Sen. Lisa Murkowski celebrated her birthday in style on Wednesday. Students from Thorne Bay, Alaska, were in the nation’s capital and sang her “Happy Birthday,” along with Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina.
Scott has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Donald Trump. But Trump and Murkowski are sworn enemies. Murkowski has hinted she will leave the Republican Party if he is elected. Scott being caught in the middle of those two can only mean one thing: He won’t be the vice presidential nominee for Trump.
Murkowski was born May 22, 1957, making her now 67 years old. Born in Ketchikan three years before Statehood, she has spent the past 24 years in the U.S. Senate — more than one-third of her life as a senator. She is 14th in seniority in the Senate and her current term ends Jan, 3, 2029.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy was elected the incoming chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission on Wednesday. He will succeed Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming, taking over as chairman at the annual meeting, which will take place Oct. 28-30 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The IOGCC is a multi-state government group promoting best practices for regulating and conserving the “recovery of domestic oil and natural gas resources while protecting health, safety and the environment.” Membership is comprised of the governors of oil and gas producing states, as well as appointed representatives, affiliated provinces in Canada, and some federal agencies.
“IOGCC provides member states and international affiliates with a clear and unified voice and serves as a primary authority on issues surrounding these vital resources,” the group explains.
Members of the IOGCC include governors of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The most recent chair of the group who hailed from Alaska was Gov. Sean Parnell in 2012 through the end of his term in 2014.
In a related matter, Alaska State Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka is the 2023-24 chairman of the Energy Council, a legislative body with a similar mission to the IOGCC, with legislators from 15 energy-producing states and two Canadian provinces.
Dunleavy and Stedman in leadership roles in these key organizations puts Alaska in a leadership role for oil and gas policy, regulation, and conservation.
The Anchorage Assembly voted on Tuesday against creating a new traffic zone downtown where Anchorage where drivers would not be able to make a right turn on a red light, when it is safe to proceed.
The Assembly debated the ordinance change that had been offered by Assemblyman Daniel Volland last October. It would have drawn a line around the downtown business district, and signs would have to be installed at every intersection where a right turn on a red light is possible, as it is nearly everywhere in America except Seattle and New York City.
After extensive debate and public comment, the decision was 7 against, 4 in favor of the new traffic law that would have affected drivers going through downtown between Third and Ninth Avenues and Gambell and L Streets.
Voting in favor of the new zone were Assembly members Felix Rivera, Meg Zaletel, Daniel Volland, and Anna Brawley.
Electric vehicles may be the most subsidized product in America. Federal taxpayers shell out $7,500 every time a new eligible electric vehicle is purchased (usually by wealthy buyers). State and local taxpayers chip in an additional $1,500 for each EV purchase.
Then, there’s the tens of billions of dollars“invested” by policymakers into building EV plants. Even these bank-breaking concessions aren’t enough to please the Biden administration. Recently finalized EV tax credit rules expand eligibility for the subsidy while maintaining bizarre trade sourcing rules likely to lead to further tariffs from China. It’s time for President Biden and lawmakers to ditch protectionism and finally end EV subsidies.
From the start, President Biden’s fumbling approach to EV subsidies has harmed the economy without bolstering ecology. In 2022, the chief executive declared, “[t]hanks to American ingenuity, American engineers, American autoworkers… if you want an electric vehicle with a long range, you can buy one made in America.” Prices were already through the roof, with taxpayers being asked to shoulder these pricy purchases. Kelley Blue Book estimatesthat the average price of a new EV is more than $65,000, compared to $48,000 for gas-powered cars. Biden imposed requirements that EVs must undergo “final assembly in North America,” contributing to even higher prices for taxpayers and consumers.
Biden’s rules make production cost-prohibitive by restricting the foreign mineral inputs (e.g., graphite) that could go into tax credit-eligible EVs. The administration has since reversed course and allowed for a grace period for graphite sourcing. However, the new rules, “introduce a stricter test for measuring whether 50% of the vehicle’s critical minerals come from the United States or a free trade agreement partner…[requiring] automakers to more precisely account for the value added at each step of the supply chain.” The net effect of all these confusing new rules is to expand the number of vehicles eligible for EV tax credits, while increasing compliance costs. And, of course, this cost will be passed onto taxpayers and consumers.
Instead of tethering absurd rules to a complex and costly program, the Biden administration should start from scratch and axe the tax credit. EV subsidies are showered onto the wealthiest Americans at the expense of their poorer neighbors. According to a 2023 analysis of California EV purchase patterns by the news outlet CalMatters, “Most of the median household incomes in the top 10 [zip codes with the highest share of EVs] exceed $200,000, much higher than the statewide $84,097. Typical home values in those communities exceed $3 million, according to Zillow estimates.” In comparison, “electric cars are nearly non-existent in California’s lowest income communities: only 1.4% of cars in Stockton’s 95202, where the median household income is $16,976, and 0.5% in Fresno’s 93701, where the median is $25,905. Most are plug-in hybrids, which are less expensive.” This study’s findings are consistent with earlier, multi-state surveys. A 2018 study by Dr. Wayne Winegarden of the Pacific Research Institute found, “79% of electric vehicle plug-in tax credits were claimed by households with adjusted gross incomes of greater than $100,000 per year. Households with incomes greater than $50,000 per year claimed 99% of the credits.”
