Alaska Legislature: House Floor Session, 4/24/26, 10:30am

[MUSIC] [MUSIC].

ទ្ទ្ទ្ ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ ប្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រ ប្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រុង្រ ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ�私たちのために、私たちのために、私たちのために、私たちのために、私たちのために、私たちのために、私たちのために、私たちのために、 අපි ස්තූතියි අපි ස්තූතියි ස්තූතියි අපි ස්තූතියි ස්තූතියි ස්තූතියි ទ្ទ្ទ្ទ.

Will the House please come to order? Will members please indicate their presence by voting?

Will the clerk please tally the board? 38 Members present. With 38 members present, we have a quorum present to conduct business. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that Representative Colon be excused from a call of the House today. Hearing no objection, the member is excused. Leading the invocation today is Pastor Chris Elliott of the Radiant Church. Members, please rise.

Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, mighty and merciful, I come before you today with a deep gratitude for this state, for this process, and most especially for the men and women who have said yes to the hard work of public service. You have never been distant from government. Your word reminds us that all authority is a precious gift from you. And that those who lead ultimately do so as your servants.

That is a sobering and grounding truth for all to remember. The challenges before our great state are real. Give the members of this body wisdom that goes beyond their experience, discernment that goes beyond their data, and patience for the hard work ahead. Guard this chamber from the destructive forces of pride, self-interest, and political posturing. When disagreements arise, and we understand that they will, let them be the kind of disagreements that sharpen rather than destroy, that seek truth rather than scoring political points.

When courage is required, may these men and women find it in abundance. I ask that you would strengthen them so that when they leave this session, they can rest confidently knowing they have done what is right, not just what's convenient. I ask for your hand of blessing on the work of this day, and I ask it humbly, knowing that without you, the best of human effort will still fall short. I ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Representative Jimmy, will you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Representative Story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move and ask unanimous consent that the prayer be spread across the journal. Hearing no objection, the prayer will be spread across the journal. Will the clerk please certify the journal for the previous legislative days? I certify as to the correctness of the journal for the 93rd and 94th of the legislative days. Mr.

Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the journal of the previous days be approved as certified by the Chief Clerk. Hearing no objection, the journal stands approved. Are there guests for introduction this morning? Representative Carrick.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize that my voice doesn't sound that great today, but I have two guests in the Peratrovich Gallery, if they would stand. And I'm going to be poaching from House District 36 today, so I thank you and apologize in advance for that. I'm here to introduce Pat and Laura Connor. They're visiting from Fairbanks for the weekend.

Laura has worked for UAF for 20 years in a variety of roles. She currently serves as the Vice Chancellor for Research at the university. She enjoys hiking in the summer and staying indoors with a good book during our long winters. Pat is with her as well, who has worked as a lineman doing fiber optics for 20 years. He enjoys hunting, fishing, spending time outdoors both during the summer and the winter.

And they both enjoy spending time with their two daughters, their brand new granddaughter, and their dog Frank. And Mr. Speaker, I told her I wouldn't, but I lied to her because one of their daughters is sitting with them today, and she happens to be my staff. So will Cadence Connor please also stand? I am so pleased to also introduce Cadence today despite her objection. Cadence is their amazing, incredible daughter.

She was my Ted Stevens Legislative intern last year, and she must have liked it because she came back to work for me again this year. She's absolutely indispensable in my office. She covers me for Labor and Commerce, Tribal Affairs. She does constituent work, and she's carrying, I think, 4 or 5 of my bills also. She's a huge Packers fan, so she's really got something in common with my co-chair of Transportation from Anchorage, and she loves her 2 cats.

She also got engaged this year to her fiancé Preston in Juneau when he was down for a visit. So we're really excited for her. And in addition to having her as an amazing staffer in my office, she's also an amazing friend. So if you could help me please welcome Cadence and her parents.

Representative Vance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a guest page to introduce. If she— if River would come up to the center. This is River Covey. She's 17 years old from Nenilchik.

She's here. Her parents are Brian and Catherine Covey, and River's here visiting her mom who works as a legislative aide who's sitting in the gallery behind me. So River is working as a waitress in the summers. She's entering her senior year this year at Kenai Central High in the fall. She enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, working on trucks with her dad, time with her boyfriend and her tribe of friends from school.

She's hoping to join the National Guard or plans on becoming a paramedic and possibly an Alaska State Trooper. High aspirations, Mr. Speaker. You were in the right building, River, because we have a lot of great people here who can help give you some insight, and we are so glad that you're here. Pass lots of notes so she can get to know everyone on the floor. Let's welcome River to the gallery today.

[FOREIGN] Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask I have a guest from Fairbanks, House District 31. If Princess Johnson can please rise in the Pratchevich Gallery behind me.

Princess Johnson is here in Juneau screening a short film that she directed based on Velma Wallace's book Two Old Women and starring Brenda Kay Newman, Margaret Henry-John, and Chief Gallen Gilbert of, of Vaasrai K'oh. And a documentary she co-narrated with Florian Schultz, The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness. Tomorrow she will be traveling to Ketchikan. She will be hosted by the Ketchikan Indian community to show her films that address the salmon crisis on the Yukon River and Gwich'in language films focused on the importance of protecting the calving grounds of the porcupine caribou herd in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Princess has worked as a creative producer and writer of PBS Kids' Molly of Denali and helped to ensure that Alaska Native values were embedded in the stories.

An example of these values includes an obligation as humans to respect and care for the lands, waters, and animals of Alaska that provide for us all. Molly of Denali continues to educate millions of viewers every day worldwide, and Alaska Native children today get to see themselves represented, represented in a positive light. Her hope and prayer is to see the, see a united Alaska where every person feels safe and welcome, and where future generations will be able to experience clean air and waters and know the.

Joy and excitement of catching their first salmon. Please welcome Princess Johnson to the Capitol.

Not seeing further guests for introduction. Madam Clerk, are there any messages from the governor?

A message dated April 23rd Stating in accordance with Article 3, Sections 26 and 27 of the Alaska Constitution and Alaska Statute 39-05080, the governor submits the following list of appointees for confirmation: to the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, Tracy Welch. Special Committee on Fisheries.

Big Game Commercial Services Board, Rudy Martinez. Resources Committee. Board of Education and Early Development, Joy Cogburn-Smith. Education Committee. Board of Marine Pilots, Angel Holbrook and Colin Maynard.

Labor and Commerce Committee. State Assessment Review Board, Jana Weltson. Resources and Finance Committees.

And the State Medical Board, Alan Swinson. Health and Social Services Committee. I have no further messages from the governor this morning. Are there any messages from the other body?

Messages dated April 22 stating the Senate has passed and is returning the following: committee substitute for House Joint Resolution number 14, Transportation, Port McKenzie and Northern Rail Extensions. The Senate has passed and is transmitting the following for consideration: Senate Joint Resolution number 20 by Senate— Senator Bjorkman, supporting federal, state, and local efforts to clean up and remove marine, marine debris from the state, urging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency to provide additional funding for those efforts and to remove barriers faced by tribes and rural communities in assessing those funds, and urging the Alaska congressional delegation to advocate for increased federal funding and support for marine debris prevention, cleanup, removal, Bak Hall and Education.

Resources Committee.

Committee substitute for Senate Bill Number 21, Finance, by the Senate Finance Committee, entitled an act establishing the Alaska Work and Save Program in the Department of Revenue and providing for an effective date. Labor and Commerce and Finance Committees. Committee substitute for Senate Bill Number 163, Labor and Commerce, by the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, entitled an act relating to inactive state accounts funds, repealing the Public Access Fund, repealing the Alaska Temporary Assistance Program Emergency Account, repealing the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games Reserve Fund, and providing for an effective date. State Affairs Committee. I have no further messages from the other body, Mr. Speaker.

Are there any communications?

Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, annual review of assets, FY 2025. The following audit report was received from the Division of Legislative Audit, Legislative Budget and Audit Committee as required by AS242311, State of Alaska Single Audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. I have no further communications this morning. Are there any reports of standing committees?

The Health and Social Services Committee held a hearing on the State Medical Board appointee Norman Walker. Signing the report, Representatives Prox, Fields-Gray, Mears, Ruffridge, Schwanke, and Chair Mena. The Labor and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the appointees— appointee to the Board of Pharmacy, Lillian Okapaleke; Board of Social Work examiners, Ivy Villani; the Marijuana Control Board, Darren Cooper; Signing the report: Representatives Carrot, Colon, Freer, Sadler, Nelson, and co-chairs Hall and Fields.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered House Bill 285, Health Information Exchange, recommends it be replaced with Committee Substitute for House Bill 285, Labor and Commerce, with the same title. Attached: one previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report: do pass. Representatives Freer, Field, and Co-chair Hall. No recommendations.

Carrick, Colombe, Sadler, Nelson, and Co-chair Fields. The bill has no further referral.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered House Bill 292, Insurance, Pediatric Neuropsychology, Psychological Disorders, recommends it be replaced with Committee Substitute for House Bill 292, Labor and Commerce, with a new title. Attached 1 previously published indeterminate fiscal note. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Carrick, Sadler, Freer, Nelson, and co-chair Hall and Fields. The bill has no further referral. The Finance Committee considered House Bill 314, Architecture Engineers/Surveyors Regional Interior Design.

Attached 1 new fiscal note and 1 new zero fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass: Representatives Galvin, Tomaszewski, Hannon, Stapp, and Co-Chairs Schrage and Foster. No recommendation: Moore and Co-Chair Josephson. Amend: Bynum. The bill has no further referral.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered House Bill 316, Adjust Damage Limit, PERS Injury, Wrongful Death. Attached: one previously published indeterminate fiscal note and one previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass: Representatives Freer, Carrick, and Co-chair Hall, no recommendation. Co-chair Fields, amend Sadler and Nelson. The bill has no further referral.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered House Bill 335, Disaster Emergency Plan for Pets, recommends it be replaced with committee substitute for House Bill 335, Labor and Commerce, with a new title attached to new fiscal notes. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Freer, Carrick, Do not pass, Sadler. No recommendation, Co-Chair Hall and Fields. Amend, Nelson. The bill has a further referral to the Finance Committee.

