Senate Resources, 4/17/26, 5:30pm

I call Senate Resources Committee meeting to order. Today is Friday, April 17th, 2026, and the time is 3:30 PM. Please turn off your cell phones. Today, members present: Senator Dunbar, Senator Kawasaki, Senator Myers, Senator Clayman and myself, Senator Giesel. Senator Wilkowski is excused, and Senator Rauscher will be joining us on the phone today.

We have a quorum to conduct business. Thank you to Heather and Chloe for keeping us operational here. We have 4 items listed on the agenda today. Senate Bill 280, oil and gas property tax, municipal tax. We had anticipated having a committee substitute available today.

It is not available, so we are setting that bill aside. Next up will be Senate Bill 208. That's agriculture land leases. That'll be followed by Senate Bill 192, evacuation designation levels, and lastly Senate Bill 174, invasive species management. So first up is Senate Bill 208, agriculture land leases.

This is the third third hearing of this bill. Last time it was before us, we adopted a committee substitute. Today it is my intent to move this bill. So members, Laura Asche is here, staff to Senator Bjorkman. And we also have Amy Seitz on the phone.

She— er, yeah, on the phone. Policy Director of the Alaska Farm Bureau. So, uh, would you like to just remind members, uh, Ms. Asche, what, uh, the bill is about very briefly? Madam Chair, that would be my pleasure. Laura Asche, for the record, staff to Senator Jesse Bjorkman.

Senate Bill 208 is intended to help get more agricultural land into production and help keep it in production. It does this in 3 ways. One, it creates a a new program for the state of Alaska to make it, uh, faster and less expensive for farmers to lease land. Those leases are predicated on an agricultural plan that the farmer submits and is scored to ensure that any leases are in the best interest of the state of Alaska. The bill also adds an optional program for the department to use a merit-based test before selling agricultural land.

And it gives the department civil penalty authority for agricultural covenants. This provides a sort of interim step to help make it a little bit easier on the department so that they don't have to go all the way immediately to considering foreclosing on a property that is not being used as the state law requires. And Madam Chair, that's the, that's the bill in a nutshell. Very good. Members, any questions?

Seeing none, Senator Kawasaki. Thank you, Madam Chair. Oops. Madam Chair, I move Senate Bill 208 version 34 LS0832/T from committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal note. Legislative Legal has the authority to make any technical and conforming changes.

Are there any objections? Seeing none, Senate Bill 208, version T, moves from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. We will sign those transmittal documents at the end of the meeting. The next item on the agenda is Senate Bill 192, evacuation designation levels. This is the second time we've heard this bill.

The last time We heard it. We got a presentation. Today again, I intend to move the bill. Ms. Asche, quick update on the contents? Yes, Madam Chair.

Again, Laura Asche, for the record, staff to Senator Jesse Bjorkman. Senate Bill 192 provides continuity across the state for the use of color-coding designation when agencies are educating the public on imminent risks. So the uniform color would be green. Essentially pay attention, yellow be prepared, and red go. There has been some confusion because some jurisdictions prefer to use red as stay in place, and that creates confusion.

And while intuitively both could make sense, you need to really pick a lane. So this is the lane that has been recommended by emergency managers that have asked for this piece of legislation. Very good, thank you. Any questions from committee members? Yes.

Seeing none. Just a comment. Yes, Senator Kawasaki. Um, so thank you, Madam Chair. I, I was actually driving a car when I was hearing this testimony, and, and it was confusing because I think of red as stop, like don't do anything, or danger, or things like that, rather than rather than time to go.

So I mean, I don't know if this is the naming convention that is used, like, would people understand it is what I'm concerned with. Through the chair, Senator Kawasaki, it is an interesting conundrum. Red can mean stop, or red can mean danger is imminent and you need to leave. And what the communications folks who requested this bill have requested is that the color convention be that red means that you— it's danger and you need to leave. Follow-up, Senator Kawasaki?

Uh, no, I think as long as we're clear, and I guess I should just get that clear in my head myself then.

All right, seeing no further questions, Senator Kawasaki, a motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 192, version 34, LS 08 6-3 backslash I from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. Legislative Legal has the authority to make any technical and conforming changes. Are there any objections?

Seeing none, Senate Bill 192 version I will move from committee. We will sign the documents at the end of the meeting. Thank you, Ms. O'Shea. Next up we have Senate Bill 174, invasive Species Management. This is the third hearing of this bill, but the first time this year.

So it is my intention to move the bill, but first we need a short update from the bill sponsor, Senator Dunbar, and his staff, Hunter Lotzfeld. Madam Chair, I plan to stay up here if that's all right. My staffer will handle the presentation. That would be great.

