The controversial education funding package House Bill 57 got the veto pen treatment on Monday, the last day the governor had to axe the $183 million annual expenditure.
The bill would have increased the Base Student Allocation funding by $700 per student and had other provisions. But the funding was the main aspect of the bill that was transmitted to Gov. Mike Dunleavy on May 1.
“Today I vetoed the education funding bill HB 57 because it lacked sufficient education policy reform necessary to improve student outcomes,” Dunleavy said in a video that he released in the early afternoon.
The Legislature is likely to go into an hastily-called joint session to attempt to override the bill before the May 21 constitutional deadline for adjournment.
Today I vetoed the education funding bill HB 57 because it lacked sufficient education policy reform necessary to improve student outcomes. #aklegpic.twitter.com/6VMPLYbcak
— Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) May 19, 2025
Earlier this session, Dunleavy vetoed another education package, House Bill 69, for similar reasons, and the House and Senate failed to override his veto.
The liberal members running the Legislature then took parts of HB 69 and shoved it into a different education bill, HB 57, to try to permanently boost education spending.
The Sitka City and Borough Special Election is May 28, with just one question on the ballot: Should there be a limit to cruise ships visiting the city?
The group “Small Town SOUL” wants to limit cruise ships that have over 250 passengers, as well as restrict cruise ships from the port before May 1 and after Sept. 30. Ships would be limited to six days a week. The initiative would cap daily cruise ship passengers at 4,500 and annual passengers at 300,000 per cruise season. There are other provisions involving scheduling, permitting, reporting, and enforcement.
Early voting has already begun in Sitka, with in-person balloting through May 27 at Harrigan Centennial Hall, except for Memorial Day (May 26) and Sundays.
This is the third round for ballot initiative sponsor Larry Edwards and Small Town SOUL, which proposed a ballot initiative in 2022 to cap cruise ship passengers at 240,000 annually, with a weekly maximum of 13,350 visitors. The Sitka municipal clerk rejected this petition in September 2023, citing “confusing, misleading, and incomplete” terms and violations of the Alaska 2008 Alaska state constitution, specifically regarding the establishment of a port district.
In 2024 the group submitted another petition to limit cruise passengers to 300,000 annually and 4,500 daily, and it shortened season from May 1 to Sept. 30. That proposal was also rejected by the municipal clerk on July 2, 2024, for “misleading, confusing, and incomplete terms” and potential violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Tonnage Clause.
The group was undeterred and filed the third petition in December, with nearly 700 valid signatures.
Opposing the measure is another group, Safeguard Sitka, which argues that these limits could harm the local economy. In 2023, Sitka saw approximately 560,000 cruise ship passengers, generating significant economic activity. In 2024, there were about 600,000 passengers. Between 20-40% of Sitka’s economy is linked to cruise ship tourism.
If passed, the limitations would take effect for the 2026 cruise season. The cost of the election is over $17,000. Voters may vote in person on Election Day at their respective precinct in Harrigan Centennial Hall. Polls will be open 7 am to 8 pm.
Sitka is a Democrat stronghold, with as much as 30% of the workforce working for government or quasi-government jobs (SEARHC or tribal offices). Another 17% of workers are employed by nonprofits. None of these are stakeholders in the commercial sector, which is driven by tourism and fishing, primarily.
Juneau voters knocked down a similar proposal in October of 2024. Known as the “Ship-Free Saturdays” measure, the initiative proposed banning cruise ships with 250 or more passengers from docking on Saturdays and prohibited cruise ships on July 4, Juneau’s high holy day of partying. Out of 10,880 votes cast, 6,575 (approximately 60%) voted against the measure, while 4,196 (about 40%) voted in favor.
That was the first time Juneau voters voted on a cruise ship restriction, although there was an attempt in 2021 to gather enough signatures for the ballot; that effort failed.
A new petition is being attempted in Juneau, with different restrictions: Cruise ships would only be allowed five days a week and the annual cap on passengers would be 1.5 million. No cruise ships would be allowed before May 1 or after Sept. 30.
This proposed initiative, led by Juneau’s leading cruise ship critic Karla Hart, might be on the October, 2025 municipal election ballot for Juneau.
A similar ban was passed by voters in Bar Harbor, Maine in 2022, capping daily cruise ship passengers at 1,000, which was a major reduction from the 2,000 to 4,500 passengers who typically disembarked daily during the season.
The cap, effective December 2022, was upheld by a federal judge in 2024 despite a lawsuit from local businesses.
Since then, businesses have reported devastating consequences. Business owner Shawn Porter of Little Village Giftsreported that up to 40% of her annual revenue comes from cruise passengers, but ships cancelled visits, with minimal bookings for 2025, since ships cannot selectively disembark passengers to meet the cap. The Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, which represents businesses like Bar Harbor Whale Watch and pier operators, estimated a $20 million annual loss for businesses.
