HSTA-260514-1515

I'd like to call this meeting of House State Affairs to order. The time is currently 3:20 on Thursday, May 14th, and we're here in room 120 Please silence cell phones today. Members present include Representative St. Clair, Representative McCabe, Representative.

Vance, Representative Holland, Representative Himshue, and myself, Chair Carrick. Let the record reflect we have a quorum to conduct business. Our record secretary is Cecilia Miller, and our moderator from the Juneau LAO is Renzo Moises, and our committee aide, as always for today's hearing, is my staff, Stuart Relay. Uh, we have a couple of items on our agenda today, and just for committee members' information, we do have a shortened schedule because we have to head back to the House floor. Um, so there's a couple items on today's agenda we may not get to in lieu of that time crunch.

Um, but we will do what we can to hear the bills, and we will also be noticing a hearing for Saturday. So we will be having likely one more committee hearing on Saturday as well. Um, okay. So at this time, we're gonna be taking up House Bill 301 from Representative Galvin, which is relating to nondiscrimination. We're going to have an introductory hearing from Representative Galvin and then take invited and public testimony.

And I will turn it over to Representative Galvin and her staff. Well, thank you, Madam Chair and members of the State Affairs Committee. I appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity to introduce House Bill 301. This bill is an important and necessary effort to close a loophole in current Alaska statutes and ensure that our civil rights laws clearly protect Alaskans from discrimination.

The bill does, does this by adding a definition of sex to include gender, gender identity, sexual orientation. It also adds the word sex to a particular statute dealing with real estate marketing and transactions that previously omitted it from among the protected characteristics already recognized in that statute. Such as race and religion and age or marital status. This update will bring Alaska's discrimination statutes into alignment with the existing U.S. Supreme Court case law. In 2020 decision Bostock v. Clayton County, the United States Supreme Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

That case involved a county government employee in Georgia who was fired after expressing an interest in joining a gay softball team. The court made clear that discrimination against someone for being gay or transgender is a form of discrimination because of sex. House Bill 301 imports that standard into Alaska law. This legislation is also consistent with the recommendations made by the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. In a 2016 report, the Commission identified the need to strengthen Alaska's human rights protections and ensure that Alaskans are not left vulnerable because of gaps or ambiguity in statute.

House Bill 301 helps ensure that a person cannot be denied a job, fired, refused housing, treated unfairly by a landlord, denied the opportunity to rent or buy a residence, or refused access to services simply because of who they are. This legislation does not create a special class of rights. It ensures equal treatment under existing civil rights laws. It makes clear that discrimination based on sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, has no place in Alaska. Aalaskaan.

Every Alaskan deserves dignity, respect, and equal opportunity. House Bill 301 helps close a legal gap, aligns Alaska law with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and provides clarity for individuals, employers, landlords, businesses, and the public. I respectfully ask for the committee support for House Bill 301. And again, I thank you for hearing this, and thanks to my staff, uh, David Jiang, for being here. And we are happy to support, answer questions, or go through, uh, um, the bill if you wish.

Excellent. Thank you very much, Representative Galvin, for both bringing this forward and for those introductory comments. Typically we would go through a sectional, but the section is very short for this bill despite the the magnitude of the testimony online and the policy. So I think at this time we are going to go directly to testimony, just given the shortness of time today. Thank you, Representative Galvin.

We have one person for invited testimony today, and I'm just going to double-check that they are online.

Yes, they are. Um, so I'd like to invite Reverend Michael Burke with the Alaska Christian Conference, who is joining us on the phone and was asked to be invited testimony today. If you could please state your name and affiliation for the record and provide your invited testimony in 3 minutes if possible.

Thank you. My name is Reverend Michael Burke, B-U-R-K-E, and I'm testifying on behalf of HB 301 today.

I want to thank the chair and the committee for this opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of 301. I'm testifying today in my capacity as the president of the Alaska Christian Conference. We are a statewide organization of churches and lay and pastoral leaders. Our roots go all the way back to 1964 in Alaska, and we've been a voice for faith communities since shortly after statehood. Originally, we were the exclusive voice of Christian churches, but today we have programs and partnerships that involve a number of other faith traditions as well.

We tend not to testify on too many issues, but the issue of basic fairness and non-discrimination is one of the top priorities for our members and our churches. In our shared Jewish and Christian traditions, love of God and love of neighbor is at the very heart of our beliefs. It's disheartening for us after all these years that we're still discussing the core moral value of equality and nondiscrimination for all Alaskans. I myself have served as a pastor for over 30 years in Alaska. I've heard many stories.

Let me share one quickly from a few years ago. A family had recently arrived at the church and wanted to speak with me about their two elementary schoolgirls. They had recently lost their housing because their owner was rehabilitating the building, and they had sought out another apartment in a nearby apartment, multifamily apartment building, and everything was fine with their application until they turned it in and the manager asked who the second female name was on the lease. And a woman explained, that's my wife, these are our children. She said, oh, I don't know that we can do this.

Uh, turns out that apartment was suddenly unavailable, although up to that point it had been available. They ended up finding housing elsewhere, but it was outside of the area of the Children's Neighborhood School. So these two girls, young girls with their little pink backpacks and glitter sneakers, had to switch schools simply because of housing discrimination against them. It's just one of so many different stories about discrimination throughout the state in housing and public services and employment simply because of who people love. So on behalf of our member churches, I want to testify on behalf of non-discrimination and the basic Alaskan and American values of freedom and fairness and equality.

Thank you for your time today. Um, thank you very much, Reverend Burke, and really appreciate you calling in and addressing the committee. Normally we would let our committee members ask questions of invited testifiers, and again, we are relatively short on time compared to our original schedule, so we are going to move directly to public testimony at this time. And I am going to at this time open public testimony on House Bill 301. We have, just for members and folks online who have called in to testify, for information, we have approximately 35 people online today, and I expect possibly more will call in as we go through testimony.

There will be a strict time limit of just 2 minutes today for testimony, and I deeply apologize in advance for anybody that I have to cut off from completing their testimony today. We will start in the room. Is there anybody in the room who would like to testify? I see a couple of folks. Please go ahead and— if you'd like to both come up to the table.

You're all good. Go ahead and come on up. Yep. And we'll just go one at a time, but if you could put your name on the record before testifying, and then please keep the testimony to 2 minutes or less. Oops.

I didn't know they had wheels.

Hello, thank you very much. I'm Maureen Longworth, Dr. Maureen Longworth of.

Retired physician here in Juneau.

Did you say you needed my location? That was—. Juneau. That was perfect. Today I dust off testimonies and emails I've given over the past 30 years.