Welcome, Mr. Lotzfeld. Thank you, Chair Giesel. Thank you for the committee to hear our bill.

All right. Were you going to do the update for us, Mr. Lotzfeld? Yes. So, Senator Bill, for the record, Hunter Lotzfeld, staff to Senator Dunbar. SB 174 creates an invasive species management council.

To coordinate both federal, state, and non-government organization efforts on controlling invasive species in the state of Alaska, with the recognition that prevention is more cost-effective than addressing the problem later in the stage.

Uh, yeah. Very good. Sorry. Uh, yeah, I'll just add a little color, Madam Chair. Um, we, we have— we had the opportunity to give a presentation on this last year.

I realize it's been a little while, but Alaska has fairly extreme problems with things like elodia, northern pike, um, uh, green crab. And we have been working with the advocates for more than a year now, and this is sort of the structure of the council that they have asked for. It does have a fiscal note. It will be going to finance. It's not a huge fiscal I don't know, but this is not the last committee referral, um, and I'll say that, uh, there is also a companion bill in the other body, and I think there is strong support in this building to try to tackle invasive species.

And so thank you again for hearing the bill today. Thank you, Senator Dunbar. You know, um, the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, otherwise known as PNWER, has quite a policy group that works on exactly what you were describing, particularly the green crab. So that's an interesting alignment. You know what is really frustrating to me is the Canadian red cherry trees are invasive, and yet the city of Anchorage has planted a huge number of them and they're not removing them.

Is that chokecherries? This is a slightly different kind though, so Prunus patens. I actually wrote, I wrote a chokecherry ordinance when I was on the assembly. So Prunus padus is the European bird cherry. That is sort of the traditional chokecherry, but you're describing a different one, the Canadian version, also invasive.

Um, and for many years, the State Department of Transportation actually planted chokecherries for erosion control. Then they got out of control. And now there are places like the, um, portions of the, um, Chester Creek Greenbelt that are monocultures that basically this is the only plant that you can find and it chokes out everything else. Um, and, uh, so on the assembly we banned the sale of the European bird cherry. I don't believe we did touch the Canadian.

And, um, it's not illegal to have them on your property, although now there was some CARES Act funding actually to, uh, from the, the government would come, the local government come and remove them. That ran out, but I have heard that they are looking for more programs to try to fund where if you're willing, they can come and remove them from your property. The problem is you can't just cut them down. You actually have to pull out the roots as well. They are very invasive.

So far, they're really just in the Anchorage area, and hopefully they don't spread further. Well, we had two of those Canadian red cherries, and you're right, we cut them down and they kept sending out shoots. And so my husband spent a couple days digging out the roots. They were incredibly deep. Yeah.

Anyway, I know you're dealing with waterborne invasive species here, but certainly a lot of plants. Well, Elodea too is a plant. Yes, I think the hope is that eventually this invasive species council will be able to work on all different kinds. You know, what we're really trying to do is gather leadership and gather the scientific community, and that's where this bill really came from, was there was an event at the at the BP Energy Center a number of years ago where they have an annual meeting of folks that work on invasive species from the scientific perspective, and, um, and they asked for this council. And your example about, you know, if Miss Patti's Anchorage is still planting them, that's exactly what we're talking about, is there is this lack of communication between different government agencies where some are actively working against them and some of them are either being, uh, not strict enough, or in some extreme cases, like with chokecherry, actively contributing to the problem.

So hopefully this species count— invasive species council will help to alleviate that. Gotcha. Further questions for Senator Dunbar related to the bill? All right, Senator Kawasaki, a motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 174, version 34-LS-0— I'm sorry, 34-LS-0901A moves from committee with individual recommendations in the attached fiscal notes. Legislative Legal has the authority to make any technical and conforming changes. Is there objection? Seeing none, Senate Bill 174 version A moves from committee.

Thank you. So that concludes our meeting. I do want to announce, and members know this already, but for the public who are listening, that our next meeting will be Monday morning. At 9 AM. On the agenda again are two pieces of legislation we would like to move along.

That's House Bill 117, Commercial Fishing Set Gillnet Co-op. Yes, co-op. I think that's what COOP stands for. The other bill is Senate Bill 255, Municipal Grant Land, Mat-Su Borough Transfer. So not necessarily moving the bills, but hearing them.

Then we will also meet at 3:30 that day, again expecting a Senate Bill 280 committee substitute for the afternoon meeting. But at this time, this meeting stands adjourned. Let the record reflect the time is 3:43 PM.