The Alaska Legislature gavels in on Jan. 21, but the first batch of pre-filed bills has now been posted by Legislative Affairs. The bills cover everything from the use of gold as legal tender to banning styrofoam food service containers (Rep. Andy Josephson).
HB 1, the first bill filed, is by Rep. Kevin McCabe of Big Lake. It’s a bill he has offered in previous sessions, specifying “specie as legal tender in the state; and relating to borough and city sales and use taxes on specie.”
HB 2 was filed by Rep. Mike Prax of North Pole. It “establishes the driving while under the influence diversion program for eligible persons charged with driving while under the influence or refusal to submit to a chemical test; and “relating to judgment for restitution; relating to suspended imposition of sentence; relating to records kept by the Department of Administration; relating to operating a vehicle, aircraft, or watercraft while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, inhalant, or controlled substance; relating to refusal to submit to a chemical test; amending Rule 9, Alaska Rules of Administration, and Rule 39, Alaska Rules of Criminal Procedure; and providing for an effective date.”
HB 3 was filed by Rep. George Rauscher, “Relating to convening the legislature in Anchorage; relating to the regulation of lobbying; relating to annual student guests of the legislature; relating to locations of sessions of the legislature; relating to the Legislative Ethics Act; relating to the relocation of functions of state government; and providing for an effective date.”
HB 4 was filed by Rep. Dan Saddler, “Relating to write-in candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States.”
In all, there are 37 pre-filed bills by House members so far. The members are still filing them and a second tranche will be released next week.
Over in the Senate, SB 1 was filed by Sen. Forrest Dunbar in support of appropriations to the civil legal services fund.
SB 2 was filed by Sen. Shelley Hughes, “relating to disclosure of election-related deepfakes; relating to use of artificial intelligence by state agencies; and relating to transfer of data about individuals between state agencies.”
SB 3 was also filed by Sen. Hughes, “Requiring school districts to grant qualified persons an assigned duty to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds under certain conditions; relating to standards, training, and continuing education in firearms training for qualified persons granted an assigned duty to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds; relating to communication of school districts with state and local law enforcement; and relating to school crisis response plans.”
SB 4 and 5 were also filed by Sen. Hughes and relate to health insurance.
Bills filed by Republicans in the House and Senate will probably have tough sledding in the Democrat-controlled House and Senate.
Must Read Alaska will analyze these bills and others that will be announced next week, so check back.
You can read the entire list of the first bills’ titles here:
Congressman Nick Begich III is already assigned to two committees: the House Natural Resources Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
He is now on a third one: House Science, Space, and Technology. He announced it on the Amy Demboski Showon Friday morning.
The committee plays to his strengths, as someone interested in how technologies can be used and how they are at risk for abuse.
On Jan. 1, Begich wrote about 2025 being a big year for things like artificial intelligence, artificial superinteligence, robotics, space, and supply chains at a time when there are global conflicts and inflation, and said with the “continued resurgence of classic small government economic policies in both the developed and the developing world … Buckle up! 2025 will be a lot of things, but it won’t be boring!”
During such a time when people like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both future-looking business leaders, have influence over White House policies in business, space, and technology, the committee may become more prominent than during the Biden era.
Last month, the committee sent a fourth letter to Department of Energy’s Secretary Jennifer Granholm, expressing ongoing concern that pausing the export of liquefied natural gas without scientific justification could eventually lead to a permanent ban on one of our country’s most valuable clean energy resources. Granholm ignored the request for information.
“In total, these letters posed 17 questions and made two document requests. In the nine months since these questions were first posed, the Department has failed to provide any substantive answers about the analyses being conducted to establish LNG export authorizations,” the committee wrote.
Notably, when Rep. Mary Peltola was in the House, she was only assigned to two committees.
The rules of the House typically limit congressional members’ service to no more than two standing committees and not more than four subcommittees within the committees. However, House rules also allow for these restrictions to be waived upon recommendation by either party caucus. It appears the caucus wants Begich on a third committee, as he is recognized as a rising star and a workhorse.
