Ahead of the start of the 34th Alaska Legislature in Juneau on Jan. 21, a “first release” of prefiled bills was published describing 37 House bills, 39 Senate bills and five Senate joint resolutions. Of those, three Senate bills are sponsored by Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, and one House bill is sponsored by Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer.
Bjorkman’s bills seek to add an executive administrator to the Big Game Commercial Services Board, which operates under the State Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing; would make certain veterans eligible for a lifetime permit to access state park campsites and parking for free; and defines delivery network couriers like those who work for DoorDash as private contractors who aren’t covered by the Alaska Workers’ Compensation Act.
A bill to provide free parking for disabled veterans was also among the bills prefiled by Bjorkman at the start of the last legislative session, in January 2024. He described that bill as a returning priority during a conversation with the Clarion on Thursday.
Bjorkman said he was also interested in revisiting a bill he introduced last session that would require the state to financially compensate Alaska hunters for game wrongfully seized by the State Department of Fish and Game, though that bill isn’t among those published Friday.
Bjorkman on Friday said that the bill to define delivery network couriers as private contractors would have the state treat workers for platforms like DoorDash and Instacart the same way it already does Lyft and Uber drivers. Other groups of workers treated as private contractors under the same statute include babysitters, temporary sports officials, commercial fishermen and entertainers.
Vance’s bill would allow for school districts, the University of Alaska, and other government units to group insurance coverage. Vance said that creation of consolidated group health care to tackle rising costs was among her top priorities of the coming legislative session during a meeting with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education on Dec. 2.
Other bills prefiled by legislators from around the state cover a broad swath of topics, like moving the Legislature to Anchorage; providing free breakfast and lunch in public schools; setting a new minimum royalty rate of 3% for gas produced in most areas of Alaska excepting the North Slope; increasing the amount of money that can be contributed to political campaigns by around 400% across several regulations; requiring disclosure of deepfake videos during elections; creating guidance for the use of artificial intelligence by state agencies; prohibiting chokeholds by peace officers and barring cellphones from schools.
A full list of prefiled bills, and the full text of each, can be found at akleg.gov.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
