The Sunday Minefield – May 4, 2025
May 4, 2025
May the Fourth be with you! Only 17 days remain until the end of the regular session, and things finally look like they are…
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The Sunday Minefield – May 18, 2025
Jeff Landfield May 18, 2025
There are just three days left until the end of the 121-day session! By all accounts, it looks like they may actually finish up a day sooner this year. The conference committee finished its work on the operating budget today, meaning it should be on members’ desks tomorrow. The Legislature met in a joint session this week to vote…
Alaska should eliminate all sales taxes on gold and silver
Matthew Cortez May 3, 2025
As inflation cuts into Alaskans’ savings, individuals and businesses are actively seeking ways to protect their hard-earned money. Lawmakers in Alaska have reintroduced a...
Aloha: Crum caught cold on unauthorized Hawaiian vacation
Jeff Landfield May 2, 2025
On Friday, April 4, then-Deputy Revenue Commissioner Fadil Limani got a call from Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum at the end of the workday. Limani...
Brad Keithley’s Chart of the Week: Dunleavy came in promising to “Save the PFD,” but is going to leave having helped kill it
Brad Keithley May 2, 2025
Most who were here at the time of the 2018 governor’s race will recall that central to now-Governor Mike...
The Sunday Minefield – April 27, 2025
Jeff Landfield April 27, 2025
We are approaching day 100 of the legislative session, which means there is just over three weeks left in the regular session. The annual…
Legislature should provide lobbyists with key fobs to bypass new Capitol security screening
Jeff Landfield April 25, 2025
Let me start by saying I totally disagree with the recent decision by Legislative Council to require visitors to the Capitol to go through...
Brad Keithley’s Chart of the Week: Why the adoption of a one-account Permanent Fund would favor the current generation at the expense of future ones
Brad Keithley April 25, 2025
As some readers of this column may recall, we have...
Speaker Edgmon told Minority Leader Costello about controversial PFD amendment hours before it was offered
Jeff Landfield April 23, 2025
On Friday, April 11, the House passed a floor amendment to the budget that lowered the...
The Sunday Minefield – April 20, 2025
Jeff Landfield April 20, 2025
I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend! It was a short week in Juneau as many people headed home for Easter. Tomorrow is…
Brad Keithley’s Chart of the Week: The badly unbalanced “balanced budget”
Brad Keithley April 18, 2025
Fiscal analysts use multiple lenses to evaluate whether a government budget is “balanced.” One is in an accounting sense of whether overall revenues equal...
The Sunday Minefield – April 13, 2025
Jeff Landfield April 13, 2025
It was a loose and eventful week in Juneau. First, the House majority and minority held strange, dueling press conferences. Second, the House Finance…
Loose email exchange shows new legislative staffer’s inexperience and cockiness
Jeff Landfield April 9, 2025
Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Sheldon is new to the Capitol. He's been working for Representative Julie Coulombe (R - Anchorage) for the last few months. His...
HEX/Furie royalty relief approved by DNR includes $2 million credit for future royalty payments
Jeff Landfield April 7, 2025
In February, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved a 76% decrease in royalty payments for HEX/Furie, owned by John Hendrix. This applies...
The Sunday Minefield – April 6, 2025
Jeff Landfield April 6, 2025
It’s day 75 of the 121-day legislative session, and there is no clear path to get out of town. The House Finance Committee finished…
Sen. Lyman Hoffman drops hammer on budget, takes vote on committee he is not on
Jeff Landfield April 3, 2025
Senator Lyman Hoffman (D - Bethel) is soft spoken and usually doesn't say much. But he veered from that persona this week with two...