The Finance Committee considered Senate Bill number 41, Public Schools Mental Health Education, attached 1 previously published fiscal note and 2 previously published zero fiscal notes. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Jimmy, Bynum, Galvin, Hannon, Moore. Stab, Co-Chairs Schrag, Josephson, and Foster. Do not pass, Allard. No recommendation, Tomaszewski.

The bill has no further referral. The Community and Regional Affairs Committee considered Senate Bill 63, amended, Local Boundary Commission, attached 1 previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass, Representatives Holland, St. Clair, Hall. Co-Chair Mears. No recommendation.

Prox and Co-Chair Hemmschulte, the bill has no further referral. The Judiciary Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill Number 167, Finance, Criminal Conviction of Returned Received Pass PFD, recommends it be replaced with House Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 167, Judiciary, with the same title. Attached 1 previously published indeterminate fiscal note. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Mena, Eichide, and Chair Gray. No recommendation: Costello, Underwood, and Vance.

The bill has a further referral to the Finance Committee.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered Senate Bill number 181, Employment Information Disclosure. Attached one previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Freer, Carrick, and co-chairs Hall and Fields. No recommendation, Sadler. The bill has no further referral.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill number 211, Labor and Commerce, extend occupational licensing board. Attached one previously published fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Carrick, Colon, Sadler, Nelson, and co-chair Fields and Hall. The bill has a further referral to the Finance Committee, and I have no further reports of standing committees. Are there any reports to special committees?

The House Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs considered House Bill number 299, Veterans Sentence Program Criminal Procedure, attached two new fiscal notes, one new indeterminate fiscal note and one new zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Sadler, Hall, Gray, and Chair Eischeid. The bill has a further referral to the Judiciary Committee.

The House Special Committee on Tribal Affairs considered House Bill 384, definition of victim counseling center, attached 1 new zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Schwanke, Freer, Ruffridge, Underwood, Carrick, and Story. The bill has a further referral to the Judiciary Committee, and I have no further reports of special committees.

Are there any citations or resolutions for introduction? There is a special order citation calendar this morning. Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that notice and publication requirements be waived and the citations on the first special order citation.

Calendar be made a special order of business.

Without objection, Mr. Majority Leader. I'm going to ask that the member reduce— can you pull back your objection and then administer here just in a second? So the objection's been removed. Mr.

Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the House approve the citations on this first special order citation calendar. Representative Josephson, could you please register your objection and then speak to it if you desire? Could you, through the microphone, register your objection? Yes, I object for purposes of a comment on the citation.

Representative Josephson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The members will see on the special calendar the in memoriam for my mother, Carla Zander, and she It's a little bit uncanny, she would have turned 89 today. She was born in 1937 on this day. She passed away November 13th in New Hampshire. She had moved there after living here for 60 years, something like that, maybe 50, 55 years. She was a, a great person, of course, and beloved by her children.

She had 3 children. I was her middle child. I was a middle child until my father had 2 more, and I have 2 half-sisters. And so I moved up the rank of the 5 of us. My mother was a— she grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.

Her parents were very devout Christian Scientists. She did not adopt that religion ultimately. Her father was a leader in the labor movement and founded AFSCME and was its president internationally for 30 years. I was with her when I left law school. I happened to be driving back to Alaska.

I've only done that journey from the East Coast once, and I had to be— I was driving through Detroit right when there was a posthumous induction ceremony for my grandfather, and she was there. And we met President Sweeney at the AFL-CIO. And, um, so I'm very proud through my mother to have that labor connection. And she was a— she worked for Senator Proxmire, uh, on Capitol Hill in the late '50s. I met my father who was working for then-Territorial Delegate Bartlett, soon Senator Bartlett.

And, um, they She did what wives do then. Your husband wants to go to Alaska, that's where you're going. Um, and she liked it fine. The earthquake was not a favorite experience. My father was here in the house at the time, flew back to Anchorage.

They must have had a long adjournment. The airport was closed. He walked back from J— what was then Elmendorf to our home in Turnagain. And of course, people had died in Turnagain. My mother was very receptive to letting her children do whatever they wanted to do.

If you wanted to take up an instrument, take up the instrument. She let us play into, you know, darkness in the summer. There wasn't much darkness, but we were outside a lot. If we wanted multiple pets, get the multiple pets. I mean, it was that sort of atmosphere.

She was very interested in American history and politics, and she was a big murder mystery reader. That was a passion of hers. She worked for Senator Gravel. She worked in my father's law office. She wrote a book on— a book entitled Use of the Sea by Alaska Natives, published by the University of Alaska Press.

She was a great lady. She could be tough sometimes. She was from the Midwest and had that sort— those sort of values. She— her main career was a public school librarian at Bartlett. When my parents split up in 1978, she went to get her master's degree at the University of Hawai��i Mānoa and got a degree in library science, returned and worked at Bartlett during really its heyday when it just had a fantastic staff that I noted in her obituary.

And then she worked for Governor Knowles as his executive secretary. And really, really cared for Governor Knowles. Um, so she was just an all-around great lady, uh, very progressive. Uh, you can tell in the in memoriam she named one of her dogs after Paul Robeson, who was a— just a fantastic human being, uh, one of the most important African Americans in U.S. history. Uh, known— he was a multi-talented guy, um, a diplomat, a writer, a statesman, a singer, an actor, um, and, uh, performed at my great uncle's nightclub, which I mentioned earlier in the session.

Uh, and so that tells you something about where her mind was. It was a— she was very progressive, uh, an ardent Democrat. I don't know where I get it from. Um, and, um, she's gonna be missed. We loved her very much.

Thank you for your time. I remove my objection.

Not hearing further objection, the first special order citation calendar is approved. Madam Clerk, are there any bills for introduction? House Bill 387 by the House Education Committee entitled An Act Establishing the Joint Legislative Alaska Native Languages Academic Task Force. 4S. Education Committee, there are no further bills for introduction this morning, Mr. Speaker.

This brings us to the consideration of the daily calendar. At this time, House Bill 96 relating to home care employment standards, House Bill 214 motor vehicles proof of insurance, House Bill 221, Arts and Cultural Day, all in second reading, will be rolled to the bottom of the calendar. And as well, House Bill 249 in third reading pertaining to transfer vehicles titles to insurers will also be rolled to the bottom of the calendar. Madam Clerk.

Senate Concurrent Resolution Number 19, Extend West Coast Storm Disaster, is before the body in second reading. Representative Josephson.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I first—. Representative Josephson, I think I have jumped the gun a little bit here. We have an amendment. Yes, let's back up a little bit, Madam Clerk. Amendment number 1 by Representative Josephson, beginning page 1, line 2.

Representative Josephson. Uh, yes.

Mr. Speaker, I move Amendment 1. There's an objection. Representative Josephson. Amendment 1 is, um, a disaster declaration financing plan. So So this would be appended effectively to the resolution and act as further explication, if you will, of the financing plan previously adopted.

Essentially, it's quite readable, but what it does is it says— it lays out sort of where we are, what's been spent, what's come in from the federal government, what needs there are now, and it notes importantly that there's no appropriation necessary. And I note that because that is one of the reasons we believe this can be done by resolution. We're not asking this body to spend any more money than it's already approved. I'd be happy to answer any questions, but that's, that's what this does. The administration has asked for an amendment to the financing plan, and this is what that is.

Thank you. Representative Jimmy. Hoiyana, Mr. Speaker. Nobody's waiting on you for your procedural comfort. You don't get credit for supporting the disaster.

If you vote against the way we deliver it, We can all agree on things— the cost, the amount, the urgency.

So what are we doing here?

We've lost the plot.

At some point Concerns become obstructions.

This is not going to age very well.

If you believe these are Alaskans, and I hope you do, I have to trust you in that. So act like it. Thank you. Point of order. Representative Sadler.

Mr. Speaker, Mason's 12222 says we should not.

Impune motives, which means to criticize as illegitimate or, um, to question the motives. Um, with respect for the member, we need to keep the debate on the topic and not intentions or the spin on what people may, may or not want to do. Obstruction, that's just beyond the pale, sir.

Duly noted, Representative Sadler. Representative St. Clair. What?

Mr. Speaker, I request a ruling.

I just ruled. I said duly noted. Representative St. Clair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't want to get in, in between that back and forth. I oppose this amendment for several reasons, Mr. Speaker. If you look at the second whereas, it said on April 20th, 2026, the governor approved a revised financing plan. There was no disaster declaration during that time.

The last disaster declaration ended on April 7th. And if this were my district, I would be jumping up and down on your desk, Mr. Speaker. Granted, Tira and Amy would probably pull me out, but I would get this done as expeditiously. But we have a tendency in this body of doing things retroactively, and that's not the way we should be doing business. So this amendment to the underlying resolution, the It's all— it should be— it's trying to fix something that we did not have in place, and it is our own fault.

Therefore, I will oppose Amendment Number 1. Representative Ballard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to read a little bit? Permission granted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the reason I'm opposing this amendment is because what I'm going to read out of this book And this is the State of Alaska single audit for the fiscal year ended in June 30th, 2025.

So, Mr. Speaker, we have a problem with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

A review of the FY25 disaster grant payments found that 15 payments, 88%, lacked adequate supporting documentation. It further goes on to say there were 327 disaster grants payments totaling $325 million roughly during FY25. The audit tested 17 disaster grant payments totaling almost $200 million, of which 15 were inadequately and unsupported. Specifically, 11 payments were partially supported by procurement contracts that did not include all federal requirements, or not fully supported by complete signed contracts. If you just give me a moment, I wanted to hit on a couple of other things.

