advocacy, on the menu, state policy
On the Menu 03.06.26
March 6, 2026
By Rachel Lord, Advocacy and Policy Director, AFPC
On the Menu is a State policy space, however we’d be remiss to not mention the movement in DC this week, with the House Ag Committee “marking up” (debating amendments) and passing out of committee the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026” – the House’s version of the Farm Bill. We’re working on updating our Farm Bill webpage with more information and resources, including links to summaries and recaps from our national partners.
In Juneau, Congressman Nick Begich will give a joint address to the legislature on Tuesday at 11 AM. The House has closed out the finance subcommittee work, and there will be public testimony on the Operating and Mental Health budgets starting Wednesday afternoon.
Additionally, there are a few interesting presentations next week including ‘Yukon River Drainage Fisheries Association overview and operations’ on Thursday morning in Tribal Affairs, and a presentation on Rural Aviation Facilities, Maintenance, and Operations in House Transportation Thursday afternoon. Also on Thursday afternoon is a joint presentation to the House and Senate Health & Social Services committees on a national perspective regarding the Rural Health Transformation Program from the National Conference of State Legislators.
Check out our food systems calendar for relevant hearings and presentations, and always check akleg.gov for the most up-to-date information.
Updates
HJR 32 / SJR 27– Rural Health Transformation Program
The House Joint Resolution introduced on Feb. 18. The Senate version was introduced on Feb. 25, and both were referred to the Health & Social Services Committees. HJR 32 was heard in Health & Social Services on Thursday afternoon with invited and public testimony. The committee started by reviewing and adopting a shorter committee substitute. There was no testimony, and the resolution was moved from committee. It next moves to Rules for scheduling on the House floor. Watch the brief hearing here.
SB 130 – Fisheries product development tax credit
SB 130 was introduced in March last year as one of the recommendations from the Alaska Seafood Industry Task Force. It would expand the existing Fisheries Product Development Tax Credit to include all fish and shellfish species, establish an expected turnaround time for the Department’s response to a proposed investment, expand the eligibility of the program, and extend the sunset date by three years. The bill was heard and passed out of Resources as a CS (Committee Substitute) last year, and is now scheduled for a hearing in Senate Finance on Tuesday, March 10 at 9AM.
HB 12 – Free breakfast & lunch in public schools
HB 12 was last heard in House Education on April 28, 2025. There were questions and concerns expressed about the fiscal note attached to the bill (estimated at $28.7M). We look forward to hearing continued conversation on the important issue of school meals next week. HB 12 is scheduled for a hearing with invited testimony on Friday, March 13 at 8AM in House Education.
Presentation: Dept. of Health FY27 Budget & Audit Findings
On Wednesday morning, Commissioner Heidi Hedberg and team presented a detailed overview of the Department’s FY2027 proposed budget and audit findings to the Senate Finance Health Subcommittee. As the Department of Health is huge, I’ve tried to pull out the specific food systems discussions here! In discussion around the Division of Public Assistance budget, items included the SNAP administrative cost shift ($7.9M), additional operational costs for eligibility systems ($21M), additional virtual call center costs ($8M), and increasing federal receipt authority for WIC food costs ($4.5M). Listen to the DPA overview here. They also discussed the new line item to authorize the federal grant funds for the Rural Health Transformation Program $272M per year line item. The committee had some questions around the legislative requirements and other criteria around these funds (watch here and later RHTP discussion here). Later on, there was review of the additional DPA eligibility technicians, noting 13 out of the 15 new positions have been filled, and the final two are nearly hired. They then reviewed the findings from the FY24 audit – several of which are related to food assistance programs at the Department of Health, including the pandemic EBT food benefits program, SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Commissioner Hedberg spoke to the stabilization that is ongoing at the Department, and where the Department disagreed with the audit findings (watch here). See the presentation slides here.
