After 119 days, the Alaska legislature wrapped up their 34th session last month—one day ahead of schedule. KDLG spoke with District 37 Representative and Alaska Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon about the session’s highlights, including the rare override of the governor's veto on increased education funding and a series of bills aimed at supporting the state's fishing industry.
Edgmon: My name is representative Bryce Edgmon. I represent House District 37 in the Alaska House of Representatives
Sutherland: The session at large: how did the session go? Were there any highlights?
Edgmon: We managed to adjourn one day early. And I would say that the session was characterized by an attempt to get more K-12 funding through the base student allocation, but also the fact that we saw oil prices dip down throughout the course of the session, and somewhat significantly so to the point where we had to trim the operating budget. We put forward a very minimalistic sort of capital budget, and in the end, probably stopped a number of bills from going forward. But I think it's also fair to talk about the dynamics in the legislature. For the first time in a number of years, we had a Senate leadership and House leadership that were essentially on the same page and working together, and being able to work in tandem, and such that we could actually adjourn a little bit early, get out on time.
Sutherland: The legislature overrode the governor's veto of House Bill 57 related to education funding. What comes next with that bill?
Edgmon: So at the start of the legislature to go back to January, the leadership in the legislature sat down and said, “Okay, we're gonna make increased funding for our K-12 schools our number one priority.” And so we attempted to get a bill through the process early. We didn't really succeed, we got a bill to the governor's desk, and late March, as it were, ended up trying to override the governor in April on a bill that would have produced a $1,000 increase to the base student allocation without any policy reforms. We knew it was an uphill battle, and sure enough, we didn't quite get to the threshold we needed to override the governor on that so we introduced a second vehicle, House Bill 57 that was just tied to a cell phone ban. And that bill went from the house to the Senate, where it got revised with a $700 base student allocation increase, but also a number of policy reforms that the governor himself was seeking, so that bill made its way to the Governor as well. And that's the bill that was successfully overridden by the legislature by a pretty decisive vote, 46 to 14.
Sutherland: And this is the first time a veto has been overridden in a very long time. Were you surprised? What was your reaction to that?
Edgmon: No, I wasn't surprised, because the reason the earlier bill with $1,000 BSA didn't garner the support to override the governor's veto is because there were legislators who were concerned about the price tag. But at the $700 level, it was a whole different sort of picture. There was no debate on the floor. It was a 15 minute in and out joint session, and I could just tell talking to legislators in the capitol that the vehicle was a good compromise, and the governor was essentially irrational in terms of vetoing it. And now we wait and see what the governor is going to do with the operating budget, which is where the money behind the bill actually resides at this point. And we'll know by June 19, which is the deadline that he has to make his vetoes to the operating budget.
Sutherland: So the governor could go through with his red pen and slash the $700 from the operating budget.
Edgmon: In theory he could, or he could reduce it also to what he had been proposing in early May, to $560. If he does any of the above, including reducing that $700 BSA, I expect there to be pushback. And when the legislature next convenes, there will be an attempt to override the governor in January, and I think a real shot at overriding him for good this time.
Sutherland: So as far as fishery bills go, there were a number of fishing bills that passed this session. House Bill 116 is related to insurance regulations. Can you tell me a little bit about this bill?
Edgmon: So the legislature created a seafood Task Force in 2024 but one of our byproducts of those discussions was to talk about the costs of insurance and what we could do at the state and to help alleviate the expensive nature of anybody in the maritime industry getting insurance, and particularly, of course, in a small boat fishery such as Bristol Bay. But the bill allows commercial fishermen to sort of enter into a cooperative arrangement where they don't have to fully comply with the state insurance code. And so it makes it easier for a number of fishermen, two or more, to get together to create an Insurance Co Op and do it in a manner that wouldn't be so burdensome, and so red tape-ish, if you will.
Sutherland: The other bill was Senate Bill 156.
Edgmon: We also at the task force hearings heard from the commercial fishing agricultural bank, CFAB, as we know colloquially, and their concerns about not being able to compete with commercial fishing revolving loan fund and also other lending institutions. And so we were able to find a pot of money that had not been used in another loan program. And what Senate Bill 156 proposes to do is to allow CFAB to have access to that, I think it's $3.7 million, and to recapitalize their loan fund. But it allows CFAB to continue doing what they do best, which is to help fishermen buy boats and permits and gear and things that they've been doing since they were formed back In 1978.
Sutherland: The last one fishing related was House Bill 131 related to registration. Can you tell me a little bit about that bill?
Edgmon: Yeah, this is a by-product, sort of unintentional consequence of a bill passed in 2022, I think it was Senate Bill 92 that dealt with derelict vessels. What came of that is the fact that vessels who are documented with the Coast Guard, who are licensed by the commercial fisheries entry commission, were now being required to register with the Department Division of Motor Vehicles every three years. And so what House Bill 131 does is it removes having to register with the Division of Motor Vehicles, because for smaller vessels, that's really just an added step of bureaucracy. It's just really not necessary.
Sutherland: What are your biggest priorities for next session?
Edgmon: Well, next session, we want to continue the focus on fisheries legislation, certainly on making sure our schools are properly funded. Village Public Safety Officer Program is a program that we're working on trying to sort of continue to get it back to where it once was relative to funding for VPSOs throughout a number of communities in rural Alaska. Energy is always a big issue. The power cost equalization program is critical. We want to make sure that that's fully funded and that the endowment that supports the PC program remains untouched, it not to be used to pay for other things. Lastly, and not sort of insignificantly, getting out on time, because next year, if we thought we had budget woes this year in 2025, next year in 2026 we could be looking at an environment that's even more challenging, and needing to get a super majority, three quarters of an entire legislature on the same page to be able to tap into our one last sort of savings account, the constitutional budget reserve account, the CBR fund. And that is always a great challenge to get three quarters of the legislature to grant anything, much less making a difficult decision of drawing down from our one last savings account that has probably somewhere in the range of about $3 billion left in it, which isn't a whole lot of money when you recognize the fact that Alaska's annual budget is a combined $12 billion every year. One issue that also comes to mind next session is the focus on the defined benefits bill that the House passed is now in the Senate, we're going to do everything we can to get that through to the Senate, to hopefully be able to appeal to the governor that it makes more sense to reinstitute a pension plan that we believe will help recruit and retain public sector employees. You know, teachers, firefighters, police officers, on down in state government, because we really are seeing a very pronounced shortage of the state workforce and also a trickle out that over the years, begins to register in fairly significant numbers of our state workforce.
Sutherland: With that in mind, I wanted to ask about the state's hiring freeze that came out of the governor's office. With our shortage in workforce in mind, this governor's office said that it was due to oil prices falling and a lack of revenue. Is this a sustainable solution for solving that problem? What does that look like for the state?
Edgmon: Quite honestly, I don't know what it means. It came very late in the session. It seemed to carry more symbolic importance than anything and whether the governor continues to hold fast and firm to his letter, in the grand scheme of things, what impact does that have on a multi-billion dollar budget? Probably not a whole lot. And again, it comes back to what the Dunleavy administration does to actually follow the letter of the law that they, quote unquote, are laying down on and limiting new hires and travel and promotions and whatever might be involved. So I say, wait and see, and see if he actually follows through with what he said he was going to do.
Sutherland: Do you have a sense of when the order will be rescinded?
Edgmon: No, and I couldn't tell you—and of course, it's just been a matter of weeks—what the short term impact of it has been, or what the long term impact of it could be.
Sutherland: Thank you so much, Speaker Edgmon.
Edgmon: Yes, thank you.
