Senate State Affairs, 5/16/26, 3:30pm

Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting of the Senate State Affairs Committee to order. The time is 3:33 PM. We are in BELTS Room 105 of the Thomas Stewart Building in the nation's most beautiful capital city of Juneau, Alaska. Today is Wednesday, May 16th.

Members present are Senator Gray Jackson, Senator Tilton, and myself, Vice Chair Bjorkman. Senators Kawasaki and Wilkowski are excused as they are currently in the Senate Resources Committee. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum to conduct business. Welcome everyone to Senate State Affairs. Please turn off your cell phones and join me in welcoming our recording secretary, Carrie Tupow, and our LEO moderator, Kyla Tupow.

We have one item on our agenda today. It is HB 217, autonomous vehicle commercial driver license. We will take up now House Bill 217. This is our second hearing on the bill. I would like to invite staff to the bill sponsor, Representative Ashley Carrick, Griffin Tsukeo, to the table to provide a brief recap of the bill.

Good afternoon, Senators, and thank you for having me. For the record, Griffin Tsukeo, staff to the House Transportation Committee and Representative Carrick, who is currently on the floor and unable to join us today. As a brief overview, um, House Bill 217 seeks to regulate the use of autonomous vehicles and to provide specific requirements for autonomous vehicle use. As it relates to the movement of commerce, goods, and passengers, very specifically, uh, requiring that a human safety operator is present when an autonomous vehicle is running in Alaska. Um, I am happy to take any questions.

Are there any questions for Mr. Sukhail?

Hearing and seeing none, we will now open public testimony. Is there anyone in the room or online who wishes to testify to this item?

Seeing no one in the room, we will go online to Mr. Kurt Augustine. Mr. Augustine, please state your name and affiliation for the record and begin your testimony.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members. My name is Kurt Augustine. I'm Senior Director of State Affairs for the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and I'm calling from Sacramento, California. We represent the traditional automakers, many AV technology providers, and most of the rest of the auto industry and its various members.

HB 217 would effectively ban autonomous light-duty vehicles for commercial use. While the bill does provide some exemptions for personal use, the bill also clearly bans use of AVs without having an in-vehicle safety operator. Now, this puts a big challenge on our member companies to engage in operations in the state of Alaska. Currently, several automakers conduct rigorous severe weather testing near Fairbanks to evaluate vehicle performance in cold weather. For all their vehicle members— vehicle models, from passenger vehicles to Tesla's fully electric semi-truck.

However, this, this testing is in danger if these type of— for future development on autonomous vehicles, if this bill would be allowed to pass. History teaches us that AV testing won't occur in a state that does not provide a clear path to deployment. About 15 years ago, California had a fairly rigorous issue that prevented most of the testing. And while this technology was developed in California, most of the testing went to Arizona and Nevada, where those governments were much more willing and open to have that type of testing. Uh, so we think it's a cautionary note, uh, that if we start banning technologies, it's not going to come to the state.

However, our opposition to this bill does not mean the state does not have a role in the oversight of AV technology. It certainly does and should oversee its use on Alaska's streets and highways. And in that vein, we would encourage the committee to take a— carefully consider the letter that the Alaska Department of Transportation has submitted to you, which which I think does provide a viable path forward for using this technology. And I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to testify today. Thank you.

Very good. Are there any questions from committee members?

Hearing and seeing none, we'll go now to Mr. Daniel Goff. Mr. Goff, please state your name and affiliation for the record. And begin your testimony.

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to testify today. My name is Daniel Goff, and I'm the vice president of external affairs at Kodiak AI, an autonomous truck developer. I'm here today to express my opposition to HB 217, which would make Alaska the first and only state in the country to ban autonomous truck deployment. Kodiak is building technology to do the dull, dirty, and dangerous driving, driving jobs most people do not want to do.

Over the past 6 years, we've driven over 3 million autonomous miles, more than 4 lifetimes of driving for the average American with a backup safety driver behind the wheel. Over those miles, we've made safety our top priority and are proud to have established a stellar safety record. Our system is designed from the ground up to handle the inevitable bumps on the road. 10 Times a second, Kodiak's autonomous system checks over 1,000 safety-critical systems and subsystems. If any of them face a significant error, the vehicle is designed to safely pull over to the side of the road and await either remote assistance or, in extreme cases, a tow.