There isn't enough time to gather the stories of Alaskan loss and heartbreak imposed by a state that doesn't include all of us as equals. I am a physician recruited to Juneau in 1992. I turned down private practice where I would have had a higher salary and my family would likely have been covered by private health insurance. I accepted a search job instead because I believe in providing high-quality medical care to all regardless of status or income. I was their first doctor to ask to insure a same-gender spouse every year for 13 years.

This request was denied. My wife was recruited by the state and one of the career counselors who opened the Juneau Job Center. Neither would her state insurance cover me. Our choice to move and work in Alaska cost us over $10,000 in medical copayments and travel that would have been covered for any other family. But not ours.

We sued and in 2007 won equal health benefits for state workers. So why am I here 19 years later testifying? I won't repeat what Representative Elise Galvin said. There is a shortcoming in our Alaska state of not granting equal protection under the law to all Alaskans. I wanna also remind you that national and state societies of physicians of family and internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN, psychiatry, and the AMA all agree the healthiest American communities are those where equal rights are protected for all citizens.

The Alaska Family Medicine Association advises the same. Why would our legislators choose anything but equality for all Alaskans when there is no evidence that any other choice benefits anyone? Yet these equality bills have never passed. So now here we are again. You are being given the opportunity now to hit the home run and bring Alaska to the standard it has always deserved.

Please, please push 301 through. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate you testifying. It looks like Lynn Davis.

Lynn Davis. Hi. And I am a longtime Juneau person from the '93 we moved here, Maureen and I did. And I sent the committee a long email because some of the information I wanted to share takes more than 2 or 3 minutes, so I would encourage you to read that. The thing I'd like to point out during my speaking is the discrimination that came up around 2014 and 2019, and it really appeared that the state structured itself and its departments to discriminate against hardworking military same-sex couples.

They were prevented from getting their PFDs, and it was unknown how many had actually been prevented, but 4 of them sued, and it took several years of department heads saying this has to end, for that discrimination to end. There were structures in the language of who could get a PFD that was possibly unlawful and misleading, and all of us appreciate the service of our military families, but to have many of them not be able to get the PFDs for their family and kids is really a stunning and striking discrimination. And, um, and the state was very apparently very involved in that. And this is an extremely sad detail. And thank you very much for for letting me share this, and I hope you'll read my email.

Thank you. Thank you very much for being here and for testifying.

Okay, we're going to go online for testimony now. Thank you both for joining us here in the room. We're going to start with Carl Backford in Dillingham.

Hello. Hello. Okay, hello. My name is Carl Backford from Dillingham, Alaska. And I see the names of the people on the committee.

I see Ashley Carrick, Andy Story, Rebecca Himschute— that sounds like a former Dillingham resident— uh, also Holland, Sarah Vance, and, uh, Kevin McCabe. So I'm testifying against this bill. If passed, the bill would modify statutes related to public accommodations, rentals, facilities, employment, housing. Similar bills across the nation have forced business owners to create arcades and engage in photo shoots that violate their deeply held religious moral convictions. Other such laws have forced faith-based groups and churches to provide services such as renting venues for homosexual weddings, or adhering to the so-called gender identity policies related to dress, pronouns, bathroom usage, and other practices which contradict traditional morality.

So for these reasons, I am opposed to this bill, and thank you. Thank you for calling in and, uh, for testifying. We're going to go now to Josh Smith in Chugiak.

Hi, my name is Josh Smith. I'm an Air Force veteran and small business owner from Chugiak, and I'm here calling on my own behalf in support of House Bill 301. As a gay man, I served under the Air Force under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. On one hand, they preached integrity first, but then on the other hand, we were told to hide who we are, who we love, and how we live our life outside of work. Integrity really starts to feel kind of hollow when you have to hide who you are from your brothers and sisters in arms in order to serve.

After the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the theme of hiding continued. When I bought my home, I did not mention my partner or include them in any of the meetings. While I recognize that most Alaskans are amazing humans, I knew without anti-discrimination protections regarding banking and housing, I knew that it would only take one person to derail my dream of owning a home or starting a life here. The reality is that is the privileged position. I was able to choose careful language to avoid suspicion, but many members of the LGBTQ community do not have that privilege of hiding who they are to avoid folks from denying them opportunities they otherwise qualify for.

This even becomes more obvious when you consider trans people of color have one of the highest rates of housing insecurity. Much of it's due to discrimination that is allowed to continue. This is wrong and needs to change. The reality is, following the Bostock case with the Supreme Court determining that discrimination based on one's gender identity and sexual orientation regarding employment was unlawful Alaska did what was right. They added gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of protected categories in Alaska.

But after a few years, we know the governor and religious figures decided that they didn't agree, and they removed the protections for everything except for employment for queer people. The reality is no one left Alaska in those years because queer people had anti-discrimination protections. It just kept good people honest. But since the protections have been removed, queer people and families have been faced with a difficult decision. Do they stay in a place that deems them unworthy of civil rights protections, or do they take their talents elsewhere?

This includes doctors, nurses, school teachers, public servants, military members and their families. Many have left Alaska, just continuing the trend of declining population. We have to do better. Including anti-discrimination protections for queer people takes nothing from anybody, while giving queer people the confidence that they can set down roots in Alaska, buy homes, and share their talents and skills within the community, and know that they are worthy of protections. It's really not that hard.

It's time to send a message to every community member that the mountains are for everybody. Passing House Bill 301 is an easy way to convey that fact. Thank you for the opportunity, and please vote to pass House Bill 301. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Josh Smith.

Appreciate, um, how quickly you got through that very detailed testimony. We're going to go to Thomas Owens next.

Hello, my name is Thomas Owens. I'm a college student born and raised in Alaska. I want to thank all our Alaskan representatives for their commitment to equality. However, I feel parts of House Bill 301 are dangerous to Alaska. This bill will strip away the First Amendment rights of business owners and religious groups.

Our Constitution rises supreme over any bill you might introduce. No government can compel private business or school to surrender its constitutional rights. Forcing a church to celebrate an LGBTQ wedding is like forcing a Hasidic Jew to eat bacon or forcing a Hindu restaurant to serve beef. Furthermore, Section 2 of this bill directly attacks women's right to privacy and endangers women.

If you pass this, what happens to private bathrooms in businesses and schools? Any man could temporarily identify as a woman to gain access based on the sexuality definitions in Section 2 of your bill. We must agree on certain biological scientific criteria to protect women. If this bill passes, predators masquerading as women could perv on girls in schools and public bathrooms. Would you let any person with a penis watch your daughter undress and shower?

