Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance — April 30, 2026 9:00am

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Senate Finance Committee to order. Today is April 30th. We're in Senate Finance Room in the State Capitol, Juneau, Alaska. Present today, Chairman Olson, Chairman Steadman, Senator Keel, Senator Merrick, Senator Kaufman, Senator Cronk, and myself, Senator Hoffman. We have a quorum to conduct business.

We have 3 items on today's agenda. First being HB 48, Civil Legal Services Fund. This bill was first heard on April 14th. We took public testimony at the time. No amendments were submitted.

Senator Steadman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move House Bill 48, version A, from committee with attached fiscal notes and individual recommendations.

Is there objection? Seeing none, that bill is moved from committee with individual recommendations. The second item for today's consideration is HB 39, Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. We heard this bill on April 22nd. We took public testimony.

At that time, no amendments were submitted. Senator Steadman. Mr. Chairman, I move House Bill 39, version N, from committee with attached fiscal note and individual recommendations. Is there objection?

That bill moves on to the next committee of referral, which will be Rules Committee. The last item today for consideration by the Senate Finance Committee is Item 3, Senate Bill 206. School Suicide Policies, Firearms Storage. This is the first hearing on the bill. I invite Senator Tobin and anyone she would like to assist her to introduce the bill to the Senate Finance Committee.

Senator.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, my name is Lukey Gail Tobin, and I serve the constituents who reside in Senate District Aye. My name is Louie Flora. I'm staff to Senator Lukey Tobin. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for taking the opportunity to hear this legislation.

I know the committee has received quite a few pieces of public comment, and so we are here to tell you simply what this bill does. This bill simply offers our children time, time to prevent a terrible, terrible decision.

Now we know that every 11 minutes, one child in this nation takes their life. 80% Use a firearm.

And too many children here in Alaska are using firearms to attempt suicide. One in five young Alaskans have seriously considered Suicide. And I know everyone at this table knows someone, has held someone, has loved someone who's taken their life. So the bill before you does 3 simple things. First, it establishes evidence-based guidelines that if— and that is a key statement— if a school district wishes to adopt a notification plan for parents for if their child has been the victim of bullying or harassment or has expressed suicide ideation.

The plan they must adopt is required to include 3 things: information to the parent that is rooted in evidence and research, recognition that the parent should store their medication and their firearms, and also resources for referral and support.

The second thing this bill does is establishes a firearm safe storage fund in the Department of Administration that can accept grants and donations.

To help school districts if they would like to offer a parent a safe storage device, that when they provide that notification, they can provide a device to a parent. The parent does not need to accept the device. The school district does not need to offer it. It is simply just a tool and a resource. The third is it allows the Alaska Statewide Council on Suicide Prevention to advise districts on resource materials for parents.

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Now, one of the things I think is really important is that the policies in this legislation are rooted in evidence and have been adopted by many communities. This bill was modeled after legislation that was overwhelmingly supported in the state of Utah by Republican House member Steve Eilson and signed into law by Stephen Cox. In Utah, they've seen a 12% decline in youth suicide. Communities like Louisville and military bases in Massachusetts, as well as the state of Michigan, have also adopted similar policies where they provide safe storage devices for their students and provide them to parents upon request.

We have for too long been number one in so many terrible things. And especially in youth suicide. This bill is rooted in evidence. It's rooted in good policy, and it's rooted in an approach that works, that will move the needle here in Alaska.

It is a common sense, evidence-based piece of legislation. Now, my teammate Louie Flora will walk you through a brief section analysis for full transparency, as there are no Trojan horses in this bill. There is no hidden slippery slopes. It is simply a straightforward, evidence-based bill that will help our students in crisis. Our attempt and goal is to disrupt youth suicide.

Now, here's the number that really gives me pause: 10 minutes. 10 Minutes from when a child thinks about taking their life or inflicting self-harm to action. Storing your medication and storing your firearm will give our children time. That's simply what this bill offers. It's time.

Time when our children need it most. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Floor will now walk through a brief section analysis, and we do have some invited testifiers.

Order. Thank you, Louie Flora, staff to Senator Lukey Tobin. I will do a brief sectional. Section 1 adds a new section, AS 1433-240, parental notification to safety and school discipline statutes. Then it allows the school districts to adopt a plan if they wish to identify at-risk students and notify parents.

Section 2 adds new section AS 4421-070 to establish the firearm safe storage grant fund within the general fund. Administered by the Department of Administration. Finally, Section 3 amends AS4429.350 by adding a new subsection to the duties of the Suicide Prevention Council authorizing the council to advise school districts on appropriate materials and lists that the districts provide to parents or guardians when notifying them of incidents of bullying. Thank you. Thank you.

