The end of the legislative session last month brought a major milestone for Alaska’s workforce and the families who keep our state running. We passed a bill to better support Alaskans navigating work transitions and unavoidable seasonal insecurity in important industries such as fishing, tourism, construction and mining.

As freshman legislators, we joined forces this session with a shared conviction: to modernize and update Alaska’s fraying economic safety net and put our workers first. The state unemployment program is that safety net. It helps catch workers so they can stay in Alaska while they look for new jobs or look forward to their next work season.

Before this session’s historic reform, the weekly unemployment insurance benefit had not been adjusted since 2009.

While the cost of essentials such as housing, fuel and groceries skyrocketed, the maximum weekly benefit remained frozen at $370. The dependent allowance was stuck at $24 for those who depend on them. For a state that relies heavily on a highly skilled, seasonal workforce, letting unemployment insurance benefits wither wasn’t just a gross legislative oversight; it threatened our state’s economy.

Unemployment benefits are a critical bridge to keep families afloat during temporary, seasonal shutdowns or routine layoffs between major projects. They keep workers from falling into severe financial hardship and protect employers from permanently losing a trained workforce. Workers who can’t afford to feed their children or pay their bills leave the state in search of greater stability elsewhere.

The bill we passed this session ensures that Alaska retains its local talent, stabilizes our workforce, keeps our construction and natural resource sectors competitive and helps Alaskans stay in the communities they love.

This victory took collaboration and mutual support in the Legislature. Last year, Rep. Ted Eischeid introduced an unemployment reform bill, House Bill 192, to update and then inflation-proof unemployment benefits and modernize the system. That bill proposed increasing the dependent benefit and adjusting the unemployment benefit each year. Rep. Carolyn Hall introduced House Bill 193, Paid Parental Leave, which, in addition to updating unemployment benefits, sought to create a first-ever paid parental leave program for Alaskans.

Recognizing our shared goals of strengthening working families, Rep. Eischeid’s unemployment provisions were merged into Rep. Hall’s paid parental leave proposal, HB 193. Robust policy debates refined the final package and earned bipartisan support.

The final hours of a legislative session demand swift, coordinated action to move bills across the finish line. On the final night of the legislative session, Rep. Hall worked closely with Sen. Jesse Kiehl, who moved a critical amendment to attach the core unemployment insurance reforms to a fast-moving, related vehicle: another Rep. Hall bill, House Bill 302. Thanks to this collaborative, multichamber strategy, the unemployment components of our bill passed. We prevailed, increasing the maximum weekly unemployment benefit 27% to $470 and tripling the dependent allowance to $72.

HB 302 will soon be sent to Gov. Mike Dunleavy. If he lets it become law, Alaskans will get direct, meaningful relief. In addition to the benefit increases, we’ll ensure Alaska doesn’t fall behind again by tying annual benefit adjustments to Alaskans’ average weekly wage.

Best of all, these changes don’t affect the state’s general fund. The benefits are paid out of Alaska’s Federal Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, restricted dollars that are heavily overcapitalized with hundreds of millions of excess dollars while workers struggle to pay their bills and feed their families.

The nonpartisan, cross-chamber collaboration is a blueprint for how we can, and should, work together. Economic resilience and common-sense adaptability aren’t built and maintained through partisan gridlock or House-versus-Senate silos. They’re forged when lawmakers listen to working families, work together and build practical, cost-effective solutions.

Rep. Ted Eischeid represents House District 22, North Muldoon, in the Alaska House of Representatives.

Rep. Carolyn Hall represents House District 16, West Anchorage, in the Alaska House of Representatives.

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Dear Alaskans,

As the state with more coastline than the rest of the country combined, Alaska has a direct stake in the health of our oceans, fisheries, marine ecosystems, and coastal communities. For this reason, I have supported numerous federal programs and legislative efforts that strengthen ocean research, improve marine debris response, protect coastal communities, and support the Alaskans whose livelihoods depend on healthy oceans.

A critical issue that has been a particular focus of my work in this space is marine debris. Marine debris—especially plastics and other forms of ocean pollution—poses a serious threat to coastal ecosystems, marine life, and our coastal communities that depend on healthy oceans. To address this challenge, I authored the Save Our Seas Act, signed into law in 2018, and the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, signed into law in 2020. SOS 2.0, which I worked closely on with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, is the most comprehensive ocean debris legislation ever passed by Congress. SOS 2.0 also established the congressionally chartered Marine Debris Foundation, which is now headquartered in Juneau.

