It’s pretty wild that it’s already March. The lack of snow makes it feel like early May. The clocks go ahead next Sunday, meaning we will all lose an hour of sleep. I apologize for the late column. I flew back to Anchorage this weekend from Juneau and have been slammed. I fly back tomorrow. I woke up early to go flying with my buddy Pete in his Cessna 170. We flew from Merrill Field to Talkeetna, had lunch, and flew back. There was some rough air above Eagle River on the way back! After, I drove to Eagle River to see my good friend Luke Miller and his family before they leave state for good. He left his job at Hilcorp in October to take a job with Bechtel in D.C. I am happy for him but it’s sad we are losing so many young and talented people with families. 

It was a rather slow week in Juneau. On Thursday (2/27/2025), a phone issue resulted in many legislative phones forwarding to Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) office. The next day, most of the internet in Juneau and parts of Southeast was out to due an ACS subsea fiber cable cut. House Republicans keep trying to discharge House Bill 69 (the bill to massively increase the Base Student Allocation) from the rules committee, but they don’t have the votes. Department of Transportation officials were in Juneau this week trying to explain to the finance committees how they have so horribly mismanaged the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) since last year. They did not do a good job. And Representative Maxine Dibert (D – Fairbanks) says she is back in Juneau after being hospitalized in Anchorage in early February. 

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Lobbying contracts decoded

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.

Below, we take an initial look into Juneau’s lobbying industry.

So far this year, lobbyists have reported contracts collectively worth more than $25 million for 2025 – $1 million more than this time last year. All contracts are registered with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, and can be set up either on an annual or monthly basis. APOC does not require lobbyists to list the length of monthly contracts, but we asked several lobbyists about theirs. 

The value of all annual contracts for contract lobbyists — those who work for themselves and often represent multiple clients — totals $16.2 million. That’s a $900,000 increase from 2024 — and it’s only February. Monthly contracts total over $582,000, up $100,000 from last year. Some monthly contracts are for 12 months, while others are for session-only or a limited time. Some of these contracts include salaries paid to lobbyists who work for a company, or are in a partnership with other lobbyists. Note that more contracts are often added as the year progresses.  

Longtime lobbyist Lawrence Markley retired this year. Some of his clients were picked up other lobbyists. 

The order is based on the number of clients reported by each lobbyist. Some lobbyists work for or with each other, and some are salaried employees. That information is reflected in the notes. 

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. 

Week in Review

House Republicans have made multiple attempts to discharge HB 69 from the House Rules Committee. This came after the House majority discharged the bill from the education committe on the floor two weeks ago because of Representative Dibert’s absence. Then, the bill was moved out of the finance committee less than an hour after its first hearing. Its been in the rules committee since. This Landmine article provides more detail.

The bill is now scheduled for a hearing in the rules committee on Wednesday morning (3/5/2025). It’s rare for the rules committee to hold hearings. It usually means the majority wants to make changes to a bill. My bet is they are going to lower the amount of the BSA increase – which is nearly three times more than the Legislature agreed on last year before Dunleavy vetoed the bill. We will see what happens on Wednesday. Whatever happens, there will still be amendments introduced on the floor, which will be contentious. The bill could be on the floor as soon as Friday (3/7/2025), but will probably not be debated until the following week. 

In a newsletter, Dibert said she is back in Juneau but still recovering. 

The Senate Finance Committee heard public testimony on the budget this week. The House has multiple finance subcommittee closeouts scheduled for the coming week. The two major unanswered questions that remain for the budget is the amount of the Permeant Fund Dividend and the amount of the BSA increase. There are diverging views on both within the Legislature. And the big question remains – how will they pay for it without drawing money out of the Constitutional Budget Reserve? Oil tax bills have been introduced and there is talk about other potential revenue measures. And it’s not clear what Governor Dunleavy wants or will do as he has been absent for the majority of the session. One thing is for sure, the conference committee on the budget is going to get very interesting.  

Don’t forget about those education negotiations! 

A meeting of the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee this week was almost entirely in executive session. For five years, the Department of Revenue has refused to cooperate with the legislative auditor regarding the audit of oil and gas tax settlements and other oil and gas tax issues. It’s wild how little information the Legislature gets, let alone the public. The tax confidentially laws need to change.  

This Week’s Loose Unit

There was a lot of competition this week. But this week’s designee became clear on Wednesday. This week’s Loose Unit is the Anchorage Fire Department (AFD), specifically Assistant Chief and Fire Marshall Brian Dean and Chief Doug Schrage.

Following a fire in an unoccupied Spenard hotel last week, AFD sent out a press release. In the press release, Dean acknowledged that 30 to 40 people fled from the hotel before firefighters arrived and “a good portion of the rooms were haphazardly and dangerously occupied despite most of the openings and exits being boarded up.” 

Then, Schrage actually put it on the building owner rather than the people living in a building with no utilities connected that they did not have permission to be in! That is loose. From the press release:

The incident clearly demonstrates the dangers of makeshift sheltering and the need for proactive actions of property owners,” said Chief Doug Schrage, Anchorage Fire Department. “Property owners should check on their properties regularly or hire security to verify the properties haven’t been breached and unauthorized encampments haven’t sprouted. If they have, it needs to be reported so we can hopefully prevent a similar incident. This is a life safety issue. We are fortunate everyone made it out of this fire with their lives.

The press release concludes with, “Property owners have an obligation to keep their properties safe and secure.” There is nothing in the press release about how it’s illegal to trespass on private property. Classic Loose Unit behavior. 

This fire was almost certainly caused by the kind of people we have allowed to occupy and terrorize our public spaces for more than a decade. They even admit that in the press release, “While a definitive cause of the fire cannot be determined, there is ample evidence the fire inadvertently started as a result of improvised heating or cooking arrangements.” 

How about instead saying something like, “It is illegal to occupy and or trespass on private property. It is also illegal to camp on public property. If you are caught doing these things, you will be given one warning then prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” And then following through with it! 

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.