Kodiak technology is particularly well suited to the difficult driving environments we— you see in Alaska. We currently operate the world's first customer-owned driverless fleet with 28 trucks deployed in West Texas's Permian Basin oil and gas industry. We utilize cameras, radar, and LiDAR sensors to drive safely day or night rain or shine. Since its deployment in late 2024, we've amassed more than a decade's worth of drive time for the average American— for the average driver in a remote industrial location. This technology could obviously be beneficial to Alaska's energy sector, which shares many similarities with the Permian, albeit in much colder conditions rather than, than very hot conditions.

And indeed, we've actually had initial conversations with operators in the North Slope over the past several years. If this bill passes, Kodiak and our colleagues in the industry will have no interest in testing in Alaska. Without a path to deployment, there's no point in building the experience we need to safely operate in Alaska's unique driving environment. On the other hand, if Alaska seeks to create a pathway for the safe, deliberate deployment of AVs in the state, taking into account that, that environment, we have experience with regulatory concepts from 25 states that we're happy to share and help craft a regulatory regime that makes sense for the state. With that, I respectfully request that you vote no on this bill.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Thank you very much, Mr. Goff. Any questions from committee members?

We'll go next to Ms. Renee Gibson. Ms. Gibson, thank you for joining us. Please state your name and affiliation for the record. And begin your testimony, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. My name is Renee Gibson. I'm the vice president of government affairs at the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, representing the world's leading autonomous vehicle companies that are deploying this technology around the country. I'm testifying today in respectful opposition to HB 217.

Nationwide, autonomous vehicles have established a strong and growing safety record, driving hundreds of millions of miles on U.S. public roads as an industry.

This bill would limit Alaska's ability to realize the significant safety, economic, environmental, and workforce benefits that AV technology is delivering across the country. Safety is central to our members' mission. Autonomous vehicles do not drive distracted, impaired, or fatigued. They don't text, drink, or fall asleep behind the wheel, and that reliability is a key reason that this technology holds such promise for improving roadway safety. Autonomous trucking in particular plays an important role in strengthening our supply chains.

Freight demand across the United States is expected to grow substantially in the coming decades. While the trucking industry already faces challenges filling existing positions, autonomous trucks can help move goods more efficiently while also supporting job growth. In states that embrace this technology, we are already seeing new jobs in fleet operations, maintenance, mapping, and remote assistance. HB 217 would jeopardize the future of AVs in Alaska, even in terms of testing. There's little reason to invest in mapping and on-road testing when there's not a clear path to commercial driverless deployment.

In practice, it would amount to a ban on commercial AVs, shutting the door for companies to invest in the state and denying Alaska's access to its safety and economic benefits. For these reasons, we urge the committee to vote no, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you, Ms. Gibson.

Any questions?

We will go to next Richard Steiner. Mr. Steiner, welcome to Senate State Affairs. Could you please state your name and affiliation and begin your testimony, please?

Yes, indeed. Thank you very much. Just checking you can hear me okay, first of all. We can. Thank you.

Perfect. So thank you very much indeed for the opportunity to share Gadot's perspective on HP217. My name is Rich Steiner. I'm Vice President of Government Relations at Gadot, and I'm calling in from Toronto, Canada today, where it is unseasonably still freezing cold. Gadot is an autonomous trucking company founded in 2017.

Our customer list includes Walmart, Kroger, Tyson, Georgia-Pacific, and many other retail giants. In a consumer-driven landscape that is entirely dependent on reliability, delivery frequency, and keeping prices low, autonomous trucks are fundamental to augmenting, not replacing, the existing workforce and making sure that we all have access to goods where and when we need them. I've shared a few of our customer names not to name-drop here in the committee, but just to emphasize that the biggest retailers in the US are all looking to autonomous trucks as another tool in their toolbox. Today. Cadek is proud to boast an exemplary safety record, operating a fleet now of over 100 trucks in states as diverse as Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, and Ontario, Canada, where I'm based.

