There is an ever so slight hint of spring in Juneau with the sun out and temps in the 30s. After this winter I can not wait until spring and summer! The coming week will be a short week in Juneau as many legislators and staff will be heading home for Easter. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) is scheduled to give her annual address to the Legislature on Tuesday (3/31/2026) at 11 am. The House and Senate finally passed the supplemental budget, though the House did not approve the savings draw. The operating budget is making its way through the House Finance Committee with amendments scheduled to be heard this week. A rare floor fight occurred in the Senate resulting in a non-controversial bill about selling royalty oil to Marathon getting hijacked to include an oil and gas tax provision. The gasline got some serious attention in the House and Senate Resources Committees this week. And a shady group in Anchorage that just filed as a group is sending out loose and deceptive mailers for the Assembly election. 

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 seven years and am now here for my eighth session. We will be covering all the 2026 Alaska elections in-depth. 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. 

Budget Update

The mess with the FY2026 supplemental budget is finally done, well kind of. The conference committee adopted a supplemental budget that is nearly identical to the version that passed the House a month ago on February 25. Although the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) language in the bill was not approved by the Republican House minority, current revenue is sufficient to fund the bill and should be transmitted to Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) soon. As long as the price of oil stays above $91/barrel until July 1, a CBR draw will not be needed. But if the price of oil drops before then, things could get messy. 

The new House committee substitute for the FY2027 operating budget, HCS3, has significant changes totaling an increase of $335 million from Dunleavy’s budget, plus a $50 million contingency reserve for a federal revenue shortfall. The committee set an amendment deadline for the operating budget of noon on March 27. The committee is scheduled to start hearing amendments on Tuesday. There are more than 120 amendments, so it could take a while to get through them all. With a lot of people leaving for Easter, they may not be able to get through them all this week. The goal is for the House to pass the budget by April 10 and send to the Senate.

Senator Lyman Hoffman (D – Bethel), who oversees the operating budget in the Senate, sent a memo to finance subcommittee chairs telling them to use $73/barrel instead of $75/barrel for the FY2027 forecast, as well as a $50 million for a supplemental buffer. This effectively reduces what they can spend by $120 million. Hoffman is probably thinking the House will go nuts on spending, so he wants to keep spending down in some areas for the conference committee.

Senate Gets Loose 

A rare floor fight took place on Wednesday (3/25/2026) in the Senate on the long debated S corp tax provision. The Senate had House Bill 194 on the calendar. This is a bill from Governor Dunleavy to allow the state to sell royalty oil in-kind to Marathon Petroleum. It passed the House 38-0 last May.

The bill had two ordinary hearings in the Senate Finance Committee on February 24 and March 3, and then was sent to the rules committee. It appeared the bill would quickly and easily pass the Senate. 

But Senator Forrest Dunbar (D – Anchorage) introduced a floor amendment that proposed a progressive income tax on oil and gas S corps and other pass through entities. The provision is aimed at Hilcorp. 

Rather than the $5 million floor in Senate Bill 92 (which has been in the Senate Rules Committee since last May), it lowers it to $1 million. This Landmine article has more information. 

A few weird things happened.

First, when the vote finally happened, Senator Matt Claman (D – Anchorage) initially voted no. The provision still would have passed 10-9. But Senate President Gary Stevens (R – Kodiak) called an at ease during the vote, which is highly unusual. He then voided the roll and they voted again. Claman then voted yes after everyone else voted. It passed 11-8. Claman has been against this tax for years. So clearly some kind of deal was made. And he may also be thinking about his run for governor. 

Second, Senator Kelly Merrick (R – Eagle River) ran away before the vote took place. She was on the floor and voted on another bill not long before. Merrick took $10,000 from attorney and oil tax advocate Robin Brena right before the 2024 election. She also took money from several industry leaders and organizations. So instead of voting, she ran away. She probably told Brena she would vote to raise oil taxes but probably also told industry she wouldn’t. So her only option was to be a coward and run away from the vote.

Third, Senator Jesse “BJ” Bjorkman (R – Nikiski), who was carrying the bill for Governor Dunleavy, voted no on the tax provision and then no on the bill itself. BJ wrapped up by saying, “That’s the bill in a nutshell. It’s a contract ratification and now a tax bill, so… have at it.” 

Senator Hoffman noticed reconsideration on the vote, meaning it will be up again tomorrow. It will be interesting if Run Away Merrick shows up to vote this time. And depending on how she votes, how Claman votes. It will definitely get really loose if they pass it with the tax provision and send it back to the House. 

My guess is this is about adjournment and the gasline. If it passes both bodies, they will tell Dunleavy if he vetoes it they won’t pass his gasline bill. Watch this one closely. 