Which subcommittees will Begich be assigned to? Those announcements are expected soon.
Rather than Mayor Suzanne LaFrance doing the deed, it was Municipal Attorney Eva Gardner who was tasked with releasing the sanitized public version of the “critical incident review and recommendations” concerning an August police-involved shooting. The official version, paid for by taxpayers, is being kept secret by LaFrance’s office. The sanitized version is at the end of this report.
LaFrance’s muni attorney also on Thursday announced yet another request for proposals for a third party to do a second review of Anchorage Police Department policies, training, tactics, and supervision that pertain to use of force, de-escalation, and cultural awareness.
In other words, since the State’s Office of Special Prosecutions chose not to pursue charges against the officer involved in a shooting of a dangerous suspect in August of 2024, LaFrance is going ahead with her own double investigation of police tactics.
The RFP announcement came on Thursday, the day after a chaotic scene in the Government Hill neighborhood of Anchorage ended when an officer shot a man who was actively shooting at a victim. It was the second police-involved shooting in two days in Anchorage. Both the victim and the suspect survived and the officer was not harmed.
On Aug. 15, Mayor LaFrance called for a third party to investigate the police, indicating she does not trust the State Office of Special Prosecutions or the internal investigation into police-involved shootings, such as the one that led to the death of Easter Leafa on Aug. 13, 2024.
The Aug. 13 shooting occurred when the woman in Anchorage brandished a knife and threatened officers and her own family members. After that shooting, LaFrance immediately issued an apology to the family for the death of the woman, who had recently moved to Anchorage from Samoa.
LaFrance ordered not one but two layers of outside review to “understand” the factors that lead to officer-involved shootings and to recommend changes to the Anchorage Police Department’s policies and training to reduce officer-involved shootings.
The first layer of the LaFrance review was to have a third-party investigator direct the administrative investigation of the August 13 incident. The Municipal Attorney’s Office contracted with a licensed private investigative investigator, Christopher Darcy of Fairfax Consulting Group.
Darcy served 31 years with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he was Undersheriff, Assistant Sheriff, and Deputy Chief. That gave him experience with police internal affairs investigations. Darcy is retired from LVMPD and is serves as an independent monitor of the use of force for the City of Albuquerque, N.M. He also works as an expert witness in use of force litigation, working with both plaintiffs and defendants.
The administrative investigation of an officer-involved shooting begins once any criminal process has concluded. The State of Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions concluded its criminal investigation into the Aug. 13 incident and declined to bring charges against the involved officer on Sept. 30.
The LaFrance-Darcy began investigation immediately upon conclusion of the State of Alaska’s investigation. Darcy was provided full access to all information and internal resources necessary to complete his investigation thoroughly, impartially, and efficiently, in conjunction with APD Internal Affairs personnel. His investigation included the participation and perspective of the deceased individual’s family members, who were present at the location of the Aug. 13 incident.
At the conclusion of the investigation, Darcy presented his report to the Municipal Attorney. The report analyzed the Aug. 13 incident and recommended certain changes to APD policy and training.
Apparently, the full report will not be made public because of legal constraints, including personnel privacy rights, but the Municipal Attorney requested that Darcy prepare a separate public report containing his recommendations for training and policy changes.
The sanitized version for the public is the following, as provided by the Municipal Attorney:
Recommendation 1: Enhance policy to ensure (1) call takers and dispatchers receive regular training on information gathering requirements and (2) call taking and dispatch are included in the scope of after-action or investigative review process on critical incidents.
Recommendation 2: Enhance APD’s supervision policy, making it more straightforward and comprehensive regarding sergeants’ and lieutenants’ expectations regarding critical incident response.
Recommendation 3: Enhance training to identify the specific actions that Sergeants and Lieutenants are expected to perform from the time of call assignment throughout the event’s conclusion. The policy should cover various topics, including de-escalation options, intervention, roles and responsibilities, and creating an array of force options.
