startup businesses. Holland said this office would create an environment supportive of businesses and provide knowledge and resources directly to the governor and commissioners.
He modeled the Alaska Innovation Council off a council in Oregon to bring together key players to “look more carefully about what we’re doing to create the environment to grow our economy,” he said.
Rep. Genevieve Mina (D-Anchorage) proposes that the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities develop a statewide public and community transit plan. The state currently studies alternative modes of transportation in urban areas, and this bill would add rural and remote areas to that study. It also ensures that statewide transportation plans are developed with input from Metropolitan Planning Organizations, like FAST Planning, as well as local and tribal governments.
Mina said that the bill, which was also introduced in the 33rd Legislature, was supported by the Alaska Mobility Coalition and the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education.
“Alternative modes of transportation such as public transit are really important to all of the state,” she said.
Constitutional amendments
Sen. Shelley Hughes (R-Palmer) proposed amending the Alaska Constitution to ban abortion.
“To protect human life, nothing in this constitution may be construed to secure or protect a right to an abortion or require the State to fund an abortion,” the resolution stated.
Hughes also proposed banning abortion in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Three-fourths of the Alaska Legislature is required to overturn a governor’s veto for a bill to become law, under current Alaska statute. Sen. Matt Claman (D-Anchorage) proposes reducing the requirement to two-thirds of the membership. Claman also proposes limiting the legislative session to 90 days instead of 120 days.