I have two younger sisters and I would be outraged if anyone used this law to peep on them. And if you doubt this would happen, rest assured, plenty of closeted perverts and pedophiles are just waiting for such an opportunity. This bill literally opens women's bathroom doors to men who claim to feel like women by changing state definitions of sexuality. Take a stand to protect women by keeping their bathrooms private and take down Section 2 of House Bill 301A. Thank you for your time.

Um, thank you for calling in to testify. We're going to go now to Alex Jaffrey in Fairbanks.

Yes, um, Alex Jaffrey, the man who helped kill 1693 in Fairbanks, and I'd like to speak in support of several amendments for this bill before we attempt to pass it. We need religious freedom protection. Um, I'll tell you this much, as a member of the SSPX resistance Founded by my uncle, the saintly Bishop Richard Williamson, uh, who my support for has got me fired as a result of interference from Bible Baptists and other Protestant extremist Zionist groups. Um, I'm sure a few LGBT groups as well. To put together homosexuality, which is inborn, and the church teaches this, even the Vatican II says this is right, And transgenderism on this bill is going to cause a bunch of needless conflict.

To allow biological men into women's changing rooms is a horrible idea. It's, it's ripe for abuse. And it's not just men masquerading as trans people that do this. Um, we just had a transgender activist in Canada convicted for child pornography, and apparently a good bit of it. Yeah, we have to look at the facts of the case here.

As far as housing discrimination, a unit where the landlord dwells in the immediate area, even if he's not a duplex, you have to allow that person, um, if you feel safe in his or her own home. And you have to realize there are violent people on the left, and there are violent people in the gay community. I should know, um, after standing up against 1693. And again, I should have stood up for amendments for it instead, looking back at it. I was wrong.

The church did not teach Don Brunson's position on homosexuality, taught Bishop Williamson's position, which, lo and behold, Bishop Williamson was right. And I'm sure that some people within the sound of my voice are familiar with Bishop Williamson's position on the half of 12 million, which I also agree with. But that's not relevant here. What's relevant is that this legislation is well-intentioned. Anything happens—.

I'm sorry, Mr. Jaffrey, we're going to have to move on, but thank you for calling in to testify. Um, we're going to go next to Brianna Campbell in Anchorage. And again, we do have a large volume of testifiers online. If it is possible to keep the testimony even shorter than 2 minutes, we would really appreciate being able to hear from as many people as possible in the short time we have today. Um, but I appreciate Brianna Campbell for calling in, and if you could please start your testimony.

Hi, my name is Brianna Campbell. I'm calling on behalf of myself from Anchorage in support of HB 301. I will keep it short and sweet. I am a queer Alaskan who just believes that every person deserves the right and the freedom to create families, build loving relationships, and be who we are without facing discrimination based on our own personal private lives. Thank you.

Thank you very much for calling in. We will go next to Cal Bacon in Anchorage.

Hi. Hi, my name is Cal Bacon. I'm in Anchorage District 1. Thank you for your time, and I'm an Alaska Native transgender man. I've lived in Alaska all my life.

I'm a case manager currently serving for elders and people with disabilities, and I remember testifying in front of the Anchorage Assembly when I was a youth to get support for these protections in Anchorage, and I'm very proud and thankful that we have those. And I believe that those rights should be extended to all Alaskans, because as Brianna said, we should all just be able to live our lives, and no one should be denied housing and the right to live and work and love who we want. Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in today. Uh, we will go next to Gene Trischinski— I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name— in Wasilla.

Hi, my name is Jeanne Trischinski. Can you hear me? I can't really tell if I'm unmuted. We can, yes. Okay, I'm calling from Wasilla, Alaska.

I've lived in Alaska for 33 years. I— this is a personal, um, issue for me. I'm calling in support of Bill 301. I am an old white straight woman, but I have family members and very good friends who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, and I believe that they deserve all the rights that everyone else in our state deserves. And I really encourage you to move this bill forward, and let's take the state of Alaska into the 21st century.

These folks are our neighbors, they're our friends, they're members of our community, Let's support the LGBTQ+ community. Please vote to move forward 301. Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in today. We'll go now to Kayla Ewert in Anchorage.

Yes. Hi, my name is Kayla Ewert. Thank you so much for your time. I'm a resident in Anchorage. I live in the Spenard area.

And I'm calling to support HB 301. Life is hard enough for all of us, and this bill removes another barrier that holds LGBTQ+ people back from being equal contributing members of society and from enjoying the same rights as every other Alaskan. I'm a woman, I'm bisexual, and I have worked for employers where I had to be closeted for fear of being fired. So this is a very personal issue for me. I want to also address the comments from some other folks.

Gendered bathrooms have never kept me or any other woman safe in this country. The fear of unisex bathrooms is unbounded and creates a cruel perception in society against my trans friends. And please, please vote in favor of I'm calling in to testify today. Um, we will go next to Asa Pendergrast in Fairbanks.

Hello, my name is Asa Pendergrast. I'm from Fairbanks District 34, and I'm calling on behalf of myself, and I'm testifying in support for House Bill 301. Housing is one of the most a fundamental need of all people, and I believe it is the duty of government and society at large to provide all of its members equal opportunity to housing. Every Alaskan deserves to be treated fairly and with dignity in all aspects of their daily lives, including housing. I believe that House Bill 301 helps ensure that our state laws reflect the American values of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

By bringing Alaskan law in line with current federal policy as per the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. This bill provides clear standards for housing protections, will help them build stronger communities where people can live and work without fear of unequal treatment. Supporting equal treatment under the law benefits families, workers, businesses, and communities across Alaska by promoting fair access to secure housing. Which is proven to reduce economic anxiety, social unrest, poverty, and crime. I respectfully encourage you to support House Bill 301.

Thank you for your time. Thank you very much for calling in to testify today. We'll go next to Jessica Saiki in Anchorage.

Hello, my name is Jesse Saiki. I'm a Lifelong Alaskan who grew up in Wasilla, and I'm an East Anchorage resident, and I am testifying in support of House Bill 301. I'm currently studying for my Master's of Social Work and working full-time, and we need this bill, and I personally need it because I need to be protected at work. And in school. I and so many others have endured lifetimes and years of this discrimination and downright harmful bullying and cyberbullying.

And for myself, this includes multiple incidents of people attempting to publicly humiliate me,.

Me and attempt to threaten myself and our community. This bill gives me hope, and in order to be able to fully and safely participate in life, we need these protections. I thank the hardworking folks who put this bill together. Please everyone, support this bill, and thank you. Thank you for, for calling in today.

Next, we will go to Tristan Meath in Anchorage.

Hi, my name is Tristan Meath. I live in Anchorage, and I'm calling in support of House Bill 301. As a queer Alaskan, I've personally been affected by the lack of protections for LGBTQIA+ people in our state. Um, and I just want to say that if you don't support this bill, you are actively demonstrating that you do not represent or care for all members of your community. If you're questioning the need for this bill, I implore you to look at your own workplace, your neighborhood, even your friend group, and ask yourself how many trans and queer people feel safe working or living there, because I certainly don't.

Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in and for your testimony today. We'll go next to Paul Bach in Hyder.

Thank you, Madam Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Paul Bach from Hyder, Alaska. I've lived in Alaska most of my life, and I'm calling on my own behalf in opposition of Bill 301. Respectfully, I urge you to reject this bill. I believe most Americans want fairness and do not want people to be unfairly discriminated against.

No one wants someone to be unfairly denied housing. I think we agree on this, but this bill does far more than that. This is exactly why I want to testify. This proposed bill is not a simple update. It is an attempt to enshrine in law an ideology that upends the fundamental realities of sex and gender, realities designed by God and recognized for thousands of years.

To add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to existing nondiscrimination statutes, it would effectively redefine sex from something biological and definite into a fluid, subjective feeling. If this path is taken, we're abandoning common sense for a framework that literally has no parameters, and in so doing threatens the religious liberty of all Alaskans. Current definitions protect women and girls with their own spaces. If this bill passes, it will allow biological men to encroach upon and occupy spaces specifically reserved for women, from locker rooms and bathrooms to the podiums of women's sports. The achievements and privacy of biological women will be sacrificed.

We must ask, can our legal framework of liberty survive an ideology that can't even define what a man or a woman is? If one— if one's identity may be a matter of how one feels at the moment, where does it end? Can an individual identify as 65 to claim Social Security? Similarly, someone should not be able to demand society play along with other self-assigned identities. The consequences for our institutions will be devastating.

This bill offers no protection for a Christian school that believes it should not be forced to employ a teacher whose lifestyle is diabolically contrary to its moral teachings. It offers no protection for a baker who refuses to celebrate a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs. Um, this bill chooses to prioritize—. I apologize, but your time for testimony has expired. Thank you.

I encourage you to vote no, please. Thank you very much for calling in today and for providing testimony. We will move now to Sarah Murtada in Palmer.

Good afternoon. Thank you, everyone. I'm calling in Palmer, Alaska, calling to support 301. One of the proudest parts of being an Alaskan is freedom. We have so much freedom up here— freedom to go hunting in the mountains, freedom to go fishing in the ocean, and we also have freedom to rent or own a home.

We're all Alaskans regardless of who we marry or our gender. This can ensure that every single one of us, regardless of who we are, has the same freedom in the law as well. So I ask you to support 301 today. Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in to testify.

We're going to go to the Anchorage LIO for a couple of testifiers that are there in person at this time. We will start with Phyllis Rhodes.

Thank you very much. My name is Phyllis Rhodes. I have lived in Anchorage, uh, since 1967, and I'm testifying in behalf and support of HB 301. From 2002 until 2014, that's 12 years, I volunteered almost daily at the Anchorage Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender Community Center. I also volunteered weekly answering their statewide LGBT helpline.

It is from these years of experience with LGBT individuals that I can speak to this committee about the detrimental effects and even dangers of ongoing discrimination statewide, not only in Anchorage but in rural Alaska as well. Although there are examples of lost housing and lost jobs, It is the youth of this state that concerns me most today. Although the GLBT Community Center was in Anchorage, it was not rare to have young people from rural Alaska come in seeking support and connection. They often disclosed to me their wrists with scars of self-inflicted bodily harm because of discrimination and LGBT isolation. These youth came from villages and towns across the state.

We'll begin a program of bringing isolated and scared youth to Anchorage for a youth conference to show them their value, support, and hope for their future.

I therefore urge you to please, uh, move this bill forward for consideration. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for calling in to testify. We'll go to Susan Niman, also in Anchorage.

Good afternoon. My name is Susan Niman. I have been— thank you for this privilege of testifying today. I have been in Anchorage. I've been in Alaska since 1988.

And I had a story that happened outside of Anchorage. I was invited to be a— the coordinator of a huge conference, that international conference, including to talk about including people with disabilities into regular youth service agency programs. I worked my butt off. It was a great conference until— and I had a great job— until such time as my employer discovered I was a lesbian. At which point, she locked the door to the office.

I think I lost my housing. I can't remember that exactly. It was a while ago, 1980. But if I had been a more frail person emotionally, anything could have happened. And I think that one thing that we have to look at with discrimination to anybody, whether we're gay and lesbian and bi and trans and whatever, or or Native or Black or who knows what.

The discrimination just takes the life out of people. And whoever's left on the other side, I don't know what they're really feeling, maybe anger or arrogance or whatever, but it's not about humanity. I really urge us to get this bill across the finish line, and let's stop discrimination. And sometimes you need a law to do that, because people don't always. And talk to people, talk to us, talk to trans folks.

You know, let's, let's build an Alaska that is for everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for testifying today. We will now stick with the Anchorage LIO. We have one more testifier in person there and go to Jacqueline Buckley.

Good afternoon. You know, Anchorage passed an ordinance to this effect and the sky did not fall. I just want to point that out. There's a long history of trying to get civil rights for LGBTQ folks in Alaska that goes back to the '70s, the '80s. But let me just say that in the late '80s, the Human Rights Commission for the State of Alaska put together a task force to study this issue, and people in the task force were not really in favor of this to start with, but after learning about the many stories and the damage that discrimination, bias, and hate crimes have done to individuals and groups within the Alaska community, they went ahead and put forward Resolution 90.01 to the legislature to encourage the legislature to pass this type of bill.

And, of course, it dropped dead. But here we are again, 36 years later, looking at the same issue. Where children and youth grow up feeling they must hide their identities because they do not feel safe or protected. There's no legal ramifications for anyone who treats someone very badly or hurts them or injures them unless it's an actual— something against the law that they have done. And until this is changed, it won't be against the law.

It's the law. Adults face firing from jobs, discrimination in housing, and people think that because it's 2026 and lots more people are out and people are aware of this issue that the discrimination has gone away, but let me assure you that it has not. Bias and discrimination continue to affect the safety and quality of life for LGBTQIA Alaskans. We need this law to be passed. We need a legal remedy when an employer, landlord, government agency or organization or individual discriminates.

I thank you for your time. Thank you very much for your testimony today. Appreciate you calling in. We're going to go back to Lisa Maloney in Anchorage on the phone.

Hi, my name is Lisa Maloney. I'm in Anchorage, testifying solely on behalf of myself, and I am calling to urge the House State Affairs Committee to please support HB 301. This is personal for me.