Recommendation 4: Enhance command and control policy and training to include a protocol for responding to incidents involving the threatened use of violence by individuals in possession of a deadly weapon. The policy change is intended to ensure supervisors react to a potential critical incident in a timely manner and are proactive in managing the encounter. The policy improvements should consist of a process initiated by dispatch that ensures timely notification of a supervisor by requiring supervisors to announce their acknowledgment and/or self-dispatch to the call. If a sergeant is unavailable, dispatch will contact another sergeant or lieutenant to respond if possible. Supervisors should manage the utilization of tactics, supervise the incident, and determine the use of a shotgun, rifle, arrest team, less lethal option, or other tools/resources such as the APD Crisis Intervention Team. The policy enhancement should include factors such as requiring verbal acknowledgment from supervisors assigned to high-risk calls, planning a response before arrival, assigning roles and responsibilities, coordinating the deployment of force options, deployment of less-lethal options, crisis intervention options, tactics for slowing the momentum, creating distance, and using cover, distance, and time as a tactic.
Recommendation 5: Enhance existing policy and training to include officers’ and supervisors’ responsibilities. This policy should consist of dispatch, patrol, supervision, and other units that may become involved. Every potential violent confrontation cannot always be de-escalated, but officers can impact many situations’ direction, severity, and outcome based on their decision-making and tactics.
Recommendation 6: Enhance existing policy and training regarding appropriate force options, including an array of less lethal options, and the effective deployment by a team of officers. The training should clarify officer placement and effective communication in critical incidents.
Recommendation 7: Enhance Reality Based Training (RBT) to incorporate additional scenarios that reinforce the principles of contact officer and cover officer. Develop this concept in conjunction with a de-escalation response protocol.
Recommendations 8: Explore and implement meaningful ways to improve knowledge on effectively communicating with a diverse community. The policy should include specific steps to improve officers’ abilities to communicate without placing any additional threat of harm on officers and empower them, when feasible, to determine if limiting factors could influence communication with a suspect. Factors to be considered are language and cultural differences, medical impairments behavioral health issues, etc.
Recommendation 9: Enhance policy and update practices for interacting with families and witnesses after officer-involved shootings and enhance policy and officer training on best managing the investigation by improving trauma-informed communication with families of those involved in critical incidents.
Recommendation 10: Create a policy that defines when it is appropriate to use weapon-mounted lights to avoid a situation in which an officer inadvertently and unintentionally points a firearm at a human being. Weapon-mounted lights should not be used as a replacement for a flashlight.
Recommendation 11: Review supervisor notification systems and procedures relating to officer weapons qualifications requirements.
Outside Review of APD Policies, Training, Tactics, and Supervision
The second layer of review by LaFrance is to be another comprehensive third-party review of APD’s policies, training, tactics and supervision as they relate to use of force, de-escalation, and cultural awareness so as to reduce the use of deadly force against violent criminals.
The request for proposals is posted on the Municipality’s Purchasing website and available through the Municipality’s BidExpresspage. The deadline for proposals is Feb. 13.
One of the personally unpleasant tasks I undertake is to watch the political left, listen to what they say, try to understand what they want, and most importantly attempt to listen, however poorly, to how they intend to steal our money.
This week’s entry on that list is one putative Republican State Sen. Cathy Giessel. She started out as a reliable conservative but following a knockdown, drag-out slobber-knocker to defend her Senate seat from then-AFL/CIO Boss Vince Beltrami, she has swung hard left over the last half decade.
One of the things Sen. Giessel does is send out a weekly update on her thinking. While you might not like it, it behooves us all to read it and pay attention, for she is the Majority Leader of the Senate “bipartisan majority.”
Her latest missive is in defense of inflation proofing the Permanent Fund. Inflation proofing is based on the notion that whatever the Permanent Fund Corporation is doing investing the corpus of the fund is not sufficient to keep up with inflation, something which is a real indictment on the investing expertise of the rocket scientists in charge of the Permanent Fund Corporation.
Sen. Giessel would have us believe that unless we bury substantial amounts of money into the corpus of the Permanent Fund yearly, it will wither away and die on the vine not unlike a late-season tomato.