Come back to order. We'll go to invited testimony. First of all, do Senate Finance members have questions of the senator for over the presentation today? Senator Steadman. Just a kind of an overall question.

Quite a bit of this bill deals with firearm securing firearms and ammunition and so on and so forth. Do we have a breakdown of the suicides that were caused by firearms versus overdosing on medications or strangulation or what have you? Senator Tobin or—. Thank you. For the record, this is Lukey Tobin, Senator for District I.

National averages says— or excuse me, national data shows us that 80% of young people use a firearm when attempting to take their life. We have local data that we can provide you that should be in your bill packet, and it's titled A Brief Report: Firearm Storage, and it is from the Alaska Health— the Department of Health— Division of Public Health, and we'll ensure that you get a copy of that if it's not already in your bill packet. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, I'd be kind of interested in that because we're not the average state. Most homes that I'm aware of have firearms in them, and most homes keep them secured or ammunition separate from their firearms.

And, and I think quite a few are involved with their children at early ages of the risks associated with and handling of firearms. And from the many communities that I represent, an average community such as Tuksook Bay, I assume that 99% of those homes have firearms as well. How would that be handled in, say, Tuksook Bay? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, Lukie Tobin, Senate District I.

Again, this bill simply just offers a tool to parents. It is their choice whether they accept the tool or not. Really, this bill is about notification of parents for when their children are in crisis and providing evidence-based resources so that parent can make good decisions to help ensure their child has interventions that are needed and necessary to keep them alive. Thank you. Further questions of the Senate Finance Committee of the prime sponsor?

Senator Kaufman. Thank you to the bill sponsor. The parental section 1, I'm looking at the sectional analysis just for For brevity, parental notification. It says it authorizes school districts to adopt a plan to notify parents or guardians about harassment. Do we need to legislate that?

Don't they already have that ability is something I was wondering. Senator Tobin. Luki Tobin, Senator for District I. Thank you, Senator Kaufman, through the chair. The state does not have a requirement for notification for when a child has been bullied or harassed or expresses suicide ideation.

Districts may adopt a plan, and in this legislation we do not change that choice. You'll see on page 1, line 6, that says a school district may adopt a plan. There is no requirement under this legislation to change current state practice. Thank you, Senator Tobin. Senator Kaufman?

Thanks. I guess that's part of what I was hung up on, so I was wondering It says it authorizes school districts to adopt a plan. I think they are already authorized to do so.

Again, Luki Tobin, Center for District Eye, through the chair, Senator Kaufman. They are currently authorized. Our statutes are silent on that. This simply gives evidence-based guidelines about what those plans should include to ensure that a school district that is providing notification to a parent also provides additional resources for intervention. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Kaufman. Further questions of the Senate Finance Committee or the prime sponsor? Seeing none, we will go to invited testimony at this time. We will start out with Tara Schmidt, a research specialist from Homer, Alaska. Please identify yourself and present the committee with your invited testimony.

Co-chairs Olson, Hopkins, Fedman, and members of the committee, for the record, my name is Claire Schmitt. I'm a lifelong Alaskan currently working for the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, where I help implement— lead the implementation of a PCCICS project in Alaska, which is promoting community conversations about research for effective solutions. My work focuses on translating suicide prevention research into practical strategies that can be used in schools and cities across the state. I collaborate closely with Alaska partners including educators, community leaders, and youth-serving professionals. I'm here today in support of Senate Bill 206 because it reflects an evidence-based best practice for suicide prevention across populations, which is lethal means safety.

Suicide is complex, but one thing the research is very clear about is that reducing access to your lethal means saves lives. Many suicide attempts—.

Especially young people, occur during short periods of intense distress, as Senator Tobin has noted. Several studies, including Kaufman, 2007, Jason Hammer et al., 2009, Simon et al., 2001, have shown that impulsivity plays a huge role in suicidal behavior, with up to 50% of attempters spending less than an hour contemplating suicide prior to an attempt, and 25% thinking about it for 10 minutes or less. These minutes matter. When a highly lethal method of suicide like firearm is easily accessible, these attempts are far more likely to result in death. And I can tell you in response to a question that was posed earlier, in the state of Alaska, firearms are responsible for 68% of the suicide deaths in our state.

When the same method is not accessible, when firearms are safely stored, locked, and in a separate location from ammunition, the odds of firearm-related death decreases by about 80%, and that's according to Grossman et al. From a 2005 study. This bill increases access to safe storage devices by distributing them through schools. Senate Bill 206 recognizes that schools are a critical and appropriate setting for distributing this information and supplies. This school year, I was fortunate to offer training to 70 crisis response staff in one urban Alaskan school district as part of my work contracted by the State of Alaska supported by the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Group.

