House Bill 8, introduced at the beginning of the 2023 session, would have provided a statutory definition for electric-assisted bicycles, similar to the large variety of existing definitions for other types of motorized and non-motorized forms of transportation already defined in statute. As technology advances and e-bike companies start up and expand, this definition would have ensured clarity and a valuable starting point from which our municipalities and state departments could make additional rules and regulations, if needed.

The motivation to introduce HB 8 started years ago after hearing directly from a constituent in West Fairbanks who was pulled over while on an e-bike and told he could not operate the e-bike since he had restrictions on his license that prohibited him from operating motor vehicles. The provisions in HB 8 would have put important protections in place to preserve the freedom to use e-bikes as bicycles, while also ensuring industry-standard definitions as sidebars to prevent modified e-bikes from being used in non-motorized areas. The bill also allowed for full local control to further regulate or deregulate certain trails and areas for e-bike use. The bill was supported by municipal entities across the state, including FAST planning in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and received broad bipartisan support in both bodies of the Legislature.

Unfortunately, citing the same reasons that had led to the bill’s introduction in the first place including freedom to operate e-bikes and create new businesses in our state, Governor Dunleavy vetoed this measure in the summer of 2023.

House Bill 17 mandated coverage by healthcare insurers, including Medicaid, for prescription contraceptives and related medical services, allowing up to a 12-month supply of prescription contraceptives and eliminating the current barrier that takes place for many Alaskan women at the pharmacy counter. This bill is an important step in preventing unintended pregnancies by eliminating barriers associated with cost and availability. Studies show that providing coverage for a one-year supply of prescription contraceptives, including long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), reduces unintended pregnancies by 30%. It also increases family planning options while reducing costs related to unintended pregnancies such as pregnancy tests, follow-up visits, and other associated long-term costs.

Women, especially those living or working in rural and remote communities across the state, would have benefited greatly from this legislation. Hundreds of Alaskans wrote, called, or testified to legislators across the state to support HB 17, and the bill subsequently passed with strong bipartisan margins (29-11 in favor upon final passage in the House, and 16-3 in favor upon final passage in the Senate). After several months of awaiting action by the Governor’s administration, the bill was vetoed by Governor Dunleavy in early September, 2024.

Protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of all Alaskans is one of my highest priorities, which is one of the many reasons I introduced HB 17. I am pleased that this common-sense bill was able to pass the Legislature and gain support from many on all sides of the aisle. I will continue to pursue this and other community health and wellbeing measures that I frequently hear about from Alaskans through my legislative office.

The Technical Vocational Education Program (TVEP) provides direct grants to workforce development programs all around Alaska that train thousands of Alaskans. Its largest recipient, the University of Alaska, receives over $6 million per year and trains over 4,500 Alaskans. This program is funded by a tiny and sustainable percentage of unemployment insurance trust receipt funds, and goes back into additional training and workforce development for Alaskans. While the program has existed since 2000, it has required legislative re-authorization every few years to keep it going.

I introduced HB 55 to extend the sunset date of the TVEP program, and this bill passed the House 39-1 in the last week of the 2024 legislative session. Due to the full docket of the Senate Finance Committee however, HB 55 passed as a rider to HB 148. The final version of the bill included in HB 148 made the TVEP program permanent. This means that the recipients of TVEP funds, including the University of Alaska will receive stable funding for many years to come.

As Alaska continues to suffer from both public and private workforce shortages, the TVEP program will help train Alaskans for good paying, high demand careers through providers located in all regions of our state.

The Textbook Cost Transparency Act is a bill that I worked on with Senator Robert Myers (R -- North Pole). This bill is a student consumer protection bill that requires the University to disclose "low cost" and "no cost" course materials on the online course catalog. Providing this information earlier in the registration process allows students to have a better understanding of the costs of their higher education, and to make informed decisions about whether and how many classes to sign up for each semester.

I introduced House Bill 10 which is the companion bill to Senate Bill 13 introduced by Senator Myers. House Bill 10 received a hearing in the House Education committee, but ultimately it was Senate Bill 13 that passed on the last night of session. The bill was signed into law by Governor Dunleavy on the UAF campus in early September, 2024.

Alaska has abundant land resources, and land ownership is a goal for most Alaskans. Unfortunately, there are a large number of land parcels in boroughs around Alaska that were created outside the subdivision process, such as by recording a deed, resulting in a large number of lots that cannot legally be further subdivided. In the Fairbanks North Star Borough for example, it is estimated that there are as many as 10,000 land parcels that were created outside the subdivision process, with many of those illegal subdivisions not created by the current property owners.

