HFLR-20260515-1030

Would the House please come to order? Will members please indicate their presence by voting?

Will the clerk please tally the board?

33 Members present. With 33 members present, we have a quorum present to conduct business. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, there are no previous excused absences today. Leading the invocation this morning is our very own Representative McCabe. Will members please rise.

Father, thank you for this day and for the opportunity to gather in service to our state and its people. Thank you for these people here, Father, with the heart and the ability to serve this state and the people. We are grateful for the freedoms we have in this nation and the responsibilities and privileges this body has in serving our constituents. As we enter these final days of session, I pray that you would grant us stamina, wisdom, mercy, and discernment to make decisions that are just, thoughtful, and honoring to you, Father. Give us patience with each other in times of disagreement and clarity as we consider some of the difficult matters before us.

We lift everybody in this building up during this busy season and all those in our state. Be especially near to those who are sick, struggling, or carrying heavy burdens. Bring them healing, strength, peace, and comfort. Father, bless the work before us today. Grant us the wisdom and the mercy to deal with each other fairly and in service to our state with Alaskans on our minds.

Father, may our words and actions reflect your grace and bring you glory to your name. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Representative Sadler, would you please leave us? The Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Representative Story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move and ask unanimous consent that the prayer be spread across the journal. Hearing no objection, the prayer will be spread across the journal.

Will the clerk please certify the journal for the previous legislative days? I certify as to the correctness of the journal for the 115th legislative day and House and Senate joint journal supplement number 20. Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the journal of the previous day be approved as certified by the chief clerk.

Hearing no objection, so moved. Other guests for introduction this morning. Representative Story. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are fortunate, all of us, to have guests here off the Disney cruise this morning.

If I could have Brian, Baylor, Wendy, Alex, and Rebecca please stand. They are trying to visit all 50 states, and they are so fortunate because we're one of the few state capitals that have been in session while they've been visiting. And Brian, the dad, He has been with the US Coast Guard for 24 years. Wendy is currently going to the Culinary Associates College of Arts— Culinary Arts at Florida Keys and hoping to be a baker. And Rebecca, when she is more older, she hopes to be a baker too.

And then their son, Alex, he is going to be going to the University of Central Florida. And he hopes to work for Disney one day. So please help me welcome them.

Not seeing any additional guests. Representative McCabe, is your mic still up from the prayer?

Madam Clerk, are there any messages from the governor? I have no messages from the governor this morning, Mr. Speaker. Are there any messages from the other body? There are no messages from the other body. Are there any communications?

There are no communications. Are there any reports of standing committees?

The Finance Committee considered House Bill 195, Pharmacist Prescription Authority, recommends it be replaced with Committee Substitute for House Bill 195 Finance with a new title. Attached 1 previously published fiscal note. Signing the report: do pass, Representatives Jimmy, Galvin, Hannon, Bynum, and co-chairs Schraggy and Foster. No recommendation: Moore, Josephson. Amend: Tomaszewski, Allard, and Stapp.

The bill is on today's calendar.

The State Affairs Committee considered House Bill 301, discrimination, gender identification, sexual orientation. Attached 1 new zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Vance, McCabe, Sinclair— excuse me, do pass Holland, Hemmschutte, Story, and Chair Kerrick. Do not pass Vance, McCabe, Sinclair. The bill has a further referral to the Judiciary Committee.

The State Affairs Committee considered House Bill 371, Campaign Finance Contribution Limits, APOC, attached 1 new zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Vance, McCabe, Sinclair, No recommendation. Hemmschulte, Amend, Hollins, Story, and Chair Carrick. The bill has a further referral to the Judiciary Committee.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill Number 111, Labor and Commerce, Amended, Digital Product Repair. Recommends it be replaced with House Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 111, Labor and Commerce, with the same title. Attached 1 previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Freer and Co-Chair Fields. No recommendation: Carrick and Co-Chair Hall.

Amend: Colon, Sadler, and D. Nelson. The bill has no further referral.

The Finance Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill Number 164, Labor and Commerce, eliminate tax discounts. Attached: one previously published fiscal note. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Galvin, Hannon, and co-chairs Schraggy, Josephson, and Foster. No recommendation: Tomaszewski, Stapp, Bynum, and Moore. The bill has no further referral.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill number 170, Finance, Gaming, Electronic Pull Tabs. Recommends it be replaced with House committee substitute for committee substitute for Senate Bill 170, Labor and Commerce, with a new title, HCR 22, forthcoming. Attached one previously published fiscal note. Signing the report, do pass, Representatives Freer and co-chairs Fields and Hall. No recommendation, Calom, Amend, Sadler, and Nelson.

The bill has no further referral.

The Health and Social Services Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill number 178, Finance, Expand early intervention services. Attached to previously published fiscal notes. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Ruffridge, Mears, Prox, Fields, Gray, and Chair Mena. The bill has a further referral to the Finance Committee.

The State Affairs Committee considered committee substitute for Senate Bill number 282, State Affairs Military Joint Armed Services Committee, recommends it be replaced with House Committee Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 282, State Affairs, with the same title. Attached one previously published fiscal note. Signing the report do pass: Representatives Vance, McCabe, Hemmschulte, Holland, Story, Chair Carrick, Amend, St. Clair. The bill has no further referral, and I have no further reports of standing committees. At this time, Senate Bill 170, Pertaining to gaming and electronic pool tabs has received a fiscal note.

So I'm adding a Finance Committee referral. Madam Clerk, are there any reports of special committees? I have no reports of special committees this morning. Are there any resolutions or citations for introduction?

There's a special order citation calendar this morning and House Concurrent Resolution Number 21 by the House Judiciary Committee Suspending Rules 24C, 35, 41B, and 42E, Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature, concerning Senate Bill number 237, relating to data sharing by the Department of Administration for driver's license data verification purposes. And House Joint— excuse me, Concurrent Resolution number 22 by the House Labor and Commerce Committee, suspending Rules 24C, 35, 41B, and 42E, Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature, Concerning Senate Bill Number 170, relating to gaming, relating to gaming activities on Alaska Marine Highway System vessels, relating to bingo, relating to pull tabs and electronic pull tab systems, relating to the powers of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and relating to the Alaska.

Alaska Marine Highway System. I have no further citations or resolutions for introduction. Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that notice and publication requirements be waived and the citations on the first special order citation calendar be made a special order of business.

Without objection. Once again, Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the House approve the citations on the first special order citation calendar. No objection.

The citations for the first special order citation calendar are approved. Madam Clerk, are there any bills for introduction? There are no bills for introduction this morning, Mr. Speaker. This brings us to consideration of the daily calendar.

Madam Clerk, please read the first item on today's calendar.

House Bill number 195 by Representatives Mina, Gray, Prox, Story, Eichide, entitled an Act Relating to the Prescription and Administration of Drugs and Devices by Pharmacists, Relating to Reciprocity for Pharmacists, and Providing for an Effective Date.

The Health and Social Services Committee considered the bill. Attached one new fiscal note. Signing the report: Do Pass. Representatives Prox, Gray, Schwanke, Ruffridge, Mears, Chair Mena. No recommendation.

Fields.

The Labor and Commerce Committee considered the bill, recommends it be replaced with committee substitute for House Bill 195, Labor and Commerce, with a new title. Attached one new fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Carrick, Sadler, Co-Chair Hall. No recommendation, Co-Chair Fields, Amend, Calombe, and D. Nelson. The Finance Committee also considered the bill.

Recommends it be replaced with Committee Substitute for House Bill 195 Finance with a new title, attached 1 previously published fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Jimmy, Galvin, Hannon, Bynum, Co-Chair Schraggy, and Foster. No recommendation. Moore, Co-Chair Josephson, Amend, Tomaszewski, Allard, and staff. There are 2 committee substitutes.

Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee substitute for House Bill 195 with a new title be adopted in lieu of the original bill. Minority Leader Johnson. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I object to the adoption of the CS for HB 195 and request a summary of changes. Representative Mina.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the House Finance Committee, there were 5 adopted changes to House Bill 195. The first 2 were upon the request of the CBPL division. 2 Of those changes were to amend language in Section 28 to align statutory references related to the federal drug schedule for the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. The second change upon the request was to Section 45, amending the definition of practitioner to include only pharmacists that hold a Drug Enforcement Agency federal license.