I am not LGBT myself, but I am surrounded by the best family, friends, acquaintances, and total strangers that are. I was just sitting here looking up estimates on what the percentage of LGBTQ population is, and it looks like it's, my best guess, probably around 10%, probably higher, because again, it's not safe for everybody to be out. So that means that everyone here who's listening and who's calling in, including the— let's call them what they are— religious extremists who are afraid of everybody having equality. You too are surrounded by these wonderful human beings, and if you don't know that fact, it's because they know that you are not safe to be trusted. I firmly believe that enshrining protections for everybody is a good first step toward all of us as a society becoming more trusting.

Justice. I would also like to briefly speak to the issue of bathrooms because I will tell you that as a woman, I would be delighted to share a bathroom with every transgender woman in town because they are going to be the safest people for me to be there with. Every person so far that has spoken and clutched their figurative pearls about the bathroom issue, I'd like to point out they all have male genitalia. And they are telling us that anyone with male genitalia is not to be trusted because they are inherently predators. So y'all are telling on yourselves if you can't be trusted around women because of the way your body is built, regardless of your gender identity.

I apologize, but we are, we are unfortunately going to have to move on. But thank you very much for calling in to testify today. I understand. Thank you. Thank you.

Um, appreciate you calling in. I am going to remind testifiers we have very limited time, and I would like to see if we can't get everybody who has called in a chance to testify. If it is possible to keep your testimony to fewer than 2 minutes, please do so. And again, deeply apologize to have to cut you all off today, and thank you for calling in. We're going to next go to Frederick Graham in Eagle River.

Hello, my name is Frederick Graham. I'm a lifelong Alaskan who grew up in the Mat-Su Valley, now living in Eagle River, and I'm calling on behalf of myself in extremely strong support of HB 301. I'm a transgender man who has faced discrimination, harassment, loss of employment, and violence in Alaska in response to my identity, and have community members who have been made homeless because of the protections that in this bill have not been in place. I implore you to follow the precedent set by the Supreme Court and pass HB 301 to protect your constituents. Thank you.

Thank you for calling in to testify. I'd like to go now to Rebecca Bernard in Anchorage.

Hi, my name is Rebecca Bernard. Um, I'm testifying today as a Unitarian Universalist minister and the parent of a young trans adult. I want to thank Representative Galvin for introducing this bill and this committee for holding a hearing on it and giving us all a chance to testify. I'm calling in to strongly support the bill and urge the committee to vote for it. As a Unitarian Universalist, I uphold the worth and dignity of every person, which I believe aligns with our fundamental American values of equality, justice, and freedom.

Everyone should have the same equal rights to work, to live, and to secure services free of discrimination. And, of course, as a parent, this is what I want for my daughter. I want her to be able to find a job where she can bring her gifts and skills to the world, to find safe and adequate housing, and to get the services that she needs without discrimination. This is a common sense bill that is based on the reality of people's lives and experiences, not on myths about supposed dangers, um, by trans and queer people, um, to, to those around them. And I urge the committee to pass it.

Thank you. Thank you for testifying. We're going to go now to David Leslie in Fairbanks.

Hello, my name is David Leslie. I'm speaking on behalf of myself today, but I am a board member of the Fairbanks Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and a dues-paying member of the Pride at Work Alaska chapter, an AFL-CIO recognized queer labor rights organization. I'm speaking today in favor of this bill. I'm so happy Elise Galvin introduced this. In the last year, I have faced discrimination in the workplace.

I have faced harassment, sexual harassment. In fear of my safety, I've had to deal with death threats. And having equal access, especially after Ordinance 1693 was vetoed by the city of Fairbanks mayor, this is so important. And in general, people follow laws. We saw with Don't Ask, Don't Tell, there was a huge tide shift in acceptance.

Passing this would be so important, especially for trans people, trans youth who are already being attacked on all sides by our federal administration, We must protect them and make sure they have access to the necessities of life. This is life or death. Please pass it. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for calling in.

Appreciate your testimony. We're going to go to Jacqueline Piser in Fairbanks.

Hello, my name is Jacqueline Piser. I'm speaking on behalf of myself. I'm supporting HB 301. Uh, it's kind of crazy to me that we're still having to have conversations about whether or not people should be treated equally and fairly in the United States. I mean, we're supposed to be a country of unity and oneness, and we can't even agree on simple things like giving people the basic rights that they should have of not being discriminated against for being who they are and expressing themselves out in public.

Thank you for your time. Thank you very much for calling in to testify. We're going to go now to Carly Jansen in Wasilla.

Hi, good afternoon. My name is Carly Jensen. I'm calling from Wasilla, Alaska.

On behalf of myself, I'm calling in to support protections against the discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. We all have the right to seek out a life of peace and prosperity and ensuring a safe and steady place to live and work and prosper is part of that. Now more than ever, it is time to show that Alaska believes in protecting an individual's rights to live how they see fit. Um, I have worked as a scientist for a little over 10 years. I have a background in biology, and as a biologist, uh, we define sex using a combination of criteria that are far beyond genitalia.

"Um, it is so tiresome to hear arguments from individuals claiming that binary is biologically upheld when it very much isn't." "The concern of women's safety is a hollow argument that is rooted in fearmongering when violence against women almost entirely committed by men who are very much not concerned about masquerading as women." "Instead of trying to play savior by discriminating against the LGBTQ+ communities, look to your own to point the finger at." I support House Bill 301. Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in today. We're going to go now to Santino Jordan in Anchorage.

Hi, my name is Santino Jordan. I'm a—. I'm transgender. I'm from Anchorage. I wasn't born out in Palmer, but I moved there when I was young enough, so I don't really like remember.

I've been in Alaska my whole life is what I'm saying, and I consider everybody here like my neighbors. And like, it is, it's kind of sad that we're still having this discussion because like everybody deserves the same housing protections that, you know, like anyone has. I have—. And employment protections too. I have faced employment discrimination.

I've faced harassment for my identity. But I'm not here to talk about that. This isn't about me. This is about equal rights for everyone. And here in Alaska, I mean, this really is the last frontier.

What's— part of what's so special.

About being here is that you get to like— it's so free. You get to choose who you are, and this bill would help really enshrine that. So I'd say put it through. Thank you. Thank you very much for calling in to testify.

We're going to go now to Alex Burry in Anchorage.

Hi, thank you. My name is Alex in Anchorage. And first, just really quickly, without any of the emotion, I'm calling in support of HB 301. From a purely logical and financial standpoint, I want to point out how much damage this would do if we don't pass it. I'm 56 years old.

I was born in Alaska. My parents are 85. They've lived here since 1965. I spend my— I own a home. I buy local furniture.

