Dear Friends and Neighbors,

It is such an honor to serve and represent Senate District J during this 33rd Legislature. I’m down in Juneau now, getting acclimated to this new organization; I’m thankful for those that have shared their advice and support, and for my new colleagues that are helping me “learn the ropes.”

As you probably know, the Senate organized early with a 17-member, bipartisan majority coalition. Our coalition will prioritize increasing education funding, re-evaluating and fixing the retirement system for our public employees, and lowering Alaska's high energy costs. We’ve also unified around the ideas of respect, decorum, and working together to find common-sense solutions to Alaska’s problem. I am very much looking forward to this work, much of which is a continuation of the priorities I held on the Anchorage Assembly for nearly seven years.

After the adoption of the Committee on Committees report, I can now officially say that I have the following committee assignments:

• Community and Regional Affairs, Chair 
• Resources 
• Health and Social Services 
• Labor and Commerce
• Joint Armed Services

Legislation

As we move forward in the session, I hope to keep you informed on the bills and amendments I have introduced or co-sponsored, and the final passage of items that impact the district and the State.

For my first-ever bill in the State Senate, I have introduced SB 39, a pro-worker measure that was introduced last session by former-Anchorage Representative Liz Snyder. SB 39 will preserve workers’ privacy by prohibiting employers from requesting compensation history, requiring salary ranges to be included in job postings, and allowing employees to freely discuss wages without fear of retaliation. As mentioned, this bill was previously House Bill 146 in the 32nd Legislature, and more information can be found at https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/32?Root=HB%20146#tab5_4. 

We'll be introducing more legislation to help our state in the near future. Stay tuned!

Top: Seth Tigarian, Alliana Salanguit, Arielle Wiggin

Bottom: Lieutenant Governor, Me (Sen. Forrest Dunbar)

Alliana Salanguit, Chief of Staff, has previously worked at UAA's Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and served as Chief of Staff to former Rep. Guttenberg and Rep. Snyder. She is the committee aide for Senate Community & Regional Affairs, works on policy and budget issues, and keeps the office running. She is a proud UAA graduate who loves tennis, baking, skiing, data-driven policy, and most of all, Alaska.

Arielle Wiggin, Legislative Staff, has worked for East Anchorage constituents in the state legislature for three years, with a focus on food policy and related issues. She will staff Senate Health & Social Services Committee and Senate Resources and coordinate capital budget efforts for our district. She studied political science at Seattle University and is passionate about good governance, security, and skiing.

Seth Tigarian, Legislative Staff, is studying Computer Science at the University of the People. He has experience in voter outreach and customer service and volunteers at food banks every chance he gets. In our office, he works on scheduling, constituent relations, and will staff the Senate Joint Armed Services Committee. In his free time, he's tinkering with spreadsheets or metagaming Pokemon.

Honored to serve you,