The effect of this and adequate documentation may result in unallowable costs. Noncompliance with federal regulations may result in the federal awarding agencies imposing additional conditions and taking corrective action. If you move on, there's a couple other comments I wanted to read and take out. There were 70 disaster grant subawards totaling over $54 million that were subject to the FFA TA reporting during FY '25. I would go on to say that there were $1 million, uh, just almost $200 million for compliance and internal controls testing reporting requirements.

The effect is the failure to comply with FFATA reporting requirements reduces transparency and may jeopardize future funding. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a lot of confidence in the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs right now. There is no way that I will be able to vote for this amendment until we have other documentation from the Department of Military Veterans Affairs that they're actually doing the right thing. They should be under complete investigation of what this audit has come out with. It—.

Hesitation— I, I want to vote for it, but we need to put it in a bill, Mr. Speaker. And just because I don't vote for it doesn't mean I don't support— there's a proper way of doing things. And so I will be a no on this amendment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Fields.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee has been hearing about the single audit which was recently released. The single audit has gone to state agencies, it's come back, now it's available to standing committees. The issues raised by the member from Eagle River, those type of issues are going to come up every year. If we were to fail to do SCRs on disasters because of ongoing work following a single audit, it would endanger addressing every disaster on into the future.

So yes, it is important for standing committees to address issues raised in single audits. Point of order, Representative Ballard. Mr. Speaker, he's not even— the representative from Anchorage is not even referencing the amendment. He's actually addressing me, so he needs to stick to the amendment, not my comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I agree with you, Representative Ballard. Please address the amendment. Um, I am arguing for the amendment. The previous speaker said vote no on the amendment because of a single audit, and I am simply noting the single audit comes out every year. It's a federal requirement.

We should support this amendment, and if we go down the road of opposing it because of issues in a single audit, we endanger every future disaster declaration. That would be a mistake. Representative McCabe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I actually agree with the member from District 40 I think that's where she's from. Anyways, that's not for you. Member that's— yeah, the member that spoke previously about the Villages and about the disaster.

We're not doing our job, Mr. Speaker. We are not doing our job. This should be in a bill at some point. A disaster ends and rebuilding begins. Are we continuing to push this disaster by putting a financing plan on a resolution instead of rebuilding for our important villages and the importance of supporting them that were affected by Typhoon Halong.

This should be in a bill. This should be in a bill to rebuild them and to maximum— to help them to maximum benefit instead of limping along on a disaster declaration that we're now going to try to make more robust. This amendment Frankly, makes a bill that makes it a resolution that should have been bypassed months ago in lieu of a bill with a financing plan on how we're going to rebuild, on what we are going to do for the people that were affected by Typhoon Halong and rebuild with a bill and a really great financing plan and what we are going to do for them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Stapp.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm actually going to talk to the amendment, I think, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions. I don't particularly have a problem, I think, with adding the financing plan in the resolution. All I'm curious on the procedural nature of doing that.

I do agree with the member, it should be in the bill. But just on some of the items, maybe if the maker of the amendment can kind of tell me a little bit about them. The temporary assistance for housing, the numbers regarding the total temporary housing cost states $15.97 million. I just wanna make sure that that cost for the length of the financing plan, which the paper I have is dated April 13th and the whereas says April 20th. I just wanna make sure that that amount of money is appropriate.

And the second part of that is if the fund capitalization and the disaster fund actually does exist. I'll wait for you to be done, I guess, Mr. Speaker.

And then yeah, just the appropriation to DEED as well. If somebody could maybe tell me what that is, the $1.5 million. Thanks. I'm happy to take an at ease. Representative Staff and other members, we do have an employee from the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in the back gallery.

If you want to pose detailed questions like that to her, the House will stand at ease for momentarily.

Will the House please come back to order.

As members return to their seats, we are under debate on Amendment Number 1 to Senate Concurrent Resolution 19. Amendment number 1, which seeks to extend the West Coast disaster declaration for an additional 30 days. Amendment number 1 before the body. Additional discussion? Representative Bynum?

I will turn to you next, Representative Stepp. Give you the privilege of the floor for the second time. Representative Bynum. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to read?

Permission granted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the maker of the amendment. Alaska Statute 26-23025 outlines 5 items that must be included in a financing plan. One of those is a funding source, which I see in the plan.

The amount of state match and federal funds. I see that in the letter and in the plan, Mr. Speaker. The proposed use is listed in the letter that came with the plan, although is general in nature and not specific. I believe it meets the requirements of what the statute's asking for. And the estimated total.

That is in the plan. But Mr. Speaker, one of the elements in the plan that is— that I don't find in the plan, and maybe I'm missing it, but I would hope that the maker of the amendment would be able to at least address, is the estimated time frame necessary to cope with the disaster. So Mr. Speaker, we're 6 months in. We have multiple amendments to this financing plan that have been in front of us.

And the statute is asking that we actually put a timeframe necessary to complete the necessary items. And I'm hoping that maybe the maker of the amendment could at least address that particular item. And that's in 26.23.025(a).

And that's the last sentence of that item. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further discussion?

We're ready for wrap-up. Representative Josephson. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to mention some important points. Point one, what we're doing here, uh, we did in, I believe, February through SCR 12. Yes, February.

We had a resolution that included the approval of an amended financing plan. So as they say in the lexicon, this is sort of Tuesday. I mean, it's Friday, but we've done this before. That's point number 1. Point number 2, Ledge Legal writes that, and I quote, where an appropriation, if I may read one sentence, Representative Josephson.

Where an appropriation has already been made and no additional appropriation is necessary, approval of an amended financing plan by concurrent resolution would likely satisfy AS 2623-02-OK. That is the financing plan section of the larger— or subsection— the larger section called the Governor and Disaster Emergencies. So our attorneys have said go forth with a concurrent resolution as to disaster plan. There was a specific question just now from the member from Ketchikan about the 5 prongs in 2623-025, and particularly he identified 4 of the 5 were answered to his satisfaction. The 5th is the estimated timeframe necessary to cope with the disaster. Well, here's what I'm sensing about this disaster.

For the first time. Maybe I knew this before. It relates to what I said about my mother and her in memoriam in the Great Alaska Earthquake. I suspect the only member— well, I can think of two— yourself and the member from Tuxuk Bay have probably seen this disaster area. Maybe there are a handful of others, but I think the vast majority of us are just imagining what it looks like.

And I think this disaster rivals the Great Alaska Earthquake. That's what I think is going on. So when the question is, what's the time frame? The administration doesn't know. Now, that's a kind of time frame.

It's sort of like an indeterminate fiscal note, sort of exactly like an indeterminate fiscal note. We hope the time frame isn't too deep into the current calendar year, but what I believe is the time frame is currently unknowable. Um, now once we're out of session, we may see another one of these resolutions before we adjourn sine die, but once we're out, the statute reverts to allowing the presiding officers to move forward unilaterally, as I understand it. But for the time being, we get 30-day chunks, and we're asking to approve one of those 30-day opportunities today. The other thing I would note, if it's helpful as to the member's appropriate question on timeframe, on the 6th of April, which is a little over 2 weeks ago, the governor— and I think you all have this— wrote, and if I can read—.

Commissioner Granick. The storm's impact remains severe in affected communities and critical infrastructure remains compromised. Ongoing emergency response and recovery actions are still necessary to stabilize essential services and infrastructure. The disaster declaration authorizes suspension of certain regulatory requirements, including permits, leases, agency reviews related to land and resource use. And then it goes on about why the suspensions are necessary in an expedited way.

Again, I think two members that I know of know firsthand, because you need eyes You know, we have television, but that's not the same. That this is, this is a world-class disaster rivaling the Great Alaska Earthquake. And I support the administration on their disaster plan and the extension. I urge your support for Amendment 1. Ready for the question?

The question being, shall Amendment Number 1 to SCR 19 pass the body? Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 28 Yeas, 11 nays. With a vote of 28 yeas to 11 nays, Amendment No.

1 Is passed. Madam Clerk. I have no further amendments, Mr. Speaker. Mr.

Majority Leader, I think my next step is to go to Representative Josephson to introduce the measure. Representative Josephson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The simple purpose of this resolution is to extend the West Coast disaster declaration which the governor issued originally issued on October 9th. Disaster authority is only valid for 30 days. I just talked about that. When we are not in session, the process is to extend it either by calling us into special session or for you and the gentleman from Kodiak and the other body to concurrently send notice that a session is not necessary and authorize a 30-day extension.

You, Mr. Speaker, and The president did that very thing on November 8th, December 8th, and January 7th. While we're in session, we've been advised by Legislative Legal that further extensions require action by this body. This session, we have passed two such extensions. One was SCR 12, which I noted, extending the declaration from February 6th to March 8th, and then again HCR 11 until April 7th. This resolution further extends the disaster declaration for another 30 days until May 7th, retroactive to April 7th.

The declaration allows state agencies to continue their emergency response and to expend state funds as needed. Those have been appropriated. As we all know, many Alaskans are still displaced from their communities, and ongoing emergency actions are still required in affected communities. And, and of course, part of that is Anchorage, and we're proud to do it, is housing many, many members of the K'nig-nuk and Kipnuk communities, if I've got those right. We've just added an amendment to the resolution.

Now, in addition to extending the timeline, we have a revised financing plan. The first extension, as I said, in SCR 12 in February, we had a revised financing plan. The revised plan today totals $63.83 million. Including $25.13 million in federal authority and $37.7 million in state funds. This is an increase of $23.58 million over the previously approved plan.

By action today, we are authorizing expenditure of the additional $25.13 million. The resolution, again, for the third time I'll say, is not an appropriation of more money. The fund currently has enough money to spend the amount referenced. We added a large amount in the supplemental budget, and we see that the other body and its operating budget was adding even another $10 million for FY '27.