Former Fairbanks North Star Borough Assemblywoman Savannah Fletcher was censured by the Assembly on Friday and fined $3.
In a 5-4 vote, Fletcher was censured for what was deemed a “minor and technical” ethics violation, relating to radio ads she recorded in 2023 that encouraged residents of Fairbanks to get involved with borough agenda items that were important to her.
In those ads, she offered opinions on matters coming before the Assembly, and she did not disclose that these were her own opinions, not the opinions of the Assembly. She also did not disclose who paid for the ads. The radio ads were privately funded, not paid for by the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Assemblyman David Guttenberg acknowledged helping pay for the ads.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly’s Ethics Board found that radio spots violated ethics rules due to her inflection, word choice, and focus on specific topics that were part of her own agenda.
Fletcher, a licensed attorney, member of the Alaska Bar Association, and member of the Alaska Judicial Council, faced scrutiny over the violation’s implications for her professional work. She is an expert litigator on behalf of the liberal Northern Justice Project and makes her living suing conservatives and governments that make decisions she disagrees with.
She left the Assembly in 2024 and ran for state Senate, losing to Sen. Mike Cronk in November.
President Trump’s budget and priority bill advanced from the House Budget Committee in late-night vote Sunday. The next stop is the Rules Committee, and then the bill will advance to the House floor for a vote.
The four holdouts from the Freedom Caucus voted present, which allowed the bill to pass 17-16.
Read about the main points of the bill at this link:
The committee didn’t meet until after 10 pm on Sunday, delayed because the four conservatives had voted against the legislation on Friday, as they wanted more cuts. By Sunday night they had found it more valuable to move the bill forward by their “present” votes.
The bill will still have to be debated in the Senate, where Sen. Lisa Murkowski has already hinted that she may be a dissenting vote unless Planned Parenthood and green energy initiatives from the Biden era be funded.
In the legislative process called “conference committee,” legislators from the House and Senate are appointed to a joint committee to hash out differences in the budgets passed by the respective bodies.
On Sunday, the Conference Committee waded into “free conference” zone, which is when they start adding things to the budget that have not been passed by either body.
But the Conference Committee does not have free conference powers; instead, it has limited conference powers.
At issue is a major hole in the existing year’s budget, caused by a significant drop in the price of oil. The budget passed last year by the Legislature was based on $78 a barrel oil, but oil is now down in the $67 a barrel range, and the Legislature needs to backfill this year’s budget with supplemental money — about $180 million. If they don’t, then the governor will have to find cuts between now and the start of the new fiscal year, July 1.
In negotiations on Sunday, the committee decided to add in a draw on the Constitutional Budget Reserve fund, and if that fails to get the needed votes in the House and Senate, then the budget will take $100 million from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and the Higher Education fund. That’s new lawmaking, which is not allowed in conference committee.
It’s unclear if the Conference Committee members are aware that they have violated the rules of the Legislature by adding things to the budget, as opposed to the limited conference rules of having to stay within established brackets.
The conference committee closed out their work and will have the budget on the desks of legislators by Monday, so that they can have it for 24 hours before voting on it.
Former President Joe Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office announced on Sunday.
After experiencing urinary symptoms last week, he went for a checkup and on Friday his office announced a nodule had been found and it’s cancerous.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his personal office said. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians, the statement said.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 12.8% of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, with the majority of diagnoses occurring after age 65.
Biden is 82.5 years old and has been suffering from cognitive decline, which has been evident to the world, although his family has not acknowledged that publicly.
Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. leads the US Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Marty Makary heads up the Food and Drug Administration. They are reforming the drug/vaccine approval process to ensure gold-standard research is followed.
Dr. Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon and researcher, practices surgical oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery.
Just recently, Dr. Makary raised doubts about all Americans needing that seventh Covid booster and questioned the “success of past clinical trials.” Makary stated better data are needed.
“We can’t just extrapolate from a clinical trial from four or five years ago,” he said. “Americans have a very low uptake and a very low confidence of the Covid boosters right now.”
Some 85% of healthcare workers didn’t take that last booster jab, Makary said, and he acknowledged that asking drug companies to change their approach to Covid jabs may mean there will not be a new booster in the fall.
The FDA also is considering whether Covid boosters should only be given primarily to high-risk groups, rather than to all people. It is expected within the next few days the FDA will come out with a statement that Covid jabs will no longer be recommended for children, teens, and pregnant women. This is a huge change.
Using risk assessment, recommendations may be made that only those older than 65 would still need at least two doses a year along with those people who have an underlying health condition that increases their risk.