So those are the ones who would only be able to prescribe particular controlled substances within the parameter of the bill. The third change was an amendment in response to wanting more clarity around the prescription administering and dispensing abilities of pharmacists, and it reinforces that pharmacists cannot just prescribe high-risk specialty medications that have a federal designation from the Food and Drug Administration agency, particularly a REMS medication, which is the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies plan. And these REMS medications are high-risk drugs, so it reinforces that pharmacists cannot prescribe or administer these high-risk drugs and that they have to meet federal requirements to be able to dispense these high-risk drugs. The fourth change was incorporating a bill introduced by a member from Fairbanks related to Hospital 270 and opioid overdose drugs. This requires that a provider must offer a prescription to an opioid overdose drug such as naloxone, also known as Narcan, if the patient is being prescribed opioids under certain high-risk conditions.

Including if the patient is also prescribed benzodiazepines such as Xanax or Ativan, if that patient has a history of substance use disorder, if that prescription is for more than 3 days supply, and the prescription represents the daily morphine equivalent of 50 milligrams or more. And I just want to specify that pharmacists are prohibited from prescribing controlled substances for home consumption under this bill already. And the fifth change was to rebrand and change the name of physician assistants to physician associates. This was a provision that has been discussed in a different bill, and it's just a name change. It doesn't change anything else related to pharmacists.

Thank you. I see objection maintained.

Representative Johnson— the objection has been removed. Thus clearing the way for the Finance Committee substitute to be adopted. Madam Clerk, are there any amendments? I have an amendment that is being copied. Council stand at ease until the amendment has been copied and distributed.

Will the House please come back to order. We are under amendments and I believe Amendment Number 1 has been successfully distributed.

Madam Clerk. Amendment number 1 by Representative Allard, beginning page 14, line 29. Representative Allard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move Amendment 1. There's an objection. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If you— I ask the body that I'm able to read.

Permission granted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'm going to read the amendment so that not only the body hears it from me, but also that my constituency hears it. So this amendment, uh, does not include— this is an amendment to HB 195, and it will say, under the following terms of law, and then it goes on to say, does not include the prescription or administration of a selected progesterone receptor modulator or another abortion-inducing drug. And then if you drop down to line 9, It's amended to read: A pharmacist may not dispense a selective progesterone receptor modulator or another inducing drug to a patient.

Mr. Speaker, I will yield the floor and wait for my closing comments.

Representative Mina. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I oppose Amendment Number 1. We discussed this amendment also in the House Finance Committee. This amendment is problematic because it is ambiguous when it talks about other abortion-inducing drugs.

There's a variety of different drugs and prescriptions that are out there that could potentially induce an abortion. Additionally, we— I worry that this would invite litigation into the bill by calling out abortion-inducing drugs specifically. This bill really is about basic primary care access. It is not about abortions, and it's just making sure that people are able to get that primary care through the pharmacist, not for pharmacists to be able to do high-risk drugs. So I oppose the amendment.

Representative Sadler. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to a parliament— to an in point of inquiry, a question to the maker, the sponsor. In my even broader reading, I've never come across the term selective progesterone receptor modulator. So mouthful.

Can I please ask for a definition of what it is, how it's used, how it is prescribed? Just a little bit more about what we're trying to ban, please.

Not seeing additional discussion until I say not seeing any additional discussion. Representative Ruffridge. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this has nothing to do with the amendment. I'm just moving and asking unanimous consent to abstain from voting on the amendment and the underlying bill, as I am currently a licensed practicing pharmacist.

There's an objection. Representative Ruffridge, you'll be required to vote. Representative Underwood. Mr. Speaker, I actually rise for a question to the maker of the amendment, especially as someone that's extremely, extremely pro-life. And I've walked through a lot of miscarriages with friends and looking up the definition of the word miscarriage in the medical terms, it is referred to as a spontaneous abortion, a missed abortion, an inevitable abortion, threatened abortion, and a septic abortion.

And so I'm just curious how this amendment would pertain to those not an elective abortion. Thank you. Representative St. Clair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I support this amendment.

I think it goes a little bit further than this body and this legislature in the state is willing to go. But I do support it in theory. I think we need to do more work. But again, there— I don't believe there's the will in this body or building or potentially in the state to ban all abortions, which should be done via constitutional amendment. Thank you.

Further discussion or debate?

Brief it is.

Will the House please come back to order? Representative Prox.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am Concerned about Amendment 1.

I guess I assume that the sponsor of the amendment intends for this to be directed to elective abortions, but I learned way more than I ever.

Wanted to about medical terms the last couple of months.

And I wouldn't profess to be an expert on this, but I— my concern is that in medical vernacular, this would prohibit prescribing or administering these drugs in the event of, well, essentially a miscarriage. And that could have a seriously detrimental effect on women who are experiencing a miscarriage. So at this point, unless that can be clarified, I think I'd have to vote against this amendment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Not seeing any additional debates or comments. Representative Allard, closing comments. Yeah, thank you very much. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to do my best to address some of the questions that they wanted to take the time during that ease. They could have addressed it with me, but they so chose not to.

So the sponsor clarifying language, you're correct. The sponsor said there's no clarifying language about abortion in the bill, and she's absolutely 100% on that. District 24, my counterpart from Eagle River, wanted to know what the SPRMs are, and let me Repeat that word. Selective progestone receptor modulator. It's any other drugs that combined or single that can induce a selective abortion.

District 27 said selective. The keyword is selective. So if you're having a natural miscarriage, it's selective. Don't remember, I guess it would be the representative from North Pole. I think his question was about If we give a drug that is needed after a miscarriage, well, you'd be under a medical doctor's supervision.

You wouldn't just go straight to the pharmacist. That's not even relevant. So, Mr. Speaker, if everybody looks on their desk, there is a Planned Parenthood flyer out that said, how do I have an abortion using only misoprostol? So you can have an abortion without having two pills. The Planned Parenthood is pushing it.

Saying that you can just use mesoprostol to have an abortion. And they say, "Using only mesoprostol will end your pregnancy." And it goes on to say, "It's safe, it's effective, and it's legal to use in states where abortion is legal." And in the state of Alaska, you can have an abortion up to the baby comes through the birth canal breathing and alive. And if the baby survives, the doctor can lay it on the table and let the baby die. It works 85 to 90% of the time, they say, and can be used up to 12 weeks from the first day of your last period. This is why this amendment is so important.

Mr. Speaker, I am closing a loophole in this bill. This targets the mechanisms of chemical abortion, not just one drug name. Mifepristone is used in over 60% of the U.S. abortions today, but it's not the only SPRM that can terminate a pregnancy. Without this amendment, new and alternative drugs could bypass abortion restrictions entirely. Mifepristone is traditionally the second drug in a two-drug abortion regime.

But as you can see, Planned Parenthood website is actively promoting using mifepristone alone to end a pregnancy. I say a pregnancy, a baby's death. My amendment closes this loophole by not leaving the word abortion out of the bill of HB 195. Mr. Speaker, this amendment is very simple. It ensures that a bill is designed to expand care does not become a vehicle for dispensing abortion-inducing drugs.

Alaska deserves legislation that protects both the patient safety and the baby, and this amendment does exactly that. I encourage everybody to push the green button. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are you ready for the question, Representative Bynum? Mr. Speaker, I move to table Amendment 1.

There's a motion before the body that is non-debatable. The motion is to table Amendment No. 1.

Are you ready for the question? The question being, shall Amendment No. 1 Be tabled? Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 23 Yeas, 17 nays. By a vote of 23 yeas to 17 nays, Amendment No.

1 Has been tabled. Madam Clerk, are there additional amendments? I have no further amendments, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee substitute for House Bill 195 be considered engrossed, advanced to third reading, placed on final passage. Hearing no objection, so ordered. Madam Clerk, please read the title for the third and final time. Committee substitute for House Bill 195 Finance by the House Finance Committee entitled an act changing the term physician assistant to physician associate relating to physician associates relating to collaborative practice agreements for pharmacists relating to the prescription of opioid overdose drugs, relating to the prescription and administration of drugs and devices by pharmacists, relating to reciprocity for pharmacists, amending the definition of practitioner and providing for an effective date. Representative Mina.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to read from my notes? Permission granted. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 195 is a collaborative effort between the Alaska Board of Pharmacy and the Alaska Pharmacy Association.