This resolution does not address the other issue about how much or what percentage the federal government will ultimately pay. I now want to talk briefly, briefly about this whole issue about resolution versus statute. The first thing is this: all we're doing in these resolutions— think of this as unlocking your front door. The door is the statute. The key is the resolution.

We're simply unlocking the door with the resolution. The door's in place. It's the statute. The statute already says in 2623-02-OC that we can do this by concurrent resolution. Now, some members may say, oh, you know, you got to present this.

That's the term of art. You got to present this so the governor can veto it. It's got to be a bill. Well, the governor's not going to— sorry, the executive branch is not going to veto this. It's asking for it.

Why? That would be odd, um, on many levels. So, uh, there is no real chance of veto that I can imagine. Um, that's number one. Number two, it's important for the members to know I agree that the Disaster Act, the entire act which dates back to the '60s, may need some refreshing, more than some.

But 25, 30 years ago, say,.

25 Years ago, the legislature, including two of your predecessors, uh, Mr. Speaker, and that was Speaker Barnes, who we've named an important committee room after, and Speaker Grusendorf, whose son works admirably in the other body's Finance Committee. We— those two members in the legislative history had a debate about whether or not we should give up on this resolution process. And they wanted to be— they wanted the 60 of us to be nimble and be able to respond to these requirements and in— by resolution. They didn't want to waive that. They thought that was a more expedient and, again, nimble way to respond to the administration's requests.

Now, we don't have to bow down to Mr. Gruessendorf and Ms. Barnes, but, you know, their pictures are hanging in the hallway for a reason. They were well-regarded folks. And so here we are, and we're being asked to do this again. We concede that the whole statute needs a look-see, the whole thing, not part, the whole thing, and that's going to take some time. But right now before us is the question of releasing these funds and in a way that 9 other states do by resolution.

There's never been a lawsuit in one of those 9 states ever, and we, uh, we ask for your support, uh, in this effort. Thank you.

Representative Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I am, uh, I won't speak to, uh, all the pieces in the statute, even though I have been reading them at length. But I do want to respond to a few things that were said. One is, and this is during the amendment, but there was that it applies now, kind of the fortune-telling.

If we don't do this now, then, you know, this is going to set this up for not being able to take on disasters in the future in an expedient way. That's not true. This is a disaster. We're talking about Hlongwe, which I don't believe is the centerpiece of the issue today. The centerpiece of the issue today goes well beyond this disaster.

But I don't— I think it would be— I think it bears saying that this disaster is unprecedented. And for that reason, we have to be even more careful in how we move forward. And so I will speak to this idea that we have to do it in 30-day chunks. I can talk about the fact that, well, that was then and now it's Tuesday, even though it's Friday, but I voted against it last time too. So I guess it's not really Tuesday for me.

We have been doing sloppy work in this body, Mr. Speaker.

The disaster was put in place on October 9th. We didn't get around until late January, maybe even further, to before we even took it up and passed a resolution. And for some reason, we must have figured there must have been something besides a letter needed because we passed a retroactive resolution, which was never been done before quite that way. At that time, the request is the same as it is now. Let's have a bill to ratify the financing plan, to ratify the letters that were written, to make sure that there is no question that the legislature as a body is behind the governor's disaster declaration so there will be no chance of any challenges.

But also, Mr. Speaker, that we would move forward with a sense of determination to make sure that we are doing the right thing, that we are working with expediency, and that— but we are transparent in our actions. Let's cut through the red tape. Let's make sure we get people back in their homes, we get back in their communities. Let's not stop in any way, but never forget that we, the legislature, are the appropriators, and we are the ones that have the responsibility to make sure— this is still public money, Mr. Speaker, and Once the immediate danger is passed, the way the statute contemplates this, in my opinion, is that once the immediate danger is passed, there's a second portion of a disaster. There's a first phase of making sure that lives are not lost because we're waiting around or waiting around for the legislature, making sure that people are back in their homes as much as possible.

But then there's a second phase to a disaster, which is continuing to take care of the issues that have been brought on by that event and to make sure that it's done right. But it's also our responsibility to make sure that that money is spent right and it's done in a transparent way. We know that the disaster declaration allows to do no-bid contracts, Mr. Speaker. It allows to waive certain permits and so on. Those are— that's what I would call the bureaucratic part of a disaster, which means that we as a legislature have to be even more careful.

We have to be even more transparent that We take our public responsibility to the people that— of Alaska that were affected by the disaster itself, but also to the people that are other residents of the state. So that's our job. We're the appropriators. We interpret the statute and we make sure that all monies are spent properly with transparency. And especially, like I said, when we're throwing the rules— rulebook out the window because We're now in the second phase of something.

We have a responsibility to be even more careful. So we shouldn't be letting it delay weeks, weeks, Mr. Speaker. Today we're on the 24th and we've already let this disaster declaration expire for a couple weeks. It's supposed to be done on the 9th. We let it go again because frankly, I guess we're just not that worried about it.

We weren't that worried about it before because we can just pass it by resolution anytime. We're not taking our responsibilities seriously. We are not taking the— we are not taking our oversight responsibilities seriously, Mr. Speaker.

We are not carefully making sure that we're moving this forward and we're receiving the public monies and dispensing the monies with oversight, Mr. Speaker. We're saying, eh, $62 million, probably $150 million. We're just going to approve it. We're not going to, we're not going to ask the governor to, uh, where the accounting is. We already heard in our— this is— sure, have we done this before?

Yeah, we're, we're skating on precedence, Mr. Speaker. This is how we do it. We can go back into our audit and say, oh yeah, we do this all the time by precedence. We aren't paying attention to our emergency money and Mr. Speaker, I actually think that we have a responsibility as a legislature, more so than ever in the size and scope of a disaster to this, to this magnitude, that we're even more careful in what we do. We're more careful in how we make sure that these folks aren't shortchanged.

We are going to make sure that we do it right, Mr. Speaker, but we've chosen to go around, do it not by law, which is we are the lawmakers and the appropriators, do it by resolution.

The statute says that if this is not ratified, these resolutions are not ratified by the end of session, if the disaster emergency happens while it's in session, this is a disaster emergency that we're, working on during session, then all actions of the governor are null and void. Our request has been to do this by bill. We have agreed internally that this is something we— and I'm talking about my group of people— that we believe this needs to be dealt with. We need to be dealing with this with the bill, with the seriousness that it deserves. And so We have spoken about that.

We have not just kind of putting it out there by resolution, Mr. Speaker.

I think we're not treating this like we should be. I think it makes me very nervous to just dispense money and say, well, we break the rules all the time. When are we gonna get—. Representative Johnson. I have been allowing you to speak at length, and when I hear you talking about breaking the rules, I, as a presiding officer, am not supposed to enter the debate.

I'd be happy to talk to you offline on this issue. I do not like my personal reputation or anyone else's reputation impugned in a public forum with any reference to breaking rules. I find that to be.

Serious sort of charge, serious measure, and I would ask for you please not to, to, to go in that direction. Mr. Speaker, I agree with you 100%. The fact that we would say and think that breaking rules in this body would be okay is a travesty. I absolutely agree with you. Well, please do not imply that rules were broken.

That's my basic Message to you with respect.

Mr. Speaker, there are—. I'm not going to debate you, please continue.

Mr. Speaker, there has been, uh, numerous times— not speaking to you specifically— that I've heard, well, That's the way we've done it before. And specifically, I mean, I don't wanna bring the permanent fund into this, but that's an easy one that doesn't point at anyone. No one can— hopefully they won't get offended by this. People will say, well, we don't necessarily pay the PFD properly. Well, that's not okay.

It's not okay then, but it's also not an excuse to do it here. It's not an excuse to do it here and continue forward with it. I mean, Mr. Speaker, we should— I can say we have been— I won't— maybe I shouldn't use the word sloppy. Maybe lackadaisical would be the right word. We have not been on top of this with our— the timeliness of our resolutions.

I am concerned. I am concerned, Mr. Speaker, that we have not been transparent and we are not setting ourselves up for transparency. Mr. Speaker, there is a way to do this the right way without risk. It's an unprecedented disaster. It calls for thorough examination.

It calls for a bill. It calls for a negotiation. I don't know why there's no— why we don't want to do a bill. There just doesn't make any sense to me. Resolution is not law, and it's, uh, but that's the choice, uh, that's before us to do it by law, to ratify the, the financing plan, to step forward and stand strong and be the appropriators that we were put in this place to be.

But we also have a choice Not to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative St. Clair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I oppose this resolution, as I think I've made it abundantly clear.

Mainly, I'm going to talk about one, maybe two specific issues and kind of to caveat a little bit off the minority leader. We're breaking laws. There's a statute that says that you have to identify or estimate when the end of the disaster declaration is going to be. I haven't even seen it. That was one of the questions that I've had for quite some time, and I appreciate him for bringing that up.

We've got a lot of teachers in here, former teachers, and I'm going to give you a quick analogy. You give an assignment, it's due on the 1st, you get it on the 14th, 14 days late. Are you going to give them an F or Do they use zeros now? I don't know. I've been out of school for so darn long.

You're probably going to fail them. And that's what we have done. We have failed. We had the opportunity to fix this. We just chose not to.

And to use a term that's been thrown around here lately, we need to do what's right, not what's easy.

Representative Fields. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The statute on extending a disaster declaration specifically says to use a concurrent resolution. So we are precisely following the rules. This is the proper procedure.

Thank you. Representative McCabe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We're Alaskans. We don't allow a disaster to continue like this. As I said previously, when— well, we have, we have less than 30 days left of our session, Mr. Speaker. So what happens then? How long do we continue this disaster?

We need to start a plan for rebuilding. If we were as concerned about rebuilding as we are about this disaster, and as we— if we were as concerned about the residents and those impacted by Typhoon Halong, we would have had a bill on the floor ready to go January 21st of this year to rebuild concurrent with the resolution. I get we need to solve the disaster, we need to fix the disaster, but we also need to rebuild. That should be our overarching goal right now. If we cared, if this body cared enough about the district that's affected by Typhoon Halong—.

