House Finance, 5/19/26, 6pm

Okay, I'll go ahead and call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order. Let the record reflect that the time is currently 8:33 PM on Monday, May 18th, 2026. Present today, we do have Representative Stapp, Representative Co-Chair Schrag, Representative Co-Chair Josephson, Representative Jimmy, Representative Galvin, Representative Tomaszewski, Representative Hannan, Representative Ellard, myself, Co-Chair Foster, and I think we've only got about 20 minutes or so. I think there's a desire to try to get back to the floor in about 20 minutes. So unless I hear otherwise, that's what we're going to shoot for.

And the first bill that we have up is Senate Bill 174. That is the invasive species management bill. And Senator Dunbar, as well as your staff, Mr. Hunter Lotzfeld, if you could please come up and just give us a quick refresher on what the bill does, and then we'll see if there are any more questions and then jump right into the amendment process. Senator Dunbar. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. House Finance, um, very quickly, SB 174 creates an invasive species management council. It creates a response fund but does not charge the fund. It also directs the council to create a 5-year strategic plan to deal with invasives in Alaska. Yeah, thank you.

Do we have any questions? Seeing none, we'll jump right into the amendments. Representative Stout. Thank you, Co-Chair. I move Amendment 1.

Okay. And does anybody object? Object. Okay, we have an objection. Representative Stout.

Yeah, thank you, Co-Chair. So Amendment 1 basically adds basically feral cats to the amendment. It's a spay and neuter bill. Everyone at this commencement is familiar with it. And there's a second part of the bill, and I think I'll kick it over to my co-sponsor, co-chair Schrag, to address the second part, if you would be willing.

Okay. Representative Schrag. Yeah. Thank you, Co-Chair Foster. The second part just allows for spay and neuter of feral cats.

And specifically, the issue is that when a community— when a cat is picked up in the community if you don't have the permission of the landowner to deposit it back, they're not able to neuter and re-release the cat. So this would fix that so that a cat can be picked up, spayed, ear clipped, and returned into the community should animal control or otherwise want to do that. Okay. I'd like to note that we also have with us Representative Moore, and we are on the Invasive Species Bill, and we have currently introduced Amendment Number 1 from Representative Stapp and Sharagi. Is there any further discussion?

Representative Hannon. Thank you, Co-Chair Foster. My question is procedural. Can we adopt a fiscal note from a very similar bill to this amendment that appeared before us to accompany it so that if this bill passes, we have a fiscal note that can be adopted into the budget? And let me— Representative Stout.

Yeah, thank you, Chair Foster. The effective date on the Spaniard is delayed, so there wouldn't be an effect of the fiscal note needing to be adopted in the bill for this year. It's delayed until 2028. That's correct. Through the chair.

Okay. Any further discussion on Amendment Number 1? Also, I'd like to note that we do have Representative Bynum with us. Representative Galvin. Thank you.

Just if If we could, Co-Chair, if we could hear from the sponsor of the bill just to ensure that there's a— this is considered a friendly amendment. Senator Dunbar. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would say that I'm neutral on the amendment.

Clearly fits. Cats are an invasive species if not handled correctly. I haven't heard the bill from which this derives, so I wouldn't take a position, but I I just say I'm not, I'm not strongly opposed. Okay. Further discussion on Amendment Number 1?

Representative Bynum. Thank you, Co-Chair Foster. Yeah, I'm, I'm probably not in support of jamming this bill into this invasive species bill that we have. I think the invasive species bill is a standalone piece of legislation that's very important. To the state of Alaska and making sure that we have that coordination.

But if the committee wants to put that in this bill and they think the bill will be successful by putting it in, you know, vote your conscience on it. But I wasn't prepared to have this in front of us to make that kind of a— make that kind of a vote today on a bill that, that, um, is really not, not in alignment with what what we're trying to do with the invasive species bill. Okay. Further discussion on Amendment Number 1? Is the objection maintained?

Would you like wrap-up, Representative Stapp? No. Okay. Representative—. I think I had it.

Okay. Any further objection? Object. Okay. We have an objection from Representative Bynum.

I think you made your comments. So, Madam Clerk, we are on Amendment Number 1. If you could please call the roll. Representative Hannon. Yes.

Representative Tomaszewski? Yes. Representative Moore? Yes. Representative Allard?

No. Representative Stapp? Yes. Representative Gelvin?

Pass. Representative Jimmy? Yes. Representative Bynum? No.

Representative Gelvin? Yes. Representative Josephson? Yes. Representative Schragg?

Yes. Representative Foster? Yes. 9 Yea, 2 nay. So on a vote of 9 yea, 2 nay, Amendment #1 has been adopted.

That takes us now to Amendment #2, and that is by Representative Staff— or no, Representative Schragg. I'll move Amendment #2. Object, Representative Schragg. This—. Thank you, Co-Chair Foster.

