“A wise man once told me that no one’s interested in politics until it’s interested in them,” Representative Will Stapp (R – Fairbanks) said during an interview in his office. Stapp, an insurance agent from Fairbanks serving his first term in the House, is one of the 17 freshman representatives who decided to take an interest.

A Kirkland, Washington native, Stapp was inspired to join the airborne infantry after seeing HBO’s “Band of Brothers” miniseries – and experiencing 9/11 live on TV. The Army brought him to Fort Wainwright, and after he served his time (which included two tours in Iraq) he remained in Alaska.

Part of Stapp’s motivation to officially enter politics was the fall of Afghanistan, and the lack of accountability among the federal higher-ups, which he saw as a failure of government.

“It was 20 years, man,” Stapp said, “We were fighting over there for 20 years and nobody could even say they were sorry.”

The United States ignominious retreat from the Middle East, and the subsequent failure of the federal government to hold anyone accountable or even make a public apology, served as a catalyst for Stapp, who won his House race in November with 51% of the vote in a three-way race.

Part of what’s different about Stapp is serving on the House Finance Committee as a freshman, which is unusual. Additionally, three other freshman serve on the 11-member committee: Representatives Frank Tomaszewski (R – Fairbanks), Alyse Galvin (I – Anchorage), and Julie Coulombe (R – Anchorage). Stapp attributed his committee seat to his peers having “faith in his abilities,” but was mostly closemouthed about the circumstances that led to four freshmen ending up on the finance committee.

“Fairbanks has a long tradition of sending representatives to House Finance,” Stapp said, citing former Fairbanks Representatives Bart LeBon, Steve Thompson, and Adam Wool, all of whom sat on the finance committee last session. “For me, I’m just glad I’ve been afforded the privilege to continue that tradition.”

As far as his constituents in East Fairbanks, Wainwright, and Badger go, Stapp’s concerned about the effects of inflation on working families. He pointed to Fairbanks’ status as a former boom-town, but noted that increasing energy costs have slowly eaten away at the disposable income of Fairbanks residents. Cheaper energy, then, is Stapp’s main priority to potentially reverse the trend of rising costs.

Stapp’s prefiled bill – House Bill 38 – is the companion bill to Senator James Kaufman’s (R – Anchorage) bill for a spending limit. It’s been sporadically referred to as the Kaufman/Stapp plan, though Stapp laughed this off, eschewing credit for Kaufman’s original idea.

“I think it’s a privilege that I can be the vessel on the House side that’s going to carry forward his good idea,” Stapp said. “The thing that attracted me to Senator Kaufman when he was in the State House [in 2021] was that idea.”

The bill lowers the state spending limit and connects it to GDP. Since 1981, the spending cap has been tied to population and inflation. Stapp and Kaufman’s plan proposes that, with a few specific programs lying outside of the spending cap, that the limit be lowered. Right now, the spending cap is set far above what the state actually spends.

“The goal, conceptually, is to try to smooth out the boom and bust cycles… due to the volatility in oil prices,” Stapp said. “Last fiscal year was the first positive year in seven or eight years, and it didn’t take many of the folks in this building very long to figure out how to blow through all that money.”

As it stands now, the bill would lower the spending limit to a $5.1 billion soft cap. A $6.2 billion hard cap, which would require a constitutional amendment, has also been introduced.

One of the programs that wouldn’t be covered under this spending cap is the Permanent Fund Dividend, which was by design.

“You want elected officials to constantly care about private sector performance and how they can grow the private sector,” Stapp said. “The healthier and more robust your private sector is, the easier it is for that private sector to absorb some kind of broad-based tax.”

Stapp sees the private sector economy as fairly anemic, shouldering a heavy public sector, which isn’t ideal. As such, he prefers investment level growth to direct cash injections like the PFD.

Stapp’s optimistic about HB38, to an extent – though he does recognize the political realities of his office.

“Ultimately, you do the best you can,” Stapp said. “If folks decide it’s not an idea they like… I’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, I did the best I can.’”

The newly formed freshman caucus includes Stapp, who isn’t quite sure what’s going on. Nor, it seems, do most – whether the group is more of an informal soft power organization or an actual political force to be reckoned with remains to be seen. For Stapp, however, any opportunity to make friends and connections can only benefit his efforts in getting HB38 passed.

“From my perspective, I’m pushing a constitutional amendment,” Stapp said. “I kinda need some friends on the other side who might want to vote for that. I’m certainly open to conversation.”

When he was asked about the freshman caucus by the Anchorage Daily News, Stapp joked – which was ultimately never printed – that for all he knew, “On Monday, we could be talking about football, on Tuesday, we could be plotting coups!”

On the whole, Stapp is sanguine about the state of the state, if legislators can be cognizant of their long term goals.

“We’re actually in a pretty good position, so long as we are disciplined in our budgeting,” Stapp said.