Point of order, Representative Stutes. Thank you. There's been a lot of latitude, Mr. Speaker, but we need to refrain from impugning the motives of others, and that is Mason's 122. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with Representative Ellard.

I ask you to observe the decorum, please. The first point of order is to be addressed. I agree completely with your point of order, Madam Rules Chair. Once again, I'm not allowed to get into the debate, but I hear a lot of comments out there. Representative McCabe, I would love to speak with you on the side as well as anyone else, but I please ask you to speak to the underlying motion before the body.

I ask all members to please observe that right of order. And Representative McCabe, having said that, the floor is yours, but please address the measure before the body. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suspect that a lot of what you're hearing is because of the narrative floating around this building that if you don't vote for this resolution, you are somehow racist. And I could not disagree with that more, Mr. Speaker.

We want to do this the right way, and we want to do it for generations, to fix this for generations, not for the next couple months. Now, in 30 days, we're going to be out of here. We are not going to have a bill in front of us. So you and the president of the other body are going to have to continue to do this and continue to do this to get the funding into those villages that need to be rebuilt. So yes, am I— are we a little heated about this?

Yes, because we're not doing it right, Mr. Speaker. We need to focus on rebuilding, not on a continued disaster for how many years. That's what you're seeing here. And I want to be very clear with Alaskans that just because we vote no on this does not mean that we don't care about the people that were affected by Typhoon Halong. Contrary, Mr. Speaker, I think we care a whole lot, and that's why you're seeing what we are basically saying is this doesn't go far enough.

Where's the bill? Where's the rebuilding bill? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Bynum.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to ask for permission to read as I go through this. Permission granted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to rise and just speak to the elements of what's in front of us here, Mr. Speaker.

It's not my place to give a lecture on the law. It's not my place to interpret the law. But I did hear, uh, the co-chair from District 13 mentioned part of the process that got us here, and he indicated, Mr. Speaker, that the president of the other body, the Speaker of this House and the Governor had looked at the law here and came up with a determination that the declaration of emergency could be extended. We had those debates when we first came to this body and heard this for the first time. I will not reiterate those other than the fact that I disagree with the member from District 13, the co-chair.

About the process and about how the law was followed. Specifically, Mr. Speaker, uh, the co-chair is referencing Alaska Statute 26-23020, Section K. Section K, Mr. Speaker, is specifically confined to the elements of the financing plan and how and when it can be approved. Mr. Speaker, I've also heard mention of 2623-020, Section C, which is specifically the declaration of emergency, when it can be called and how it is extended. And in that portion of the law, Mr. Speaker, it says that we use a concurrent resolution to extend if it goes beyond 30 days. But that is not all the statutes that we have in front of us.

We also have 2623-020, 020 Section J, and this is the powers conferred. Those are powers conferred to the governor, and there are 11 of them, and I won't read them in the statute book, Mr. Speaker, but they're extensive, and they're extensive because what they do is they allow the governor to do things that are outside of the law. It suspends the law. A big section of that is how we spend money. The co-chair from District 13 had mentioned the idea that we.

Appropriate money. That is true, we do appropriate money, Mr. Speaker. We appropriate money specifically into the Disaster Relief Fund, but that money is set there as specifically for these purposes, is when an emergency comes up, is it gives an option to the executive to have a source of funding. But if we go look at 2623.050, that is the financing section within the statute that says how money is to be spent. The statute specifically says, Mr. Speaker, it is the intent of this legislature and declared to be the policy of the state that funds to meet disaster emergencies will always be available.

When you read further in the statute under that section, Mr. Speaker, what it's saying is, is that First, we look to a disaster relief fund. We have monies there specifically to be used for that purpose, but they're not appropriated for any specific purpose other than to be used under a declaration of emergency. How those funds are spent are at the discretion of the gov— excuse me, explicitly at the direction of the administration, as long as it falls within the bounds of the authorities given under Section G of the powers conferred.

It says, Mr. Speaker, if those funds are not available in the Emergency Disaster Relief Fund, that the governor may use any means necessary to alleviate the emergency. That includes borrowing money. That happens without approval of this legislative, legislative body within that 30-day period.

The item we have in front of us, Mr. Speaker, is a concurrent resolution to extend for another 30 days. We are 17 days past the expiration, Mr. Speaker, and I find that it is extremely important that we follow our processes and rules while also making sure that we immediately address disaster relief. We're 6 months into this disaster, Mr. Speaker. I'm not saying that we should not address the emergency. What I am saying is, is that we should follow the letter of the law to the T. I've also heard that other members talk about providing this by law.

Mr. Speaker, that's referenced in 2623.025. The title of that is the legislature and Disaster Emergencies. And what that section of law does is it lays out for us our responsibilities. And that is number A, financing plan, and defines what that financing plan must include. By— it says by B, the law that's required, and that we must ratify it into law or the actions are void.

And then C, we have the authority to terminate. There's no doubt, Mr. Speaker, that when an emergency occurs, that the governor has the authority to declare that emergency. He has the authority to do that for 30 days. If he needs more than 30 days, the law clearly says that the legislature must meet to extend that, and we do that by concurrent resolution. But that is not the end step, Mr. Speaker.

There's also provisions in the law And this law wasn't just developed back in the '70s. This has been updated over the years, and there's been many options that have been put in front of us as other disasters, included the COVID-19 disaster, which was listed in the statute book. If we look under page 20, or 447, and also 448, that specifically outline how that is to be applied. I think the bigger issue that we have here, Mr. Speaker, is, is that we are getting caught up in the interpretation here, and I do not believe, Mr. Speaker, we're going to solve that today. The only body or the only entity that's going to be able to actually say whether what has been done is correct or not isn't the debate on this floor.

It will be the courts if it comes to that. I would just encourage us, Mr. Speaker, that we look in the statutes as we move into the future and that when we need to extend these, we follow the law to do so. When the legislature isn't in session and we have an authorized declaration of emergency under authorized extension by law, that we extend to the presiding officers and the governor under Section K. 26-23-020, the authority to be able to do those financing plans if there's not an ability for us to come together. I'll be reluctantly supporting this resolution, Mr. Speaker, because I don't believe that we've gotten to this place by following every part of the statute to the T, but I do recognize the need for continued support. I would hope, Mr. Speaker, and this is my final hope, is that this will expire coming in, coming in May.

And there's a few things I hope are true. Number one, if we need to extend, we do it prior to the expiration, because currently, Mr. Speaker, the disaster emergency declaration is expired. And yet monies are being expended. And the question I would have, and this is a legal question, are they being expended within the bounds of the law? I don't have an answer for that.

But I'd hope that we don't put ourselves in that position and that we address this by having a declaration to extend, if we are going to extend, before the deadline. And that means working with the executive. And then secondly, before we gavel out in this session, that we ratify by law to ensure that the actions taken by the executive are not void. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to speak. Representative Prox.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I agree with all of the previous criticisms that have been leveled about our process and about whether we're doing the law correctly or not. On the other hand, I was working for the pipeline transportation company, uh, on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline when the boat hit the rocks. When was that, in 1972? I can't remember. Um, And at that time there was a plan in place, there was a couple of gaps in whether it was followed and all of that, but there was a, a boat sitting out on a rock in Prince William Sound and during the 3 nicest days in a row that I think might have ever occurred in Prince William Sound.

And we were— well, first I was working at Pump Station 8 at the time. And when we heard the announcement that, ooh, the boat hit the rocks, we jumped up and got all of our response equipment available to go. And it really wasn't supposed to be part of that response.

And then we waited around for somebody to tell us, send that stuff south. I'm getting to it.

Representative Prox, we're in Prince William Sound. We got to get back to the West Coast here. And a boat sitting on a rock and it's calm weather and people are arguing, well, we could do this, we could do that, we could do one thing and another. And there was still, as at the time, you you could have mitigated the disaster if nothing else. But we, we just were arguing.

The people in charge were arguing about what to do and what was going to happen. And then the wind came up and made the decision for everyone. We just had a horrible disaster because we were arguing about the details instead of the problem at hand. We're sort of in the same place. The folks out in western Alaska are Still displaced, there's a lot that needs to be done.

We do have to seriously address our— the laws governing emergency responses, they need to be updated. There needs to be a lot more work done because there's— well, there was a whole bunch of emergencies just in the last few years, more than normal. But there will be emergencies in the future and we're not prepared to deal with them, they are going to be unnecessarily expensive. But here we are. We are where we are.

We have the immediate situation to deal with, and let's deal with the immediate situation right now. But let us all resolve to get together and talk about doing this right going forward and put the effort that we need to put into it. But for now, I think I will support the resolution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Ruffridge.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish I could agree with the comments from the member from District 33.

Because I think he appeals to the better versions of ourselves that would actually take some actions to do the things that I think would get us all to a space of following as best as we can the intent of the law. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, and I think you know this well, we have attempted multiple times throughout this session to say here are some concerns with the underlying statute. Potentially we are not meeting the statute. We have sought legal opinions. We've had meetings with my majority and minority members attempting to come up with a solution that is both moving forward with a concurrent resolution as well as establishing that the law does indicate that some of our actions need to be ratified by law.

Our legal services tend to agree the best option here is for us to ratify it by law. And I don't understand why, Mr. Speaker, that the member from District 33 sadly is going to be wrong by the time we leave here, which is we won't actually come together. We won't actually do something that is, I think, good for the betterment of all Alaskans. What we'll do is continue to limp along with 30— Point, point, Representative Ruffridge. Point of order, Madam Rules Chair.

I would just like to remind the members that it is inappropriate to impugn the motives of others, and that is Mason's 122.2. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to concur with the point of order. Representative Ruffridge, will you please observe the—. Mr. Speaker, just a point of inquiry.

