Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Forrest Dunbar
“we know that Glenfarn, according to the modeling of Department of Revenue, will become one of the largest entities in our state. They estimated more than $400 million of revenue at full gas because of this provision. Now, that might have been overstated a little. We don't get to actually see Glenfarn's books, so We don't know how much money you would raise, but even if it was half of that, we're talking about a very substantial amount of money that Glenfarn originally said they were happy to pay, or at least they didn't fight.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Mike Cronk
“the language is incomplete, untested, and poorly drafted. This proposal is incomplete and leaves major questions unanswered regarding entry-level treatment, apportionment, deductions, depreciation, loss carryforward, or as an investor taxation. Tax professionals from impacted parties agree the language is unworkable and would have chilling effects on the project's economics and the ability to attract investors.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Cathy Giessel
“Article 9, Section 1 of our Constitution. Taxing power. The power of taxation shall never be surrendered. That's what the words say, Mr. President.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Cathy Giessel
“our Department of Revenue is down 30 positions in the auditing division.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Mike Cronk
“Uncertainty surrounding a potential pass-through entity tax, investor tax treatment, or other unresolved fiscal issues will significantly impact current and prospective investors at a time when certainty is critical to advancing financing, commercial agreements, to and make final investment decisions.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Forrest Dunbar
“in the construction phase, when you're not getting gas taxes, you are going to be losing oil revenue. So this bill, as it's currently written, unamended, it won't just raise very little in gas taxes in the long term, it'll also actually substantially harm Alaska's existing oil tax revenue in the short term and during the, and during the construction phase. That means less money for schools, less money for the PFD, less money for road maintenance”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Gary Stevens
“9 Yeas, 11 nays. By a vote of 9 yeas and 11 nays, Amendment 1 has failed to pass the Senate.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Cathy Giessel
“One of the things that is said about this bill is it has not been modeled. Mr. President, then how the heck do you think we know that they will be making about $5 billion, Glenfarm, when this is at full production and we will be losing out on more than $400 million? Because it has been modeled by our own Department of Revenue, Mr. President.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Gary Stevens
“12 Yeas, 8 nays. And so by a vote of 12 yeas and 8 nays, Senate CS for CS for House Bill 381 Finance has passed the Senate.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Robert Myers
“When you take our state corporate rate of 9.4%, which is what this amendment is proposing, add it in with our federal corporate rate of 21%— 21%. You end up with a corporate rate that is higher than the corporate rate being charged in Canada to a similar project. And that's with Canada already having a lower property tax than what we are proposing in the underlying bill. So what we're doing with this amendment is we're taking one of the few places that we're actually a little more competitive than Canada and we're getting rid of it.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Forrest Dunbar
“the bill itself is geared around this date. This is not an arbitrary date. We know that the— as some folks call it, the kill switch, which reverts the bill back to the property tax system if there is no FID, that happens in 2028. Now, effectively what we are doing, if lease expenditures begin and construction begins, and those write-offs are occurring, and we've pushed this out another year, we have reduced oil revenue for that entire year to the tune of potentially tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Bill Wielechowski
“when this project goes into full development, we will be losing $462 million per year. That's not even inflation adjusted, Mr. President. Who knows what the number will be? That's according to Governor Don Levy's own Department of Revenue.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Forrest Dunbar
“This would create a stepped system for taxable income in oil and gas pass-through entities, not just S corps but also LLCs and similar legal entities. This is necessary.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Mike Cronk
“I believe this body should move this legislation forward clean without— it's a tax burden which allows the developer and AGDC the best chance of success. Alaska's invested the billion dollars. You know, let's give this project— let's give them the opportunity to see if this project can be built.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Gary Stevens
“14 Yeas, 6 nays. And so by a vote of 14 yeas to 6 nays, Amendment Number 12 has passed the Senate.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Bill Wielechowski
“The fundamental question that we are being asked right now is how many billions in tax breaks shall we give to Glenfarn or whoever ends up producing this project so that they can make, according to the Department of Revenue's projections, $5 billion a year in profits?”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Jesse Kiehl