I find this to be laughable for a couple reasons. First, is that the average inflation rate over the last decade is 2.65%, not an awful number. On The Other Hand, the Standard & Poors Index over the last decade has been over 10%, more than twice as much. This would tell us that going full numbnuts and simply investing in an index fund would more than triple whatever damage inflation is doing to the Permanent Fund.
In short, Giessel is either economically illiterate or lying to us.
Given that she has spent a decade or so in the Alaska Legislature, I would assume that she is not an economic illiterate. If that isn’t true, why would she be lying to us?
There may be several reasons. First and most importantly, is given her hard left slide over the years, she is no longer a Permanent Fund dividend fan, as she has better plans for that money than disbursing it to us mere mortals.
Indeed, she has been leading the “minimize the PFD” crowd over the last decade.
Second, she has plans for money allocated to the PFD. This would be increases to the education foundation formula and moving state pensions from defined contribution to costly defined benefit.
Given a finite dollar availability, the more money you spend on union benefits, the less you have for the PFD. Inflation proofing the corpus of the Permanent Fund when a simple investing strategy would triple the returns becomes a way to further shrink that pool of money.
Gissel is trying to minimize the available dollars for the PFD while rewarding her new union supporters while flashing the shiny in our eyes of inflation proofing the corpus of the Permanent Fund. Try not to chase the shiny.
Two thoughts come to mind:
First, if the Smart Guys at the Permanent Fund Corporation can’t figure out how to invest in stuff that beats inflation and index funds, they need to resign and be replaced by machines that will simply invest in Index Funds.
Second is that Cathy Giessel is lying to us, something we need to be careful of as she reportedly has plans on being our next governor.
Try not to elect a liar.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
Note: I writeas a resident of the Nordale area; I don’t represent the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly in this column.
I am registering my objection to the proposed roundaboutat the intersection of Nordale Road and Peede Road in Fairbanks.
I am not an “anti-round about” person; I think this type of traffic configuration works well with residential- retail-office type traffic in congested areas.
However, this type of configuration does not work well for intersections with significant truck and heavy equipment traffic and is not compatible with the type of traffic that often travels through the Nordale-Peede intersection. Further, the economic activity in the area is not compatible with roundabout traffic. Other safety strategies including improving visibility of traffic signs, turn lanes, grade changes, and speed limit changes would likely improve that intersection and should be considered before the roundabout configuration is considered.
The data to justify the project was requested and summarized in a table at the end of this tome. According to the traffic data made available by the Department of Transportation, there have been roughly two accidents a year over the 5-year period between 2017 and 2021 at the Nordale-Peede intersection.
Unlike Peede-Badger and Nordale-Badger where there have been fatalities, there have been no fatalities or injuries reported in the area. The overwhelming number of accidents are Eastbound on Peede and are due to a failure to stop at the intersection.
First-responders who have attended accidents at the intersection have indicated that the prevailing comment concerned visibility of the intersection. The intersection seemed to “come out of nowhere.” A sight visit to the area would make the visibility challenge abundantly clear. The comments in the DOT data seem to bear out the visibility issue. Vegetation and overgrowth are clearly a problem for drivers east bound on Peede; the stop sign at the intersection is just not visible until a driver is past Lolla Mae. This gives very little opportunity for motorists to brake.
I requested the traffic data and received the raw data set from DOT. I sorted the data by year, and removed traffic that was not explicitly at that intersection. Freeman Road, Lindsbourg, Cloverleaf, Nordale-Badger, Badger-Peede, the Alyeska yard, moose & mailbox incidents were removed from the data. The data was then sorted by year to see the frequency of events. The data is at the end of this column.
Approach to Lolla Mae and Peede intersection.After the Lolla Mae and Peede intersection.
In examining the pictures above, the first picture was taken just before the intersection of Lolla Mae St and Peede Road, approaching the sign. The second picture is just after Lolla Mae St. and Peede. The stop sign at Nordale-Peede is covered by vegetation and is not visible. The stop sign is only visible after passing Lolla Mae Street. This gives drivers little time to reduce speed and stop. Foliage mitigation, such as cutting down trees, would be improve visibility immensely.