If a property owner has an improperly subdivided land parcel they cannot further subdivide or sell off parts of that lot. Prior to HB 221, the process for subdividing  illegally subdivided land into additional subdivisions was confusing and, in some cases, impossible. The owner of that land would have to research the entire history of the creation of their parcel and notify all other land owners in that parcel of the further subdivision, presenting a very burdensome and bureaucratic process for landowners.

HB 221 was a priority of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, and I was pleased to sponsor this important bill. HB 221 passed as a rider to HB 125, and HB 125 was signed into law by Governor Dunleavy in early September, 2024.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program administered by the state of Alaska that provides food stamps to thousands of hungry Alaskans annually. Despite the extreme importance of this program, the SNAP program in Alaska has been fraught with challenges, including the application processing backlogs that have left thousands of vulnerable Alaskans hungry. Another major challenge has been ensuring that those who can truly benefit from the program remain eligible even if they have a minimal amount of assets or income.

In response to these issues and to make more Alaskans eligible for SNAP benefits, HB 196 was introduced by Representative Genevieve Mina (D – Anchorage,) and I was proud to cosponsor that bill. While HB 196 was unable to pass as a standalone bill, it was ultimately passed as a rider to HB 344. This bill will implement Broad Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE) for SNAP. This helps with several issues, including reducing the administrative burden on the Department of Health which reduces the likelihood of future SNAP backlogs. Additionally, it will help alleviate what is called the “benefits cliff” in which individuals are forced to make impossible choices to limit their income and asset accumulation to continue receiving the critical services that they need.

Addressing the childcare crisis in our state has strong bipartisan support and is also one of the highest priorities of the statewide Alaska Chamber of Commerce. HB 89 establishes a tax credit framework to incentivize the creation and continuation of childcare facilities and is one of the recommendations of the Governor’s Taskforce on Childcare. I proudly voted in favor of HB 89 when it passed the House during the legislative session and again when it passed as a rider to SB 189 on the last day of session. This bill has been signed into law, and as it gets implemented it will make serious improvements to our childcare sector.

The Railbelt is a crucial piece of infrastructure representing the backbone of the state and connecting those of us in Fairbanks and the Interior to Southcentral Alaska all the way to Homer. Our transmission line helps stabilize costs for all consumers and helps to ensure that we have more affordable and reliable power. However, with competing transmission systems and electric cooperatives, the Railbelt has often been described as a daisy-chain of power strips plugged into each other, and upgrading this system can lead to better reliability for the entire system.

There have long been efforts to unify the Railbelt. On the final day of session, the Legislature passed HB 307. This bill originated from the Governor’s office and was worked on diligently in the House and Senate. HB 307 will unify the transmission systems along the Railbelt by creating a Railbelt Transmission Organization or RTO. This will help eliminate what experts in the field call “pancake” rates by stabilizing prices and preventing pooling along the grid. This is a landmark bill that I was grateful to vote for. I am pleased that it was able to pass in the final days of the session.

The Senior Benefits Program provides modest direct monthly cash payments to pay for expenses like heating fuel, electricity, and food. It is a crucial program for vulnerable seniors that was scheduled to sunset in 2024 without legislative action.

Senator Kawasaki (D -- Fairbanks) introduced SB 170 to extend the Senior Benefits Program, which I was proud to co-sponsor. SB 170 was passed as a rider to SB147, which I also proudly co-sponsored. SB 147 was signed by the Governor earlier this summer, and the sunset date of the Senior Benefits Program has been extended for 10 years.

SB 152, of which I am a co-sponsor, establishes a framework for community energy facilities, including community solar. This is an important bill that I was pleased to vote for when it passed in the final days of the legislative session. This bill will allow ratepayers to pool their resources together to create community energy programs in their communities, including solar farms that everyone can benefit from. This bill was signed by Governor Dunleavy in August 2024 and as it goes into effect it will lead to increased renewable energy deployment in Alaska, including in the Fairbanks area.

The most important bill we worked on while I served on the Energy Committee was HB 62, which I also proudly co-sponsored. This bill was signed into law in 2023 and made the Renewable Energy Grant Fund permanent. Since the creation of the Renewable Energy Grant Fund, it has distributed $275 million in grants for renewable energy projects.

I was added to the Tribal Affairs Committee for the 2024 Session, during which time the committee focused on solutions to the Missing Murdered and Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis. SB 151 is an important bill that I co-sponsored, and which takes a decisive step in the right direction toward addressing the MMIP crisis. This bill establishes an MMIP review commission for unsolved MMIP cases and new training for public safety officers to address MMIP cases across Alaska.

In 2023 the Legislature passed SB 58, which I proudly voted for. This bill expanded insurance coverage for postpartum care for Medicaid recipients from six weeks to 12 months. This is an important bill for working families, and I am pleased that the Legislature and governor came together to pass this measure.