To satisfy those who may be wanting to still get the seventh booster, they will still have that option.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice is expected to vote on this potentially new guidance in June. The panel’s decision will influence how the federal government supports immunizations, including how insurance companies are required to cover vaccines and how doctors talk about the shots to their patients.
In discussing changes to the approval process, Dr. Makary wants to make the rules clear and transparent. There is the expectation that the Emergency Use Authorization, which has been used for the Covid jabs since 2020, will no longer apply to future Covid jabs.
I have often wondered why that rule was still in effect, concerning the fact that then President Biden had declared the pandemic over on May 11, 2023. Why was EUA still used? Oh wait. Best course of action for Big Pharma.
Makary’s approach to Covid-19 jabs certainly is different from the FDA under Biden. During those years, the FDA routinely just rubber stamped the jab’s annual booster.
Makary said that it is his job to “upholding gold standard science and rebuilding public trust, not to save pharma companies tens of millions of dollars.”
Dr. Vinay Prasad was recently appointed director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. His background is in hematology-oncology, and he is professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
Prasad is currently meeting with the industry and agency staffers as he prepares to unveil a “massive framework,” that will incorporate the agency’s regulatory stance on vaccines, according to Makary.
There is a lot going on to change the vaccine approval process, to provide the public valuable information to have real informed consent, and to gain public trust. I don’t expect Big Pharma to be too happy. The gravy train is coming to a halt.
Maybe now more legal action will ensue as we learn more about what these vaccine manufacturers hid from Americans.
Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, has been actively “working to protect individual liberties, including the right to bodily autonomy, informed consent and parental rights.”
I am pleased to announce Mary Holland will be one of the speakers at our upcoming Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom (www.AK4PF.org) conference on Oct. 11, 2025, in Anchorage. Stay tuned for more information and save the date!
Linda Boyle, RN, MSN, DM, was formerly the chief nurse for the 3rd Medical Group, JBER, and was the interim director of the Alaska VA. Most recently, she served as Director for Central Alabama VA Healthcare System. She is the director of the Alaska Covid Alliance/Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom.
Some of the items of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which is thefederal budget reconciliationpackage, that are of interest to Alaskans:
Reducing entitlement fraud
Aligns SNAP with other state-administered entitlement programs by requiring states to shoulder a share of the benefit costs, incentivizing states like Alaska, where 15% of Alaskans are enrolled in SNAP, to administer SNAP more efficiently and effectively. The national overpayment rate of SNAP benefits is 10.03%.
Prevents states from manipulating SNAP eligibility and benefit calculations to inflate enrollment. Alaska has a high error rate in benefit calculations with overpayment rates reported to be at 59.59%, compared to 11.7% nationally.
Restores SNAP work requirements for able-bodied adults without young dependents.
Advances eligible reinvestments improvements to farm policy and other priorities in rural America.
Armed Services
$9 billion for “Servicemember Quality of Life,” including increases in allowances and special pays, as well as improvements to housing, healthcare, and assistance to military families.
$34 billion for Shipbuilding and the Maritime Industrial Base to expand the size and enhance the capability of our naval fleet.
$12 billion to expand stocks of spares, improve infrastructure at military depots and shipyards, and enhance the capability of Special Forces.
$5 billion to help carry out President Trump’s border, immigration, and counterdrug enforcement agenda.
Education
Reduces deficit by $351 billion.
Caps total amount of federal student aid to the “median cost of college,” which is $50,000 for undergraduate students, $100,000 for graduate students, and $150,000 for students in graduate professional programs, with a lifetime limit for every student capped at $200,000.
Establishes a performance-based grant program for grants that will be awarded based on strong earning potential programs, low tuitions and other sideboards.
Prevents future presidents from being able to forgive student loans that were made by the government or that are government-backed.
Energy and Commerce
Reduces the deficit by $912 million.
Unleashes American energy.
Reforms Medicaid to establish work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents.
Closes loopholes that allow illegal immigrants to enroll in Medicaid. Reduces funding to states that prioritize Medicaid coverage of illegal immigrants.
Rescinds Green New Deal-style projects, streamlines process for developing American energy infrastructure.
Reverses Biden EV mandates and CAFE standards for passenger cars and light trucks.
Modernizes the Department of Commerce by updating IT systems and using beneficial artificial intelligence tools.
Homeland Security
Provides $980 billion for border security, increases federal spending by $67 billion.
Provides $5 billion of Customs and Border Protection facilities to support staffing and evolving security challenges.
$4.1 billion for hiring and training 3,000 new Border Patrol agents, 5,000 new Office of Field Operations customs officers, and other personnel.
$2 billion in sighing bonuses and annual retention.
$1.076 billion for CPB’s non-intrusive inspection technology to detect and interdict illegal drugs like fentanyl.
$2.7 billion for border technology, such as ground detection sensors that can detect tunnels.
Judiciary
$110 billion for border security, increases spending by $4 billion.