Other Happenings

The House Resources Committee heard from Glenfarne, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, and Mark Begich on Monday (3/23/2026) on the gasline. The Senate Resources Committee heard from borough mayors on Friday (3/27/2026) on the gasline. These included North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak, Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins, and Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche. 

The bottom line is a lot of legislators, borough mayors, and some labor unions see the gasline as a way to leverage their own priorities and to squeeze as much money as possible out of it. With the attack on Qatar’s LNG facility, global LNG demand forecast to increase by 50% by 2040, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and President Donald Trump on board, the pieces may be there for this to happen. But instead of welcoming this opportunity, too many want to suck whatever they can out of it. The unfortunate result could be they kill it. If potential investors or buyers watch these legislative hearings, they would definitely have good reasons to have reservations.   

Something very loose is happening in South Anchorage. A group, Friends of the Good Guys, filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) on March 10. The chair is some tool Josh York. He would not answer questions about how much the group has raised or how they are spending their money. Cheryl Frasca, who works on conservative campaigns, is listed as the administrator. The group has yet to file any campaign finance reports. 

The group sent out two mailers for the South Anchorage Assembly race. The first went to progressives and Democrats. It says Assembly member Zac Johnson has consistently voted for the MAGA agenda and encourages recipients to vote for Janelle Sharp. The second went to conservatives and Republicans. This one says Johnson is a rubber stamp for the progressive Assembly and encourages recipients to vote for Bruce Vergason. 

The group is clearly supporting Vergason. They are attempting to trick some voters to vote for Sharp to help Vergason. Which is fine, that’s politics. But they clearly timed all of this to not have to report anything until a week before the April 7 election. Ballots went out in the mail on March 17. The only information we have is the disclaimer on the mailer, which lists the top three contributors as Justin Creech, Colby Kelly, and Roger Briley. I can’t wait until they file reports so we can all learn how much money they have raised and how they spent it.  

If you ever look an an Ivan Moore poll, add 7-8 points for the Republican to know where things really stand. Hey, at least he’s consistently wrong. 

It looks like Democrat Mary Peltola may be in some hot water. This NOTUS article details how her House campaign committee spent nearly $200,000 on travel and food after her 2024 loss to Representative Nick Begich (R – Alaska). She ultimately decided to challenge Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska). With the Federal Elections Commissioner (FEC) short on commissioners and with a large backlog, it’s not likely she will have to deal with this before the November election. But it’s definitely a bad look for her.

This is wild. Janelle Earls has been acting Revenue commissioner since Crooked Adam Crum left in August. Governor Dunleavy has not appointed her or anyone else the designee since session started, even though he is required to. The Legislature should deal with this by voting to confirm or reject her regardless of the bogus acting status she’s held for almost eight months. She should not be able to stay in the acting role until Dunleavy leaves office in December. 

I can’t believe this is a real campaign ad. 

There are now 18 candidates in the governor’s race. The filing deadline is June 1. I bet it will end up being close to 25. 

This Week’s Loose Unit

Between Run Away Merrick and the loose Friends of the Good Guys group, there were a lot of good candidates this week. But three stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is a tie between Representatives Carolyn Hall (D – Anchorage), Dan Saddler (R – Eagle River), and David Nelson (R – Anchorage). 

It all started on Friday during a routine House Labor & Commerce Committee meeting. After hearing on some of Dunleavy’s appointees to various board and commissions, things got extremely loose.

Hall was about to move on to a bill about health information exchanges. As Representative Genevieve Mina (D – Anchorage) and her staff came to the table to present the bill, Nelson made a motion to move House Bill 147 from the committee. HB 147 is a bill from Nelson’s minority colleague Representative Mike Prax (R – North Pole) on naturopathy.  

Nelson and Saddler figured out (or maybe were told by lobbyist Gene Therriault, who is working the bill) that they had more people than the majority because several majority members were absent. So they tried to take advantage of that. Hall should have figured this out and not let it get to that point, but she failed to. 

Several minutes of Hall trying to figure out what to do while being run over by Saddler and Nelson ensued. 

Representative Ashley Carrick (D – Fairbanks) attempted to buy time by talking, but Saddler kept telling her and Hall that they could not take an at ease or end the meeting. Saddler was being a real dick and Hall had no control of the meeting. It was maximum loose. 

You should really watch the entire six minutes of it all. It shows how mean and aggressive Saddler and Nelson were and how caught off guard Hall was. She should have told them and the public what they were trying to do and let them move the bill. The majority could have put the bill back in the committee. The whole thing demonstrated the profound level of immaturity in the Legislature. 

Hall eventually abruptly gaveled out the meeting to the stern objection of Saddler and Nelson. Then Gavel cut the feed! Hyper loose. 

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.