Pharmacists are seeing seeing an evolution in their role in the healthcare system, as well as many other mid-level practitioners. They can assist in providing direct patient care for minor and chronic ailments, particularly in rural areas. And in recognition of this, in 2022, the 32nd Alaska Legislature passed House Bill 145 related to pharmacists, and it added the phrase other patient services to pharmacy services, creating a path to allow pharmacists to practice at the top of their education, training, and experience. However, Because this language of other patient services wasn't clarified, pharmacists are— while they are able to provide care for conditions such as the flu, strep throat, UTIs, and more, they're not currently allowed to do so. House Bill 195 clarifies the intent of that law in regards to independent prescribing and providing direct patient care services.

Pharmacists would be able to provide limited primary care services and expand access to treatment for opioid use disorder and prescribe similarly to pharmacists in the VA. Additionally, the Alaska Board of Pharmacy already regulates pharmacists under a standard of care which aligns with this legislation. Since the introduction of this bill last year, this legislation was also included in the Rural Health Transformation Program application and is tied to the state's $272 million of federal funding received. And it's one of the many policies that must be passed and enacted by December 31st, 2027. I also want to add that over the interim, the Alaska Pharmacy Association met extensively with the Alaska State Medical Association to address some concerns with the bill, and many of those compromises have been integrated in the bill. And I invite any additional concerns or support for the bill.

Thank you. Under debate on House Bill 195, Representative Ballard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to remind my public and the people that I represent the reason I'm not voting for this bill is because I had numerous members of my own caucus decide that they wanted to provide cover for themselves by tabling my amendment, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise for a point of order. Point of order, Representative Saddler. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to check the number, but we're not in debate to impugn the motives of members.

Briefities, Mr. Speaker. Briefities.

Will the House please come back to order. Under debate on final passage, House Bill 195. Representative Gray. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of this bill.

The majority of my work in Alaska as a medical provider was at the Alaska VA. Um, the Alaska VA uses pharmacists, um, to the absolute max of their, their abilities. And the way— I'll just explain how they worked in my clinic. So I provided primary care and we had a pharmacist who was a diabetes specialist there. In the past 20 years, there's been an explosion of new diabetes drugs on the market. And as someone working in primary care,.

In primary care, seeing lots and lots of patients and taking care of lots of different problems, um, diabetes is a really hard one to stay on top of. And it was an enormous value to be able to send my newly diagnosed diabetic patients, my patients with longstanding diabetes, my patients on insulin pumps to the pharmacist who specialized in diabetes. And that pharmacist would change their medications, prescribe them new ones, order the labs to assess and see how those drugs were working, make adjustments on those medications, and then they'd send back to me, and all I had to do was continue the prescription. I cannot exaggerate what an enormous gift this is to all the medical providers in the Alaska VA system that we have pharmacists who do this work every single day. And so it was a complete shock to me, uh, when I ran for office and had to leave the VA and go get a job out in the community that I learned that pharmacists couldn't do this.

I literally was— it just blew my mind. And as somebody who has worked very hard since being elected to look at what are the drivers of Alaska's healthcare costs, why does Alaska's healthcare costs exceed most other places in the world? And a lot of the excuses that are given is because we're remote, but Hawaii has a lot less charge, a lot less healthcare costs. So, so just saying we're remote is not a good excuse. The truth is, Mr. Speaker, one way that we can expand access and bring down the cost of care is to make sure that every single type of medical provider is able to do everything that they are trained to do.

And pharmacists are trained to do this. They go to school for 4 years They are doctors of pharmacy, and they— if anybody understands how prescription medications should be used, it is pharmacists. Even in outside the VA, medical providers call pharmacists and ask questions about pharmaceuticals because they're the experts. They know how to prescribe medications, and this bill allows them in a very confined way to use the training that they have to treat Alaskans, to expand access to care, and bring down the cost of health care. If those concerns are concerns that you have, I urge you to please vote yes on this very, very important and needed bill.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Ruffridge. Uh, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to cover all my bases, I would like to rise and ask unanimous consent to I would refrain from voting as I'm currently a licensed and practicing pharmacist. There's an objection.

Representative Ruffridge, you'll be required to vote on House Bill 195. Is there further debate? Representative Schwanke. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really wanted to support this bill.

I really think that it would reduce the cost of healthcare for some minor prescription opportunities throughout rural Alaska, but I'm very disappointed that this body chose not to address a very important amendment. I will be voting no. Representative Jimmy. Koyaanis. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of HB 195.

I have to disagree with the member from 36. This will save costs out in rural for medication. And most importantly, I wish this was passed before I even got into office because this would have helped the Heilong survivors who had to be airlifted out of their own villages into Bethel. They could have gotten their medications. Those who are dependent on them, life and death, could have gotten them right then and there.

But they had to go through the whole process and that backed it all up. And a lot of people had to miss their medication. So I urge AS vote.

Representative Prox.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm speaking in support of House Bill 195.

I realize there has been some— a lot of objection to that, but I think it is confusion about the if you will, the common or the public normal understanding of terms and both in law and in statute and in application.

The representative from Eagle River handed out a publication evidently published by Planned Parenthood describing how they are getting around existing statutes, really. And I, I wouldn't be surprised if that's occurring. Anything can happen. We have restrictions against administering or dispensing fentanyl without a diagnosis and prescription, and all kinds of other drugs, and all kinds of other things. We don't necessarily stop something bypassing a law in the first place.

But in this case, there are existing statutes that do prevent, in effect, um, those who are not licensed to diagnose, um, certain drugs and also to administer certain drugs. And in, in the case of these REMS drugs and abortifacients, um, it appears to me that it is already against Alaska statutes to mail these abortifacient drugs to the patient. They would have to be mailed to the prescriber who can administer the procedure in a certified facility, and I don't know of any pharmacist that has the equipment or the desire to either diagnose a pregnancy properly to prescribe the drug or administer the drug because they're not in a certified facility. That's not to say that this isn't occurring and that it is endangering and has endangered quite a few women in Alaska that they have— I have heard anecdotal evidence of that. That's a separate problem.

Enforcing laws, people have to go through the process of enforcing a law. And that's difficult to do in this case, I get that. But this is not what the statute or the bill is all about. It is authorizing people to operate within their scope of practice, and it would be very beneficial to Alaskans in general to give pharmacists this authority. And I don't think— well, in the law it's not at this point authorizing them to do something that isn't within their scope of practice.

And I agree, anything can happen, but we're trying to— we have to deal within the law and within statutes. And I think that this bill covers those dangers as well as we can at this point.

We have a lot of work. I think the underlying debate over abortions is when a new human being is legally created. Have to get to that point. Otherwise, we're just going to spend years and years and years arguing over something that cannot be enforced. So I support this bill at this time, and I encourage others to support it because the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not seeing any additional debate and wrap up. Representative Mena. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to look at my notes?

Permission granted. Again, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the debate on House Bill 195, and I just want to respond to a few points, specifically this discussion about abortion. There's 3 different layers for why pharmacists are not able to provide abortions in the state. The first is that it's out of their scope of practice.

The second is that there are federal laws pertaining to certain medications where you have to meet those requirements, such as being able to diagnose a pregnancy, and which usually requires an ultrasound, or having a plan to have access to blood transfusion treatment, et cetera. There are pharmacists and community pharmacists across the state who aren't able to meet these requirements for prescribing medications such as mifepristone. And so you already have those federal prohibitions, and then you have state law prohibitions. Our state law in AS 18-1610 subsection A-1, it says that only physicians are able to perform abortions in the state. And from the Attorney General memo from 2023, permission to read, Mr. Speaker?

Permission was granted. Great. Alaska women who seek an abortion have— since 2000, Alaska women who seek an abortion have had to see a physician to receive this abortion drug, which is specific to mifepristone.

Mifepristone. Under Alaska law, a woman in Alaska who receives a dose of mifepristone does so in a clinical setting. You cannot self-administer abortion-inducing drugs in this state. You have to have that be administered with a physician. So you have that layer of prohibition as well.