During the 33rd Legislature, in addition to the committees that I serve on, I have had the pleasure of chairing the Interior Delegation. The Delegation includes all members of the Alaska Legislature who represent Interior Alaska. While we are an ideologically diverse group, as the Chair of the Delegation, my number one priority has been to find areas of consensus in which the delegation can work together and advocate for issues that affect us all. After all, when the Interior is united on issues in Juneau, we are a force to be reckoned with.

Two broad areas of consensus among the Interior Delegation include energy investments and modernization, and opposing Federal management of our airshed in Fairbanks. Like most members of the Alaska Legislature and the Governor’s Administration, the focus of the Interior Delegation on energy policy is on securing affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy along the Railbelt. During the session, we hosted a series of meetings from key energy stakeholders and producers from the Interior, including Golden Valley Electric Association, Interior Gas Utility, Shovel Creek Wind Farm, Delta Wind Farm, and Usibelli Coal Mine. All those stakeholders had variations on the same theme: We need to increase reliability and affordability of power in the Railbelt. Members of the Interior Delegation on the Finance Committee worked hard on HB 307 to help make the Railbelt more reliable.

Last year, the Interior Delegation also spoke out and voted in bloc against the Environmental Protection Agency’s takeover of our state-controlled air quality standards. In addition to sending a letter to the head of the EPA, we also passed HJR 11, which was unanimously supported by the Interior Delegation and passed nearly unanimously in 2023. While we still have work to do, the fact remains that our Fairbanks air quality has improved over the years, especially with Borough programs like the wood stove changeout program. Delegation members all have different reasons for opposing these new harsh and unattainable air quality standards. For myself, I believe the EPA should be working with the community including our local and state stakeholders to address this issue rather than issuing a Federal dictate that removes key funds in other areas. Further, our poor air quality in the winter can be largely addressed by continuing to work with homeowners on reducing the particulate matter emitted from wood stoves — known as PM2.5 — that so many of us in Fairbanks, including myself, use to heat our homes. Instead of addressing the issue of wood stoves, the EPA has targeted power plants and vehicle emissions, which are not our largest contributors to the PM2.5 problem. While we may have different reasons for our collective stance, our Interior Delegation stuck together on this and other issues.

The Manh Choh Ore Haul from Tetlin to Fort Knox has faced significant public opposition. As the trucks began hauling ore, there were still many serious public safety concerns that had not been addressed. I stand firmly with the members of our community who are concerned about this ore haul as well as the precedent it sets for our community. I remain the most outspoken opponent of this kind of heavy industrial use of our public roads, and have made my opposition known to our community, fellow lawmakers, the Department of Transportation, and Kinross.

To address some of the concerns raised by our community about this ore haul, last session I introduced HB 305. This bill would have established a vehicle weight limit of 140,000 pounds -- more than double the national limit, and created a fee system for vehicles over this limit so we can have a mechanism to pay for road maintenance. Unfortunately, this bill faced stiff opposition from entrenched interests and will take further work to refine to ensure that it focuses on the main issue at hand. I look forward to continuing work on this bill and finding solutions to this ore haul issue. Thank you to the thousands of Alaskans who have reached out to me sharing your opposition to the ore haul.

The Kroger-Albertsons Merger will be disastrous for Alaska. It will lead to increased grocery prices for our already expensive groceries, and will broadly impact our food security. To prove this point, in July 2024 it was announced that ALL Safeway stores in Fairbanks will close if this merger is approved.

Last year, a bipartisan group of legislators, myself included, sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission with our concerns about this merger, and urging them to block it. The Federal Trade Commission is suing to block the merger, and once the courts have made their decision the fate of the merger will be finalized. I sincerely hope the courts agree with the Federal Trade Commission and block this merger. A special thank you to Congresswoman Mary Peltola for highlighting the issues with this merger in DC, and working closely with the FTC to get them to block the merger.

One of my highest priorities continues to be securing affordable, reliable, and renewable energy for Interior Alaska. To that end, in January 2024 I submitted a letter of support for the leases and easements for the Shovel Creek Wind Farm.

Interior Alaska’s energy needs are unique and require an all-in approach to satisfying those needs. Shovel Creek Wind Farm would not only provide a clean energy alternative, but it would also help diversify our energy portfolio by providing as much as 210 megawatts of power, the same amount of power that currently represents the entire needed baseload power in Fairbanks. While there will be continued need for other energy sources, this project represents a very significant step forward to ensuring greater reliability and diversity of power in Fairbanks.

The Interior has among the highest energy costs in the nation. As families face higher prices at the grocery store, gas pumps, and in other living expenses, it is critical that energy rates do not unnecessarily increase as well. Adding over 200 megawatts of power to our interior energy grid would help decrease energy costs and is a strong reason why I support this project. Our region also has some of the poorest health outcomes from bad air quality in the nation, and investments in alternative energy are essential to helping decrease PM2.5 in our airshed.