Building on this work, my SOS 2.0 Amendments Act was signed into law in December 2025, strengthening the Marine Debris Foundation and reauthorizing NOAA’s Marine Debris Program. I am also working to pass my Save Our Seas 2.0 Marine Debris Infrastructure Programs Reauthorization Act, which would reauthorize proven Environmental Protection Agency grant programs that combat plastic waste and microplastics. At the same time, I am developing SOS 3.0 to build on the success of the first two Save Our Seas laws.

Another serious threat to Alaska’s coastal resources is harmful algal blooms. HABs can endanger marine life, damage coastal ecosystems, threaten commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries, and put the health and well-being of Alaskans at risk. That is why I introduced the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act to reauthorize and strengthen the original 1998 law. This legislation will help ensure communities have access to HABs observation data, monitoring and mitigation training, and testing for HABs toxins. The bill passed the Senate in September 2025.

To build on these specific issues, as well as support additional oceanographic programs in our state, I continue to support the NOAA Sea Grant Program and the Integrated Ocean Observing System, two important programs that strengthen ocean research, coordination, and public-private partnerships. I am a cosponsor of legislation to reauthorize these programs, and I support robust funding for both programs every year.

There is more work to do to address plastic pollution, marine debris, and harmful algal blooms in Alaska and around the world. I will continue working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to advance practical, lasting solutions. The health of our oceans, fisheries, and marine life should never be a partisan issue—it is a responsibility we all share.

Sincerely,

Dan Sullivan
United States Senator 

Just five days remain until the end of the special session Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) called for his gasline bill. The House overwhelmingly passed their version of the bill on Friday (6/12/2026) afternoon. The Senate is coming in tomorrow to receive the House bill, which will be referred to the Senate Finance Committee. It’s not clear what will happen with such little time left and factoring in the Senate has very different ideas than the House on the bill. After opening an investigation, the Division of Elections has determined that Dan Sullivan of Petersburg (Decoy Dan) is ineligible to challenge Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska). The matter may ultimately be decided by the courts if Decoy Dan decides to go that route. The June 27 withdrawal deadline for the primary is 13 days away. And just over two months remain until the August 18 primary! 

A friendly message and reminder to all our readers. The Landmine is made possible by myself and a team of awesome Alaskans. I have been covering the legislative session in Juneau for the last seven years and finished my eighth session in May. I am here now covering the end of the special session. We will be covering all the 2026 Alaska elections in-depth. If you enjoy the content we provide, please consider making a one time or recurring monthly donation. You can click here to donate. We have a system that makes it super easy. We would really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has been supportive.

Check out the eleventh episode of Governor Peninsula! In this episode, after deciding not to run for the Den, Nancy finds out she has a big job to do. And make sure to tell us what you think.

Gasline bill overwhelmingly passes House, faces uncertainty in Senate

The following is an excerpt from this week’s special edition of the Alaska Political Report. You can click here for more information about the Political Report. A subscription is $1,299/year per organization. Discounted pricing is available for non-profits and government entities. Our coverage of the budget starts with the governor’s proposed budget, and we track everything in detail through the entire process. If you have any questions or would like to subscribe, please email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com.

The House overwhelmingly passed their version of the gasline bill, House Bill 381, early Friday afternoon by a vote of 34-5. This came after hearing only four amendments – one of which was withdrawn, two of which failed, and one passed that was a cleanup amendment. 

The bill was the result of work done in the House Finance Committee over the last several weeks. Several amendments were adopted in the finance committee last week, including many conceptual amendments that were done on the fly. This made it difficult to properly analyze all of the changes made to the bill in the finance committee. Here are some highlights:

• Alternative Volumetric Tax (AVT): The House version includes 6 cents for pipeline components, 13 cents for treatment and capture components, and 13 cents for the LNG plant. This is an increase from the 6/12/12 amounts included in Senate Bill 2001 – the version currently in Senate Finance. Based on the example given by Legislative Finance in a recent presentation to Senate Finance, this would result in a roughly 4% increase in the tax rate for in-state gas and a 7% increase for exported gas over the Senate version of the bill. The tax rate grows with inflation but the inflation adjustment has a floor of 1% per year and a ceiling of 2%.
• The new version of the bill limits the price charged on gas sold to utilities. The limit is set at $16 per million BTU and grows with inflation.
• The majority of AVT revenue goes to impacted communities and will be collected directly by the local governments.
• Provisions are included in the bill to allow for legislative disapproval of certain actions by the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC) including issuance of bonds and transfer of sale of interest in the project. Legislative Legal drafted a memo that calls into question the constitutionality of those provisions in the bill. 
• The bill also includes a variety of reporting requirements for AGDC regarding project cost and activity.

