advocacy, on the menu

On the Menu 5.2.2025

By Rachel Lord, Advocacy and Policy Director, AFPC

It’s hard to believe that it’s already May. I’m on my way to Washington D.C. to participate in the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference. Together with representatives from the Food Bank of Alaska, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and the Alaska Federation of Natives, we’ll be meeting with anti-hunger advocates from across the country. We will also meet with our Congressional Delegation, bringing forward priorities to strengthen our food systems as they negotiate in DC on behalf of all Alaskans. I’ll look forward to sharing takeaways from this trip, and in the meantime enjoy this wrap-of the week in Juneau. 

We are shifting to sending OTM only to those specifically signed up for OTM! Please sign up here if you haven’t already done so! 

The bills below are ones that are food systems-related. AFPC doesn’t have a position on most legislation, but if we do 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 as they are posted on our website. In our session preview, you can read brief summaries of most of the bills below. Hearings can be watched on Gavel/KTOO, and you can check out our calendar of hearings for bills we are watching here. Finally, if you’re interested in testifying but don’t know where to start, you can check out our simple “Tips for Testifying” document here. 

Updates:

HB 12 – School Food for All Alaskan Kids (AFPC Supports)

Read our policy brief here.  Introduced on January 22 by Rep. Dibert (Fairbanks), HB 12 is referred to the House Education and then Finance committees. Thanks to Representative Edgmon, Burke, and Galvin for signing on to HB12 as co-sponsors. HB 12 was heard for the first time in House Education on Monday, February 24. 

HB 12 was heard on Monday morning in House Education. As the third bill in the committee hearing, the Chair held time only for invited and public testimony; there were no questions taken from committee members. Dr. Lisa Parady, Executive Director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, was the first invited testifier. She spoke to the importance of school meals for students, and also emphasized the complexity of school nutrition regulations and administration. She encouraged strong efforts to ensure that the work done through the bill helps, doesn’t hinder, the efforts. She also reviewed research that clearly shows the positive correlations between school meals and student performance. Dr. Parady discussed survey results from Alaska school districts, illustrating the high costs of providing school meals that often outpace the federal reimbursements especially in rural Alaska. She referenced the other states that have already implemented universal school meals, and encouraged support of HB 12. The next invited testifier was Rachael Miller, Chief Advocacy Officer with the Food Bank of Alaska. Rachael spoke in strong support of HB 12, and to the unacceptable levels of hunger with 1 in 6 Alaskan kids experiencing hunger. She also referenced the strong links between school meals and decreases in chronic absenteeism, improvements in performance, and reductions in behavioral challenges. Rachael mentioned the proposed federal cuts, and the dire impacts on Alaska’s food banks and food pantries trying to support hungry Alaskan families. Following Rachael’s testimony, the committee took public testimony. Yours truly, Rachel Lord, Advocacy & Policy Director for AFPC, went first sharing our strong support for HB 12 with a caution to ensure it is adequately funded. Leah Woolard, parent from Chugiak, called in support of HB 12. She shared her personal experiences, and high costs of groceries. Evelynn Trefon, parent, school staff, and board member of the Alaska Farmers Market Association, called in support of HB12, and shared the challenges faced in Newhalen and Iliamna from the high costs of food and freight and the district bowing out of the National School Lunch Program. Additional testimony in support of HB 12 came from: Tom Klaameyer (President NEA Alaska), Sunny Geraghty (Fairbanks), Daniel Parks (General Manager, Southeast Alaska Food Bank, Juneau), Charity Blanchett (CEO, Dipping Spoon Foundation), Irene Boll (Anchorage), Deborah Bennett (Fairbanks), and Bernie Hoffman (Fairbanks). Following this wonderful run of supportive testimony, the committee was out of time and adjourned. HB 12 was held for another meeting (they said it would be heard on Wednesday, but they ran out of time in that meeting). Rep. Himschoot signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill. You can watch the testimony here. 

HB 125 – Membership on the Board of Fisheries

HB 125 was introduced on March 5 by Representative Jimmie and is co-sponsored by Reps. Foster, Kopp, and Burke. It amends the membership of the Board of Fisheries to specify sector representation from Board members. It is referred to House Fisheries and then Resources. It was heard in House Fisheries on March 18, March 25, on April 8 when it was amended and moved out of committee. HB 125 now awaits scheduling in House Resources. You can read AFPC’s letter of support for HB 125 here.  