The school staff who took this training were open to talking about youth and their safety. Which we also call safe homes, is there storage with the families of their students, not only in response to crisis but in a proactive way. According to training participants, 59 of whom participated in the poll, about half said that their school sometimes offers discussions about resiliency and safety for parents and caregivers. Over a third said that's not happening, and the rest just didn't know. So this highlights an opportunity for parent and caregiver education.

As one participant put it during the training, they said, "Suicide isn't purely a mental health problem. Improving environmental safety plays a huge role and offers us an opportunity to act." While school staff acknowledged some barriers and worries about how the subject would be received by parents and caregivers, they felt it was worth the possible discomfort. As one participant put it, "It's a difficult conversation that we are all willing to have because it's so important." We can help ensure the success of this caregiver education by providing plenty of resources and support. In a qualitative study of staff attitudes in two schools, the school with mental health services, parent outreach personnel, and strong school support and parent leadership, teachers described parents as very supportive. That's a Williams et al.

Study from 2007. Schools are already on the front lines of youth well-being. They are trusted hubs where families receive information about safety, health, and development. Providing suicide prevention resources, including information about safe firearm storage and safe medication storage, sits squarely within that role. Community-based organizations giving safe storage supplies along with lethal means counseling are more likely to have improved improves safe storage habits compared to just giving information.

That's Rohani, Rebar, et al., 2016. Providing tools for action, such as free locking devices or discount coupons for such devices, may increase the acceptability, adoption, and efficacy of resiliency discussions. That's Anestis, et al., 2001. Kazanov et al., 2004, 2024, and Rohani Rebar et al., 2016. Right now, suicide is the leading cause of death for Alaskans aged 10 to 19, the number one reason why our young people are dying.

These are not just numbers, these are students, siblings, teammates, friends In my work, I hear from communities who are asking for practical, actionable steps they can take right now to keep their young people safe. One training participant— oh, I already said that, sorry. This bill addresses a key preventable risk factor in a way that is respectful, accessible, and grounded in evidence. It gives families and schools tools to have more effective conversations about lethal means safety. And most importantly, it gives young people a better chance to survive a moment of crisis.

For these reasons, I strongly support Senate Bill 206. Thank you for your time and your commitment to the safety and well-being of Alaska's youth. I'm available for questions or can provide specifics on the sources I cited if you would like. Thank you for that testimony, Tara. We'll go to Sitka, Alaska.

We will hear from Robert Hadley, the pastor for the Schwarnoff Lutheran Church. Hello, this is Robert Hadley. Hadley? Can you hear me? Yes, I can.

Yes. I'm here. Please testify. Okay, I'm here to testify in support of Bill 206. I have an interesting history of having practiced as a registered nurse, primarily working in emergency rooms and throughout Alaska.

I've been in Alaska 15 years. After 45 years of nursing, I retired and I'm now working as the Lutheran pastor up in Shishmaref, but lived in Sitka for about 15 years. Um, one of the most shocking phone calls, um, that I ever had in my nursing career, um, was to call to the donor, uh, hotline, which as a nurse, as a charge nurse, you have to do when there's a potential donor. Um, and I reported to the person, the tech, that answered the phone that I had a 15-year-old male on life support, has been declared dead, is a possible donor. Without any further information, the donor tech asked me, "So was the gunshot wound self-inflicted or by somebody else?" That was the first thing they wanted to know.

Tragically, my life both as a pastor and as a nurse I have interacted with young people that unfortunately have had access to weapons that they used on, basically on a whim. Recently in the village of Shishmaref, just the first of the year, we had a 15-year-old boy committed suicide. He did have weapons. In the home. He was actually the subsistence provider for his grandfather and grandmother and had been bullied that day at school and came home and took his life.

This is a, a family problem. He also had an uncle and a great-grandfather who committed suicide. So suicide in the villages is devastating. A lot of concern for Papa Gads, a lot of concern for— it actually destroys a family, destroys a culture. So yes, I'm a gun owner.

We all know the safe practices. Of storing our ammunition and weapons separate from each other. We do that with good intention, but we also know that there are frequently windows where those good intentions are not followed through. I think by matching suicide awareness with gun safety and gun violence prevention, it's common sense, uh, and empowering, um, our schools who have the most interaction, uh, with our children these days. Not overwhelming them, but, uh, appreciating the role that they stand, uh, in being able to notify family and friends.

Um, access to, uh, being able to distribute gun, um, safety features, gun locks, um, or storage units or that sort of thing. It's just a reminder when it's been identified that we have a young person with an acute problem and just remind them to do indeed the safe practices that we all know and do. It's, it's can only be temporarily. I had a very dear friend of mine in Colorado.