Presentation: Investing in People & Place, Spruce Root / Owning an Indigenous Small Business in Alaska, Black & White Raven Company
On Thursday morning, House Tribal Affairs heard a presentation from Spruce Root, an Indigenous community development financial institution (CDFI) based in Juneau and Sitka that helps with business development in Southeast Alaska, and hosts the Sustainable Southeast Partnership – check out their Food Sovereignty stories here. See Spruce Root’s slides, and watch the entire presentation here.
Presentation Follow-Up: Department of Health, H.R. 1 SNAP and Medicaid Implementation
At House Finance on Thursday, the Alaska Department of Health returned to continue a discussion on SNAP administration that had been cut short the previous week. Commissioner Hedberg briefly outlined federal changes under H.R. 1, including the administrative cost shift, expanded work requirements, and potential future benefit cost shifts tied to state error rates. Committee members focused primarily on Alaska’s SNAP error rate. Hedberg emphasized that reducing the rate will take time, noting “it’s not a light switch.” Most errors stem from missing reports, household composition changes, or wage information, and can originate from either clients or eligibility technicians. The department is working to identify root causes and reduce errors through staffing and automation improvements. Legislators asked whether the state could reduce the error rate below 10% by FY28. Hedberg said that is the goal and stressed that progress by FY27 is especially important because it will determine Alaska’s potential share of SNAP benefit costs beginning in 2030. Members also asked about historical trends and staffing. Hedberg noted that Alaska’s error rates were significantly lower a decade ago, though calculation methods have since changed. The committee reflected on large staffing reductions at DPA in FY22. Hedberg clarified that the SNAP error rate measures administrative or reporting mistakes, not fraud, with roughly 30% attributed to client errors and 70% to eligibility technician errors. The committee requested additional detail on how errors are tracked and discussed broader issues, including staffing capacity, technology systems, and Alaska’s SNAP caseload of roughly 65,000 participants. Check out the conversation here.
No Changes This Week:
Check out our bill tracker here to see all the food policy bills we are tracking, and where they are in the legislative process.
Budget
The House Finance Subcommittees have all closed out, Senate ones are underway, and the budget discussions are going to continue heating up. House Finance is taking public testimony on the State’s Operating and Mental Health budgets next week, beginning on Wednesday! See the details below. I have an email to the committee to find the rest of the written testimony for the Senate Finance budget hearings last week. From the two packets posted (here and here), the overwhelming trend is for education and infant learning program funding.
Written testimony submitted for House Finance will be under the “documents” tab for HB 263, the operating budget bill.
Alaska State Budget Resources
- Legislative Finance Budget website
- Alaska Legislative Budget Handbook, for legislators and legislative staff (November 2024)
- Executive Branch – Office of Management and Budget FY2027
- OMB guide to budget reports
Upcoming Public Testimony
SB 130 – Fisheries Product Development Tax Credit
Tuesday, March 10, Senate Finance, 9 AM
HB 263 – Operating Budget
House Finance
Wednesday, March 11, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Legislative Information Offices (LIO) in: Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Delta Junction, Dillingham, Glennallen, Valdez, Wrangell, Homer, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Seward, Tok, Off Nets (calling in)
Wednesday, March 11, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Off Nets (calling in)
Thursday, March 12, 1:30 – 3:30 PM
LIO: Fairbanks, Kenai, Bethel, Cordova, Kotzebue, Nome, Utqiagvik, Off Nets (calling in)
Friday, March 13, 1:30 – 3:30 PM
LIO: Anchorage, Mat-Su, Off Nets (calling in)
Remember – things can (and often will) change! If there is a bill you’re particularly interested in, text the bill number (ie. HB202) to 559-245-2529 and you’ll get text alerts when its status changes!
Hearings can be watched on Gavel/KTOO, and you can check out our calendar of hearings for bills we are watching here. If you’re interested in testifying but don’t know where to start, you can check out our simple “Tips for Testifying” document here.