I buy groceries here. If I'm fired because I'm gay, then that immediately means the state is— I'm not gonna have money to spend. And more importantly, I care for my elderly parents and I would then need help from the state to care for them. So every time we fire someone just because of who they are, the state suffers. But more importantly, and I care much more about just the emotion, it breaks my heart to see young people who are sick and fired and homeless and even suicidal just because of how they were born.

Kids need protection and support, not cruelty, not exclusion. Alaska will be a weaker state, both morally and financially, if we adults who are in charge bully our kids, our struggling kids. Um, so thank you very much, and please pass HB 301. Thank you for calling in to testify today. We're going to go to Rebecca Stern in Anchorage.

Hello, my name is—.

Hello, my name is Becca Sterling and I'm a resident of Anchorage. I'm respectfully requesting that you support HB 301. LGBTQ+ Alaskans are friends, neighbors, family, and coworkers and should be treated no differently when it comes to earning a living, having a stable home, or being served by a business or government office. Nobody should have to worry about losing their home due to their sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, especially in Alaska's statewide housing crisis.

The LGBTQ+ community in Alaska is so vibrant, generous, loving, and loved. Discrimination towards any of us hurts all of us. Some communities have already adopted local non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ residents, but a lot of communities haven't. We need to ensure equal treatment for Alaskans across the state, no matter where they live. Again, please support HB 301 today, and thank you for taking public testimony.

Thank you very much for calling in to testify today. I'd like to go to Skylar Arend in Anchorage.

Hi, my name is Skylar Arendt. I'm a lifelong Alaskan. I've been born in Anchorage, raised here, lived here my whole 36 years, and I am transgender. I'm also a small business owner. I run a food truck, and I wanted to make two quick points.

First off, there seems to be some bizarre idea that people have that being trans is a new thing. Uh, it's really not. I have friends who are 70, 80 years old and are transgender. If you look back in history, there's plenty of evidence of transgender people who have existed throughout time. It is a traditional way of being because it's a real part of the human experience.

Also, as a small business owner, it galls me that somebody would argue that someone should be able to deny, uh, services to somebody based on whether or not they don't like them or don't agree with them. I run a food truck. I strongly held political beliefs, and if somebody comes up to me who doesn't agree with me, I should not be allowed to tell them that they don't deserve food. That's ridiculous. I am—.

So please, please pass this bill. Thank you. Um, thank you very much for calling in to testify today. We're going to go next to Misha Pinho in Juneau.

Hi. I just wanted to speak really quickly to the people who made comments in opposition. It seems like all of them were about bathroom access and rights of businesses and faith groups to refuse service in ways that are in opposition to their beliefs. And I read through all of Title 18, the law that this is amending, and I just wanted to assure those folks that this bill does not actually address those issues at all. Just wanted to get that off.

Sorry. Then also, I just wanted to talk about my experience. You know, I was born in the late '80s, and we had a lot of family friends that were in the queer community growing up, but even though it wasn't very accepted at that time. And as I was growing up, I knew that I was different. I knew that I wasn't gay, but I knew that there was something different about me.

And through the decades, it started to gain acceptance in the broader community, and we started to have a more nuanced view of gender and sexual identity. And it gave me a deeper and more true understanding of myself, and it's improved my life and my relationships. And I was starting to be more comfortable talking to others and sharing that and exploring my own itself. But in the past few years, we started to see these rights be ripped away. And I no longer feel safe to share my gender expression with just anyone now.

And even calling in here is kind of a big deal. So I have the privilege to fly under the radar, but a lot of people don't.

And so I just want to say this bill, um, It not only protects the real estate rights of people like me, but sends a message to the community that it's safe to have a better understanding of oneself.

And so passing this bill is not just practical, it sends a message that we're safe.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling to testify. Um, we're going to go to Tina Wagenstier in Anchorage.

Hello, my name is Kayla Wagenstier in Anchorage, and I'm calling in regards to convey my support for 301. I'll make it quick, but everybody else who is in support basically said everything I have to say. And I just like to emphasize that the ideas of this country were founded on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And the concept of taking away somebody's life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness simply because you disagree with how they show up in their person, external or internal, is baffling to me. Thank you, and please support HB 301.

Thank you for calling in to testify. And last on the list today, I have Jan Caulfield in Juneau.

Hello, thank you so much. I wanna— this is Jan Caulfield, Juneau, Alaska. I want to thank Representative Galvin for sponsoring this bill and thank the committee for this opportunity for so many of us to testify. I'm just calling in strong support of HB 301. I have family members who are trans and gay and non-binary, many friends and colleagues also in those communities.

And, um, just want to echo what everybody who's been calling in support of this bill has been saying about— really kind of can't believe that there's a base— a debate over basic human rights for our family and friends and colleagues, um, you know, especially in Alaska where we really value community and we value people's independence and ability to be themselves. And so strong support for 301. I urge you to pass it out of committee. Thank you. Thank you for calling in to testify, and thank you to everyone who has called in to testify.

For members' information, if you haven't already seen, we have just been delayed to the call of the chair for our meeting upcoming. At this time, we're going to take a very brief at ease, but first I'm going to close the loop and close public testimony at this time on House Bill 301.

Public testimony on House Bill 301 is closed, and we are going to take a brief at ease.

House State Affairs is back on the record. I just, again, really want to thank everybody who has called in to testify this afternoon. At this time, this is our first hearing on this bill, but I am going to, given the lateness of session, the extreme sensitivity of this issue to so many people across the state, and for a whole variety of other reasons, I'm going to look to Vice Chair Story for a motion.

Thank you, Chair Carrick. I move House Bill 301, um, Also known as 34-LS1384/a with attached fiscal notes and individual recommendations. Thank you for that. Sorry. And thank you.

We do have an objection. Representative Vance, would you like to speak to your objection?

Would anybody else like to speak on this legislation? Representative St. Clair? Thank you, Madam Chair. A lot of this is already covered in current law. I'm not going to go in, in great depth because, as you said, it is a divisive and very emotional topic.

But I will be a do not pass recommendation. Thank you. Thank you, Representative St. Clair, and thank you to this committee. I do recognize there are a lot of divergent opinions on this issue. It is also a legal question that's before us, so I do recognize the sensitivity of that.

I will just say I am one of the first 3 openly elected LGBT people in this body, and when I was elected When I was elected, I made a promise to myself that I would not anymore be the youth that I was, that was so scared to speak up, that faced the mental health issues that so many of the people who have called in today or called in on behalf of today have faced.

A large part of the reasons that I have lived the life and made the decisions that I have have been as a result of active discrimination on these exact subjects or fear of discrimination.

For myself, as for so many people, this is such a deeply personal issue, and furthermore, it is beyond me. I employ a staff member, as do many others in this building, who identifies as transgender, who has spoken out in positive favor of this legislation on multiple occasions.

