advocacy, on the menu

On The Menu: AK Leg - Session Preview

By Rachel Lord, Advocacy and Policy Director, AFPC

Welcome to the 2025 On the Menu – we’re off to the races! Tuesday, January 21st, marks the first day of the 34th Alaska Legislature. Each Legislature consists of two regular sessions that run from mid-January to, typically, mid-May (check out the calendar here).

Every year, AFPC outlines our policy priorities – covering both state and federal policies and budgets. These come from you – the stakeholders around Alaska who are participating in working groups, task forces, listening sessions, and more – and are approved by our Governing Board. We will keep our website updated with our policy priorities and resources to learn more.

Jumping into a preview of the start of the session – here’s what we’re looking at:

Organization and Leadership

Nerd Alert – the Alaska State Legislature operates according to what’s called the Uniform Rules. You don’t REALLY need to know about the Uniform Rules, but you’ll definitely hear them referenced because they dictate a lot of the nuts and bolts during the Legislative session.

The two chambers of the legislature, the House and the Senate, organize themselves into Majority and Minority caucuses, or (mostly) aligned groups, and this dictates who sits on what committees throughout the session. The number of legislators in those groups decides if you’re in the Majority or Minority – you need at least 21 members for a House Majority (out of a total of 40 members) and 11 members for a Senate Majority (out of a total of 20 members). As the chambers organize and the committee memberships are set, you can check out the AK Leg Publications page to get updated lists for this session.

We like to refrain from forecasting around here at AFPC, so we’ll sit tight and wait to see how the organization officially shakes out in the House and Senate this year.

Pre-filed Bills

In the two weeks leading up to the start of session, legislators can pre-file bills that will get introduced immediately when the session starts. You can check out the list of the first release of pre-filed bills here, and the second round here. Let’s start looking at what we might be tracking here at AFPC!

HB 12 Free breakfast and Lunch in public schools. Rep. Dibert

This would amend Alaska Statute 14.17 to provide, subject to appropriation, sufficient funding from the Department of Education and Early Development for school districts to provide breakfast and lunch to any student at no cost to the student. It specifies the Department shall maximize the state’s receipt of federal assistance available.
This is a top priority issue for AFPC – too many kids in Alaska are hungry, and school is the primary place where they can get food. Access to food is also a prerequisite for learning. Unfortunately, we’ve seen schools going in the other direction – see the news from this fall about the Lake and Peninsula School District bowing out of the National School Lunch Program. We’ll be continuing to learn more about school nutrition programs and ways to support making sure Alaska’s kiddos don’t go hungry.

HB 25 Disposable food service ware, Rep. Josephson

With some exceptions, this bill would prohibit the use of polystyrene foam disposable food service ware by restaurants.
AFPC is neutral at this time but will be tracking this bill with our food business partners to ensure awareness and understanding through the legislative process.

HB 30 Establishing the office of entrepreneurship, Rep. Holland

While not specific to food businesses, AFPC is actively engaged in business development through the Regional Food Business Center. We are keenly interested in tracking policy proposals that may impact Alaska’s food and farm businesses. AFPC is neutral on this bill at this time.
The proposal would require annual procurement reports that include reporting on contracts with new Alaska businesses, including demographic information and providing recommendations on improving access to procurement contracts for new businesses in the state.
It would also remove the state business license fee for new businesses.
HB 30 would establish a new Office of entrepreneurship within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.
Finally, the proposed bill would direct state agencies to collectively expend at least 5% of funds appropriated for economic development programs for support organizations or programs that provide services to new businesses in the state.
“New businesses” are defined as “a business with its principal place of business in the state that has been in operation for less than five years.”

HB 34 Establishing the Alaska Innovation Council, Rep. Holland

While not specific to food businesses, AFPC is actively engaged in business development through the Regional Food Business Center. We are keenly interested in tracking policy proposals that may impact Alaska’s food and farm businesses. AFPC is neutral on this bill at this time.
The bill would establish the Alaska Innovation Council within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. It would have 19 members, and the focus of each seat is specified within the bill language.
The council would, under the proposed language, advise the governor, legislature, agencies, research institutions, and the private sector on four primary topics around business development in the state.
The Council would also prepare an innovation and economic competitiveness plan for each legislature.

SB 13 Summer EBT for Children, Sen. Dunbar

AFPC strongly supports the implementation of Summer EBT in Alaska. You can read our blog from last year when Alaska elected to not participate in the national program. We are one of only 12 states in the country that aren’t participating at this time, and we would love to change that.
This short bill would require the Department of Family and Community Services to “do all the things necessary to qualify for federal funds” in order to administer Summer EBT and to administer the program, including adopting all regulations necessary to do so.
Supporting the implementation of Summer EBT not only helps prevent hunger for Alaskan kids, it also provides economic support to communities across Alaska by increasing the buying power of residents at their local stores and markets.

Stay Tuned

Throughout the session, AFPC will again be bringing you weekly “On the Menu (OTM)” emails as we track food-related policies and budget items in Juneau. You’ll get links to the primary materials, recaps of hearings and video clips from Gavel, policy briefs that outline our take on different bills, and heads up on public hearing opportunities to make sure your voices are heard. Sign up for OTM here, and share with your networks.

Do you have a specific bill or budget priority you think we should be tracking? Questions about where to find information? Advocacy resources to share? Let Rachel, our Advocacy and Policy Director, know by sending her an email: advocacy@alaskafoodpolicycouncil.org.