I also want to touch on the selective progesterone receptor modulators, also known as misoprostol, and the problematic nature of prohibiting this type of drug is also because that misoprostol is used for a lot of different conditions, and we don't want to restrict the ability for providers such as a physician to be able to treat stomach ulcers, treatment of postpartum bleeding, miscarriage management, and even treatment of Cushing syndrome. We don't want to get in the way of providing care for Alaskans. This bill truly is about helping make primary care a little bit easier and a little bit better. It's to help a mom who is a mom of a lot of different kids, and one kid might have strep throat, to be able to just go to the pharmacist and get what they need for their kid, or someone who might have a UTI and has been avoiding the doctor for days to not have that become an infection, but able to just get those antibiotics directly by walking over there to their community pharmacy. This bill truly is about making sure that we're utilizing every possible provider to the maximum extent of their education, training, and expertise to make sure that we are providing better care That is what leads to lowering healthcare costs, and that also is what leads to helping Alaskans be healthier and prevent these more expensive types of care in our emergency rooms, etc.

We expand access to this timely, high-quality primary care. This legislation embraces a collaborative team-based model of care, and it allows pharmacists to triage ailments if it's outside of their expertise. I urge a yes vote on House Bill 195. Thank you. Are you ready for the question?

The question being, shall committee substitute for House Bill 195 Finance pass the House? Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 32 Yeas, 8 nays. With a vote of 32 yeas to 8 nays, House Bill 195 has passed the body.

Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the roll call vote on the passage of the bill be considered the roll call vote on the effective date clause. Hearing no objection, the effective date clause has been adopted. Will the clerk please read the next item? On today's calendar. Senate Bill 230 by Senators Rauscher, Clayman, and Tilton entitled an Act Relating to the Boundaries of the Jonesville Public Use Area and Providing for an Effective Date.

The Resources Committee considered the bill, recommends it be replaced with House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 230 Resources with a new title. Attached 1 previously published zero fiscal note. Signing the report do pass, Representatives Fields, Colon, Hall, Elam, Prox, Mears, and co-chairs Dybert and Freer. There is one House committee substitute. Mr.

Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the House Resources Committee substitute for Senate Bill 230 with the new title be adopted in lieu of the original bill. Representative Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I object to the adoption of Senate Bill 230 let's see us for Senate Bill 230 and request some of the changes. Representative Nelson.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, and I rise in strong support of this bill. And I did not have communications before with Finance Co-Chair, but the changes that were made, as we have discussed yesterday, between us and the other body. Essentially, these are laws that have passed previously. And the one specifically related to Jonesville, I can talk about. There were multiple changes that were requested in negotiations.

And so the additional ones, I honestly, I cannot speak to. However, the one that was before us, specifically with Jonesville, is This is an area that we have local support, state support, and when it was passed a few years ago, there was one area that was excluded that needs to be in the management area, and there was one area that was included that has been in borough possession since 1986. So the original bill was to just clean up those boundaries. And the additional ones, I would defer to the member from District 13 if he wants to speak to those. However, the idea is the same.

These are things that have passed before, and these are, I guess, maybe oversights that were recognized now, and we're just trying to clean up previous bills.

Yeah, I rise in support of 230. Speaking to the changes in the committee substitute, Representative Freer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe I can help the member from District 26— or sorry, 29— out a little bit on a summary of some of the changes that were made in the Resources Committee. So there was an amendment that was introduced from the representative from District 8 that had a number of— some of the fixes.

And admittedly, the finance co-chair could probably speak more broadly to these. But initially, when we were speaking with the sponsor of the Senate bill, he had some concerns about some of the areas that were being included in the boundaries. So what we talked about was including the areas that were that just needed fixes that were basically mistakes in statute on what was included. There were areas where the boundary should have been in a different spot, and so those changes, those boundary changes were included. And I don't know if maps are in here, but there were a number of maps that we went through.

And so just wanted to help out the representative from District 29 on a a couple of the summary of changes. Thank you. Is the objection maintained? The objection has been removed. Hearing no further objection, the Resources Committee substitute has been adopted.

Madam Clerk, are there any amendments? I have no amendments, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 230, Resources, be considered engrossed, advanced to third reading, and placed on final passage. Hearing no objection, this— hearing no objection, so ordered. Madam Clerk, please read the title for the third and final time. House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 230, Resources, by the House Resources Committee. Entitled An Act Relating to State Refuges and Fish and Game Critical Habitat Areas Relating to the Boundaries of the Jonesville Public Use Area and Providing for an Effective Date.

Representative Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is a good bill. It's one that recognizes work that has been done previously in years past. It will positively impact— I can just speak for my community— will positively impact the management that is trying to happen, Mr. Speaker, at the local level, at the state level.

This is a good bill. It's a little cleanup on something that was missed before. So I urge all members to vote yes. Thank you. Representative McCabe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Jonesville Public Use Area has been becoming increasingly important to the borough. Used to be a place people go, it was trashed, and they'd shoot guns and ride four-wheelers. And the borough has started to clean it up and done an admirable job. I think they bought an outdoor, one of those vaulted outdoor toilets out there, and they've been, they're interested in a shooting range.

One of the things that was so significant to me in talking to the borough manager about this area is they did a search on cell phone usage as they're going out to, apparently you can access an aggregate, not individual cell phones, but you can tell where the majority of the cell phones came from that are actually using the Jonesville Public Use Area. Surprisingly, more than 50% of the use of the Jonesville Public Use Area comes from Anchorage. So I think it's a wonderful place that the borough is putting together. This is just a small adjustment of the land that they needed to, to finish completing the exact public use area. And I would urge members to wholeheartedly support this.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not seeing additional debate, wrap up, Representative Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This area, as was mentioned previously, sees a tremendous amount of use. And it is a wonderful asset.

Asset, and the borough and the local community works on managing. And even tomorrow, which I have— they're having the Jonesville cleanup, which is happening tomorrow, and I'm not going to be there for it for the first time. And my kids are going to be there for it, and, uh, there are many local nonprofits and just outdoor clubs that use this area and are sponsoring this event. That being said, more management is desired, um, and this little boundary change, um, along with the other amendments that were added, this conforms to law that has already been passed This is a tremendous area that is being utilized by members from not only our own local community, but as, as was mentioned, from people from all over, uh, the Matsu area and even in Anchorage. So I would just ask all members to support this bill.

It's a tremendous area that the changes are happening, and, and we want to have an active hand in that. So I thank the members for their support. Are you ready for the question? The question being, shall House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 230, Resources, pass the House? Members may proceed to vote.

The clerk, please lock the roll. Does any member wish to change his or her vote?

Will the clerk please announce the vote? 40 Ayes, 0 nays. With a vote of 40 ayes to 0 nays, Senate Bill 230 has passed the body. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent I move and ask unanimous consent that the roll call vote on the passage of the bill be considered the roll call vote on the effective date clause. Hearing no objection, the effective date clause has been adopted. This brings us to the title change resolution. Mr. Majority Leader.

Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that House Concurrent Resolution 16, the title change resolution for Senate Bill 230, be taken up as a special order of business. Are you ready? Without objection. Are you ready for the question? The question being, shall House Concurrent Resolution 16 pass the House?

Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 40 Yeas, 0 nays. With a vote of 40 yeas to 0 nays, HCR 16 has passed the body.

Madam Clerk, please read the next item on today's calendar.

Committee substitute for Senate Bill number 237, Judiciary, by the Senate Judiciary Committee, entitled an act relating to data sharing by the Department of Administration for driver's license data verification purposes and providing for an effective date. The State Affairs Committee considered the bill attached, one previously published zero fiscal note, and Signing the report do pass: Representatives Vance, Hemmschultz, Story, and Chair Carrick. No recommendation: McCabe, Sinclair, and Holland. I have no House committee substitute. Madam Clerk, are there any amendments?

Amendment number 1 by Representative Elam, beginning page 2, line 6. Representative Elam.

I move amendment 1. There's an objection. Thank you. Thank you for the objection. I wanted to talk about it.

I appreciate the bill that we have before us here today, and I tried to make some friendly but meaningful modifications through this amendment. Basically, what my amendment does is on the first section there, it changes the word "shall" to "may." And the reason that I changed those two words is that whenever the Department of Administration is providing the information, I wanted them to have some flexibility to be able to have some discernment with whom they're sharing this data with— nonprofits, other government organizations, tribal organizations, but specifically the nonprofits. I wanted to make sure that as we get into the the second paragraph that I have here, that the administration has the ability to say, how's your data hygiene? How is your security? And what are you doing with the information that we're giving you?

