Today is day 90 of the 121-day legislative session, which ends on May 20 at midnight. The end will be here before we know it. I spent the week in Washington D.C. for the Alaska on the Hill event. The House passed the operating budget this week, but they have not yet transmitted it to the Senate. They are waiting for the Senate to pass the capital budget, which is on the Senate’s calendar tomorrow. The Senate transmitted the elections bill to Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska), which has caused a rift among some Republicans. Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) announced Alaska will be getting two more ice breakers in 2028. And another person filed for the open seat Senator Lyman Hoffman (D – Bethel) is retiring from. 

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Alaska on the Hill

I spent the week in D.C. as part of the Alaska on the Hill event. It included more than 100 business people from Alaska, many from the resource development industry. It was basically the Resource Cabal on the hill! It was put together by the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce. Shout out to Kati Capozzi, the president and CEO of the Chamber, and her team for putting together the event. It’s no easy task planning and executing an event like that. 

The first day was briefings from groups like the American Loggers Council, American Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Seafood Harvesters of America, American Trucking Association, and Associated General Contractors of America. Sitting next to me was former Senator David Wilson. Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Heilala was also at my table.  

One of the lobbyists I met told me when he first became a lobbyist he told his mom he was a pianist in a whorehouse because that was more dignified than being a D.C. lobbyist. Dude had a great sense of humor. 

One of the really interesting presentations was from Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who is the co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies. He’s been the lead pollster for NBC and the Wall Street Journal for a decade. His presentation had very good and complex information but his way of presenting it made it easy to understand. 

After the presentations there was a Senate roundtable with Senators Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska). Senator John Barrasso (R – Wyoming) was also there for a bit. It was a lot of the same stuff you are used to hearing in Alaska if you are in political circles: permitting reform, Alaska’s strategic location, and developing our resources. 

There was a great reception that evening at the American Petroleum Institute. I even got a photo with my good buddy Kati Capozzi! I had a nice dinner after with some friends and closed the night with cigars at Shelley’s Back Room. Note to self: leave my new suit jacket in the car next time I go to a cigar bar. That suit went straight to the dry cleaners when I got back to Juneau. 

The next day was a meetings with members of Congress. The objective was to advocate for Alaska issues, like energy and resource development. Attendees were divided into small groups and assigned meetings with the offices of different representatives and senators. Unfortunately, I was not included in any of the meetings. I learned about this when an announcement was made about an email that went out assigning groups and meetings. I never got that email. I guess they were worried I would get too loose! But I was able to sneak into one. 

These kind of meetings are almost entirely with staff. The day before someone gave a briefing on how to talk to the members and their staff during meetings. It kind of felt like a teacher telling fifth graders how to interact with adults. But I learned later that day that more people should have paid attention to that briefing.  

I made it known to a lot of people about my exclusion from the meetings. So my friend Ella Ede invited me to attend one of hers! It was with the office of Senator Steve Daines (R – Montana). It was me, Ella, and two other Alaskans. We met with a younger staffer that deals with energy issues. We talked about Alaska energy and resource projects like the gasline, Susitna-Watana, mining, and oil and gas projects. We talked about nuclear too. Then one of the women in the group decided to go off script.

She works in cargo shipping and started talking about the Jones Act. The staffer had no idea what it is. I figured she was going to advocate for repealing it, but it was the opposite! She demanded that the staffer tell Daines to support ending the Jones Act waiver that allows foreign vessels to transport critical commodities due to the war in Iran. She even said that shipping prices are increasing due to the Jones Act waiver! I could not believe what I was hearing. I have long known that studies that show each Alaskan gets hit with a roughly $3,000 bill every year due to the Jones Act. I kept quiet to avoid being the guy who was not supposed to go to a meeting who blew up a meeting. I was biting my tongue the entire time she was talking.

The woman clearly did not pay attention to the briefing. The meetings were designed to advocate for Alaska, not individual company or industry issues. Very loose!    

I spent several hours with Senator Sullivan’s office. Larry Burton, his chief of staff, took me to breakfast in the Senate Dining Room. I got to meet Senator Tim Scott (R – South Carolina)!

I spent several hours in Sullivan’s office hanging out with Amanda Coyne and Joe Byrnes, and got to meet many of his other staff. I watched Sullivan chair a hearing on illegal Chinese fishing. And then I walked with Sullivan and his staff to the Senate floor so he could vote. I saw Senator Mitch McConnell (R – Kentucky) going to vote. That dude got old. Then we went back to Sullivan’s office in the underground train that goes between the different Senate buildings.

Sullivan was particularity excited about the announcement that day that Alaska is getting two more ice breakers – something he has been working on for years. But amid the ice breakers announcement, the  illegal Chinese fishing hearing, and many other issues that day, this one thing kept coming up – some video for the Future Farmers of America. Sullivan had thought he promised them a video from the Secretary of Agriculture. He was reminded several times that no such promise was made. But he was adamant about this video. When I got back to his office with Amanda Coyne, the first thing Sullivan’s deputy chief of staff asked her about was the status of the Future Farmers of America video. About 30 minutes later a staffer came to Amanda’s office and said, “Where are we with the FFA video?” It was like an episode of Veep.

