We are approaching the halfway mark of the 120-day legislative session. The big news this week is the House, after three days of amendments and debate, passed House Bill 69, the majority’s education bill. Updated revenue projections came out this week, forecasting a larger deficit. Senator Donny Olson (D – Golovin) says he is back in Juneau after spending time in Chicago recovering from a medical event. Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) continues to spend time outside of the state. And Senator Rob Yundt (R – Wasilla) removed his name as the sponsor of the bill he introduced to apply Alaska’s corporate income tax to Hilcorp. 

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We have been hosting debates this weekend for the six Anchorage Assembly seats up this year. We held one yesterday and three today. The final two will be tomorrow. You can watch them on the Landmine Facebook page or YouTube channel. They are also posted on the Landmine website. 

Education bill advances to Senate

On Wednesday (3/12/2025), the House passed HB 69, the majority’s education bill that raises the Base Student Allocation (BSA) by $1,000 and incorporates some of the education reforms that Governor Dunleavy said he wants. Before passing the bill, the House heard dozens of amendments form the Republican minority. 

This one resulted in some particularly fiery debate!  

The bill is now in the Senate. The Senate majority has made it clear they favor a BSA increase closer to $680, more than $300 lower than what the House approved. The bill will be heard in the Senate Education Committee and then the Senate Finance Committee. Many want the bill to move quickly, so anticipate the Senate probably voting on the bill in early April. 

There could be a deal struck between the House and Senate where the House agrees to concur with the changes the Senate makes to the bill. But there would have to be a clear deal for that to happen. Otherwise, if the House does not concur with the Senate changes, the bill will go to a conference committee where the differences will be worked out.

And even if the Legislature passes the bill, it’s still not clear what Dunleavy will do. He has said he is open to the bill if more “improvements” are made. But he also said he would not veto Senate Bill 140 last year, which he did.

The negotiations between the four caucuses and stand-in governor Jordan Shilling did not last and seemed to have collapsed. What ends up happening with HB 69 will be the result of negotiations between the House and Senate majorities.  

Fundraising down for Anchorage Assembly races compared to prior years

The following is an excerpt from a 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.

30-day Alaska Public Office Commission (APOC) reports came out last week for candidates running for the six Anchorage Assembly seats on the ballot. These reports cover Feb. 2 – Feb. 28. Ballots went out in the mail this week. They are due back by April 1, when the election concludes.

The reports show fundraising is considerably down from prior years when the relationship with the Assembly and then-Mayor Dave Bronson was contentious. Last year, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, a progressive, defeated conservative Dave Bronson in a run-off. The two previous years saw costly Assembly races as progressives on the Assembly campaigned hard to maintain their veto-proof majority. (Anchorage elections run on a three year cycle with half of the 12 Assembly seats up on year one and two and then the mayoral race on year three).

Of the six Assembly races on the ballot, only two incumbents are seeking re-election, Assembly members Daniel Volland and Kameron Perez-Verdia. With Anchorage’s vote by mail system, candidates usually wait until ballots go out before they start spending the bulk of their campaign cash.

Of the 16 candidates running for all the seats, only nine filed reports. Collectively, they reported just $90,000 in income for the reporting period. And after debts, they report a combined $103,000 cash on hand.

The next reports, the 7-day report, are due on March 25. These cover March 1 – March 22.

Here is a summary of the 30-day APOC reports:

If you would like to see the rest of this section, as well as our more detailed coverage of the legislative session, consider subscribing to the Alaska Political Report. Email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com for a copy of the latest special report. 

Polling on energy in Alaska

I got ahold of some interesting polling on energy in Alaska. The polling was conducted by Peak Insights from February 10-15. It was paid for by American Energy American Jobs. You can see the poll here and the summary here. 

It shows the majority of Alaskans (64%) support tax credits, rebates, and other incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that promote clean energy investment and manufacturing. Only 30% oppose these incentives, while 6% remain undecided. 

A strong majority of Alaskans support various clean energy initiatives. The most popular projects include:

• Subsidies and tax credits for energy-efficient appliances like heat pumps (81% support)
• Federal funding for clean energy projects in rural communities (75% support)
• Research funding for critical mineral mapping and technology development (75% support)
• Incentives for U.S.-based manufacturing of clean energy technologies (75% support)

Other Happenings 

Governor Dunleavy continues to spend a lot of time outside of Alaska. First, he was in Houston for CERAWeek.

Then, he was in Boston for the Boston Seafood Expo. Where will he go next?!

The Spring Revenue Forecast came out this week, and it’s not pretty. The oil price forecast projects the FY2026 deficit to be an additional $70 million.  

Senator Donny Olson says he is back in Juneau following his treatment in Chicago. Though he did not attend any Senate Finance Committee meetings this week. 

In a pretty wild move, Senator Yundt withdrew his name from Senate Bill 92 – the bill he introduced earlier this session that aims to apply Alaska’s corporate income tax to Hilcorp, which is an S corp. Senator Cathy Giessel (R – Anchorage) converted the bill into a resources bill, so it’s still in play. 

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This was one of those week’s with many candidates. Between the wild House Republican minority amendments to the education bill and the ensuing debate, there were a lot of choices this week. But one stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is Representative Julie Coulombe (R – Anchorage). 

First, Coulombe took almost 25 seconds to vote on HB 69 and was the last person to vote. She ended up voting yes, mostly because she’s extremely scared about her re-election next year. But also because she’s probably terrified of voting against her Republican colleagues. Classic Loose Unit behavior. 

By the time she finally voted yes, the bill already had two more votes than the minimum required to pass it. The yes votes included two members of the minority, Representatives Justin Ruffridge (R – Soldotna) and Jeremy Bynum (R – Ketchikan).    

But where it got really loose was after the vote. She put out a statement where she said her yes vote wasn’t really a yes vote. The mental gymnastics here is maximum loose. Let’s see how she votes next time!

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.