I'd like to know what impugning I did, please, in your ruling. Representative Ruffridge, Mason's Manual. I think of all the items that are probably extends the most clarity that you are not to reference or to impugn or to direct any sort of connotations to other members. It's that clear and simple. Well understood, Mr. Speaker.

I was wondering what I specifically said that was impugning. Representative Ruffridge, I'm not going to debate you. I'm just going to agree with the point of order. My ruling has been made. Okay.

It would just be helpful for my comments in the future to know specifically what the impugning of the motives were, because I didn't actually reference any motives. Graffiti.

Will the House please come back to order? We have several members who are not in the chamber. And I would ask for them to kindly return. Representative Ruffridge, under debate, under final passage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would kindly ask— I conferred during the brief at ease with the member from District 33 who agreed that I indeed was not impugning his motives. So I would first like to ask the Rules Chair to please withdraw her point of order.

The Rules Chair just returned. Chair, you may want to restate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During our brief at ease, I conferred with the member from District 33 who agreed that I did indeed not impugn his motives, and I would ask that the Rules Chair please withdraw her point of order.

I am happy to withdraw my point of order, but at the same time, I would respectfully caution members to be aware when they're speaking, because several times already thus far in this conversation that has been the case, where emotions are taking over and it's coming across as impugning others. And I know that that is not the intent of any member of this body, so I, I gladly withdraw my order. Representative Ruffridge. Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Um, as, as I was saying, I believe that when we leave here that we will discover that potentially, uh, our decisions here, uh, were, were not, uh, in such a way that they stand the test of time.

And in fact, I agree with the member from District 13 when he says, uh, there are some languages within Title 26 that we probably need to take a look at at some later date. But that is not today. Today is the time that we have before us to make a decision. And I'm going to read briefly, with your permission, Mr. Speaker, from a legal memo of many that I have on this issue. Thank you.

It says, and this is from our legal services, Chief Counsel Megan Wallace, specifically in regards to AS2623.025B, This is the provision that contemplates that the legislature will ratify the governor's actions by law. Mr. Speaker, those discussions occurred in the 1999 session, and when discussing that language, staff explained that the language states if the governor goes over the cap of spending and the legislature does not ratify it, that any action taken by the governor would be void. Mr. Speaker, I think we might be setting ourselves up for failure, and that is my concern, Mr. Speaker. At last check, there is $29 approximately million in the disaster relief fund. In the current operating budget that's being debated, there's an additional $35-ish million, uh, that is being discussed, uh, or I apologize, $48 million being discussed as being a part of that.

Well, in discussions with the staff member that you referenced, Mr. Speaker, in the gallery. She estimates that the total cost of this, uh, recovery effort could total $150 million. Uh, Mr. Speaker, in the financing plan attached to this resolution, we, we actually don't have $150 million in, uh, total, uh, request. And I find that to be odd. So I'm asking the question as to when will we get the request for the rest of those dollars?

Are we appropriating enough dollars in our operating budget for 2027? And I think the answer to that is no. Further on in the legal services memo, permission to read again? Permission granted. Thank you.

It says that given the lack of precedent for legislation approving a financing plan, the legislature historically complied with the statute that I was previously talking about only by appropriation. Well, what we're about to do potentially is appropriate too few dollars to cover the entirety of the disaster relief. Then we could potentially leave session without actually ratifying any of that by law, which means that any of the actions taken after that, if it goes over the cap that we are going to set in this resolution, could potentially be voided. Now, Mr. Speaker, I think that's just not good work. And I don't like not doing good work.

And I actually am fascinated by the fact that we wouldn't, knowing those details, actually just do what's right rather than sort of the approach that we're taking here. So when I say that I'm not in support of the continuing resolution, it's not actually about anything except for I just think we can do a lot better. And I think we should do a lot better. If we're all going to spend time in this building We should spend the time doing the things that we should— would be proud of when we're done, and that would stand the test of time. I don't think this is it, and, and I think that there is a bigger question to be had here as to whether or not we are giving the people that are going to need upwards of $150 million in the near term— do we have a plan to fund that?

According to the funding plan that I have attached to, to the, uh, SCR, the answer to that is no. I would actually ask the question of the sponsor, uh, or the introducer of SCR 19 to the floor, what his plan is for funding the remainder of this disaster and what the plan would be if we left here and didn't ratify this by law. Mr. Speaker, you well know because you were part of the conversation that it is my hope that we don't get out of here without ratifying our decisions by law. I think it was the hope of the member that I, I was accused of impugning his motives, that we also ratify it by law. The sad part is, Mr. Speaker, is I think after conversations today, it is the intention to not ratify it by law and only do this.

And if our position is to only do this then I think we're mess— we're making a mistake, and I would encourage us to not do that. And I think that this is an example of, well, an example of in an unprecedented situation, which is what we're faced with, what we do now matters. What we are doing now is setting precedent, and this is a process I think we could all agree I think every member of this body would agree they would not want to repeat again. So in 20 years, if we're— if a whole group of new 40 people are having this discussion and they look back at what we did, they would say, ooh, I hope we don't do that. I hope we have a better plan.

And for those reasons, I think that we can do better and should do better. And I feel like I'm repeating myself from the last 2 times we've debated this, but we haven't done it yet, and I have doubts that we will. Thank you. Representative Stapp.

Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I think, you know, 2 things can be true at the same time. I'm going to be supportive again of this resolution, but I'm going to ask the same questions I asked that have yet yielded any response, Mr. Speaker. I have several legal memos. We have all seen them.

This latest one, I'll just quote briefly, Mr. Speaker. It, it says, approval of an amended financing plan, uh, by concurrent resolution would not satisfy AS 2623.025B. Okay, that's what it says. Um, I want to support these things. I'm going to support these things, especially the temporary housing assistance to the folks who are displaced in Western Alaska.

But for the life of me, Mr. Speaker, I do not understand why this majority has not introduced a bill and passed a bill. Because all of these issues, Mr. Speaker, that our legal counsel continues to raise as far as this process, uh, we seem to be willfully ignoring. I'll quote the end of the memo, Mr. Speaker. You also asked about risk and whether passing a bill on these issues would eliminate any risk. Yes, if the legislature wishes to eliminate all risk, there is no harm in extending a disaster or approving amended financing plans by law.

Mr. Speaker, I think that this disaster is catastrophic. I would agree with the member who talked about how it might be the.

Worst since we have seen since the great earthquake. And I don't want any risk or any doubt in the minds of folks in western Alaska of whether or not there will be any type of disruption to disaster relief and ongoing efforts from the legislature to help those folks who are currently displaced from their homes. Mr. Speaker, I don't know why you would want to take any risk either, so I'm just going to continue to implore you, we should probably err on the side of caution if the very least, and ultimately pass a bill that approves all of our actions here, because I think certainty is better than uncertainty. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Schwanke.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too rise with a concern about risk. I'm looking at the uniform rules. Rule 49 pertains to resolutions.

Resolutions are where we express our will and our wish, especially concurrent resolutions for our bodies to work together.

Resolutions are not law. They do not enact statute. They do not appropriate money.

And they do not create binding legal obligations.

I would like to thank the member from District 13 for a statement that he made, that this process is flawed. We do need to address our statutes. At a later date. But right now, we are all in a really difficult position with this issue. The initial disaster declaration was done correctly by resolution.

It— my apologies, the executive branch ex— declared a disaster. The initial extensions were done by resolution to extend after 30 days.

Outside session, that is how you do this process. But we are now in session and we're still using a continuing resolution.

We are also appropriating funds in a separate way through bulk measures in our large annual state budgets. This process is very flawed. I think we can all agree that we are having a disagreement on interpretation of existing law. The thing that I'm worried about is that oversight is necessary here. We have to be transparent for our constituents, for the people of Alaska.

We need a bill to do that. We need a bill to lock in the— this entire process. Every dollar that has been expended. That is the, the process that we are supposed to follow, and I'm afraid that if we don't do that by the end of the session, that the third branch of government will do this for us.

I think that Alaskans deserve stability.

They also deserve accountability, and I guess for those reasons I again have to vote no on this concurrent resolution. Representative Kopp. Yes, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of the resolution, and I just wanted to kind of implore the members of the body just to reason with me here for a minute on why a resolution is the vehicle to be used in an emergency. The resolution brings an extension of a declaration of disaster emergency funding before the entire body as a committee of the whole.

You can't have a chair of the committee, if this was a bill, who may not like the governor and does not want to extend that declaration, or may not have favor for a particular region that's being affected, or maybe concerned that there is a competing interest because there's more than one disaster that has occurred and there's a worry about the the capitalization of funds and the disaster account and other needs. And we all know the power of a chair, Mr. Speaker. The reason why emergency measures come before the Committee of the Whole is because it is transparent, it is emergency, and we are following the law. The reason why the leadership of the bodies landed on this resolution procedure almost 30 years ago is because they realize this. When you are extending an emergency declaration disaster, do you want the power of a chair to hold that up, to use it as a negotiation point, a lever, when you have a region that's in dire need?

So, Mr. Speaker, for that reason, and the very nature of what we're addressing in this resolution is an emergency And by coming before the Committee of the Whole, there's no hiding. There's no chair that has the power to hold it up, to leverage it against the governor or another region to get funding they want. The resolution is the tool, and I'm proud to support it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Any wrap-up, Representative Josephson?

Yes, uh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I'm reminded that At the very beginning of the year, so this is just when we've arrived, roughly, still January, the administration asked you and the presiding officer for an additional letter, as you had done in October, November, and December, and you and your colleague from Kodiak declined. And said no, a letter is no longer sufficient. We're in session and we need a resolution. So I think that's important on the issue of transparency and following the law.

