advocacy, on the menu
On the Menu 1.31.2025
By Rachel Lord, Advocacy and Policy Director, AFPC
This week started off with a wild ride on the federal front. While ‘On The Menu’ is focused on happenings on the state level, our federal partners contribute huge sums of money to Alaska’s economy from everything from roads to research, and business support to food access. According to the Foraker Group, who gave a presentation to the Legislature on Wednesday this week (see the slides here), nearly $39 billion comes into Alaska annually from the federal government. The majority of which goes to the state, with about $1.2 billion to nonprofit organizations. The actions from the White House this week threw the nation into chaos, starting with a funding freeze memorandum on Monday night. There were different and unclear messages coming out daily about what funding was or was not frozen. While Wednesday’s memo, the most recent we have, said the original Monday evening memo was rescinded, the White House press secretary noted later that day that all of the President’s Executive Orders are still in effect. We aren’t clear on what that means, and it has generated a huge amount of uncertainty.
AFPC is pausing most activity on our federally-funded projects, including the Regional Food Business Center programming until we get further clarity from our federal partners. Our Board is working with staff to evaluate our cash flow and risk as an organization, and we will continue to provide support and a voice to our partners across the state. Thursday morning we held a call with nearly 100 partners to share information, validate the concerns from our partners, and provide some grounding and space for sharing questions. We are compiling these questions and immediate impacts to federal programs in Alaska – you can share your experience here.
Now – on to the legislative front!
A reminder that AFPC doesn’t have a position on most legislation. If we do have a position, we will be sure to note that whenever we talk about the bill. Also, our hearing summaries are just that – summaries. For the full scoop, check out the linked videos! As always, please let us know if we’ve missed or misrepresented something, or if there’s an issue you think we should be tracking – email Rachel (advocacy@alaskafoodpolicycouncil.org).
Remember you will be able to see all the bills we’re watching and read AFPC policy briefs on our website. I’m a bit behind in the policy briefs with all of the federal chaos this week. For now, you can read brief summaries of most of the bills below in our session preview. But stay tuned – they will be out over the coming week! Hearings can be watched on Gavel/KTOO, and you can check out our calendar of hearings for bills we are watching here.
Updates:
HB 12 – School Food for All Alaskan Kids
Introduced on January 22 by Rep. Dibert (Fairbanks), HB 12 is referred to the House Education and then Finance committees. House Education was pretty focused on HB 69 this week, a permanent and inflation-proofed increase to the base student allocation for school funding. HB 12 doesn’t yet have a hearing scheduled.
SB 13 – Summer EBT
Introduced on January 22 by Senator Dunbar (Anchorage). It is referred to the Senate Education and then Finance committees. SB 13 doesn’t yet have a hearing scheduled.
HB 25 – Disposable container ban for restaurants
Introduced on January 22 by Rep. Josephson (Anchorage). It is referred to the House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce committees. HB 25 doesn’t yet have a hearing scheduled.
HB 30 – Office of Entrepreneurship
Introduced on January 22 by Rep. Holland (Anchorage). It is referred to the House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce committees. HB 30 doesn’t yet have a hearing scheduled.
HB 34 – Alaska Innovation Council
Introduced on January 22 by Rep. Holland (Anchorage). It is referred to the House Labor & Commerce and Finance committees. HB 34 doesn’t yet have a hearing scheduled.
EO 136 – Establishment of a Department of Agriculture
You can read more about Executive Orders from the Governor, and the general overview of Divisions vs. Departments, on our blog here. The Legislature can either let it go into effect by doing nothing, or vote it down – no amendments are allowed to an Executive Order. The vehicle for discussing the EO is a piece of legislation that would take the only action available – disapproval. Those are HSCR 1 and SSCR 1– Disapproval of EO 136. HSCR 1 (House Special Concurrent Resolution) was introduced on January 27 and was referred to the House Resources and Finance committees. SSCR 1 (Senate Special Concurrent Resolution) was introduced on January 27 and was referred to the Senate Rules and then Finance committees. Neither of these have been scheduled for hearings.
HB 53 / SB56 – Operating Budget
Both were introduced on January 22 by the Governor and referred to House and Senate Finance committees respectively. Budget bills can be intimidating because they are SO BIG. I didn’t have time this week, but we will drill down as best we can on the pieces that we will track in the three budget documents and keep you up to date on the progress of these bills.
HB 53 is scheduled for hearings in House Finance on Tuesday, February 4, and Wednesday, February 5 both at 1:30 PM. The House starts the operating budget process; the Senate will hold their bill.
HB 54 / SB57 – Capital Budget
Both were introduced on January 24 by the Governor and referred to House and Senate Finance respectively. Similar to the operating budget, but simpler overall. There may be more, but for now, we’re particularly interested in the UAF Agriculture and Food Systems for Alaska’s Economic Sustainability $3 million appropriation on page 17! There is also $2 million for a UAS Mariculture Program Expansion.
The Senate begins the capital budget process. There are no hearings scheduled yet for SB57.
HB 60 / SB67 – Procurement Preference for Agricultural and Fisheries Products.
These bills were introduced by the Governor on January 22 (House) and January 24 (Senate). We will have a full policy brief on these bills (which are identical in both bodies) next week. These bills would amend existing state law directed at municipal purchasing (AS 29.71.040(a) and (b) – ‘Procurement preference for state agricultural and fisheries products), and state and school district purchasing (AS 36.15.050 (a) and (b) – ‘Use of local agricultural and fisheries products required in purchases with state money.’).
The existing law says that if state money is being used to purchase an agricultural or fisheries product and a like-quality product is available from Alaska, they have to purchase it if it’s priced no more than 7% or they can purchase it if it’s no more than 15% above a similar product from Outside. These bills would increase those from 7 to 10% mandatory purchasing, and from 15 to 25% optional purchasing.
In the House, HB 60 will need to go through Fisheries, and then Labor & Commerce committees. See below for public testimony information.
The companion bill in the Senate, SB 67, will be heard by the Resources and then Finance committees. It is scheduled for a hearing in Senate Resources on Friday, February 7 at 3:30 PM with invited testimony only.
Public Testimony Opportunities Next Week:
HB 60
Procurement Preference for Agricultural and Fisheries Products
Thursday
House Fisheries, February 6, 11 AM
Remember these can change quickly!
Keep an eye on all public testimony opportunities here.
There are 3 ways you can testify:
Email committee: Spreadsheet of Committee email addresses
Testify from your local LIO: https://akleg.gov/lios.php
Call in from your phone: 1-844-586-9085
