Email from Alaska Senate Majority

New Session, New Bill, New Staff

January 30, 2026

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

It's my favorite time of the year - session is here!

Since it's the second session, bills from last year are still active, and a lot of new legislation is coming across the floor.

But the most crucial new element around here is Honour Miller-Austin, whom I stole from a Fairbanks representative to work in the office. She's focusing on the Education and Judiciary Committees this session. A lifelong Juneauite, she's a phenomenal addition to the team working for our district.

Sen. Tobin and I, getting ready to see Fairbanks schools in action.

Legislative Field Trip to Fairbanks

After the holidays, members of the Education Task Force traveled to Fairbanks for school site visits. The midwinter chill was notable. It ‘warmed’ up to -27° for our arrival. Not to worry—it cooled back down to -34° the next day.

The weather put a spotlight on some big infrastructure challenges. The fact Lathrop High School has just one working boiler (of three) made quite an impression. That’s the result, in part, of a 10-year moratorium on the state helping with any bonds to fix schools. In bush Alaska the problem is often much worse, but talking with the Lathrop principal about plans to evacuate the school should that last boiler fail was… chilling.

We also talked with high school students about issues they see shaping their education. Their concerns ranged from free school lunches, to immigration policy to overcrowded classrooms and programs. They were thoughtful, and ranged from well-informed to ready to learn. Meetings like these make a person feel better about Alaska’s future.

This winter I had the privilege of leading a tour of the building for members of the US Navy Band!

Basic Subtraction

The governor’s budget dropped in mid-December with a big, wet, disappointing thump. The record snowfall at the end of the month was both more inspiring and more fun.

There are still some big pieces missing. As introduced, his spending proposal has a $1.5 billion deficit. The current year will need a hefty supplemental to boot. Just to highlight a few specifics:

1) PFD checks. The governor asked for $2.4 billion this year to pay every Alaskan more than $3,600. Last year’s budget only balanced because the appropriation was lowered to $677 million. That paid every Alaskan $1,000. Without some broad-based revenues I question whether Alaska can even afford that much this coming year.

2) Underspending. The governor’s budget doesn’t fill the holes that will leave us with a supplemental north of $350 million this year. So it’s short by at least that much for next year. It also proposes no dollars for deferred maintenance on K-12 schools, the University’s roofs & boilers, or the Court System’s facilities statewide. And there is no investment in almost any state program. That means, just for example, our public assistance will keep having the worst accuracy rates in the United States. That promises to bring new federal penalties—and less help for needy Alaskans when new federal rules tie funding to accuracy rates.

3) Amendments. Medicaid adjustments always come in during the session. I predict this year they’ll add at least $40 million. Five public employee union contracts are in negotiations and while the number of workers aren’t colossal, some of them are groups of workers to whom this governor has been financially generous in the past. That’s not a bad thing, but it is a cost. Wildland fire fighting costs have yet to be fully tallied from last year, and other disaster assistance needs (including from Typhoon Halong) will add to the bill.

The governor proposes tapping our savings to pay the giant PFDs and other costs. It looks like his proposals would need about $1.9 billion from the CBR’s $3 billion balance. Since you can’t even do that twice, it’s safe to predict that idea won’t fly.

Making recurring revenues and recurring expenditures match is never easy. The governor introduced his version of a fiscal plan just this week (more on that in next week’s newsletter!) Between shoveling our way through that and digging a path to a budget, we’ll need all 121 days of the session to shovel out.

Rep. Andi Story and I appreciating our ride when we visited Skagway for a Town Hall and Office Hours in October.

New Bill for Lower Bills

There’s a new idea in the IT world that threatens to cost the state serious money. Nowadays, companies that sell software don’t usually send it to the customer to install on their machines. Instead they keep it on their own systems in ’the cloud.’ No big worries there. The troubling new idea is to put a clause in the software contract saying customers have to store all their data on the software company’s cloud. Even if they charge more for storage than their competitors.

Alaska spends a lot on cloud storage. The amount keeps growing. We need to treat it like other service the state buys and get the best balance of price and quality. That’s why I’m working on a bill to bar future software contracts from controlling the state’s cloud storage provider. That means fewer unnecessary costs and better long-term choices for Alaska’s agencies to use your money efficiently.

All my best,