HB 125 was heard for the first time in House Resources on Monday. The committee only had a half hour, and started by hearing a bill presentation by Rep. Jimmie and her staff. Rep. Fields asked about the representation of personal use fisheries on the Board. Rep. Jimmie noted that she believed personal use and subsistence are similar; her staff also spoke to the existing definitions in statutes, and some concerns regarding subsistence protections at the federal level. There was continued conversation around how the Governor could appoint primary personal use fisheries representatives for the subsistence seats. Staff noted that the legislature will need to use their judgement in approving the Governor’s appointees, and that there is probably no perfect answer to legislate for perfect representation. Rep. Rauscher asked again about personal use, and asked if it would be possible to have an overly weighted Board towards any particular fishery group. Staff replied that the language in the bill is a good effort to avoid that. Rep. Mears noted that people wear a lot of hats, and that these broad definitions are an attempt to allow for a range of perspectives. Staff spoke to the deep need to represent subsistence interests on the Board of Fish. Rep. Saddler asked if the sponsor felt there should be a preference for Alaska Native membership. Staff said that subsistence is the oldest fishery in Alaska, and the simplest answer is the Governor will appoint and the legislature will approve the best people in their estimation. Rep. Saddler pushed back, asking if Rep. Nellie’s intent is to have Alaska Native seats on the Board of Fish and she said she would follow-up with him offline. Rep. Coulombe asked what the current problem is, and staff said that fisheries issues are approached as a sport versus commercial fishing with no engagement from subsistence fisheries. Subsistence fisheries don’t have lobbyists, and they need to be represented. It was noted that two seats on the Board of Fish would be a step in the right direction. Rep. Saddler asked what the next steps were, and staff said this is the only step for this legislation. Rep. Dibert spoke about her experience on the Yukon River with family and fish camp, and how important it is to have those experiences on the Board of Fish. She asked if the AK Dept. of Fish & Game is helping, and staff noted ADF&G is neutral on the legislation. She also noted they are not trying to “flip the table” on the Board, but to “codify the vibes” to ensure representation of subsistence fisheries on the Board into the future. They ran out of time for public testimony, and will take the bill back up (with testimony) Friday afternoon. You can watch the hearing here. 

There is another hearing scheduled for today, Friday, May 2, at 1PM. 

 

SJR 12– NOAA Buoy Outages

Senate Joint Resolution 12 was introduced by Senator Dunbar in late February. After our April Advocacy Working Group meeting, where concerns were raised by members about the increased unreliability of marine weather forecasts, I’m going to add this to OTM for tracking. Reviewing the sponsor statement, this was catalyzed by chronic outages of the Seal Rocks Buoy in Prince William Sound. The resolution has a letter of support from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens Advisory Council, highlighting the critical importance of weather buoy data in ensuring navigational safety of oil tankers through the Sound. AFPC recognizes that our coastal communities rely on weather data for safe transportation and access to marine food resources. Similar to our support for improving the aviation weather systems, we strongly support the stable operations of our marine weather systems. 

Since February, SJR 12 has passed the Senate and was referred to the House Transportation committee. SJR 12 had a hearing on April 22 and again this week on Tuesday. Sen. Dunbar gave a brief overview of the bill. Public testimony was opened, but no one signed up to testify. Rep. McCabe noted he had an amendment, but that he had missed the deadline and asked if he should offer the amendment during the hearing or wait to the floor. After an at ease, the bill was moved unanimously out of committee and is now with House Rules for scheduling on the floor. You can watch the very short hearing here.

HB 135 / SB 131 – Duties of ASMI board/Meaning of seafood

HB 135 and SB 131 were introduced Friday, March 14 by the Governor. HB 135 is referred to House Fisheries and then Resources. SB 131 is referred to Senate Resources and then Finance. The bill has two sections, and adds ‘aquatic farm products as defined in AS 16.40.199’ to the definition of seafood as it relates to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. It also clarifies, to be consistent with this expanded definition of seafood, that their work covers the handling of seafood from the moment of capture or harvest (that’s the added language!) to final distribution. HB 135 was heard with invited and public testimony on March 27. SB 131 was heard on April 9.  SB 131 will be heard on Friday, May 2 in Senate Resources at 3:30 PM with public testimony.

No Changes From Last Week:

HB 30 – Office of Entrepreneurship

HB 30 was introduced on January 22 by Rep. Holland (Anchorage). It was originally referred to the House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce committees, and had a referral for House Finance added. HB 30 was first heard on Feb. 22, and moved out of State Affairs on March 11. HB 30 was heard in House Labor & Commerce on March 17, and moved out of committee on March 23. House Finance was added as a committee of referral to HB 30, and it was heard on April 24. Rep. Foster joined the bill as a co-sponsor.