So, take a little liberty here to read the amendment. Permission granted. Thank you. On page 2, I'm inserting a line here for following verification. You guys can all read, but An entity, which includes all of the nonprofits and other governmental type organizations, uh, that receives the information under this subsection shall use the information only for driver's license data verification purposes and may not disclose, retain, sell, or use the information for other purposes.

So we don't want this information being sent out for marketing, for a variety of other things. The entity shall also maintain reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect The confidentiality, the integrity, and security of the information. Again, if we're sharing information outside of our state or organizations, I wanna make sure that the data that's being shared is being shared in a way that requires good data hygiene, that also maintains the security and integrity of the trust that the people have put into us before we share that information, so. That's my amendment. Thank you.

The objection has been removed. Is there additional objection? Not hearing any. Amendment number 1 has been adopted. Madam Clerk, are there additional amendments?

Amendment number 2 by Representative Carrick, beginning page 2, line 2, following only. Representative Carrick. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will not be offering Amendment 2, but I would encourage members to take a look at a future amendment that does the same thing. Thank you.

Amendment number 2 will not be offered. Madam Clerk. Amendment number 3 by Representative St. Clair, beginning page 1, lines 1 through 2. Representative St. Clair. I move amendment number 3.

There is an objection. Representative St. Clair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Amendment number 3, all it does is it adds where it says nonprofit, federal, et cetera, to profit agencies such as CLEAR. What CLEAR does is it expedites you through the TSA.

It's a pro-business and free market amendment. Permission to read? Permission to read. The amendment would hire 13 new Alaskans in Anchorage and allow over 10,000 Alaskans who already use this service, which is CLEAR— that's just one of them, there are several others— to use a service in their home state and in that they already have in other states. I recently had my cousin in town and she used ClearDown and CTAC when they first, uh, did the pilot program and she loves it.

Secure will bring 3 managers including a dedicated manager and 10 full-time staff called ambassadors. They're, like I said, um, what the gist of it is, is you walk up to— they call them pods But you look up, look at the camera, it takes your picture. Don't have to take your driver's license out. It takes your picture, then uses information from DMV because you gave permission to verify your identity. Once your identity has been verified, they take you around TSA right to the scanner.

You go right up to the front. That's not just the— that's not the only benefit that it has because they have— they're using this in stadiums, arenas, and healthcare systems. It's used in over 60 airports in 100 150 different locations. This is common sense. This is bringing jobs.

This is securing our, our, our information, and it's good for Alaska. Thank you.

Is the objection maintained?

The objection has been removed, but an additional objective— objection registered President Gray. Yes, Mr. Speaker, um, I rise to a question, and that is, we just adopted Amendment 1, but my reading of Amendment 3 is that we'll be deleting everything that Amendment 1 did because that section will disappear. So I'm just confirming that my understanding is correct, that what we did in Amendment 1 is now gone, and making sure that the maker of Amendment 1 is comfortable with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

And wrap up. Representative Sinclair. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And it was not my intent to, uh, uh, even mess with—. I'm gonna ask you, we had to have a brief at ease.

I think there's some confusion, so can we hold your comments please?

Will the House please come back to order. At this time, I would like to roll Senate Bill 237 in second reading to tomorrow's calendar. Hearing no objection, so moved. Madam Clerk, will you please read the next item On today's calendar.

Committee substitute for Senate Bill Number 143, Community and Regional Affairs, amended House by the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee, entitled an Act Relating to Ethics and Budget Training for School Board Members, Relating to the Terms of Office of Municipal School Board Members, Relating to the Size of the City Council in Second Class Cities, and Providing for an Effective Date. The bill is in third reading, final passage. At ease.

Will the House please come back to order. The title of the bill has been read a third and final time. So to the carrier of the bill, Representative Moore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a great privilege to carry this bill for the member from the other body from Wasilla.

SB 143 is pretty simple in its effect. We made a couple changes the other day with, along with ethics and budget training for school board members, council members. Permission to read? Permission granted. This bill would also allow school boards to propose changes to the lengths of terms for elected office.

Any change would still require final approval by the voters through a local election. And the other part of SB 143 is these provisions— I'm sorry, not these provisions— this would also allow second-class cities under a population of 1,000 people to lower the required number of council members to between 3 and 7, no more than 7, no less than 3. Those provisions for city council would not affect school board seat requirements. So this is pretty simple in its effect.

Control. This is something that the school board and the city council would have to agree to prior to this being sent for a vote of the people. So I hope there's support for the bill and press the green button. Under debate on Senate Bill 143.

Any closing comments? Are you ready for the question? Question being, shall committee substitute for Senate Bill 143, Committee on Regional Affairs, amended House Passed the House. Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll?

Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 40 Yeas, 0 nays. With a vote of 40 yeas to 0 nays, Senate Bill 143 has passed the body. Mr.

Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the roll call vote on the passage of the bill be considered the roll call vote on the effective date clause. Hearing no objection, the effective date clause has been adopted. Next, we move to the title change. Mr.

Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the House Concurrent Resolution 19, the title change resolution for Senate Bill 143, be taken up as a special order of business. Without objection.

At ease.

The House, please come back to order. Are you ready for the question? The question is, shall HCR 19 pass the House? Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 40 Yeas, 0 nays. With a vote of 40 yeas to 0 nays, HCR 19 has passed the House.

Madam Clerk, will you please read the next item on today's calendar? Committee substitute for Senate Bill 187, Education, by the Senate Education Committee entitled An Act Prohibiting Certain Food Additives in Public School Meals and Providing for an Effective Date. The bill is in third reading, final passage. Representative Eichide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Really pleased to talk about a food bill right before lunch. Permission to read, sir? Permission granted. It is my honor to present the committee substitute for Senate Bill 187, Food Dyes in School Meals, on behalf of the bill sponsor. Senate Bill 187 removes certain synthetic food dyes from school meals fed to our children in schools.

The bill specifically removes 7 food dyes from the breakfasts and lunches served to Alaska's children in our schools, and these 7 dyes are red dyes 3 and 40, yellow dyes 5 and 6, blue dyes 1 and 2, and green dye number 3. 6 Of these 7 synthetic dyes are derived from petroleum. The dyes that this bill will remove from our children's school meals and snacks have been linked to numerous adverse health effects that disproportionately impact our young students, include— and the effects include irritability, hyperactivity, inattentiveness, sleep disorders, aggression, and immune system reactions. Not only are these health impacts we're talking about, but these conditions impact student achievement and learning in school. 6 Of these 7 food dyes are the exact same food dyes that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with industry to eliminate from all foods in the nation's food supply as part of their Make America Healthy Again initiative that was announced, uh, April of 2025.

In addition, the FDA has already requested that companies remove Red #3 earlier than the deadline they originally set due to concerns about the impact this particular dye is having on the foods that American families eat every day. And if you follow news, red dye number 3 has been in the news for years. Food dyes as we know them are just window dressing on the foods Alaskans love to eat. Without these food dyes, ice cream will still taste like ice cream. Cereal will still taste just like cereal tastes now.

Flavor won't change removing these food dyes from our diet. These food dyes don't provide or influence flavor, nor do they have nutritional value. Industry is more and more using natural dyes as better alternatives. Senate Bill 187 is our opportunity to improve the quality of the food we feed our children in our schools while avoiding the negative associated effects of these 7 synthetic dyes. We will be joining 9 other states that have passed similar legislation at a time when many more legislatures like ours are considering doing so out of concern for child welfare.

And I would like to note that the bill sponsor has reached out to several school districts, uh, asking, is this a problem removing these synthetic food dyes? Among the districts that have been spoken to include Sitka, Petersburg, Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Matsu, Lower Kuskokwim, Delta Greeley, and Nome. And all these school districts have said, yeah, we're already moving this direction, no problem with complying. Mr. Speaker, this is a straightforward bill that is based on the best available science, is consistent with federal direction provided by the FDA, and which protects Alaska's children and their health. I respectfully ask for members support of Senate Bill 187, Food Dyes in School Meals.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative McCabe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't tell you how pleased I am to support President Trump's Make America Healthy Again initiative, along with supporting the rules chair from the other body who I worked for worked with in the past on other good bipartisan bills such as this one. It's nice to see that we can come together on something that benefits Alaskans and benefits kids in a bipartisan manner and also has some support from the White House.