Furthermore, there is no indication that the intersection is a 2-way stop. Drivers who are not familiar with the area often assume that Nordale-Peede is a 4-way stop.
Signage indicating that cross traffic does not stop on the Nordale Road sign would be beneficial and alert drivers that the traffic on Nordale does not stop and to exercise patience would be helpful to people unfamiliar with the area.
Further, the data supports increasing visibility of the stop sign rather than a new configuration. In examining the data relevant to the project, “did not see stop sign” is a frequent cause of accidents. It would be far cheaper to chop down or trim the trees to improve stop sign visibility rather than construct a roundabout. There were no fatalities reported at this intersection. In contrast, there are intersections along Badger Road that have had significantly more accidents and fatalities. Problem intersections include Badger- Plack, Badger Nordale, and Badger-Peede. It would be more productive to use HSIP funds on those projects rather than a roundabout at Nordale-Peede.
Other configuration challenges
There are other configuration challenges at the Nordale-Peede intersection that could be addressed. These involve grade changes and line of sight during the winter months. Addressing these grade changes might also be helpful.
Peede sits much lower than Nordale. In vehicles that sit lower, such as sedan and compact vehicles, the view can easily be obstructed. A year ago there was extensive utility work by Golden Valley Electric Association near the intersection, and heavy equipment was often parked near that intersection. On a few occasions, this created a line-of-sight challenge for drivers.
Similarly, west-bound drivers crossing Nordale often contend with telecommunication trucks at the intersection. Snowberms also reduce visibility at the intersection, as they did in the winters of 2002-2023.
While these are temporary challenges, great care should be taken in considering the data against these projects where there were some line-of-sight challenges.
Road grade has also presented maintenance challenges. During the ice storm in December of 2022, DOT’s had significant equipment failures (ice breaker) that limited maintenance operations on both roads. Due to grade changes, a “small berm” on Nordale can appear to be a mountain when viewed from Peede. Further, the grade change from Nordale to Peede causes frost to accumulate on Peede, making it difficult for drivers to gain traction.
There is a similar road grade challenge at the intersection of Peede and Badger. Thus, it may be worthwhile examining changes to the road grade on Peede which would help both intersections rather than a roundabout.
Roundabout would be incompatible with traffic mix
The Nordale-Peede intersection is a major intersection used by recreational traffic. The Nordale Boat launch, the Peede snowmobile trail to Chena Lakes, Mushing on the Chena River (Yukon Quest), snow machine and four-wheeler trail use on the “Nordale Flats” is extensive. This results in a significant amount of traffic that involves trucks pulling trailers. Roundabouts can be difficult to navigate with trailers, particularly in icy conditions. Further, others seeking to enter the roundabout may not see an empty trailer being pulled by a truck and they enter the roundabout prematurely, resulting in accidents.
In addition, there is significant use of heavy equipment in Nordale – and only a small fraction is associated with the Alyeska yard. There are gravel pits in the area that are an important source for both private residents and DOT.
It is not unusual to see a forest mulcher on a lowboy trailer to clear timber. It is not uncommon to see logs being hauled to one of the various mills for processing. There are several shops in the area that cater to the repair of large commercial diesel engines that are often attached to large equipment. The Nordale area is an access point to various private lands and public owned lands which hold significant timber interests. Construction of a roundabout at Nordale-Peede would be a major impediment to the continued success of local businesses and the development of timber and gravel resources in that area.
There is extensive use of the GVEA easements by motorized recreational users. The utility corridors along Peede and Nordale are used extensively by ATVs and snowmachines year around to go to Badger Gas, the Peede Fishing area, and the bus stop. A roundabout would greatly disrupt that traffic and provide an incentive for users to cross Nordale at Ravenbell rather than Peede. This increase in traffic would increase the cost of maintenance of the Borda Road Service area.
