It’s the summer solstice! I hope everyone is enjoying the great weather. The special session on the gasline abruptly ended o Friday (6/19/2026) night after the Senate added multiple provisions to the bill that were unacceptable to the House, Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska), and Glenfarne. A new special session, called by Dunleavy, started the day after. In a joint session on Friday, the Legislature voted to override two vetoes of the nine bills Dunleavy vetoed on Thursday. The situation involving Decoy Dan Sullivan from Petersburg trying to challenge Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) is blowing up. And several candidates have withdrawn from various legislative races.  

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 finished my eighth session in May. I just got back from covering the end of the special 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.

Check out the twelfth episode of Governor Peninsula! In this episode, Petersburg Dan Sullivan decides he’s had enough. And make sure to tell us what you think.

After gasline bill collapses, another special session is underway

The following is an excerpt from this week’s special 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.

The gasline bill failed to pass the Legislature Friday evening after the Senate adopted multiple provisions that Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) and Glenfarne (the developer) said made the bill unworkable.

Most notable was a provision to apply a state tax to S corporations and other pass-through entities at a progressive rate based on taxable income. This provision has long been debated about Hilcorp, but Glenfarne and Dunleavy said adopting the provision would complicate financing of the project.

In a statement, Glenfarne said, “In contrast to the workable tax reform legislative compromise that passed the House with a bipartisan, 87% vote, many of the amendments passed in the Senate bill tonight, if put into law, would have resulted in an unworkable, unfinanceable, and uncompetitive project, unable to deliver reliable and affordable energy to Alaskans.”

The House was scheduled to go in Friday night to take up a concurrence vote, but that was canceled amid rising tensions in the Capitol with just hours left in the special session.

Dunleavy, who called another special session earlier this week starting on Saturday morning, held a press conference Friday evening not long after the Senate passed their version of the bill by a 12-8 vote. He made it clear the Senate version of the bill is unworkable, but said he was hopeful the House and Senate could quickly come to a deal on Saturday. He thanked the House for passing a workable bill by a 34-5 vote.

The House and Senate both gaveled in Saturday morning, but did not attempt to immediately work out a deal. Instead, both bodies adopted resolutions to pick up the bill where it was on Friday before the previous special session ended. They also adopted resolutions to exempt themselves from the constitutional requirement to meet every three days.

The House failed to concur with the Senate’s version of the bill. Dillingham independent Speaker Bryce Edgmon then appointed a conference committee consisting of himself, Anchorage independent Rep. Calvin Schrage (chair as the bill is a House bill), and Soldotna Republican Rep. Justin Ruffridge.

After failing to recede from their amendments, Kodiak Republican Senate President Gary Stevens appointed the following senators to the conference committee: Bethel Democrat Lyman Hoffman, Sitka Republican Bert Stedman, and Tok Republican Mike Cronk.

Both bodies adjourned to July 1. The timing is interesting as that is the start of the new fiscal year. Dunleavy must return the budget with his vetoes by June 30 to avoid disruption in state government. While legislative leadership is not directly leveraging Dunleavy on budget vetoes for an agreement on a gasline bill, Dunleavy will probably be thinking twice about what vetoes he makes. The more budge vetoes, the less happy legislators will be. The less budget vetoes, the happier they will be.

Following their floor sessions, Edgmon and Stedman separately spoke to reporters. Both told the Political Report that the conference committee plans to hold meetings over the next ten days to try and work out a deal. Unlike the budget conference committee, where much of the work is done behind closed doors, both expressed the desire for the committee’s work to be done in public.

Schrage told the Political Report ten days is not much time but he wants to have a transparent process as possible. He added that Monday is the earliest the committee could hold its first meeting.

If the conference committee is able to work out a deal agreeable to Dunleavy, representatives and senators could return on July 1 to take up the product of the conference committee. Bills from conference committees can not be amended by either body, it’s just an up or down vote.

Multiple issues remain between the House and Senate including the S corporation and pass-through entity tax, a hard deadline on project completion, how labor agreements are incorporated, the amount and timeframe for the property tax reduction, and the amount of the alternative volumetric tax.

We are watching things closely and will have updates as they become available.

Other Happenings 

This is wild. The House issued a subpoena for Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. The subpoena also ask her to produce several documents regarding the removal of Decoy Dan Sullivan from the ballot. If Beecher ignores the subpoena, Alaska law allows for the House sergeant-at-arms to place her under arrest and produce her to the committee, but that is unlikely to happen. The subpoena was sent to the Division on Friday but Representative Andrew Gray (D – Anchorage), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, personally served Beecher the subpoena at her home this afternoon! Wild. 

It sounds like Decoy Dan Sullivan is planning to challenge the Division of Elections’ decision to remove him from the ballot. The June 27 withdrawal deadline is just six days away. If he is going to sue, he better do it fast. 

Here are the nine bills Dunleavy vetoed on Thursday. He let 15 other bills that were sent to him go into law. The Legislature voted to override his veto of House Bill 314 and his veto of House Bill 195. 

There were some notable withdrawals this week.

1. Slimy Seth Church, a Republican and slumlord who is a good friend of Schaffer Cox, withdrew from District 32, leaving Representative Will Stapp (R – Fairbanks) unopposed.
2. Republican Daniel Cooper withdrew from District 7, leaving Representative Justin Ruffridge (R – Soldotna) with just one opponent, Democrat Kate Veh.
3. Republican Darin Colbry withdrew from District 9, leaving Representative Ky Holland (I – Anchorage) facing Republican John Boyle, a former Natural Resources commissioner.  
4. Representative Dan Saddler (R – Eagle River) withdrew from District 24 (he announced he was retiring at the end of session. Republican Scott Williams also withdrew. This leaves former Republican Representatives Sharon Jackson and Ken McCarty, as well as Republican Gina Wall in the race for the open seat. 

This is what an own goal looks like. 

This was super loose. 

I take this as a compliment! 

This Week’s Loose Unit

If you follow the Landmine, you know who this week’s designee is. This week’s Loose Unit Representative Jeremy Bynum (R – Ketchikan). 

If you did not see the confrontation between Bynum and Senator Bill Wielechowski (D -Anchorage, you can see it below. The video speaks for itself.

For some context, After Dunleavy’s press conference on Friday night, Bynum approached Wielechowski in the Governor’s conference room. He questioned the profits Wielechowski was claiming Glenfarne would make. Tensions rose as the two walked towards the stairwell. Bynum got into Wielechowski’s face, and then things went off the rails from there. I started filming right after Bynum got in Wielechowski’s face. 

Getting in Bill Wielechowski’s face and challenging him on oil taxes is maximum loose behavior! Oh, and make sure to check out Representative Mike Prax (R – North Pole) in the video. He was wearing Carhartt coveralls, steel toe boots, a hard hat, and a tie all day on Friday in some sort of weird solidarity for the gasline. He had to change and put on normal clothes to go on the House floor. Alaska is a weird place. 

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.