So I'm happy to vote yes on this. Thank you. Representative Gray. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be voting yes on this bill.

However, I just want to be clear that the types of foods that we add dyes to are not healthy foods. And so when we talk about making America healthy again by banning dyes from our ultra-processed foods, well, the better way to do that is to ban the ultra-processed foods. And that is something I would support, and that is something that I would encourage to do in our schools. It's not that we— oh, we've taken all of the colors out of Fruity Pebbles and now the kids are healthy. They shouldn't be eating Fruity Pebbles.

They shouldn't be eating Fruity Pebbles. When we talk about hyperactivity and all these behavior disorders, I think if you looked at eating extraordinarily high sugary, uh, processed foods, that you're going to see the same types of behaviors. That is not because of the dye, it's because these are extraordinarily unhealthy foods. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Nelson.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, and I rise in support of Fruity Dyno Bites and Fruity Pebbles. Just want to get it on the record. Favorite cereal of all time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Nelson.

I also rise today in support of Fruity Pebbles, Mr. Speaker.

Overall, no, I think that this will be a good bill. There's been a lot of attention to what younger people are putting inside their bodies, and I think this is a great opportunity for the state of Alaska to at least have a hand in it and further this conversation about what really deserves and helps the younger generation grow and mold into, into the future. So I will be supporting this bill, and I encourage everyone to do so. Thank you. Representative Schwanke.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this. I wish it did not have to be a bill, but go Maha! Representative Vance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the representative from U Med is going to make my husband cry because he loves Fruity Pebbles, but he only eats them when I'm gone because I agree with the representative from U Med that all of the, the The food that has all these awful dyes is not healthy for us. But yesterday, last night, we spent a lot of time talking about children's mental health. And I think this bill actually moves the needle on improving the mental health of our kids because we know that our gut impacts our mental health. And I have a neighbor, a friend of mine who was previously my schoolteacher. Her youngest is the same age as my oldest.

And so our kids have grown up together in the same neighborhood. And she told me about one of her children who would come home. They would sit down at the table to do homework together. And he would just be in tears and couldn't.

Could not cope through getting homework done. He was so overwhelmed and they were just frustrated. They ended up having to pull him out and try to help him get through the school day. She heard that food dyes could be a trigger, and so she eliminated all of the purple and the red, the blue food dyes from this child's diet. It completely transformed his school day.

He was able to focus, no more tears through homework, no more tears just getting through the school day, and it was all because of food dyes. We have been unknowingly poisoning our kids and ourselves for that matter. And, and this I think is a step in the right direction that we are going to hopefully see a quick turnaround in our kids. As a follow-up to that, my husband has worked for the school district for more than a decade, and he sent me a picture of the school lunch, and it's a federal, federal program and I said, don't you dare eat that, and don't you dare feed it to our son. It— I couldn't believe that it was edible.

I want to get to a place in our state where we don't have to rely on the federal food lunch program, to where we can provide them local healthy food. And I know that there are some schools who have been moving towards that, and in fact, I heard some in your district, Mr. Speaker, that the locals are feeding them local food and salmon and things like that. That's what I want to hear, and that's what our children need to have healthy bodies, healthy minds with a focus. We aren't quite there yet as a state to be able to help provide for that shift, but this is a step that gets us to that so that our kids are not fighting those internal battles that they have nothing to do with. So I rise in support of this.

Representative Kahlom. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I just wanted to rise and say that I agree with the representative from U Med. If you guys haven't been paying attention, the federal direction about making America healthy again is super exciting. They've adopted a new food pyramid.

There's lots of movements around food and our children's food. And so maybe, you know, only banning dyes, I agree, that's not gonna fix everything. But I think the push on the federal level is really gonna transform school lunches. I really am excited about just the momentum that the federal level has brought to this issue. We know it affects kids' behavior, and I personally love the slogan, eat real food.

So press the green button. Representative Stapp.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to reluctantly be supporting this bill. Look, I, you know, I grew up on Cocoa Puffs and Froot Loops, and I think I turned out fine, Mr. Speaker. I know that's debatable among members of the body, but yeah, I mean, look, this bill, just to clarify, we're not banning these things for everyone. We're basically just saying these dyes can't be included in kids' lunches and things at school.

You know, I guess that's the new trend. Healthy. It's probably good for you. So I'll support it. I'm, you know, I'm not necessarily a big believer in these types of things, but because it's restricted to school districts, yeah, I'm going to support it.

And I guess this is an admission that I've been wrong about the dyes. So thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further debate? Not seeing any. And wrap up, Representative Eichheit.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the enthusiasm for food and the food for thought my peers have given me. In wrap-up, I would like to thank the members of the body for this discussion. We are in the final week of the 34th legislative session, and I'm very proud of the work that we've come together to do here over these 2 years, especially on behalf of Alaska's children. And I think this is just another step that way.

And I really appreciate the multi-partisan approach that the Alaska State Legislature takes. And you know, we might have food fights sometimes here on the floor, but at the end of the day, we're all Alaskans, and I appreciate you all. And so with that, I hope we can all push the green button— not the die button, the vote button. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are you ready for the question?

The question being, shall the House adopt committee substitute for Senate Bill 187, Education? Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 40 Ayes, 0 nays. Mr.

Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the roll call vote on the passage of the bill be considered the roll call vote on the effective date clause. Hearing no objection. So ordered, brikadis.

Will the House please come to order. Madam Clerk, will you please read the next item on today's calendar?

House Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill Number 214, Finance, amended House by the House Finance Committee, entitled an Act Making Appropriations Including Capital Appropriations, Supplemental Appropriations, and Reappropriations, Making Appropriations to Capitalized Funds, Amending Appropriations, and Providing for an Effective Date. The bill is in third reading, final passage. Brief it is.

Will the House please come back to order. Representative Schraggy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my honor to bring the capital budget before the body today, SB 214, and permission to read, if I may. Permission granted. Thank you. At a high level, the capital budget totals roughly $2.55 billion and includes roughly $347.2 million in unrestricted general funds.

It also includes $86.9 million in DGF and $237.8 million in other funds and $1.85 billion in federal receipts. It also contains a contingent waterfall language that would add $26 million in UGF if Alaska North Slope crude averages $80 per barrel during the first 6 months of this upcoming fiscal year. This budget overall focuses on addressing deferred maintenance across Alaska, particularly in our schools, universities, public facilities, while also making targeted investments in statewide needs and economic development. Key legislative additions and highlights include school major maintenance at a historic $105 million level, investing in the top 33 projects statewide. Much of this funding supports rural districts where students are learning in facilities that are simply unacceptable.

Throughout this process, we did learn that there are flaws in the state's ranking system, issues that I hope that we are able to work on in the upcoming years. Additionally, years of underinvestment have discouraged some districts from even applying for the School Major Maintenance Program, and I hope that this significant commitment made this year in funding school major maintenance projects re-encourages school districts to put together packages in the years out. Additionally, we've invested $23.5 million in new school construction addressing some acute needs highlighted in our state, including $17.5 million for Stebbins K-12, which was devastated by a fire and must be rebuilt, as well as $6 million for Deering K-12 school, which is in the process of rebuilding and attempting to take advantage of some efficiencies and timing advantages work already being done by DOT. In terms of the university, we're addressing deferred maintenance with $32.5 million to address the top 18 projects across the 3 campuses, UAA, UAS, and UAF. At Mount Edgecomb High School, we're investing $24.3 million to address urgent structural needs that have been widely reported on in the media and by the Senate Capitol co-chair.

Looking ahead at what may come this next year, we've recognized there's a real need for workforce development to be addressed. And so recognizing that, we've invested $19.5 million to try and prepare our workforce for a possible Alaska LNG pipeline project, including money towards the Fairbanks Pipeline Training Center, the Teamsters Construction Driver and CDL Training Center in the Matsu, and Avtec in the Kenai. I'd also note that we're investing in a welding program at the University of Alaska Anchorage to make sure that we have more skilled welders that are homegrown and able to work on this historic project should it advance. At the Don Young Port of Alaska, we are applying $15 million towards the cargo terminal replacement to make sure that costs statewide are brought down as that project has moved forward, reducing possible tariffs that would be applied on goods flowing through our Port of Alaska and then traveling to our communities statewide. We've supported with $37.5 million for communities, uh, where cruise ship tourism is a major economic development through the, uh, commercial passenger vessel, uh, head tax.