This is just building off of Amendment #1, slightly broader definition to include community cats, which Well, if you read the amendment, it's quite self-explanatory. Thank you. Senator Dunbar. I'll just say I love cats. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Okay. Any further discussion on Amendment Number 2? Seeing none, I'm going to remove my objection. Representative Bynum.

Thank you, Co-Chair Foster. For the same reasons that I disagreed with Amendment Number 1, I'll be disagreeing with number 2. I also love cats, and my cat Olive would probably be disappointed in my votes of no putting this in the bill, but I just wasn't prepared to add a bunch of items to, I think, what should be a standalone bill in dealing with invasive species. But I will accept whatever the will of the committee is and ultimately will support the underlying bill as it moves through the process after this. Okay.

Representative Galvin. Thank you, Representative. Co-chair Foster, I just wanted to put on record that this is not an amendment that is killing cats. This is simply around spay and neutering. And I think it's important to note that I have had cats for all my life, and even though I'm allergic to them, I still have had them.

And I certainly wouldn't want any of them to be killed. And this does not allow for that. That's not what this is about. I just want to put that on the record. Thanks.

Further discussion on Amendment Number 2? Seeing none, I'm going to— uh, would you like wrap-up, Representative Sharagi? Not necessary, thank you. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and remove my objection on Amendment Number 2. Was there an objection?

We do have an objection, and so, Madam Clerk, if you could please call the roll on Amendment Number 2. Representative Galvin? Yes. Representative Allard? No.

Representative Stapp? Yes. Representative Hannan? Yes. Representative Jimmy?

Yes. Representative Bynum? No. Representative Tomaszewski? Yes.

Representative Moore? Yes. Representative Schraggi? Yes. Representative Josephson?

Yes. Representative Foster? Yes. 9 Yea, 2 nay. So on a vote of 9 yea to 2 nay, Amendment Number 2 has been adopted.

Are there any further amendments? Seeing none, do we have any further questions for the sponsor of the bill before I entertain a motion? Representative Ballard. Thank you. Through the co-chair, Senator Dunbar, did you have a sunset date on this particular— I didn't notice if you did.

I was—. I should have probably brought an amendment for it because I wanted it to be 3 years just to see if the board actually worked. Mr. Lotzfeld, if you can put yourself on the record. Thank you, Chair. Under lots of stuff, Senator Dunbar, for the record.

Yeah, we have a sunset date of July 1st, 2035. That's a while. Okay. All right. Okay.

See no— Representative Bynum. Yeah. Thank you, Co-Chair Foster. Before we go, I just appreciate Senator Dunbar for bringing this bill forward. It's a really important bill.

As far as the invasive species go, it's really important for all of Alaska, but primarily down in my region in District 1 with the invasion of green crab coming in. I know that it will have— this bill will have a positive impact on us trying to get ahead of that hundreds of millions of dollars of damage that will occur to our fisheries by green crab invasion and other invasive species. And so I do appreciate you carrying this bill through and bringing it. And the only final thing I would say is I hope that Representative Schragg still gets credit for being the cat lover here by putting in community cats. So, thank you.

Representative Schragg. I'd just like to share credit with Representative Stapp. We both love our cats. Oh, okay. Representative Stapp.

Yes, we do. Representative Hannon. Thank you. And I wanted to chime in and thank Senator Dunbar for taking on invasive species. And I know that we have a companion bill on the House side and You know, Alaska is a place where we have a lot of invasive species in our wild ecosystem, both flora, fauna, animals, and we have not put many resources, and it's a much more complex problem to deal with, but I think most of our communities are very familiar with stray dogs and cats and the health problems and conflicts they commit.

You know, we have people who are seriously harmed and fatally injured on a regular basis by unmanageable dogs. And so I think although they're not an invasive species, we consider them domesticated. I think dogs and cats are very problematic in many of our communities, and it's a more tangible, resolvable issue. I think invasive species, it is a much more complex, and I'm very appreciative of the council to take on what is complex science affecting long-term economics in Alaska. I'd like to recognize that we have with us in the audience Representative Himschute.

Thanks for joining us this evening. Anybody else have any comments, questions? Seeing none, I would entertain a motion. Representative Sharagi. Co-chair Foster, I move SB 174, Work Order 34-LS0901/A, out of committee as amended with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note.

House Finance Committee authorizes legislative legal to make any technical and conforming changes necessary. Okay, is there any objection? Seeing none, Senate Bill 174, which is version 34-LS0901/A, moves out of House committee as amended, out of the House Finance Committee as amended, with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. House Finance Committee authorizes legislative legal to make any technical and confirming changes as necessary. And so with that, folks can please stick around and sign the yellow committee report.

Senator Dunbar, any Comments? Just two things, Mr. Chair. One, I also like dogs. I want that on the record.

And second, I really want to also thank Representative Himschute, who's in the room, who did a lot of work on this bill. It just happened that my version went through, but she deserves a lot of credit for this. So thank her and thank you. Great. Thank you.

So with that, I'm going to go ahead and recess this meeting of House Finance at 8:45 and please sign the committee report.