Reinforces Trump efforts to secure southern border
Provides funding for at least one million removals annually of illegal immigants.
Natural Resources
Reinstates quarterly onshore oil and gas leases and requires geothermal lease sales.
Mandates at least 30 lease sales in Gulf of America over 15 years and six in Cook Inlet.
Gives Alaska 90-10 split in oil royalties starting in 2035.
Resumes energy production in NPRA and ANWR.
Resumes coal leasing on federal lands.
Increases timber sales on federal lands, requires long-term timber contracts.
Rescinds slush funds created by Biden to advance radical environmental agenda and that lined the pockets of environmental litigation groups at the expense of taxpayers.
Historic investment of $212 billion to recapitalize the Coast Guard, including acquisition of cutters, aircraft, and icebreakers.
Construction of facilities to secure the border.
Invests $12.5 billion in overhaul and modernization of failing air traffic control systems.
Increase federal revenues up to $38 billion by adding a $250 fee on electric vehicles, a $100 fee on hybrids. The money will go into the Highway Trust Fund and creates parity with gas-powered vehicles that already pay these fees at the pump.
Rescinds nearly $4 billion from seven Green New Deal programs created by Democrats with the Inflation eduction Act.
Ways and Means
Makes the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, protecting the average taxpayer rom a 22% tax hike.
Delivers President Trump’s “no tax on tips, overtime pay,” and no tax on car interest loans.
Provides addition tax relief for seniors.
Holds woke universities accountable by increasing the tax on their university endowments and subjecting the largest endowments to the corporate tax rate.
Ends over $500 billion in Inflation Reduction Act subsidies.
Prevents taxpayer benefits from going to illegal immigrants by requiring a Social Security number for individuals claiming tax credits and deductions, closing the loophole that allow Obamacare premium tax credits and Medicare tax creates going to illegal immigrants.
Energy policies included in the US House budget reconciliation package represent a big departure from the federal energy strategy under the Biden Administration, with a return to fossil fuel development that could provide a financial boost to states like Alaska in the coming years.
The legislation, supported by House Republicans and endorsed by President Donald Trump, includes a wide range of pro-energy provisions designed to expand oil and gas production while rolling back Biden’s so-called “clean energy” incentives that depend on dirty mining in China.
The House reconciliation package has yet to pass out of the House Budget Committee, which stalled the bill on Friday.
However, energy-related sections advanced by the House Ways and Means and Natural Resources Committees outline sweeping changes. These include mandates to expand federal fossil fuel leasing, streamline the permitting process, lower royalty rates for oil and gas producers, refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and delay implementation of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program.
A centerpiece of the proposal is a requirement for at least 30 oil and natural gas lease sales on federal lands and in the Gulf of Mexico over the next 15 years.
For Alaska, the bill mandates six lease sales in Cook Inlet and authorizes new leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Additionally, it reinstates quarterly onshore lease sales, with projected federal revenue gains of roughly $12 billion.
Alaska Congressman Nick Begich, a Republican, played the key role in ensuring the inclusion of measures favorable to the state, particularly those enabling development in Cook Inlet, NPRA, and ANWR.
In addition, Begich has thrown a life ring to future Alaska legislators struggling to balance the state budget. In what could be one of the most important developments for Alaska’s economy and ailing state budget, Begich has inserted in the budget an increase Alaska’s share of federal leasing revenues from 50% to 90% starting in 2035. This could dramatically strengthen the state’s long-term fiscal outlook at a time when state lawmakers are looking to tax Alaskans and to even dissolve their Permanent Fund dividends altogether.
While the bill has strong backing from Republicans and fossil fuel advocates, it faces resistance from Democrat lawmakers and strong opposition from environmental groups.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who has had mercurial stances energy issues, expressed concerns about the scope of the legislation because she wants the Biden “green energy” measures preserved.
“I’m not investing anything in it until we see it,” Murkowski told reporters last week. “I’m not going to get too excited about what’s happening there until you see the final.”
Although the budget reconciliation failed to pass the House Budget Committee on Friday due to opposition from four conservative members of the Freedom Caucus (Chip Roy, Josh Brecheen, Andrew Clyde, and Ralph Norman), who joined Democrats to block it, the committee plans to reconvene on Sunday. The four members who blocked it argue that the bill needs more cuts to federal spending.
Once out of committee, the “Big Beautiful Bill” will be sent to the House floor for debate under rules set forth by the Rules Committee. Representatives then debate the bill, and a floor vote will be held. With the GOP’s slim majority, the bill needs nearly unanimous Republican support, as Democrats are expected to oppose it unanimously. If it passes, the bill moves to the Senate, where Murkowski is expected to hold it hostage in order to get the green energy programs back into the bill, as well as funding for Planned Parenthood.