In terms of statewide economic development, we put $6 million towards the Alaska Travel Industry Association and $6 million for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, recognizing that we need to do more to promote our products here in Alaska and the opportunities that exist here, and also recognizing that our seafood industry is still struggling after the recent years, and that we need to do more to make sure that we find good markets for our products so that we can achieve higher prices for our goods. Knowing that the courts have had major issues with deferred maintenance, we've done what we can to address some of their most critical needs. Not enough, but a significant step forward in being able to address, again, those most acute needs with $3.7 million towards the court system. And then in terms of additional statewide projects, there are a number of investments that we've made based on legislative and community input, including $217 million $219,000 for the Alaska Library Network SLED literacy and online learning program. $250,000 For AML to support local governments and tribes and federal grant reporting and writing.

$100,000 For commissioning activities for the USS Ted Stevens, a historic opportunity where a destroyer will be commissioned here in Alaska and doing a tour through a number of communities here in our state. A wonderful opportunity for our state to be honored with. Additionally, $500,000 is being put towards the Arctic Winter Games being able to be hosted in Fairbanks, and we've put $500,000 towards the Code Blue EMS match program, which we heard some great comments about yesterday during the amendment process. Finally, in terms of statewide projects, for the West Susitna Project, we found compromise on what is sometimes a contentious issue, balancing concerns over the project's size and risks pushing out smaller capital projects across the state and the desire to move forward this project that could really play an important and critical role in being able to take advantage of resource opportunity plays that we may have over on that side of Cook Inlet. In terms of the waterfall that I mentioned earlier in my opening remarks, if oil prices average $80 per barrel for the first half of fiscal year '27, an additional $26 million would be invested towards a number of projects, including $10 million of that $26 million for the Don Yung Port of Alaska, an additional $10.65 million towards school major maintenance, which would allow us to cover projects 34 through 38, another— and then $3.25 million for two critical university projects at UAS and UAA, and $2 million for court security upgrades.

This capital budget, to be honest, is in some ways a huge step forward over last year. We see a much larger investment in being able to address some of our key areas in the state, but it also, I will recognize, does not go far enough given the levels of deferred maintenance and other needs throughout our state. We heard many important needs highlighted through the amendment process, and unfortunately we were not able to take care of all those. What we were able to do is focus on the basics, the things that are most critical and they have statewide value. It fully funds state match requirements, invests in schools, universities, and essential public infrastructure.

It makes meaningful progress on Alaska's longstanding deferred maintenance backlog, and it's probably most importantly balanced, fair, and focused on the life, health, and safety of Alaskans while supporting economic growth. I think this will be a big step forward for our state, and I look forward to us being able to hopefully build upon this progress in future years, as we know that these needs need to continue to be addressed, and this capital budget will not meet all needs and take care of all issues. With that, I welcome any discussion on the bill, and again, I'm honoured to bring this before the body today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Under debate.

Representative McCabe. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I appreciate the, uh, the co-chair's positive spin on the bill, and, uh, and I don't disagree. It's, it's a decent bill. It's got things in it for, for just about everybody.

I won't be supporting this bill because the very first thing they did is take $94.9 million of federal receipts out of the West Assitna Access Project when it came over from the other body to our Finance Committee. We managed to, through screaming and crying and throwing tantrums, get $45 million of that back in. My screaming and crying and tantrums, so not imputing anybody except me. But it's insufficient, Mr. Speaker. This is federal receipts.

The money doesn't go away. We're not spending the money. This receipt authority That's all we did is say, well, DOT, you can't spend that money. We just basically told them that they can't spend the money on the West Susitna Access Project. We didn't even really tell them where we wanted to spend the other $45 million.

We didn't even say, hey, we want it to go to Anchorage Safe Streets or, you know, preventing jaywalking or anything like that. Mr. Speaker, there are so many investors in this West Susitna Access Project. Terra Invest or Terra Energy has over 80 Alaskan, major Alaskan investors in this project. There are many Native corporations that have asked that I not mention their name on the floor that are invested in this project, that wanted this project to go forward. Half of a project is not going forward.

We do this all the time in Alaska, Mr. Speaker, and we need to stop doing it. This was done for whatever reason. The, the reasons were insufficient to me. But Alaskans should be furious that this is not done and is not moving forward the way it was programmed to do, the way the DOT wants it to do. And for that reason, Mr. Speaker, I will be a no vote on this regardless of all the great stuff it has in it.

Not seeing additional debate. In wrap-up, Representative Shwaggy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I recognize that this budget does not do all things for all people and will not make probably anyone completely happy. Unfortunately, that's the reality of the political process that we all take part in.

We try to find compromise, consensus where we can, and do the best that we can, but we almost never achieve a perfect budget. I'm proud of the work that we've done. As part of that, I want to thank my co-chairs of the Finance Committee. I want to thank my fellow finance members for the work that they put into this. I feel that we've had a actually very good process going into the capital budget.

And I want to just thank my colleagues for the work that they've put into it, the respectful process that we've had, and really the, the good faith discussions that we've had around the capital budget. It's been a long process to get here, but I'm glad that we are here, and I would ask members to please vote yes and allow us to move forward in addressing some critical needs throughout our state, even if it's not quite perfect in the eyes of every member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's been an honor.

And to add to your salutations, I think your chief of staff in the back there, Mr. Gunnarsson, should get his share of thank-yous as well.

Are you ready for the question? The question before the body is shall House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 241 Finance as amended House pass the body. Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Look, Representative Bynum, from nay to yay.

Will the clerk please announce the vote?

24 Yeas, 16 nays. The vote of 24 yeas to 16 nays, Senate Bill 214 has passed the body. Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move the effective date clause.

You're ready for the question. Question being, shall the effective date clause pass the House? Members may proceed to vote.

Will the clerk please lock the roll? Does any member wish to change his or her vote? Will the clerk please announce the vote? 40 Yeas, 0 nays. With a vote of 40 yeas to 0 nays, the effective date clause has passed the body.

Minority Leader Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to serve notice of reconsideration for my vote on SB 214. Reconsideration has been served. A bill that we just approved.

Brief it is.

Will the House please come back to order. At this time, I am rolling SCR 17 and SJR 20 to the next day's calendar. Hearing no objection, Madam Clerk. There are no further items on today's calendar, Mr. Speaker. This brings us to unfinished business.

Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, I have no excused absences to read at this time. Representative Foster. Yes, Mr. Speaker, the Finance Committee waives Senate Bill 178, Finance, that is the Expand Early Intervention Services Bill.

From the Finance Committee, the form to waive the bill has been signed by a majority of the Finance Committee members. There being no objection, this Senate Bill 178 has been discharged from the Finance Committee. Representative Nelson.

Notice of reconsideration on HB 195. Notice of reconsideration has been served on House Bill 195. Are there any committee announcements? Representative Gray. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

House Judiciary will meet 30 minutes after for adjournment.

Are there any other— or under committee announcements, Representative Foster? Mr. Speaker, Finance will commence at 2 o'clock. Finance will commence at 2 o'clock. Are there any other announcements?

This brings us to special orders. Representative Mears. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to speak on doing some math. On doing some math.

Representative Mears. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Believe it or not, last night after we left here, I was doing some math. The math I was doing was another one of my May birthdays. Today is my husband's birthday.

And I realize it's been almost 30 years since we first met, and we are just a few weeks away from our youngest leaving their teenage years. And just kind of wanted to acknowledge that, you know, these are the little milestones in our families, and the opportunity to recognize our family's birthdays is something that's a treat here. And Grateful to share it with you. I hope to be sharing it with him soon. Thank you.

Very brief.

Will the House please come back to order. Continuing on under special orders, Representative Jimmy. Mr. Speaker, on the topic of Anginikangut. Representative Jimmy.

Who are you wishing happy birthday to? Nobody here. Okay. Representative Aishide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On the topic of Remember—. On the topic of Remember—. Mr. Speaker, today is Peace Officers Remembrance Day, and the peace officers that help protect us and serve us put their life at great risk every day. They're the ones that risk their lives.

