May the Fourth be with you! Only 17 days remain until the end of the regular session, and things finally look like they are starting to come together. First, after a small hiccup, the Legislature passed a new education bill and transmitted it to Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska). A veto seems likely, but the Legislature has the override votes this time. Both finance committees introduced committee substitutes for the operating and capital budgets. The Senate Finance Committee reduced the Permanent Fund (PFD) Dividend to $1,000, eliminating the FY2026 deficit and nearly making up for the FY2025 deficit. And the Alaska Democratic Party has a new executive director. 

A friendly message and reminder to all our readers. The Landmine is made possible by myself and a team of awesome Alaskans. I have been covering the legislative session in Juneau for the last six years and am back now for my seventh session. If you enjoy the content we provide, please consider making a one time or recurring monthly donation. You can click here to donate. We have a system that makes it super easy. We would really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has been supportive. 

Legislature passed another education bill

On Wednesday (4/30/2025), the Senate resolved a technical issue with House Bill 57, the new education bill they originally passed on Monday. An issue over a may verses shall concerning an appropriation was pointed out by some senators on Monday after they passed the bill to the House. It actually didn’t matter as this issue was addressed by the Alaska Supreme Court in the Wielechowski case about the veto of the PFD in 2016. Some people like drama I guess. 

After the fix, they passed it again by a vote of 17-3. It was passed 19-1 on Monday, but Senators Mike Shower (R – Wasilla) and Shelley Hughes (R – Palmer) flipped from yes to no. The House concurred with the Senate changes by a vote of 31-8. The bill was transmitted to Governor Dunleavy on Thursday. He has until May 19 to act. He can either sign the bill, veto the bill, or let it go into law without signature.

Dunleavy will likely veto the bill as it does not include the education reforms he has been demanding. There is some chatter that the Governor’s Office is trying to get the Legislature to commit to adopting a few of the reforms Dunleavy wants, but at this point their leverage is limited as the 40 required override votes appear to be there. The last day of the regular session is May 21, meaning even if Dunleavy vetoes the bill on May 19, the Legislature will still have two days to hold an override vote. 

Here are some highlights of this bill:

• A $700 increase to the Base Student Allocation, a cost of roughly $177 million UGF per year
• A 10% increase to pupil transportation, about $7 million UGF
• Language directing the Department of Education and the Department of Labor to track the success of graduating seniors
• An expansion in the ability for charter schools to apply for approval from local school boards
• Establishes a task force on school funding

House and Senate Finance Committees introduce budget committee substitutes

The following is an excerpt from this week’s edition of the Alaska Political Report. You can click here for more information about the Political Report. A subscription is $1,299/year per organization. Discounted pricing is available for non-profits and government entities. Our coverage of the budget starts with the governor’s proposed budget, and we track everything in detail through the entire process. If you have any questions or would like to subscribe, please email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com.

The House and Senate Finance Committees simultaneously introduced committee substitutes (CS) of the both the operating and capital budgets Thursday afternoon.

The net impact of the two new drafts is a $257 million reduction to the FY26 budget. The Senate version of the operating budget brings FY26 to a surplus that almost makes up for the FY25 deficit.

The House amended the capital budget. Their version comes in slightly below the Senate’s – a net reduction of $730,000 Unrestricted General Fund (UGF) – but within that are a number of changes and reprioritizations in spending. The changes are made possible by a change the Senate Finance Committee made last week to the operating budget. The Senate added language to the operating budget that would redirect unspent UGF from the FY25 budget to the school major maintenance fund rather than deposit into the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR).

The Senate introduced a new version of the operating budget with a net reduction of $256.4 million UGF. This comes primarily from the inclusion of a $1,000 per person Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD), down from the $1,400 dividend included in their last CS.

This version of the bill also merges supplemental items into the bill. However, those supplemental items remain unfunded. The bill does not include language providing access to the CBR, or any other source, to fund supplemental appropriations.

The Senate Finance Committee plans to pass the operating budget from committee tomorrow morning. From there it will move to the Senate floor.

If you would like to see the rest of this section, as well as our more detailed coverage of the legislative session, consider subscribing to the Alaska Political Report. Email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com for a copy of the latest special report. 

Other Happenings 

A protest about the reduction in money for childcare was held on Tuesday (4/29/2025) in front of the Capitol. Political organizer Nick Moe rounded up a bunch of moms for the protest. Several of “Moe’s Moms” came in the Capitol after. During the weekly Senate majority press conference, many of the moms walked in and sat down with their babies. Apparently someone told Moe they could not sit in the front row as it was reserved for media. Moe responded something to the effect of “try kicking them out in front of the press on TV.” Pretty legendary response actually. There were a lot of cute babies in the room! One baby started crying after a question was asked about a lower PFD. I said the baby is mad about the lower dividend! Everyone laughed.

The resource cabal was 100 deep in D.C. this week! It sounded like a great trip with lots of good meetings and discussion about resource development in Alaska.  

A bill to increase penalties for those who refuse to cooperate with the legislative auditor was heard in a rare Senate Resources Committee meeting this week. It was moved out the same day. It looks like Senate plans on passing it to the House this coming week. It’s good to see the Legislature finally standing up to the Department of Revenue for refusing to cooperate with the legislative auditor since 2020.      

Congrats to Jenny-Marie Stryker on her new role as the executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party! 

This Week’s Loose Unit

This was one of those really easy weeks. This week’s Loose Unit is Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum. If you have not read this Landmine story, “Aloha: Crum caught cold on unauthorized Hawaiian vacation,” you definitely should! 

Basically, Crum went on a family vacation to Hawaii in early April and did not tell his superiors. In the middle of the legislative session, mind you. That alone is super loose. But where it gets really loose is when he was told he had to fire his deputy, he was forced to come clean about his whereabouts. More loose. But when I asked the Department of Revenue for his leave slip – that he turned in after the fact – the juicy part was redacted. Way more loose. 

When I got an idea to ask the Governor’s Office for the same slip, I got lucky. The unredacted portion shows that Rachel Bylsma, Governor Dunleavy’s deputy chief of staff, crossed off the box for annual/personal leave and instead marked the unauthorized leave without pay box! Maximum loose. She should start going by Rachel “Baller” Bylsma. 

It gets better. Crum was in Florida this week at some state financial officers conference. You can’t make this shit up. Classic Loose Unit behavior. His yet to be determined campaign launch for governor is sure to be very loose and entertaining. He’s surely trying to milk the $168,000 job for as long as he can. 

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.