That's point number one. I understand that the issue in a section— most of us have been looking rather intensely at 26.1. 23.020. That's where the meat of the financing plan and the resolution is discussed. I understand there's another section, 26.23025, the next section, that notes that— and this was raised by the member from Sault Ste.

Marie— that actions taken by the governor needed to be ratified where there was a declaration of disaster, and that's been discussed. But I would assert that under my reading of 2623.025(b), there is no new disaster. There's a continuing disaster. And so there's no new declaration. It's the same declaration, just extended.

So setting that aside, I wanted to talk about some confusion from both the minority leader and minority whip in my view. The minority whip said, uh, where we're appropriating dollars, we need to do so by law or by bill. I'm paraphrasing. We're not— I said this before— we are not appropriating dollars today. If, if we appropriated a penny today, that would be more than we're being asked to appropriate by this resolution.

There's no appropriation going on. And the disaster dollars we've already appropriated, including, I think if I recall, in the supplemental and in May of last year, are adequate to fund the request from the administration. Now it's true that there may need to be more, but we know that in, in our version of CS 263, the operating budget, We funded disaster relief generously, and we see that the other body thinks that we need to do even more. So the legislature is looking at history, very recent history, and saying, wow, these disasters are now their own department, if you will, and we're in a new world, um, and we're going to fund accordingly. But the administration has not asked for dollars to be— new dollars to be appropriated.

And this was brought up by the Majority Leader as well. We're not appropriating new money, it's the old money. We're just turning the key, that's all. We're just turning the key. The member from Downtown Anchorage noted this as well.

He said, we are following the law, it's the law on resolutions, and that's the process we've allowed. And I noted that two distinguished members of this body, when given a chance to refresh the law in 1999, declined. They wanted the— dexterity is another word that comes to mind— the ability to pivot, and they thought that by resolution was the appropriate process. I'm told, Mr. Speaker, that the governor— 2 governors ago, Governor Parnell, after a devastating flood in Galena in 2013, summer of 2013, I assume it was during breakup, asked.

Presiding officer, um, Huggins, Charlie Huggins, and the presiding officer of yours, Mr. Speaker, Chennault, by use of 2623-020, the resolution process. And at that time, because they were out of session, we were out of session, by letter, to do it in the more informal way without legislation. So there is a precedent there as to the Galena flood in June of 2013, courtesy Governor Parnell, President Huggins, Speaker Chenault.

So I don't have much more to add. I just would reemphasize that we are ratifying by law. This is a kind of ratification. One speaker said that I said this system was flawed. I didn't say the word flawed.

I said that the bill, the entire law, or the act, as you— as it's the Alaska Disaster Act— could use some freshening up. I think it's sort of— well, let's just say that we need an inflation adjuster on the million-dollar limit. Would I vote for it? Sure, I didn't vote for an inflation adjuster. Maybe we should extend the leash a little bit and say the governor has more than 30 days.

I'd probably support that too. But that would take a lot of work. And of course, we're here to do work. Some of us are busy with some other things. And I think this is the way forward given our current context.

I ask for support for SCR 19. Are you ready for the question? The question being, shall Senate Committee— Senate Concurrent Resolution 19 as amended House Passed the body. Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 28 Yeas, 11 nays. With a vote of 28 yeas to 11 nays, SCR 19 has passed the House.

At this time, I'm rolling the entire remaining calendar for the body to the next day's calendar. Madam Clerk, there are no further items on today's calendar, Mr. Speaker. This brings us to unfinished business. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the following members be excused from the call of the House on the following dates and times: Representative Underwood, from Monday, June 1 at 12:00 AM to Saturday, June 13th at 11:50 PM. Representative Sadler from Sunday, May 24th at 4:00 AM to Wednesday, May 27th at 9:00 AM. Representative Jimmy from Monday, May 4th at 6:00 PM to Wednesday, May 6th at 9:00 AM. And Representative Galvin from Friday, May 29th at 11:30 AM to Monday, June 1st at 9:00 PM. Hearing no objection, the members are excused on the dates and times indicated by the Majority Leader.

Representative Ballard, under finished business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to a point of information to you. A point of inquiry, please. May I, Representative Ballard?

Why did we take all of our legislation and our bills and roll them to the next day instead of finishing our work today on the floor? That is the prerogative of the chair. That's the prerogative I'm choosing to execute. Has nothing to do with our votes. Representative Ellard, I am not choosing to debate you.

It has nothing to do with any action that occurred. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Time management. We have committees out there. We've been expensing, expending a tremendous amount of time, energy, might I say passion as well, on issues.

But we have committee work that needs to be done with less than 30 days remaining. At this time, on behalf of Representative Costello, I wanted to thank, on behalf of the body, just in terms of expediency, the students that are in the Taylor Gallery here on behalf of Alaska Association of School Activities. Welcome. Hope your trip is going well and you are getting a chance to experience the legislature.

This brings us to committee announcements. Are there any committee announcements? Are there any other announcements? Representative Hannon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to remind the members that they have the opportunity to visit the Juneau DIPAC Hatchery today at 5:30 for our annual open house and tour. And on another opportunity, if you need to have a little good food, feeling and spring in your step, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown theater production is showing again this weekend tonight at 7 PM. If you have small people in your life who you'd like to have some age-appropriate entertainment, it's also showing tomorrow night at 7 PM, and there is a Sunday matinee at 2 PM, and they are at McPheeters Hall, put on by a local theater group, Theater, um, Latitude 58. And again, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 7:00 PM tonight, 7:00 PM tomorrow, and 2:00 PM on Sunday. Tickets are available online or at the door.

Minority Leader Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On April 27th, that would be Monday, from noon to 1:00 PM, there will be a PENWAR, and that would be the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, of which Alaska was one of the founding members, will be here. They will be here with some Washington state legislators as well as some transportation officials, and they would—. Are—.

Will be in the Speaker's office, so will be available to be answering questions and meet with folks there, as well as on— they will also be hosting a lunch just to highlight the relationships, economic relationship between Washington and Alaska. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Under other— I see a couple of mics raised. We're still under other announcements.

Representative Stutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to remind this body one more time, we have a couple of senior legislators from the other body with a total of about 80 years in that are calling it quits, and we're going to have one last time to roast them, and that will be Sunday at 4 o'clock at Centennial Hall, and you can get your tickets in room 127 here in the building. So please join us. It ought to be fun.

Thank you. Representative Sadler. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under other announcements, I don't see other mics, so certainly there's another event happening at Centennial Hall this weekend. Skits are happening.

I assume someone else might have a more formal announcement, but having in a previous life been an enthusiastic participant and in my later life being enthusiastic observer, I encourage everyone to go and just see what the staff thinks of us. Skits tomorrow night at Centennial Hall. This brings us to special orders. I can't imagine there's a single special order today. Representative Stutes, I see your mic.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You are incorrect on that imagination. Mr. Speaker, today it is with great pleasure—. Topic—. Oh, today's the lucky day.

Today is lucky day. And it is with great pleasure I get to announce the birthday of our member from District 10. I wanted to sing him a song that my granddaughter and I used to sing every time we drove down the road, and it was called the Name Game. But my granddaughter used to always say to me, oh, Grandma, we can't use Chuck because you know what, there might be an unintended consequence if we use the name Chuck. I presume you all know the song of the name game.

You know, it's a great song. If you don't know it, stop me and I'll sing it for you. Might be the last thing you ever ask me to sing. Due to the tireless work of our member, the other body today gave our majority leader a special birthday gift. Today, House Bill 78, reforming the state's retirement system, passed the other body's Finance Committee.

So congratulations to our Majority Leader and to the state of Alaska. After a 20-year career in public safety, our member has had a strong legislative career fulfilling his commitment to strengthening public safety, education, and building a strong workforce. Also promoting responsible resource development and securing reliable energy. It is with great pleasure that I ask everybody to help me join in recognizing our member from District 10 and our very own Majority Leader in a happy birthday.

Mr. Majority Leader, as is the custom, you are required to stand up and sing. Mr. Speaker, thank you for the birthday wishes. Uh, it's a wonderful birthday present to serve in this body. It's a great pleasure just to have this opportunity, and it's the honor of my lifetime.

And, uh, that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Happy birthday.

Representative Costello. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On a call to action. Representative Costello. Thank you.

Permission of the body to read, please. Permission granted. Thank you. On Monday, President Trump invoked the Defense of Production Act from 1950 as amended. It is a recognition of a call to action and how vital it is that America build out our natural gas extraction, transmission, storage, and export capacity for the sake of our national, national security.

In Alaska, that means leaning headlong into the biggest energy project of our generation, the AK LNG project. The natural gas currently trapped on the North Slope is vital not just to Alaska, or America as a whole, but to our international allies. As world powers jostle for position, access to reliable, efficient energy is at the top of the priority list. Those allies have a choice to make. Will they purchase LNG from countries that hate us, or will they strengthen their partnership with America and invest in production in the great state of Alaska?

But we also have a choice to make. Are we willing to do what it takes to make a gas line happen? The executive has introduced legislation to provide temporary relief to gas line developers who would face massive property tax implications before a single MCF of gas comes down the pipeline, before a single, single dollar of revenue is made. Mr. Speaker, I think that the gas line is an investment worth making. I am particularly following the legislation in both bodies as we speak.

This project's significance cannot be understated. It's a legacy project that will benefit Alaska for generations to come. Thank you.

Representative Mita. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the topic of Thunderband, Representative Mena. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to read?

Permission granted. Thank you. So Tuesday nights are the Jazz Jam over here in Juneau, and since being elected, I try to stop by if I'm not busy or exhausted. I play alto saxophone, and I started playing alto saxophone because my brother played alto sax. He thought it was really cool, so I thought it was really cool, and it was a no-brainer that when I was in 6th grade, I would play his saxophone so my family didn't have to buy a new instrument.