“the other element that you will see in Amendment Number 5 that is added, Mr. President, is a requirement for at least 15% apprenticeship use on the project.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Gary Stevens
“7 Yeas, 13 nays. And so by a vote of 7 yeas to 13 nays, Amendment 1 to Amendment 2 has failed to pass the Senate.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
Kelly Merrick
“there is significant concern that the hard deadline for completion of Phase 1 will place doubt in the mind of investors, making it difficult to raise the needed capital for this project. Lenders take the most conservative view and will make a risk assumption that a delay may occur, resulting in a dramatic change in the developer's ability to service the debt.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
James Kaufman
“Financing, because it leaves open the problem that one— one problem that pops up could possibly threaten that, and that is going to make it very hard for anyone that's going to finance this to consider that, because any force majeure— I don't know if that's covered here— a pandemic, something, an earthquake or whatever, could put them in jeopardy. And so I think And AGDC is right here in the room, but we are told that we have to take them at ease. We can't even bring them up to speak to potential concerns that might be in this piece of work”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Bert Stedman
“there has been a lot of dialogue with the administration, AGDC, and members here, and the other legislation that's been circulating around the building, trying to come up with something that focuses on getting to a gas line and not an obstacle to block construction of the gas line.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Lyman Hoffman
“Our intent is to get action on all of these points. And that is the dilemma that we're facing. We've had extensive dialogue with the administration to date. And at some point, we need to proceed down the path of getting a bill across the floor.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“Replaces the previous component-weighted base tax, as I stated earlier, on throughput with a single tax rate on throughput of the project, applying to the entire project, escalating over time.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“Then that would double, so 4.8 mills, and then double again to 9.6 mills. Of course, property value is not going to be fixed over the life of the project. So it is possible that after 30 years, the project will be worth less because it will be 30 years old or they will have done work and the value will go up. It removes that variable.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“the tax abatement and the AVT do not apply to a natural gas project if by January 1st, 2028, a final investment decision has not been made on Phase 1 of a natural gas project, or number 2 there, on December 31st, right, or by December 31st, 2032, construction of a gas pipeline associated with Phase 1 of the natural gas project has not been completed. So you have to come into FID by January 1st, '28, and complete Phase 1 by December 31st, 2032.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“This initial tax will be— will go through the distribution in Box B. So this provides 48.4% of the tax to Kenai Peninsula Borough, 27% for the North Slope Borough, 9.5% by pipeline mileage. That again includes both of those local governments, but also others in the state. 9.5% To community assistance, and then 5.6% to the state as general fund revenue. And these amounts are again the approximate result of the House version of this bill, just without the weighting.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“Starting when this tax takes effect, which would be 5 years after Phase 1 first gas or 500 million per day average throughput. All tax rates grow at a rate equaling CPI, but not less than 1% and not more than 3%.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“it adds a new potential termination of the abatement period and the alternative volumetric tax if a final investment decision is not reached by January 1st, 2028, and if construction of the pipeline component is not completed by December 31st, 2032.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“Note, all these tax rates grow with inflation, bounded between 1% and 3%. And that is a change from the other body's version where the inflation was capped at growing at 1 to 2%. The split of the tax between the local governments and the state is also fixed in this committee substitute rather than depending on capital expenditures. The splits are designed to match the effect of the House version as modeled on slide 42 of Department of Revenue's presentation last Monday.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Lyman Hoffman
“This morning we have only one item on today's agenda, that being HB 381, oil and gas property tax and municipal tax.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Lyman Hoffman
“I believe that there is going to be further deliberation both by the full body of the Senate and anticipate additional amendments at that time. But the reason that we're proceeding today with passing the committee bill out is so that we have ample time for members to draft any amendments that that they may see fit to improve the legislation for consideration of the full body.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“During Phase 2, the committee substitute starts the tax rate at 10.6 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, which matches the effective rate for Phase 2 on slide 40 of Department of Revenue's presentation to this committee on Monday, the 15th. Thank you. The tax rate then doubles after 10 years and doubles again in 2060. The last tax increase is in place of the sunset provision in the other body's version of the bill.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Jesse Kiehl