Run towards the danger. Last year, 53 peace officers did not make it back from their day of work. And, you know, one thing that's often forgotten is the families that remain and the difficulty in that kind of service. So I just want all of us to take a moment of silence to remember all the folks that help protect all of us every day. And I would ask members to join me in a moment of silence.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Representative Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Permission to speak on Hmong American Veterans Day. Representative Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today is also a significant day for the 3,500 or so Hmong in the state of Alaska. Today is Hmong American Veterans Day. This is a holiday that was established by the state legislature quite a few years ago with House Bill 56. Honoring the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Hmong that were recruited to fight against the communist Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War, aiding United States in our efforts. As many as 100,000 Hmong soldiers were recruited, and they provided everything from guarding U.S. Air Force installations to providing critical intelligence undertaking rescue operations for downed American pilots, all in support of the great ideals of the United States and supporting the United States Armed Forces, the United States Central Intelligence Agency, while they conducted operations in Laos.

The Hmong soldiers suffered greatly because of this. It is reported that up to 10 times the rate of U.S. service members in the Vietnam War And because of the United States' effort in Laos was secret, their efforts are not necessarily well known. So it is called the Secret War. And so there's not a lot of attention brought to the Hmong veterans. And that is part of what Hmong American Veterans Day is all about.

In Alaska, we have quite a large portion of Hmong in Mountain View and in East Anchorage. If you ever had a chance, the Saturday market out in my district, House District 18, has some delicious food and great Hmong culture. It is a staple of the community every weekend during the summer.

Although the numbers of Hmong veterans are dwindling every year, it's still good that we take every May 15th to get up and remember them and remember their efforts. Supporting their causes the way that they supported us all throughout the Vietnam War. So please join me in celebrating Hmong American Veterans Day today. Thank you. Representative Stutes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I have an opportunity to speak on Going, Going, Gone? Representative Stutes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to bring to the attention once again of this body that we have two senior people from the other body that are going to be going, going, gone.

And we had a very lovely little celebration earlier today in the— down the hall. And we have two senators that have spent a lot of time in these bodies. And if you happen to see either one of them, and I'm sure you might know who they are, please tell them thank you for your service. Thank you.

Representative Galvin. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the topic of 22. Representative Galvin. Thank you.

My firstborn child of 4 was born on 2 days ago. I didn't get a chance to say happy birthday to him. I hope he's watching.

And he was 22 inches, which is my lucky number. And then now he's 6'5", which means that it's hard for me to even get up there to see his eyes. But I'm so proud of him. He is a scientist. He's an entrepreneur.

His favorite song when he was little was "Joy to the World", and he just brought so much joy to my world. Also, I'm grateful to him Cooper has been a driver for my other 3 kids. He, over many years as a teenager, he had to bring all 3 of them to different schools while I worked. And I just feel so grateful to have him in my life. So happy birthday, Cooper.

Representative Foster. Yes, Mr. Speaker, topic is Mel's birthday. Representative Foster. Yes, Mr. Speaker, if you see my front desk today, Melanie Lesh, please do wish her a happy birthday.

Mr. Majority Leader. Mr. Speaker, only because our rules chair mentioned going, going, gone for two members of the other body, I would like very, very quickly, Mr. Speaker, Representative Thirteen is also going, going, gone. Very quickly, topic member, member who is going and gone. Looks like he's already gone.

Our own member from District 13. Very quickly, Mr. Speaker, very quickly, Representative Josephson is going to be leaving us very quickly. Thank you.

Representative Foster, does he still have anything on his desk next to you back there? No, apparently not. All right, well, to back cleanup and our final special order. Representative Gray. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On the topic of a birthday. On a birthday. And I have to say, Mr. Speaker, I was prepared to give this special order what feels like many years ago, but was actually just 2 days ago. So here it goes. In 1952, a little baby named Joe and a little baby named Judy were born, and a couple decades later, they met at Chilkoot Charlie's, the Girdwood location.

They got together and they opened a gun range in South Anchorage and lived a hardcore party lifestyle. And Joe— and then in Mountain View, a couple years later, they went to a revival They met the Lord, they gave up their partying lifestyle, they closed the gun range, and they moved to the Matsu Valley. Joe worked construction and built half the fences in Anchorage, and Judy worked at GCI. And they, uh, gave— had their third baby born in their home when the, uh, midwives did not show up on time. Joe delivered the baby, and, uh, the beautiful member from HD27 was born.

There, um, 2 days ago, a certain number of years ago. 9 Years later, that third baby would help with the home delivery of her baby sister, and then the member from HD27 went on to be salutatorian of her class. She considered playing basketball at UNLV, but instead she did a lot of mission work in Guatemala, working at a girls' orphanage.

And she was 20 years old, she was working at that orphanage in Guatemala, and she felt a little sick. And one of her childhood friends who was there with her said, "You know what? I had a dream about babies, and I don't think we should take our malaria medication. You don't take yours, I won't take mine." But the Miracle 27 was just convinced that she had a parasite, and as her joke is that she went to the doctor and found out that she did have a parasite, It was— she was pregnant with her firstborn son. Um, her parents had met the father of the baby just once, and he had not been introduced as a romantic partner, and he was African-American.

And this is where I had a lot of assumptions, Mr. Speaker. I made a lot of assumptions about a, um, very religious couple in the Matsu Valley, very conservative, about, you know, a 20-year-old telling her parents that she was pregnant, and in this particular situation. But all my assumptions were wrong. And her father Joe said that he'd had a dream about a mixed-race boy in the backyard, and this was meant to be and her parents did nothing but support her and her family. She ended up marrying the father of her son, but it was about 10 years later, and then they had their little girl.

The member from HD27's husband was entrepreneur running his own hair salon. The member herself got into independent real estate, and the reason she did that was so that she had the max amount of time to be that mom that attended every single kid's event. And it was attending her son's basketball games at the start of COVID that really, uh, got her involved in politics. And she had never.

Thought about politics. She'd never— didn't know who was who or what was happening, but it was— she was very motivated to go to her first school board meeting and testify. And when she did that, there was a little bit of her that was— got involved. Other people noticed her, and there was the idea that she might run for school board. Also in early COVID, her beloved father Joe died.

As she put it, It didn't matter what anyone said about her online or in person. The most horrible thing that could have happened had, had happened, and she could take it. And she filed to run for the Matt School School Board, and she won. In her third year, she became president, and she navigated as president of the Matt School Board just incredibly vicious criticisms and attacks.

That was nothing compared to what she would put herself through in 2024 defeating a notorious fixture in this body. For the record, I'm a progressive Democrat, and, um, I just want to say David Eastman voted in lockstep with me so many times, so for that I'm extremely grateful.

But what is special about HD27 is her moral character, her fortitude, her joyous spirit that few others in this body have. Mr. Speaker, the member from HD27 has experienced loss and difficulties like we all have, but she's also been dragged through the mud in ways that few of us ever will be. But in spite of all of it, she has maintained a love for others, a jubilant spirit. She is a joy to be around that no one else can rival, and I want to quote her. I love people.

That's always been who I am. I may not agree with you, but even people that were coming to yell at us and call us horrible humans, the lens I would always try to look at them through was like, they must have something really hard going on in their life, or there's a reason that this emotion is coming out. Never once have I ever thought this is an evil human being.

Mr. Speaker, I'm so grateful to serve in the body with the member from HD27. I think she's been a blessing to all of us, and I hope that you will help me wish her a very happy birthday. Representative Underwood, the floor is yours. Oh man, thank you, and thank you for that walk down memory lane and making me cry in my chair a little bit, but I I think the biggest honor of my life is I deeply do love this state and serving with all of you in this body and being able to learn different pieces of Alaska that each of you carry into this room and shed a bigger love and a bigger light on the issues that you're passionate about, whether we agree or disagree. But you've just brought more awareness to why I love this state and why it's worth fighting for.

So I'm happy to be alive and healthy and here, and I don't want to grow one more second older on this House floor with you. So— Mr. Major, Leader. Mr. Speaker, I move and ask unanimous consent that the House stand in adjournment until Saturday, May 16th at 10:30 AM. There being no objection, the House will stand in adjournment until Saturday, May 16th at 10:30 AM.