A roundabout would also increase traffic in the Borda Road Service Area in other ways, raising maintenance costs. Recreational traffic, either on ATV or trucks with boat trailers, would seek ways to avoid the roundabout, irrespective of its construction. To avoid the roundabout, there would be an incentive to take Cloverleaf Dr. from Nordale to Peede, then Dakota St. to Ravenbell St. and back to Nordale. These roads are part of a borough road service area and maintained by property owners and their property tax funds.
The increased traffic will increase maintenance costs and make it burdensome for property owners in the area.
Prospects for Economic Development
Because of the traffic mix, it would be detrimental to the economic development and recreational prospects of this important part of the region. The area relies heavily on truck and heavy equipment traffic which is not compatible with a roundabout. The area has an extremely strong and vibrant role in recreational traffic. The area has significant heavy equipment traffic. Minor improvements such as a lighted stop sign in a visible location, signage warning drivers on Peede that cross traffic does not stop, a flashing light, reduction in vegetation and snowberms, & reductions in speed limits are all things that would improve the intersection for far less than the cost of a roundabout.
Constructing a roundabout will not improve visibility, nor will it address the road grade challenges that exist on Peede. Even a roundabout must be visible to be used successfully. While a roundabout could be built to accommodate truck traffic, it would require significantly more land than is under the current DOT easement. It would be a very heavy hand to solve a problem that can be readily remedied with simpler strategies.
Improvements & HSIP Priorities
There are several lower cost options that can be pursued to improve the safety of the intersection. Removing vegetation, improving visibility of traffic signs, indicating cross traffic does not stop to east bound drivers on Peede are all lower cost measures. Speed limit changes could also help.
HSIP funds are for intersections with high fatalities, not minor traffic incidents. There are several intersections in Badger-Nordale area that are far more worthy of consideration of large scale HSIP funds. To propose a roundabout at Nordale-Peede two weeks before the wake of a family that died on Badger on Dec. 3 seems a bit tone deaf by DOT to the community.
I strongly urge DOT to reconsider the Nordale-Peede roundabout project. It should not be adopted into the transportation plan by Fast Planning or the DOT.
Barbara Haney, Ph.D. is a resident of Fairbanks and serves on the borough Assembly but is writing in the capacity of a private citizen.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy was with the Trump transition team in Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s home in Florida. He was with a group in a press conference led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who told reporters that if California Gov. Gavin Newsom was a Republican, he would be “nailed to the wall” over that state’s response to wildfires.
Dunleavy was with a group of Republican governors invited by Trump to meet with him before he takes office on Jan. 20.
Dining with Trump on Thursday were 22 of the 27 Republican governors, who engaged with him in a discussion of how to drive forward the America First agenda. A few could not attend due to the massive snowstorm impacting their states.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte told reporters “It’s been a long period without cooperation from Washington, so, we’re looking forward to the new administration coming in. We have a lot of business to get done on behalf of our states. We’re just pleased to be here to meet with the president.”
On Wednesday, Trump held a meeting Republican senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, which included Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. Sen. Lisa Murkowski did not attend that meeting.
Sullivan, however, was able to bring up Alaska issues with Trump during the meeting.
In the video above, Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters gathered outside, “If Newsom was a Republican, you guys would go try to — you would have him nailed to the wall for what they are doing over there. I know, we’ve dealt with it. We just assume in Florida, anytime something happens, it’s going to be politicized by the media. So you guys sitting in judgment of Donald Trump, I mean, excuse me, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad.”
“What I’m telling you is you guys are trying to make an issue of it when I have watched from this seat — in fact, when I got elected governor, I was meeting with some other Republican governors and what they would say is, ‘Hey, if you have a natural disaster, just know media is coming at you, they’re going to do it,’” DeSantis said. “It’s not the same. That mayor of L.A., if that were a Republican mayor, I can only imagine what that would do. I mean, you know fires are a high risk and you try to go to Africa or wherever she was, to go on some type of voyage? You should have been there preparing and doing that. And yet I don’t see a lot of heat being directed in that thing.”
The Laken Riley Act, legislation designed to prevent crimes committed by illegal aliens, cleared a critical hurdle in the Senate with an 84-9 vote on its first procedural test of the new legislative year.