Juneau definitely has a busy pace, but it’s nothing compared to D.C. Sullivan was constantly on the move and his staff were all slammed with with different projects and assignments. His body guy, a tall and slim dude in his mid-20s, told me Sullivan gets in at 7 am every morning and often works late into the evening. 

Later that day there was a briefing with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and then a House roundtable. I missed those as I had to go back to my place and get the Alaska Political Report finished. Unfortunately, I also missed the party at the Australian Embassy! Overall it was a great trip and experience. But I have no idea how the delegation or others fly back and forth. I was exhausted when I got back to Juneau. 

Senate Finance juices up capital budget

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.

Earlier this week the Senate Finance Committee introduced, amended, and passed a new version of the FY2027 capital budget. Their new version of the capital budget adds a total of $193.4 million in all funds over Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s (R-AK) proposed budget. Of that, $88.7 million is from Unrestricted General Funds (UGF) and the rest comes from designated and other fund sources.

If you combine the version of the operating budget just passed by the House with the capital budget from Senate Finance, there is an approximately $232 million deficit remaining to solve. During the hearing on the capital bill the committee indicated that they had left room in the capital budget for the House to add additional priorities. It is hard to see where that room is on the bottom line. However, that might just be the committee foreshadowing a Senate version of the operating budget that reduces UGF spending to make room for capital.

The committee made efforts to avoid accusation that they were primarily funding projects in districts represented by members of the committee. Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, the Senate Finance capital co-chair, noted during committee that the capital budget was constructed almost entirely from independent lists of public facility maintenance needs. They also introduced an amendment that would list projects benefiting the Mt. Edgecumbe High School as being of state-wide impact rather than located in Sitka, Stedman’s hometown. The intention is to highlight that the students at the state-run boarding school come from throughout Alaska.

In our review of the changes made by the committee we only found a few exceptions where items have been funded that don’t follow an existing maintenance prioritization process. For the most part those projects are directed towards long-standing needs or priorities of the Legislature.

If you would like to see the rest of this section, as well as a comprehensive breakdown of the legislative candidates’ APOC reports, please consider subscribing to the Alaska Political Report. Email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com for a copy of the latest special report. 

Other Happenings

The House passed Senate Bill 64, the elections reform bill, by a vote of 23-16 on March 23. The Senate concurred with House’s changes by a vote of 16-4 on March 25. The bill was finally transmittal to Dunleavy on Monday (4/13/2026). Dunleavy has until April 30 to sign it, veto it, or let it go into law. If Dunleavy vetoes the bill, which is likely at this point, 40 votes would be required to override the veto. Republicans are split on the bill. On Wednesday Representative Sarah Vance (R – Homer) posted a video on Facebook defending the bill and attacking conservative political writer Suzanne Downing for saying the bill is “equivalent of a legislative demon child of Vance and Wielechowski.” Vance’s video is something else! 

On March 30 the Senate sent House Bill 194 to the House. HB 194 is a bill from Dunleavy that allows that state to sell royalty oil in-kind from Marathon. But it was narrowly amended to tax oil and gas S corps and other pass through entities with taxable income over $1 million. The provision is aimed at Hilcorp. The Senate passed the bill passed 12-7 after the amendment was approved. The House finally took up the bill this week and failed to concur with the Senate’s change. The bill is now back in the Senate where they will have the option to recede from their amendment. If not, the bill will be put in a conference committee. 

Representative Carolyn Hall (D – Anchorage) wrote this opinion piece that was published in the Landmine explaining her no vote on HB 194. 

The Alaska Democratic Party held their convention in Cordova this weekend. The three Democratic candidates for governor took a photo together. Weird. 

Richard Robb’s entry into the open Senate seat in Western Alaska makes four in the race. This does not count Speaker Bryce Edgmon (I – Dillingham), who has still not declared if he’s running for the open Senate seat or his House seat. The filing deadline is June 1. 

The Landmine’s Paxson Woelber was in Juneau this week! 

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This week’s designee was super easy and a first timer! This week’s Loose Unit is Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Senator Matt Claman (D – Anchorage). Claman has refused all session to move a House bill from his Senate Judiciary Committee that aims to raise the age of consent in Alaska to 18 from 16. The simple bill from Representative Andrew Gray (D – Anchorage) passed the House unanimously last May.

Claman won’t say why he refuses to move the bill, instead saying he wants it to be part of some non-existent ominous crime bill. Several community members have called Claman out for refusing to move the bill. So this week he decided to go full Loose Unit. Instead of moving the bill from the committee, he jammed it into another bill from Representative Chuck Kopp (R – Anchorage) about negligent homicide. Claman also jammed a ton of other bills into Kopp’s bill, Christmas treeing the shit of of it. 

Even if this stuffed bill passes the Senate, it has to go back to the House for concurrence. It’s highly unlikely they will concur with a bill that has so many other bills added to it. Claman could have moved Gray’s bill as is and it would have overwhelmingly passed the Senate. That would have been it. Classic Loose Unit, and also really weird, behavior. 

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.