And who I love very deeply. I do not want my staff member, my dear friends, my family members, or others who are actively or have experienced this discrimination to continue to face that. And more than anything, while we are moving this bill today, I apologize.

Very deeply that we could not take swifter action on this earlier in this legislature. And it is my fervent hope that the next legislature will take extremely swift action on this, that it will go through both bodies, that it will go to the governor's desk, and that, like so many have said today, we can stop having the same argument over and over and over again about something that seems so common sense to so many people.

I recognize where there's challenges and opposition, and I also thank people for testifying about that today.

It is a sensitive issue, and I want to be sensitive to where everyone on this issue is coming from. But I thank Vice Chair Stoye for making this motion today, and I thank everybody for calling in and testifying and for the 300 pages of people that we received within less than a week. Who have written their testimony, and I would encourage members of the public and members of this body to take a look at that testimony and to read it thoroughly if you have any questions about why this matters to so many people. Thank you. Will the clerk please call the roll on House Bill 301?

Representative Story. Yes. Representative Hemmschulte. Yes. Representative Holland?

Yes. Representative Vance? No. Representative McCabe? No.

Representative St. Clair? No. Chair Kerik? Yes. 4 Yeas, 3 nays.

With a vote of 4 yeas and 3 nays, House Bill 301 has been advanced from the State Affairs Committee. We will sign the paperwork after the meeting. I don't know how much time we have remaining in this meeting, so I'd like to go straight to our next items on the agenda just to ensure we have as much time as possible. For today's meeting. And thank you again to Representative Galvin for bringing this bill forward and to everyone who has testified.

Next on our agenda is a different topic altogether, House Bill 371 from Representative McCabe relating to campaign contributions and out-of-state contributions. We have heard this bill, I believe, 3 times at this point. We did set an amendment deadline at our previous hearing for Wednesday, May 13th at 5 PM. We did receive one amendment from my office, but just in taking a further look at that amendment, it may have a much broader scope than was initially intended. So I, I think just given the lateness of session and the desire of the bill sponsor to keep the bill more or less in its current form.

I'm not going to offer Amendment Number 1 today, and, uh, with that amendment not being offered, we are under general discussion on House Bill 301 as we have no further amendments. Do we have further discussion on House Bill 371? And I will also invite the bill sponsor for closing comments at the end.

Okay, um, seeing no further comments, uh, would the bill sponsor, Representative McCabe, like to add anything final to this discussion? Um, thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate, or we appreciate, the, the opportunity to hear this bill and to have input from you. I, I don't really have much hope that it's going to go any much further this session, but all of your input is important. And if Should I be honored enough to be reelected, I plan on offering another bill next session, maybe earlier with a Senate companion, and taking all your input and putting it together, including your amendment, Chair Kerik.

So I appreciate that. So I believe Alaskans deserve to know who's funding our elections, especially ballot propositions, so we can make informed decisions. And I think this is a reasonable, common-sense step towards greater transparency without restricting anybody's ability to participate in our democracy. We absolutely need an entity like APOC, but we don't necessarily need an entity that provides greater reporting requirements to a school board member than to the President of the United States when they're campaigning. So I think somewhere in between there is a better place to be than where we are right now, and that's my feeble attempt right now, and I appreciate your help.

So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for bringing this forward. I do think it's a really great base bill. There might be some work to do on it in the future, but I, I do hope that there's an opportunity to consider this legislation in the next legislature and take a little bit more in-depth time on some of the components of it.

And I would agree that at this late hour of session, it's unlikely we're going to get into that level of detail, but I hope that this helps stir a discussion for next time. Any additional comments on House Bill 371? Okay, Vice Chair Story, do you have a motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the House State Affairs Committee pass House Bill 371, also known as 34-LS1363/n, as amended with individual— whoops— backslash n with individual recommendations attached fiscal notes and authorizing legal services to make any necessary technical and conforming changes.

Okay, seeing no objection, House Bill 371 has passed the State Affairs Committee. Um, again, we will wait to sign the paperwork till the conclusion of our meeting. I think I still haven't heard anything about us needing to go back to the floor. So I think let's go ahead and go to Senate Bill 282, which is relating to the Joint Armed Services Committee mission. Uh, this is the first hearing we have on this bill specifically.

We heard the companion legislation, House Bill 382, on Tuesday. So I'd like to do a brief introduction just of this bill, which I think is exactly the same as the House version. Take public testimony and have committee discussion. So I'll turn to Jenna Calhoun now for a brief overview of Senate Bill 282. For the record, Jenna Calhoun, staff to Senator Kawasaki, who sends his regrets that he cannot be in this committee presenting, for he is chairing Senate State Affairs at this same point in time.

Senate Bill 282 is modernizing the Joint Armed Services Committee statutes to ensure that the committee's work is going to be more than just, uh, BRAC, the Base Realignment Act. Uh, the last big BRAC Act happened in 2005, and as we all know, we're in 2026. So the JASC, uh, so SB 282 would update the committee's responsibilities to not only, uh, go through and monitor BRAC, but also to support the state's central role in military defense. Review and recommend state policy responses to national defense and Arctic security initiatives, and also to convene hearings and stakeholder consultations on emerging defense issues. Another thing that this bill does do is for our civilian members, it splits up one of the chairs.

At this point in time, there is one civilian member that's representing both the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Alaska Municipal League. We realize that those are two very different organizations with two very different viewpoints and two very different objectives. So it only seemed fair to separate those seats so they could each have a member on the Joint Armed Services Committee. This also does have a sunset and an effective date of repeal, or so a 10-year repeal, or so in 10 years we will be looking back at this committee to see if it's functioning well and serves the purposes for Alaska. Okay, um, thank you, Miss Calhoun.

So, um, very brief, please.

Okay, House State Affairs is back on the record. Uh, thank you, Ms. Calhoun, for presenting the bill. We have a committee substitute which incorporates— my understanding incorporates changes from the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee for this Senate bill. And I'd like to turn to Vice Chair Story for a motion. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I move that the House State Affairs Committee adopt House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 282, also known as 34 \LSI— oops, LS1 1614\I.

Maybe you could just restate that last—. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm going to restate the number for the record. Sorry about that.

34\—. Oh, it says that. Okay, I'm just reading. Sorry. Well, scripting error.

Excuse me for the error there. 34-LS1.

1614/I as our working document. Okay, and I'm just going to object for discussion. Mr. Relay, can you describe the changes in the committee substitute? Thank you, Madam Chair. For the record, Stuart Relay, staff for Representative Carrick.

Before I start, apologies for the script writing error. Madam Chair, this— broadly speaking, this CS incorporates the edits that were made to the House version of this bill in the House Military Intelligence Veterans Affairs Committee. That includes adding an additional member of the minority to the Joint Armed Services Committee.

