The second session of the 34th Alaska Legislature is underway! It was a busy week with the before the start of session fundraisers, Juneau’s welcoming reception at Centennial Hall, other receptions, and Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) final State of the State address, that included one of Alaska’s most famous athletes. Before delivering his final State of the State, Dunleavy held a rather bizarre cabinet meeting where each cabinet official read a prepared list of accomplishments. Dunleavy also teased his long awaited mystery fiscal plan. A second progressive candidate, independent Bill Hill, filed to run against Representative Nick Begich (R – Alaska). And Mary Peltola held a packed campaign event in Juneau at the Crystal Saloon. 

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 recently arrived 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. 

Session is underway 

The House and Senate both gaveled in on Tuesday afternoon (1/20/2026). The night before, Republicans and Democrats held their annual before the start of session fundraisers. Legislators are barred from fundraising during session, so they all make sure to load up on donations before session gets underway. 

The Democrats were at the home of Mark Choate, a wealthy Juneau attorney who has a mansion across the street from the Governor’s Mansion. The Republicans were at the Baranof Hotel. Most of Juneau’s lobbyists were spotted at each fundraiser. 

Tuesday’s start of session was unceremonious. The Senate majority held a press availability before they officially gaveled in. The main concern, as usual, is Alaska’s precarious fiscal situation. The current supplemental for the FY2026 budget is between $250 and $300 million. This will need to come from the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR). To access the CBR requires a three-fourths vote from each body. So unless Dunleavy encourages Republicans to vote for it, things could get messy. And that does not even address Dunleavy’s proposed FY2027 budget, which includes a deficit of $1.5 billion in order to pay a mega dividend. 

One of the largest concerns in the supplemental is the $70 million that Dunleavy vetoed for transportation projects. They $70 million, if approved, is matched by $700 million in federal highway funds. Dunleavy vetoed it due to what he said were funding source issues, but then he put the money back in his supplemental request. The construction industry is saying if the money is not approved soon, the summer construction season could be in jeopardy. 

Juneau held their annual welcoming reception on Tuesday night at Centennial Hall. It was a packed event with a lot of good food. 

The day after session started, Dunleavy held a pretty strange cabinet meeting. Members of the press were invited to hear each member read prepared statements about the successes of their departments under Dunleavy’s tenure. Some of them sounded like they were reading hostage statements. Others did better. Dunleavy interrupted several of them so they could repeat statistics on things like education, crime, and labor. He castigated the media several times for not covering him fairly or leaving out his accomplishments. This is after he opened the press conference by thanking the media and saying how important the media is in a free society. He really got into it with Mark Sabbatini from the Juneau Independent! You can watch that part at 1:16:45 in the video. It gets very loose. 

He also teased his fiscal plan at the press conference. I was able to get ahold of the elements of his forthcoming fiscal package. You can read the details in this Landmine article. In the press conference Dunleavy said the tax proposals he plans on introducing are only meant to last five years. He says after that revenues from oil are projected to increase enough to offset the taxes. That’s a rather rosy outlook, especially if half of the yearly draw from the Permanent Fund goes to pay dividends, a proposal that is in his plan.

The bottom line is that his fiscal package is too little and too late. Raising oil taxes and implementing a sales tax to pay large dividends are a tough sell to most legislators. And being an election year does not help. Dunleavy is also a lame duck. Most of the majority members, who have had an acrimonious relationship with Dunleavy, will be happy to wait for the next governor. And most of the Republicans are weary of passing taxes. 

Dunleavy delivered his final State of the State address on Thursday (1/22/2026) night. It was a long one at nearly and hour and a half. He reiterated the successes that were discussed in his cabinet press conference. He talked about the importance of his white whale, the gasline. And he hinted at aspects of his fiscal package, but did not lay it out. He is expected to introduce a series of bills soon.

One of the best parts about Dunleavy’s speech was one of his guests, NHL star and Alaskan Scotty Gomez! Gomez, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, was recently inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. After the speech, several legislators lined up to get photos with Gomez. He was a great get for the speech. 

I was lucky enough to get to hang out with Gomez and some people after the speech. He’s an extremely funny and down to earth guy. For a guy estimated to be worth $50 million, you would never know it hanging out with him. It was super cool that he came to Juneau to attend the State of the State. 

Before the speech, Glenfarne announced a Phase One of the gasline, though some are still skeptical that take-or-pay contracts are not yet in place. Several of the Glenfarne executives were in Juneau this week, including their CEO Brendan Duval. I got to talk with him a bit on Thursday night. As someone who loves Aussies, I had a great time talking with him. Like Gomez, he’s a super cool and easy to talk to guy. I hope to get both of them on my podcast.

Other Happenings 

Bill Hill, a progressive who is a registered independent, jumped into the U.S. House race this week. I got the scoop ten days ago that he was working with Ship Creek Group and was planning on entering the race. His campaign said he raised $200,000 the first day. This is going to complicate things for Democrat Matt Schultz, who entered the race in October. There is no indication that Schultz will exit the race with Hill’s entrance. Several Democrats have expressed frustration with Hill getting in the race, saying it will make it harder to defeat Representative Nick Begich. If they both stay in, it will be fun to see what happens with ranked choice voting with two progressives instead of two Republicans. 

Democrat Mary Peltola held a campaign event in Juneau on Friday (1/23/2026) night at the Crystal Saloon. It included an open bar! The first thing I was told when I walked in was she will not be talking to the media or taking any questions from the media. Seems like a great campaign strategy… She only spoke for five minutes and did not say anything about policy or about her opponent, Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska). She instead talked about the energy of the campaign and how important voting is. 

Something strange is going on at the Baranof. A source told me the AFL-CIO canceled their conference this week due to the closure.  

Remember when Crooked Adam Crum claimed he did nothing wrong after the WilmerHale report was released… 

That didn’t take long. Look for more lawsuits to come on this one. 

This Week’s Loose Unit

This week’s designee became abundantly clear on Friday evening. This week’s Loose Unit is Doyon 26. The largest mobile drilling rig in North America literally tipped over on the North Slope near Alpine! Luckily and incredibly, ConocoPhillips said there were no serious injuries. It appears that because it was moved in 30 degree weather, the soft road caused the rig to slide off the shoulder and eventually tip over. 

The owner of rig, Doyon Drilling, is now leading a response “under a Unified Command structure including representatives from the State of Alaska, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the North Slope Borough (NSB) and Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS). DDI is cooperating fully with agencies and is leading response continuity,” according to a statement sent out today. 

All I know is someone or some people are in some serious trouble. It does not get much looser than this. 

The video has racked up 6 million views on X and 3.4 million on Facebook. I spoke with several people who have worked on the slope for years and they all said they have never heard of this happening before. 

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.