Iris Samuels

A measure to ban various forms of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in Alaska cleared its first House committee, with many hurdles to come.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed limit on transgender students using bathrooms according to their preferred gender identity could draw legal challenges over Alaska’s privacy clause, a state attorney said.

Alaska Policy Forum director Bethany Marcum has supported steep cuts to state spending that would impact public universities. Now, some lawmakers question whether she should have a seat on the board that governs those universities.

The House and Senate are divided on whether state lawmakers should receive a 67% pay raise agreed upon through what some have described as a “flawed” salary commission process.

The House Education Committee voted 5-2 in favor of a bill that would increase state education funding by $175 million in the coming fiscal year, far less than the requests put forward by school advocates.

Speaker Cathy Tilton said salary commission recommendations that would grant lawmakers 67% pay raises were developed through an “unusual public process.”

U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola testified about ranked choice voting before the Minnesota and Oregon legislatures, even as conservative Republicans have launched efforts to do away with Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system.

Dozens of LGBTQ people spoke out in favor of the anti-discrimination bill in its first legislative committee hearing.

A resolution adopted by the education board encourages the state education department to ban transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams, instead allowing them to compete alongside boys in an “open” division.

In late February, Susan McKenzie indicated she would accept an offer to serve as Alaska’s education commissioner. Two weeks later, she reversed course.

A compensation commission voted to recommend increasing legislator pay from $50,400 to $84,000, shortly after all five commissioners were replaced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has ordered a new review of previous proposals for a land exchange — authorized under the Trump administration — that would allow for a road to be constructed between King Cove and Cold Bay.

The Senate Education Committee advanced a bill that would increase public education funding by $257 million in the coming fiscal year.

Several competing ideas for calculating the Permanent Fund dividend will be at the center of a Saturday morning House Ways and Means Committee hearing.

Alaska’s new Division of Elections director said she is considering pulling out of a nonprofit that helps maintain voter rolls, days after former President Trump urged Republican-controlled states to leave the organization.