It also requires the Joint Armed Services Committee to hold at least one meeting per year. And it adds definitions for Arctic Security Initiatives and National Defense Initiatives. These are terms used— the updated mission of JASC— this just more narrowly defines that mission. Madam Chair, that is the summary of changes. Happy to answer any questions from the committee about the CS.

Are there any questions or comments from committee members? Okay, Representative Antz. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm reading the definition of Arctic Security Initiatives, and I'm wondering And I know this is going to be controversial, but I'm wondering why— how climate change is part of the definition of Arctic Security Initiative. Um, is there something that I'm missing on how that's a security initiative?

Uh, sorry, that was page 4, uh, line 23. Help me understand. Yeah, I'll go to Mr. Riley and then maybe Miss Calhoun if you'd like come up to the table as well. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. For the record, Stewart Relay staff, Representative Carrick.

Um, Representative Vance, I, I, um, uh, will note that this definition was added by Representative Dan Sadler in the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. I, I don't— and, and so I, I'm, I'm just providing that, uh, that context for where this language came from. I'm happy to defer to the bill sponsor staff to provide any additional information. For the record, Jenna Calhoun, staff to Senator Kawasaki. From my understanding, with global climate change, it's going to change how people are going to be able to traverse across Alaska, especially with the melting permafrost.

So that needs to be considered in the movements of the military and their troops. Great answer. Okay. Should have turned that one right over to Ms. Calhoun there. Follow-up.

Follow-up. Is this specific definition listed any— Like, was this definition plucked up from another place? Because this is a very— both of these are thorough. And is this taken from someplace else, or was this derived— the full definition derived in committee? For the record, Jenna Calhoun, from my understanding, Representative Sadler again was the one who wrote it.

He did not share with us his thought process, though So we were very happy with the thoroughness of the definition. Okay. Thank you. Representative McCabe. Thanks.

Yeah. So one of the things, I mean, whether you agree with man-made climate change or climate change, it's happening in the Arctic. I mean, you can see it by looking at the Russian shipping lanes and the U.S. shipping lanes and what's happening up there. And as it opens up, it opens up not only national defense issues, but trillions of dollars of resources that we are going to need to somehow get to and protect. So climate change is probably important in here.

My guess is this is very familiar to me from PENWR and the Arctic Committee and PENWR, so it is not— I don't think it is surprising. So—. Madam Chair, just for context, I hear climate change when we are talking about weather in different systems like that. And so that was just my question about— obviously sea ice movement is significant, but I hadn't seen it put in relationship to security in the same context. But I appreciate the clarification.

Representative Himschook. Thank you, Chair Carrick. I can't remember the source and I can't find it quickly, but I have read an article at some point, time ago about a lot of bases needing to fortify and relocate. You know, anything in Florida is getting hit over and over again, and so on and so forth. So I'm not sure if we have— I mean, obviously thawing permafrost is an issue, but I'm not sure which of our bases may be impacted by erosion or more frequent storms or whatever.

So I think including it is really smart. It's— I think it's an issue for every type of military base everywhere in the country.

Um, thank you, Representative Himschoot. Yeah, I think that was a good comprehensive answer. And, um, as Representative McCabe said, kind of regardless of thoughts and feelings about the words climate change, there's no question that there's some new, um, opportunities for strategic defense that are opening up in the Arctic. So, okay, I think I had objected to the CS for consideration. Are there any additional comments or questions at this time on the committee substitute?

Okay, seeing and hearing none, I'm going to remove my objection. And seeing and hearing no further objection, the committee substitute version I has been adopted as the working document. We did take public testimony on the companion bill, I believe. Okay, we didn't. We're going to take public testimony on Senate Bill 282 regardless.

So at this time, I am opening public testimony on SB 282. Is there anyone in the room who would like to testify? And seeing none, there's no one online to testify. So at this time, we are going to close public testimony on Senate Bill 282.

Again, this is kind of our second hearing on this bill because we did hear the companion legislation. Is there any additional discussion on SB 282?

Representative Vance. I just want to say thank you to Representative Gray for expanding the seats, the legislative seats on this committee to also include the minority. I think it's going to give a broader voice and experience. We tend to have more— we're getting quite a variety of veterans and people who have experience that can speak to this, which is highly valuable. And so I just want to say on the record that I appreciate that.

Representative Himshoot, thank you. I want to clarify because I think he changed it from 1 seat to 2 of the 5. Right, so it wasn't including minority, that was already there, but it's making sure that 2 of the 5, right, expanding it, I believe. Yeah, which I'm grateful for. Yeah, I would agree with it.

It actually didn't say minority, it said 2, one from either party, right, from, from the caucus, and this clarified it to minority, to minority from each side. So I, I think it's a fabulous change. So now I'm for free to go independent, you know. Welcome, welcome. If we could do that for alleged counsel in LB&A, that'd be great too.

I think there's a bill for that. There sure is. We saw that already. Something nice. So I fully agree with all the statements.

It's a really great inclusion to have representation from.

Minority and majority members, so that's really good to see. Are there any additional questions, comments?

Vice Chair Story. Thank you. I just wanted to applaud all the collaboration that went through on this, and I think it really helped clarify the different roles that the committees are playing, and so I think it's really really good bill.

Awesome. Okay, I don't see any further questions or comments, so Vice Chair Story, can I have a motion? Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that House State Affairs Committee pass House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 282, also known as 34-LS1614/i, from committee with attached individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. Seeing and hearing no objection, Senate Bill 282 has also moved from committee.

Um, just stick around, members, because we have 3 reports to sign once we've adjourned. Um, we don't have anything else on our agenda, so we will be adjourned for today. We are going to have one more meeting on Saturday, May 16th. At this point, the only item on the schedule for that meeting is SJR 25 from the Senate State Affairs Committee, which expresses support for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. If there are other Senate bills which come before us, we will likely add them to that agenda for Saturday.

So please keep an eye out for emails from my committee aide about that. And if it's the will of the committee, we may take action on that resolution in one hearing. So please take a look at it before we get to committee and register any questions or potential objections or amendments if possible before the meeting. Representative Himshue. Do you have an approximate time on that on Saturday, or is that up in the air still?

We're going to schedule it for 3:15, which is what we've usually been doing for Saturday meetings. It will be pending floor schedule. That will, that will be to be determined, but we will schedule it for 3:15. Why don't you just go have Griffin go get it right now and we'll hear it right now and we're going to be here on Saturday. He'd be terrified that you just mentioned him on the record.

Okay, so we have nothing else to come before the committee today, so House State Affairs is adjourned at 4:53 PM.