It's worth mentioning that we've now completed over 6 years of operations in Canada, meaning we've matured our technology to safely navigate some of the harshest weather conditions on the planet. We know that no two jurisdictions are alike, but I feel that our rugged weather experience and expertise is very relevant in the context of operations Alaska. Safety is front and center in everything we do. We undertake rigorous testing procedures involving simulation and private track testing prior to on-road testing and driverless deployment. In layman's terms, uh, for me this is great because I'm not an engineer, our technology can see the length of about 7 football fields day or night with a 360° field of view.

This means no blind spots and the ability to navigate sudden and challenging events including inconsistent human drivers challenging weather conditions, and even errant wildlife. While we appreciate the intent of HB 217 is to promote safety, we strongly believe that the bill would in fact have the opposite effect. The requirement for an autonomous truck to have a human safety operator on board would effectively ban autonomous truck deployments in Alaska and therefore prevent communities in Alaska from experiencing the many benefits, including enhanced road safety, not to mention greater supply chain efficiencies, environmental advantages, and new high-quality career opportunities for workers without cause and job displacement. I want to specifically call out the fact that at Gadot, we prioritize hiring locally in any new market we enter. We need folks who understand the unique local features, including roadways, topography, and climate.

The vast majority of states have recognized the many benefits that autonomous trucks bring. There's no state in the country that authorizes autonomous trucking that requires a human safety operator to remain in the vehicle, meaning that if Alaska were to move forward with this bill, it would become the only state in the nation to single out autonomous trucks and ban them from operating.

Finally, I want to highlight that commencing operations in any new jurisdiction requires a huge amount of resources on our part, and we're talking millions of dollars, which we could not possibly consider doing under a framework in which driverless operations were prohibited. Said another way, plainly, with no pathway to driverless deployment, this bill effectively bans all forms of testing of autonomous trucks in Alaska. For these reasons, we respectfully urge the committee to vote against this bill. I'd be delighted to stand for any questions should you have any. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Steiner. Is there anyone else in the room or online who wishes to testify?

Hearing and seeing none, at this time we will close public testimony.

Take a brief release.

We're back on the record. It's 3:52 PM here in Senate State Affairs. We just closed public testimony and we were discussing some mechanics and timing around when some things have happened. So that is what we were talking about while we were at ease there. We did receive this letter from DOT pointing out some more informational functions and possible improvements to the bill.

We appreciate that. Is there any other Committee discussion? Mr. Chairman. Senator Tilton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

And first, I just want to say thank you to the sponsors for— I know you've put a lot of work into this bill over the last session, and it is unfortunate that the letter that we received from DOT was just came to light in a letter. I understand they had testimony, but maybe not in a written form that we have in front of us today. And so I feel like that's really unfortunate when you put a lot of work into this and got this today. But there are several issues for myself that I see. And one of the main issues that I am struggling with, while I do believe we need to have something about autonomous vehicles and there's situations in Alaska where it seems kind of, even if you think about the Dalton Highway and having the autonomous vehicle and what does that look like, I mean, definitely needs to be some guardrails and things put around that.

And, you know, as we're moving into technology, as we go into the future— but I do have some challenges with this bill, not just looking at the commercial aspects of the bill, but also of the personal ownership aspects of the bill. But allowing business folks such as robo-taxis or what have you are exempt, but people who own personal vehicles that are autonomous vehicles are not. So I think that it just could use a little bit more work. And, um, but again, I just want to say that I appreciate the work that went into it.

Thank you, Senator Tilton. Is there any further committee discussion?

Seeing and hearing none, Mr. Sukiyu, do you have any closing remarks?

Very well. What are the wishes of the committee? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move CS HB 21734, Larry Sugar 0950/Harry, be reported out of committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Is there any objection?

Seeing and hearing no objection, House Bill 217 version S.3434-LS0950/h, as in huslia, is reported from committee with individual recommendations in the attached zero fiscal note. Committee members, please stay behind until after we adjourn to sign the committee report. The Senate State Affairs Committee will meet again, maybe, on Tuesday, May 19th, when we will hear, or not, bills previously heard. And also, bills may be added to the agenda and additional meetings may be scheduled at any moment. Meetings for the next day should be scheduled before 4 o'clock the previous day.

With that, there's no further business to come before the Senate State Affairs Committee today, and we are adjourned at 3:56 PM.