And also, saxophones are just objectively cool. I also I really admired that my brother got to go to Disneyland once in high school. So by the time that I made it to East High, I'd been playing sax for a few years, and I was so excited to join the East High Symphonic Band. Mr. Bowers, who was his teacher, had just retired. I heard about amazing things about him, and I was so angry that I didn't get to have him as my teacher, but we did have Ms. Nanoyu, who was 27 years old, a first-time teacher, And even though I was disappointed, over the next 3 years, 4 years, I would wake up before dawn to be at jazz band at 6:30 AM every day.

When Miss Inoue left us my junior year to be part of the world's top taiko drumming program, Mr. Robbins stepped in. And by the time I was a senior, I was secretary of band council. I was drum major for pep band. I played tenor sax in the pit after school for Little Shop of Horrors. I never got to go to Disneyland, but I ventured out of my little Anchorage bubble and I got to go to Southeast Alaska for the first time to go to the Sitka Jazz Festival twice.

I still think it's the most beautiful place in the world. And it wasn't just me who thought that this program was special. The East High Thunder Band— East High School is, you know, it tops the list as the most diverse high school in the nation. The students who go there come from the rates, neighborhoods with the highest rates of poverty in the state. And when I was a sophomore in high school in 2012, East was one of 18 schools across the nation who would receive a Grammy as part of the Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Awards, which recognizes outstanding music programs at economically underserved high schools.

They won another Grammy in 2017, and a few years later, I was really jealous that their band program had evolved to have a marching band, which I absolutely would have joined. Recently, we received news that Due to lack of funding, Betty Davis East High School is losing their band director, Mr. Todd Barton, and effectively their band program. That's their concert band, their jazz band, their symphonic band. He's one of nearly 200 positions that are being moved around in the Anchorage School District on top of 500 positions being cut. And in a news article about this, one of his students said, "He was the reason why I got inspired to become the drum major." because then I was able to do what he does, inspire other people and everyone else around me.

Last night I was rewatching one of the multiple documentaries that I made in high school about band and being in that band program. And I was watching the documentary that we made for Ms. Nunoia when she was leaving us. And in that video, one of her students said, I wasn't able to sing in public and she helped me be able to do that. Band helped build my confidence too. I wasn't a hardcore band person who did all-state or solo and ensemble, but I was never going to do sports, and band helped me feel like I was part of something too, even though it wasn't athletics.

My closest friends from high school who I talked to to this day, they're all band kids. Um, 2 of my 3 staff are band kids, one's an orchestra kid, and I feel that guilt because of that fact that I haven't been able to go to that Juneau Jazz Jam. I feel guilt over the fact that I was able to grow, change, and mature through music at high school, and that so many others in our state have not been able to have that opportunity. In this body, we passed one-time funds for education. I hope that stays in the final budget because we need every single dollar for our schools, but we also need more reliable, predictable funding for education.

And we need to do more than just invest in the basics, but make sure that we have these programs that that make kids wanna come to school, that make kids feel like they're included in something, and that makes kids feel like they have the confidence to build and grow and be strong, confident adults. And it's not just the fault of the school boards or different school administration or the families or the youth, but we have a responsibility in our state and we need to step up and to make sure that we have these funds, that we are growing our revenue, that we're not trying to make programs fight between each other, to make schools fight between each other or school districts, But we need to do more to step up for our kids. I want kids in my district to continue figuring out what pranks to do at the annual winter concert and to have alum come back and play the sleigh ride song. I want to hear fight— the fight song at pep band games. I want to make sure that band kids grow up to be band adults.

We're around you, we play around you, and when you hear our music, that was a former band kid. Thank you.

Representative Bynum. Uh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, the Rules Chair from District 5 beat me to the punch, but I did want to, um, mention the topic of nicknames. Representative Bynum. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Uh, as I said, the Rules Chair, uh, from District 5 beat me to the punch. I did have a few comments for our member Mr. Majority Leader from District 10. And through the process of hearing about his birthday, I had also heard that he has a nickname, and his nickname, which I did not know before, is Bumpa. It comes from his grandchild, and that has been his nickname for 7 years.

And because we went through the process of providing these comments, or putting the comments together, I figured that I would mention it, and maybe that when we see the Majority Leader walking through the halls and we say happy birthday to him, we might refer to him as Bampa as well, like his grandchildren. His wife also brought in some wonderful treats for us in his office. Just wanted to say, even though we've had a tough session, tough votes, more than a few spirited debates, I want to appreciate that he brings his dedication, his creative thinking, and even some levity to keep us moving forward, even if we're not smiling about it. But I just want to say happy birthday to the member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Representative Gray. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the topic of Virginia Giuffre. Representative Gray. Mr. Speaker, on April 25th, 2025, Virginia Giuffre died by suicide.

She was one of the most famous victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Um, she was abused and trafficked by them for over 2 years when she was a teenager. She was trafficked to Prince Andrew, the younger brother of the King of England. When Jeffrey Epstein And Ghislaine Maxwell first introduced her to Prince Andrew. They asked him to guess her age, and he guessed correctly, 17.

When they said, how did you know? He responded it was because he had daughters around her age.

Virginia Giuffre had been recruited from her job at Mar-a-Lago in Florida by Ghislaine Maxwell. She had seen her there and thought that this was a girl that Jeffrey Epstein might like, and that's how she got wrapped up in this. But I think it's very important to note that Ghislaine Maxwell was more than just a scout or a recruiter or a friend. There is nothing Jeffrey Epstein did to his victims that Ghislaine Maxwell did not also do. She was an abuser as bad as Jeffrey Epstein.

As, um, Virginia got older— and by older we mean age 18— and Jeffrey Epstein lost interest in her, she began having to recruit younger teenagers for Jeffrey Epstein. She recalls in her memoir Nobody's Girl, being in Carmel, California, and meeting a younger teen and convincing her to come back to her hotel, where she put her in a bathtub. And when Jeffrey Epstein came in and said, "There's a surprise for you in the bathtub," what Virginia says in her book is that, "For me, that was just another day. For Jeffrey Epstein, it was just another day. But for that girl in that bathtub, it is a horror that will stay with her the rest of her life." Mr. Speaker, we have thousands upon thousands of Alaskans who have had that horrific day that stays with them for the rest of their life.

There is nothing we do as legislators that is more important than trying to stop those horrific days from happening. I, through the Speaker want to address President Trump. She never said anything bad about you, Mr. Trump. Please do not pardon Ghislaine Maxwell.

What I'd like this body to do is remember Virginia Giuffre's bravery. Because of her, there's increased public awareness media coverage, and litigation surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. We must also remember the thousands upon thousands of Alaskans who have been victims of this type of abuse. We must make the future children in Alaska safer than we have done for the children of Alaska's past. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Representative Hall.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the topic of 988. Representative Hall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the impassioned special order that came before me from the member from District 20.

And for all of those who are listening or watching, you are enough and you do matter. So if you are in crisis or if you are struggling, please call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline of 988. Thank you.

Representative Eichcheidt. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the topic of joy. Representative Eichcheidt.

Well, first of all, Mr. Speaker, as we've heard today, sometimes it's hard to find some joy. In this building. And those are things we need to talk about and consider.

But with that said, I do want to talk about two of the things that bring me joy.

Because we need that. It's Friday. I'm not necessarily one of those people, Says TGIF, but when I was walking around this morning, a couple people were saying, "Ah, it's Friday, it's a good day." But it's also from my past as a science teacher, Science Friday. The member from District 4 reminded us about that on Wednesday. And of course, Science Friday is a popular program by Ira Flatow since, 1991 about cool things we learned from science.

So I'd like to share two cool things from science that I think is pertinent for today. First of all, it's— we're well into bird migration. I'm a bird watcher. I know some of us here in the building enjoy birds. And I got to meet a scientist many years ago who gave me this fascinating tidbit I never knew.

I enjoy waterfowl. I enjoy watching them. I enjoy hunting them. My dog especially enjoys hunting them. And one of the things I learned that I always thought was fascinating from the people that do sides is female mallards, hen mallards, will nest within a quarter mile of where they were hatched.

So imagine that a bird that that migrates hundreds of miles to spend a winter far away from where it was hatched. And then that female mallard comes back and usually nests within a quarter mile where she was hatched.

Interesting side bit, so every year mallards repair, and in the wintering grounds, typically the drakes will find a hen, they will pair up, and then he will follow her back to where she was hatched, which I always think is kind of interesting.

The second thing is, I know some of us are going to the hatchery tonight, and I think there's a lot of pink salmon that are come out of that hatchery. And we have learned apparently that pink salmon spawn within 100 meters of where they were born. So again, a fish that goes to the ocean, travels thousands of miles, and comes back within 100 meters.

That brings me joy because it's amazing. So I want to thank the folks that bring science to the public, like Ira Flatow, Bill Nye the Science Guy. I I'm wearing a bow tie today in his honor.

And I also want to thank the scientists. And I'll just wrap up because the member from District 19 reminded me how important teachers are.

So in Anchorage, 10 or so years ago, I was in a restaurant and my wife said, "Hey Ted, look." I said, that looks like Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famous astrophysicist. And I turn around and it was Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famous astrophysicist.

And of course I respect he is with his family. So I waited until they left and I went over and I just said, sir, you're a hero of mine, a science hero. And he said, what do you do, Ted? I said, "Well, I'm a science teacher. That's why you're my hero." And he said to me, he said, "Sir, you are the hero." And so I want to thank all the scientists and all the people that teach science and other things like the arts and bring a little joy into our lives.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Representative Ruffridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the topic of committee work, Representative Ruffridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Apparently, based off of the number of special orders, your rush to get to that committee work was not shared by many members of this body, but, uh, hopefully we get to that soon.

Thank you, Mr. Majority Leader. Speaker:MR. PRESIDENT. I move and ask unanimous consent that the House stand at adjournment until Monday, April 27th at 10:30 AM. [Speaker:MR. CHAIR] The House will stand adjourned until Monday, April 27th at 10:30 AM.