“So if the project's components end up costing a whole lot more than that, retaining some of that value, the mill equivalent will be lower and that will just be lower, right?”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Jesse Kiehl
“This is a straight fixed cents per 1,000 cubic feet regardless of the value?”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
James Kaufman
“We've got a big question on page 27 with respect to the construction timeline of it possibly being a deal killer with respect to finance.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“So the mill rate for the other body's version I think worked out to about 2.4 mills. And so the initial amount here for Phase 2 would be about that 2.4 mills.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“The other body's version, rather than this, in 2060 had a sunset that returned to the mill rate formula. Instead, this keeps the AVT but at a higher rate. And so again, those earlier shares continue, but as the taxes increase, the increased amount goes to a different place.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Bert Stedman
“the concern this morning was to get this legislation adopted on the table here so members could write amendments as needed and we'll have them discussed on the floor. But for the public, you can't write an amendment to a bill that doesn't exist until it gets out of Finance. So we had to get this bill adopted.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“So assuming the capital costs match the DOR projections, then this would make no substantial change, but it doesn't require collecting capital cost data. So then this bill has a couple of new provisions that were not in the House version. So the first is that after 10 years after Phase 2 begins, there is an additional levy. So in addition to the 10.6 cents, there is another 10.6 cents $10.6 million. So essentially, the tax doubles at that point.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“The most significant change is that the committee substitute in front of you does not use capital expenditures as a component of the tax rate or the collection of the tax. Instead, it returns to a single tax rate at each stage of the project. These rates were developed to match the effective tax rate under the House version of the bill based on the Department of Revenue's modeling of the bill. So during Phase 1, the committee substitute sets the tax rate at 6.2 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, which is a blend of the 6-cent tax on the pipeline and the other body's version, and the impact of the— we've been referring to a mini gas treatment plant, Mr. Chairman, that would be— have to be put in place in Phase 1.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Pete Eklund
“These changes are intended to make the tax easier to understand and much easier to administer.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“In 2060, the tax will double again, so going from 21.2 cents to 42.4 cents. And then the additional amount of revenue raised by that, that tax increase will go entirely to the general fund as UGF revenue.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“So in this committee substitute, in Phase 1, as Mr. Eklund said earlier, the tax will be 6.2 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. That was kind of a rounded version of the effective tax rate of the House version during that phase of the project. So that bill had a 6-cent tax on the pipeline component and and then a 13-cent tax on the gas treatment plant. With the smaller gas treatment plant, that blends to a rate of about 6.2 cents, just rounded to the nearest cent of a cent in this bill. And when this tax takes effect, the revenue split is in box A there.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“So 6% goes off the top to North Slope Borough because that'll be the location of the mini gas treatment plant. And then the remaining revenue is split equally to municipalities by pipeline mileage. And then to community assistance.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“This just fixes that rather than have it vary if capital costs change from what are projected now. And then this, again, these rates will all grow with inflation based on those 1 to 3% sideboards.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Alexi Painter
“Starting in Phase 2, the tax rate is 10.6 cents per 1,000 cubic feet. This is the same as the effective tax rate as modeled by DOR under the House version.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Bert Stedman
“I think if they meet the previous date of final investment decision by January 1st of '28 and start construction, I think there'd be probably be some flexibility by the legislature in the event that there was some unforeseen black swan events or something that messed up the construction, slowed it down intentionally, or whatever to, you know, we can change these and modify these going forward. This is not in the Constitution.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 19, 2026 9:01am · Jun 19, 2026
Adam Prestidge
“the question might come, why would we want— why would other ratepayers in Alaska be willing to accept this additional cost? And the reality is, having Fairbanks have access to gas and being a buyer and consumer of gas off the pipeline is good for everyone.”Alaska Legislature: Senate Finance - June 16, 2026 1:30pm · Jun 16, 2026