The legislation, introduced by Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama and Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia, has suddenly gained significant Democrat support, with 33 Senate Democrats joining all present Republicans to move it forward. The Senate is now controlled by Republicans, who are moving their legislation, some of it for a second time. Only nine Democrats voted against advancing the legislation.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, a co-sponsor of the bill, expressed his gratitude for the quick progress on the bill, which he described as a vital step toward restoring accountability in immigration enforcement. Sen. Lisa Murkowski did not vote on the bill.
A similar bill had passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, with the support of Alaska Congressman Nick Begich III.
Named in honor of 22-year-old Laken Riley, who was killed by a criminal illegal immigrant last year, the legislation mandates that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detain undocumented immigrants accused of theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting. The bill stipulates that these individuals remain in detention until they are deported to prevent them from reoffending.
Additionally, the act grants states the authority to pursue civil actions against federal officials who fail to enforce immigration laws or violate statutory obligations.
Sen. Sullivan attributed the rise in crime and drug trafficking, including fentanyl distribution, to what he called a “complete dereliction of duty” by the Biden Administration. He stated that the border policies implemented over the last four years have exacerbated national security, health, and humanitarian crises.
“The consequences of the largest invasion of illegal aliens in American history – which began four years ago – are a tragedy and represent a complete dereliction of duty by President Biden,” Sullivan said. “The Biden administration’s border policies, which included deliberate orders to ignore federal law, have created a national security, health, humanitarian, and crime crisis of epic proportions. Laken Riley should still be alive today. So should thousands more Americans who have lost their lives as a result of these reckless and dangerous policies. Alaskans have certainly felt the impacts of the record amounts of drugs, particularly fentanyl, and cartel members coming across the border and reaching our state thousands of miles away. The Laken Riley Act is an attempt to make America safer and restore accountability to the people in charge of carrying out America’s immigration laws.”
The bill’s progress marks a shift from the previous Congress, where similar legislation passed the House but was blocked in the Senate. With Republicans now holding the Senate majority, the bill has gained momentum, reflecting a growing bipartisan consensus on immigration enforcement now that Sen. Chuck Schumer is not in control and Biden is just 10 days away from being a former president.
Last week, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast of Florida introduced legislation to shield Israeli officials from the lawless and illegitimate attacks of the “International Criminal Court.”
Israel is currently at war with Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization.
The “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” (H.R. 23) would impose sanctions on any International Criminal Court officials who seek to go after U.S. citizens or her allies, including Israel.
The legislation passed the House on a bipartisan basis last Congress with the support of 42 Democrats. The bill never moved in the Democrat-controlled Senate. President Joe Biden supports the ICC.
The ICC is an illegitimate court that represents a massive threat to US sovereignty, Roy said. The Trump administration was right to impose sanctions on the associates of the ICC if they dare go after US citizens, servicemembers, or her allies; Biden’s decision to reverse that policy was weak, embarrassing, and wrong, he said.
Congressman Nick Begich III said he supports the bill.
“The U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) nor party to the Rome Statute. Therefore, the ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or its citizens,” Begich said. “Protecting the sovereignty of our nation and our citizens requires that we stand up to organizations like the ICC, make clear that we do not recognize their authority, and will not cede those rights uniquely protected under the United States Constitution. That is why I am proud to support the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act.”
Rep. Roy said the ICC is engaged in a “shameful lawfare campaign against Prime Minister Netanyahu for doing his duty to protect his fellow citizens from Hamas in the wake of the barbaric October 7th attacks. But let’s be clear, this isn’t just about Israel, this is about ensuring that our nation’s sovereignty is protected, as well as the American servicemembers. If we do not check this rogue, leftist ‘court’ now, we can rest assured that our military leadership and troops will be the next targets of its political attacks.”
Roy continued, “While I have full confidence that President Trump will stand for Israel with the strength and moral clarity that Biden has sorely lacked, this bill will ensure that no future administration after him will be able to give the ICC a free pass to attack our allies like this.”