HB 34 – Alaska Innovation Council

HB 34 was introduced on January 22 by Rep. Holland (Anchorage). It is referred to the House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce committees. AFPC doesn’t have a position on this bill, but we are lightly tracking it and thinking about possible impacts on new food systems businesses.

HB 34 was first heard in the House Labor & Commerce Committee on Monday, February 10, and again on February 14 and February 24. The committee substitute (CS) for HB 34 was moved out of committee on February 24. HB 34 was heard on April 24 in House Finance.

HB 140 /SB 128 Department of Agriculture (AFPC Supports)

HB 140 and SB 128 were introduced after the Governor’s Executive Order 136 failed (you can review the rundown in the OTM from March 21, and read an Alaska Beacon article here). I haven’t yet dug into the full text of both, but I believe they are currently pretty much identical to one another, and substantively identical to the Governor’s EO (with a handful of conforming changes that don’t change the substance of the proposal).  Both bills were referred to their respective Resources and Finance Committees, and their first hearings took place the last week of March. You can read our overview and AFPC’s position here. 

HB 140 had its first hearing in House Resources on March 26. SB 128 was first heard on March 28 and was heard again in Senate Resources April 11 where the committee passed amendments to include a Division of Mariculture, a Division of Food Security, and to clarify the role of the commissioner. 

HB 60 / SB 67 – Procurement Preference for Agricultural and Fisheries Products.

These bills were introduced by the Governor on January 22 (House) and January 24 (Senate). You can read our Policy Brief here. SB 67 was last heard on Feb. 7 in Senate Resources. The House Fisheries Committee heard HB 60 on February 6 and for the second time Tuesday, February 11 where it was passed out of committee with no amendments. The bill was heard in the House Labor & Commerce on February 21, and again on April 4.

SB 13/HB 154 – Summer EBT

SB 13 was introduced on January 22 by Senator Dunbar (Anchorage). It is referred to the Senate Education and then Finance committees. HB 154 was introduced by Rep. Mears on March 24 and is co-sponsored by Rep. Fields. It is referred to House Social Services and then Finance. It hasn’t yet been scheduled for a hearing. Rep. Dibert has joined HB 154 as a co-sponsor. SB 13 was heard in Senate Education on March 5 and on April 9, when it was moved out of committee with one amendment. It now awaits scheduling in Senate Finance. Read our policy brief here. 

HB 111/SB 108 – Finfish Farms and Products

These bills were introduced by the governor on Friday, February 21, and February 24. HB 111 was referred to House Fisheries and Resources committees. SB 108 was referred to Senate Resources and then Finance. Significant opposition has been voiced from across the legislature, as well as from Alaskans around the state. Meanwhile, others have expressed interest in further exploring fish farming opportunities to support Alaska’s food security and independence. Alaska has a rich seafood industry and a growing mariculture industry. We have a long history of protecting wild fish harvest, with a strong international brand. You can read our policy brief here. We have also received a copy of the 1990 Alaska Finfish Farming Task Force Report, which you can find here.

SB 108 was heard for the first time with invited and public testimony on Monday, March 10 in Senate Resources. The bill was set aside with public testimony open. HB 108 was heard on April 10 for the first, and probably last time in House Fisheries.

HB 25 – Disposable container ban for restaurants

HB 25 was introduced on January 22 by Rep. Josephson (Anchorage). It was referred to the House State Affairs and Labor & Commerce committees. HB 25 was heard in House State Affairs on Tuesday, Feb. 18, Feb. 20, and Feb. 25 where it was moved out of committee. HB 25 was then heard in House Labor & Commerce (L&C), first on March 5 and again on March 14. On March 28, Rep. Hall signed on as a co-sponsor. On April 7, Reps. Burke and Hannan signed on as additional co-sponsors. 

Budget:

Capital Budget Updates (SB 57): The Senate’s capital budget was passed over to the House. BASIS shows hearings all next week, with public testimony on Monday starting at 1:30PM. 

Operating Budget Updates (HB 53): Senate Finance passed the amended operating budget out of committee Friday morning. It next heads to the Senate Floor.

The supplemental budget (HB 56), for additional funds requested through the rest of this fiscal year, is still waiting to be heard in Senate Finance. 

Alaska’s financial footing has been tenuous for a long time, with competing expectations and understandings of the role of the state government, what to pay for, and how to do it. 

More state budget resources:

Upcoming Public Testimony:

SB 131 – Duties of ASMI board/Definition of seafood 

Friday, May 2

Senate Resources, 3:30 PM

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