Alaska's public and private sectors are inextricably linked. When our public sector cannot recruit and retain employees, it cannot support private businesses and individual Alaskans. My office has helped literally hundreds of Alaskans receive the benefits they are owed by the state. My office has also helped professionals receive their occupational licenses, business licenses, grant and contract funding, payroll, and PFD payments  when they do not get responses from the state agencies largely due to short staffing.

To address the public sector recruitment and retention and make our government more efficient, we need to have competitive benefits for public safety officers, teachers, and public employees. This is why I support establishing a defined benefit retirement system to help recruit and retain public sector employees. I co-sponsored SB 88 which would have established a defined benefit retirement system in Alaska. Despite the best efforts of myself and many other legislators, this bill did not pass and languished in a subcommittee of the House State Affairs committee created to hasten its demise. I will continue to advocate for defined benefits as an important tool to address our recruitment and retention crisis.

In 2023, due to serious staffing shortages, employees of the Fairbanks International Airport were promised a pay increase, called Mission Critical Incentive Pay (MCIP) from the Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, DOT was reluctant to pay the promised MCIP to help the employees at our airport. My office pressured DOT to make good on their promise to pay this MCIP. After nearly a month of advocacy, DOT finally agreed to pay the MCIP. While there are still staffing issues at the airport, my office was able to accomplish this vital step in the right direction and help our state make good on owed benefits to hardworking Alaskans. These employees make sure our flights stay on schedule, that our runways are safe, and that our cargo goes where it needs to go. I would like to thank all the employees of the Fairbanks International Airport and those who initially reached out to me to let me know about this significant problem.

Investing in civics education is a high priority of mine. In 2023 my office was made aware that funding for important civics education programs We The People, Alaska History Day, and Kid Voting was set to run out. During the budget process in 2023 I offered an amendment to provide $370,000 to not only fund these programs but make them sustainable by providing a train-the-trainer model and a position to help facilitate these programs within the Department of Education budget. Unfortunately that amendment did not pass, but I continue to pursue investments in civics education.

Collaboration and bipartisanship are important attributes to being a successful legislator. I have worked collaboratively with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents as a member of the House Minority Coalition, as well as the House Freshman Caucus. In addition, I am currently co-chairing the Alaska chapter of the national Future Caucus with Senator Robert Myers of North Pole, and chairing the nine-member Interior Delegation.

Alaska has long suffered from a volatile and uncertain fiscal situation. Despite the efforts of many current and previous members of the Alaska Legislature, these issues persist. Resolving these longstanding fiscal issues and preserving Alaska’s economic future is one of the three main pillars of my campaign platform. The resolution of this perennial issue will impact Alaska’s current and future generations.

In 2018, the Legislature took a decisive step toward creating the components of a fiscal plan by passing SB 26, which established the mechanism to take a sustainable percent of market value (POMV) draw from the Permanent Fund. This stabilized our revenue stream and helped fund government services predictably. Since then, earnings from the Permanent Fund now account for most of our state’s revenue each year. Despite its passage, SB 26 was unfortunately incomplete, as it left us with conflicting statutes relating to the Permanent Fund and Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program. Since then, the Legislature has continued to be deadlocked in prolonged budget battles over the size of the PFD as well as the amount to draw annually to balance our state budget.

Subsequent to these long-standing issues, this year I introduced HB 266, which would provide a strong stabilizing mechanism for our fiscal situation. This bill would allow Alaskans and their government to better resolve our persistent fiscal issues by first resolving the conflicting statutes surrounding the Permanent Fund and annual PFD distributions. This bill designates where the money for the dividend program comes from. More specifically, this bill would decouple the dividend from the Permanent Fund, instead designating all revenue from royalties on mineral leases that is not statutorily designated or constitutionally dedicated for other purposes toward annual dividend payments. This money would then be utilized for yearly dividends.

This strategy not only gives Alaskans a direct stake in responsible resource development for our state, it also reduces our reliance on the volatile revenue stream from resource development by instead having its resource revenue go directly into the pockets of Alaskans and get back to the original intent of the Permanent Fund and the Dividend program as envisioned by the founders of these programs. Per modeling from the non-partisan Legislative Finance Division, this dividend formula would create a $1822 dividend per Alaskan in 2025 and would also create budget surpluses through fiscal year 2028.

Unfortunately this bill did not pass, though it did receive hearing and positive recognition in the House Committee on Ways and Means. Regardless of the particular components of a long-term fiscal plan and the specific proposals enacted, I remain dedicated to working with all Alaskans and my colleagues to find solutions to our longstanding fiscal issues.