Alaska Matters: Legislation Update

Protecting Your Rights: Serving West Anchorage

April 16, 2024

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Happy Spring! With a little over a month left in session, several of our bills are making good progress through the Legislature. SB 91 addresses a gap in our current telehealth laws and SB 28 establishes workplace violence protective orders. SB 231 would add protections for youth in residential psychiatric treatment centers.

Additionally, the House and Senate exchanged the budget bills this week, with the capital budget moving to the House and the operating budget moving to the Senate.

And finally, the Anchorage Municipal election results are almost complete.

Legislation Update

Please watch our video about Senate Bill 91!

Several of our bills are making progress through the Legislature.

Senate Bill 91 passed the Senate unanimously in March and is making its way through the House. This legislation will allow members of out-of-state multidisciplinary care teams to provide telehealth care to Alaskans who suffer from life-threatening conditions like ALS. This type of multidisciplinary care is not reasonably available in-state. Current Alaska law only allows out-of-state physicians to provide care via telehealth, so patients seeking care from non-physician members of a multidisciplinary care team are often forced to travel to access care.

By closing this gap in telehealth availability, Alaskans with life-threatening conditions will be able to receive necessary healthcare while remaining at home in their local support networks.

To learn more, please listen to the recent radio story from KFSK.

Senate Bill 28 establishes workplace violence protective orders. When individuals make credible threats of violence against an employer’s worksite or an employee, the employer would need to file a civil lawsuit and ask for a temporary restraining order to protect the business. It can take several days to complete and obtain a temporary restraining order. In contrast, people seeking a domestic violence restraining order can usually get the court order within one day. Senate Bill 28, modeled after Alaska’s domestic violence protective order process, allows an employer to file a petition for a protective order against an individual that a judge determines could commit an act of violence at the employer’s workplace. This bill is currently before the Senate Finance Committee.

Senate Bill 231 would increase transparency and parental oversight at facilities where Alaskan youth receive in-patient psychiatric treatment. In 2022, the United States Department of Justice conducted an extensive investigation into the youth behavioral health system in Alaska. Their report found an overreliance on institutionalization. The DOJ report also found that life in such facilities can be “isolating, frightening, and chaotic.” Many children who need in-patient psychiatric care are sent out-of-state. And even for those who remain in-state, they're often hundreds of miles away from their family and community. As a result, many parents and guardians, unable to regularly visit treatment facilities, worry that their children may be vulnerable to abuse while away from home.

Senate Bill 231 introduces three reforms to reduce the risk of abuse and strengthen family connections for youth at Alaska’s psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric residential treatment facilities. First, the bill ensures that children can maintain communication with their parents or legal guardians while institutionalized. Second, the bill requires unannounced and thorough inspections by state public health officials twice annually. Third, the bill ensures that facilities report every use of seclusion and restraint to both parents and the State of Alaska.

This bill is currently before the Senate Health and Social Services Committee.

To stay up-to-date on these bills and opportunities for public testimony, you can visit my website.

Budget Update

Passing the budget is the most important function of the Legislature. On Thursday, the House passed the operating budget after several days of debate on over 130 amendments. The House operating budget includes a $2,300 dividend and $175 million in one-time school funding. Taking into account the expected size of the capital budget, the House budget would leave a $276 million deficit in the budget. The operating budget passed the House 23-17 along caucus lines.

On Friday, the Senate passed the $3.9 billion capital budget with a focus on funding for school maintenance and housing. The capital budget includes $36 million for school maintenance across the state and $26.5 million for deferred maintenance at the University of Alaska. The capital budget passed the Senate 15-3 along caucus lines.

The capital and operating budgets were then ceremoniously exchanged in the hall of the capital, a practice which ensures neither body will have control of both budgets at the same time. Next, the Senate and House Finance Committees will begin the process of reviewing and amending the budget bills. Once the finance committees finish their work, the full House and Senate will consider each budget bill.

Municipal Election Results

The Municipal Clerk has counted over 70,000 ballots from the April 2 Anchorage municipal election. The turnout just under 30% of registered voters. While there more ballots to be counted, the results of the election are unlikely to change.

All three school board incumbents kept their seats: Pat Higgins in Seat E, Dora Wilson in Seat F, and Carl Jacobs in Seat G.

Voter approved all of the bond propositions except for Proposition 8, which would have funded public restrooms throughout the city, and Proposition 7, which would have funded two new cemeteries in Eagle River and Girdwood.

In the mayor's race, the leading candidates are Suzanne LaFrance, with 36.2% of the vote, and Mayor Dave Bronson with 35.5%. According to city code, a candidate for mayor must win at least 45% of the votes to win outright. Because none of the candidates in the race reached that margin, the leading two candidates now go to a runoff election. That election will also be held by mail. The Municipal Clerk will send out ballots on April 30th, and the final day to vote in the runoff is May 14.

For questions about the Anchorage runoff election, please visit the Anchorage Municipal Elections page.

Community Information

Anchorage Flotilla

Grab your canoe, kayak, raft, inflatable tube, or waders and join Anchorage Parks and Recreation, Anchorage Park Foundation, Anchorage Waterways Council, and Team Orange for our annual lake clean-up! Sign-up to claim your lake! All registered volunteers will receive a t-shirt when picking up your clean-up supplies!

When: Saturday, May 18 from 10 am - 1 pm

Where: Assorted lakes and waterways around Anchorage

Learn more and sign up here.

Recreational Trail Plan Advisory Groups

Are you a trailblazer who wants to help shape the future of trails in Anchorage, Eagle River, and Chugiak? If so, consider applying to volunteer on one of the Recreational Trails Plan advisory groups! The Recreational Trails Plan will be an update to the 1997 Areawide Trails Plan and create a vision for the next 20 years of building, improving, and maintaining trails. Not only that, but the plan will help guide how we spend public dollars on trail improvements. Applications to participate in the advisory groups are due by April 17! Learn more here.