Most House members left Juneau Friday evening. The Senate is scheduled to gavel in on Monday morning. They will receive the House bill, which will be referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The committee has been holding hearings on their version of the bill for the last several weeks. 

Many senators have different ideas on what kind of gasline legislation should be passed. Some want to add in the S corp tax, while others want to increase other oil taxes and increase revenues for the haul road. There is also disagreement on how long the property tax holiday should last for the gasline. 

It’s hard to predict what the Senate will do, but one thing is certain – the clock is running out for the special session. It ends on June 19.

Another factor is all the bills that were sent to Dunleavy. He must act on those bills by June 18 – one day before the end of the special session. If Dunleavy vetoes a bunch of their bills, it could potentially create a big problem for his gasline bill. 

There are two potential outcomes in the Senate. The more likely outcome is they amend the bill to include some of their priorities and send it back to the House for a concurrence vote. There will not be enough time to work out the differences in a conference committee.

The less likely scenario is they wait to see what Dunleavy does on all the bills that were transmitted to him. If Dunleavy waits until the evening of June 18 to act, the Senate could opt to not pass the bill if Dunleavy vetoes enough priority legislation. The Legislature could decide to hold a joint session on June 19 to take up veto overrides, though they lack the votes to override most of his potential vetoes.  

If the Senate does send the bill back to the House for a concurrence vote, there is no guarantee it will be agreeable to Dunleavy and Glenfarne. In that case, the House could fail to concur with the Senate’s changes. This would kill the bill. Dunleavy would then need to decide if he wants to call them back into another special session. Dunleavy is in D.C. this week and has not indicated what he will do if the Legislature fails to pass a bill he wants.

We are watching things closely and will have updates as they become available. 

Other Happenings 

The Alaska Division of Elections disqualified Decoy Dan Sullivan of Petersburg from challenging Senator Dan Sullivan, at least for now. It’s possible Decoy Dan sues over the matter. But so far the evidence does not look good for him. He filed and changed his voter registration to run as a Republican, though he’s never been registered as a Republican. Then he hired Amber Lee, a Democratic strategies, which is very suspect. If Decoy Dan is up to no good, that is he is running to deliberately try and confuse voters, or if there is a conspiracy behind his candidacy, he might think twice about taking it to the courts. He, Amber Lee, and others could be deposed and have to take the stand at a trial. If they are up to no good, they might decide ending their game is the best move. 

I doubt Julian Chapin, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins‘ communications director will be calling me again. Pro tip, Julian: don’t call up members of the media, or anyone for that matter, and be a condescending asshole. This was one of the weirdest political phone calls I’ve ever received.  

There are 13 days before the June 27 withdrawal deadline for the August 18 primary. So far no one has withdrawn from the governor’s race or any of the 50 legislative races. Two people withdrew from the U.S. Senate race and U.S. House race, but those happened a while ago. After June 27, the primary ballot will be set. There is another withdrawal deadline, August 31, for the general election. 

This Week’s Loose Unit

This week’s designee is a real doozy. This week’s Loose Unit is Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez. 

If you been paying any attention to the news, you would know an Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) complaint was filed against him in February for using campaign funds for a roundtrip flight to Fort Lauderdale, at a cost of $1,255 plus a $1,000 for a carbon offset. He did not even stay in Florida! He just turned right around. The ticket was purchased on December 29, 2025. It’s clear homie was using campaign funds to go on a mileage run. This alone is very loose behavior. But just wait. 

APOC held a hearing on June 3 to look into the matter after staff recommended Martinez pay back the $2,225 and be penalized the same amount for his loose behavior. The Commission’s order following the hearing is maximum loose! I HIGHLY recommend reading it all if you want to laugh. It honestly reads like a satire piece. 

Dude refused to answer questions about the trip, would not disclose how many Atmos points he received or if it put him over for a new status tier, claimed the trip to Florida was for a “strategic session” to work on his campaign, and said the $1,000 carbon offset was for his “campaign’s commitment to offset emissions for campaign travel.” The funny thing about that is $1,000 is the maximum you can spend for the carbon offset scam to get 5,000 Elite-Qualifying Miles. This guy is the epitome of a Loose Unit!  

Here are just a few highlights.

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.