Mast said the bill sends a clear message to the International Criminal Court: “We may not recognize you, but you sure as hell will recognize what happens when you target America or its allies. The ICC’s attempt to obstruct Israel’s right to defend itself has only prolonged the war and prevented the release of American hostages by boosting Hamas’ morale.”
The legacy media narrative is that Alaska Native groups approve of President Joe Biden’s pretend leases in the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The second lease sale for oil and gas tracts mandated by Congress in the 2017 Tax Act received no bids at all, while the first one only received scant interest. The bids were just not viable, with the Deep State working against oil and gas.
But Natives who live in the farthest northern reaches of the state are unhappy about the Biden Administration’s fake-lease strategy and the comments made by the Department of Interior after the second lease failed to get any interest.
“The lack of interest from oil companies in development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge reflects what we and they have known all along – there are some places too special and sacred to put at risk with oil and gas drilling. This proposal was misguided in 2017, and it’s misguided now,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis, who came from the environmental industry’s National Wildlife Federation before joining the Biden Administration.“The BLM has followed the law and held two lease sales that have exposed the false promises made in the Tax Act. The oil and gas industry is sitting on millions of acres of undeveloped leases elsewhere; we’d suggest that’s a prudent place to start, rather than engage further in speculative leasing in one of the most spectacular places in the world.”
That was insulting to people who actually live in the region.
“Today, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announcedthat the Bureau of Land Management received no bids in the congressionally-mandated oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) Coastal Plain. DOI’s comments are deeply insulting to our region given that they undermine the will of Kaktovik, the only community within ANWR’s 19-million-acre expanse,” said Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat.
Harcharek said the lack of interest by bidders is a byproduct of years of inconsistent policy moves by the Biden Administration regarding indigenous North Slope Iñupiaq lands, intended to stymie economic development in the region.
“The Biden administration’s approach to ANWR has been defined by its efforts to exclude Indigenous voices from Kaktovik, the only community within ANWR, from the policymaking process while elevating outside groups and voices who have no connection to our lands and people. Our community has a right to shape our shared economic future, and we will continue to fight against the Biden administration’s attempts to make us environmental refugees in our homelands,” Harcharek said.
“North Slope communities want to advance Iñupiaq self-determination through durable, collaborative policy making. These communities were dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s decision to initiate and finalize an unnecessary supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) that did not reflect the majority consensus of local and regional elected officials, while also minimizing development opportunities contrary to the spirit of the law,” he continued.
The result exemplifies the federal government’s deeply flawed policy approach to this issue, creating industry uncertainty during the ANWR lease sales process. It’s a deliberate federal approach, he said, “and it is shameful that the Biden administration would seek to use our economic security as a political football.”
Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat serves the eight communities of Alaska’s North Slope Borough – the northernmost municipality in the United States, across a remote 95,000 square miles from the Brooks Range to the Arctic Ocean. It faces the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea.
Th State of Alaska is suing over the bad-faith actions of the federal government in its actions in the 1002 area.
“Interior’s continued and irrational opposition under the Biden Administration to responsible energy development in the Arctic continues America on a path of energy dependence instead of utilizing the vast resources we have available,” Dunleavy said. “These resources not only help our energy independence as a nation but also grow the Alaska economy and put more money in the Alaska Permanent Fund for future generations,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy. He said he is hoping for a brighter future for Alaska with Donald Trump returning as president.
Charles Lampe, who is Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation’s president, said Kaktovik wasn’t even included in the discussion. It is the only community within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“As the only community that exists within ANWR, Kaktovik should have been included at the policymaking table throughout this policymaking process,” said Lampe. “There’s a reason that the people of Kaktovik voted over 75% in favor of the Trump-Vance political ticket. This current administration keeps adding insult to injury with their flawed processes, falsely claiming to work with those who this will most affect.”
The oil and gas lease tracts put forward by the Biden Administration were part of a “disingenuous move designed to meet the minimum legal requirements outlined by Congress while undermining any economic potential in our region—a bad faith effort that jeopardizes the economic and cultural future of our communities for political gain,” the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat said when the second bid tracts were revealed in December.