So, um, several years ago, um, that, um, I, uh, basically, uh, called the local sheriff's department to have guns removed, uh, from his house by his wife. Um, my friend Ed, um, cursed me that day, um, and then 3 months later thanked me for saving his life. And he also had intentions to take his wife's life. I think that being open and honest about that suicide is, in this society that we live in now, is a devastating part of the human experience. And any way that we can put a step between or a blockade between access to one of the most lethal ways that you can commit suicide, I think is benefit for not only the individual but also for ourselves as a society.

Frequently we know, well know that somebody that is suicidal can also be homicidal. And so again, I encourage it. I kind of look at a common sense, approach, um, utilizing tools, um, that we already have or can get access to. Um, I am very sensitive that, uh, I have the right, um, to have arms in my home, uh, but I have the responsibility, uh, to make sure that they're safe and secure, uh, to prevent tragedies like these. Um, and the more tools that we can give families and that we can give schools to help try to intervene and mitigate this issue, I'm strongly supportive of, both professionally and personally.

Thank you, Mr. Haddell. I'm open for any questions, and thank you for the opportunity to be able to testify. Thank you, Mr. Haddell, for that testimony. That concludes the individuals that have been invited to testify. Those that are online, we will not be hearing public testimony at this time.

We will potentially take this up, Bill, at a later date. Before we go to fiscal notes, Senator Tobin, do you have any closing comments? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, Lukey Tobin, Senator for District I. I do want to thank the committee. I know this is an uncomfortable topic, is a challenging topic, and I recognize the concerns of many constituents around whether there are Trojan horses or slippery slopes contained in the legislation before you.

It's not an easy conversation. We've, we've talked about how do we prevent suicide for decades. We've established councils, we have created advisory groups, we have created information that is available to our constituents. The bill before you is a real proven solution to this public health crisis.

It is not asking much. It does not impact legal gun ownership. It doesn't impact firearms that are in the homes in any way other than if a parent chooses to accept a tool when their child's in crisis.

I'm very thankful that this opportunity was presented to us because I do think along with this legislation, one of the most important things we can do is bring awareness and educate our families and our community members. So the last thing I'd like to say here on the public record is for parents and loved ones who have children who are in crisis in their home to ensure that their medication is safely stored, their firearms are safely stored, and there are resources available for their children in need. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for presenting that to the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Keehl, fiscal notes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are two fiscal notes currently in the packet for Senate Bill 206. The first one is from the Department of Public Safety, State Troopers Special Projects. They give that a zero fiscal note.

The second one is from the Department of Education and Early Development and Student and School Achievement. They also submit a zero fiscal note. They note that they might— they will change some regulations. Mr. Chairman, I believe because a past version of the bill put the fund public safety, this version moves it to admin. We are still waiting for a fiscal note from the Department of Administration.

So that may be forthcoming. Thank you, Senator Keele. Any questions by the Senate Finance Committee on fiscal notes? Senator Keele. I do have one.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a question to the sponsor about the structure of where the fund is in this bill and why. The Department of Fish and Game hands out a lot of free gun locks. I'm not worried about gun grabbing. Spend any money on them.

They come free and by the case from that notorious gun grabber group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Since there's already a department engaged in this a tiny bit, in like 3 locations, why put the funded admin?

For the record, Louie Flora, staff to Senator Lukey Tobin. And we— that's a very good idea. We did put it in the Department of Administration just because of their procurement department and their expertise there. But we're open to that discussion. We did add hunter safety as an option for use for the safe storage devices, such as the program that in your district.

And we—. The thought there was that there's a potential to access Pittman-Robertson funds in addition to other grants that could go into the fund. Senator Kiehl. Briefly, a follow-up. I appreciate the thought.

You can take as many of them as you want when you walk into the Rabbit Creek Range or the Juneau Hunter Ed Facility or— I can't remember the Fairbanks one. But there isn't a stack of free ones for my constituents in Klockwan or Gustavus. So the notion that they could get access to the same thing urban Alaskans could get access to for the same price beneficial. Thanks. Thank you, Senator Keele.

Further questions? Senator Kaufman. Thanks. With respect to the cost, I noticed the bill includes devices ranging from a lockbox, safe, cable lock, or other device. So the— I guess depending on what one would choose there, you could have a— it might be hard to come up with a number unless we knew the number of units at a given price that we were looking at, i.e., difference between a cable or a really nice safe.

So I'm just saying that there could be some variability unless we further define that. Thank you, Senator Kaufman. Further comments or questions on fiscal notes?

Seeing none, we will set this bill aside. That concludes this morning's meeting. This afternoon at 1:30, we will be taking up two pieces of legislation: the operating and mental health budgets, and a hearing on Senate Bill 221, redistricting state fund fiduciary. Anything else to come before the committee? Nothing else to come before the committee.

We are adjourned until this afternoon.