This stunning regressivity ensures that subsidies are a net-negative for ecology. Wealthy Americans primarily purchase EVs as secondary cars, keeping them in the garage for occasional outings. EV owners are largely still using conventional cars, and there’s less-than-hoped-for substitution between gasoline and electricity. As a result, extra pollution is generated via increased EV production without corresponding decreases in driving emissions. One 2022 Harvard study suggests, “foregoing gasoline in favor of volts may actually increase, not lower, overall emissions in some cases.” This is far from the outcome envisioned by “green” activists and policymakers.
The Biden administration and lawmakers ought to seriously rethink adding more fuel to the dumpster fire of EV subsidies. Struggling Americans shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for these over-hyped toys for tycoons.
David Williams is the president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
The Biden administration’s war on coal came out of the shadows recently, with the release of a new series of regulations that have the clear intent of locking up millions of acres of federal land from coal mining and drilling for oil and natural gas, as well as shutting down the nation’s remaining coal-fired power generation fleet.
The Bureau of Land Management released a new rule that will effectively make it impossible to continue to mine coal or drill for oil and gas anywhere on federally owned lands. This will cripple coal mining in the Powder River Basin and other western reserves, which provide most of the nation’s thermal coal used for energy production. This action alone would have been devastating, but it was just part of a much larger and far-reaching series of regulatory actions.
The new tranche of regulations was an 11th hour assault, issued literally days before the close of a window of time allowing a new President to reverse the decision by executive order. With this announcement, any reversal will have to come through action by both houses of Congress or by litigation in court.
These actions come despite the clear warnings by some of the Biden Administration’s own electric utility regulators that further closures of baseload energy capacity (such as coal) could result in the failure of the nation’s electric grid.
The new regulations effectively make it impossible for utilities to continue to operate coal-fired power plants without investing in new, largely unproven commercially and highly expensive, carbon capture technologies capable of cutting 95% of carbon dioxide emissions. It would also require the same of any new natural gas-powered facilities. However, existing natural gas facilities would be exempt from the requirement.
Make no mistake about it, this new series of regulations has one intent – to force the shutdown of the nation’s coal-fired generation fleet, starving it of much of its fuel source, and making it economically impossible to continue to operate these units. Far from some panacea, these actions will ripple through the entire economy. They will drive already staggering electric bills out of reach for millions of American families, leaving them struggling with the choice of putting food on the table or heating and cooling their homes. Many of those on fixed incomes, such as retirees on social security, will be the hardest hit.
And even if you can afford to pay for electricity, it may not be there when you need it most. Further closure of baseload generation could (and likely will) push the electric grid past the breaking point during the very times when they need electricity the most – the heat of summer and the cold of winter. It will result in the de facto rationing of energy and will also play out across the rest of the economy, driving inflation even higher and forcing many companies out of business.
Frankly, I do not understand this “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead” approach to regulation. It seems allegiance to a radical green agenda is all that matters to the Biden Administration and the needs of average American families are not even on the radar.
America needs ready access to reliable and affordable energy. It is what built this great nation. There is no shortage of coal. There is no shortage of gas or oil. However, there does appear to be a shortage of common sense on the part of this administration.
Rather than using our vast resources of coal, oil, and gas, the Biden Administration seems intent on committing economic suicide. Over the next few decades, demand for electricity is projected to skyrocket. How will we meet that demand if we continue this administration’s reckless pursuit of a green fairy tale?
Emily Arthun is president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based American Coal Council. This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday joined 23 other Republican governors in a letter to President Joe Biden, stating their unequivocal opposition to the Biden negotiations with the World Health Organization that would grant the WHO unprecedented and unconstitutional powers over the United States and its people.
The governors’ letter to Biden says, “if adopted, these agreements would seek to elevate the WHO from an advisory body to a global authority in public health. Under the proposed amendments and treaty, the WHO’s Director-General would supposedly gain unilateral power to declare a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC) in member nations, extending beyond pandemics to include a range of perceived emergencies.”
The governors imply the proposals could even violate the 10th Amendment, by eroding “state sovereignty by granting the WHO’s Director-General the authority to dictate responses to a declared PHEIC, stripping elected representatives of their role in setting public health policies and compelling citizens to comply with WHO directives, potentially including mandates regarding medical treatments.”
Signatories of the letter were all Republican governors and include: Governor Kay Ivey (AL), Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK), Governor Sarah Sanders (AR), Governor Ron DeSantis (FL), Governor Brian Kemp (GA), Governor Brad Little (ID), Governor Eric Holcomb (IN), Governor Kim Reynolds (IA), Governor Jeff Landry (LA), Governor Tate Reeves (MS), Governor Greg Gianforte (MT), Governor Jim Pillen (NE), Governor Joe Lombardo (NV), Governor Chris Sununu (NH), Governor Doug Burgum (ND), Governor Kevin Stitt (OK), Governor Henry McMaster (SC), Governor Kristi Noem (SD), Governor Bill Lee (TN), Governor Greg Abbott (TX), Governor Spencer Cox (UT), Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA), Governor Jim Justice (WV), and Governor Mark Gordon (WY).
While in Juneau for the Alaska Democratic Party’s state convention Friday, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee got a little confused. DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison told the state’s top Democrats in attendance that because of ranked-choice voting, President Joe Biden “really has a chance to win this state.”
Ranked-choice voting, which started being used for statewide and district elections in 2022, does not apply to the presidential election in Alaska in the primary, where the parties — whether the Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, or Greens — still get to say who their nominees are whose names will appear on the ballot.
The selection of the nominees is generally done via party caucus or caucus-by-ballot, all conducted by the parties themselves, not by the state Division of Election.
Most polling shows Republican Donald Trump beating Biden in Alaska by at least 8 points. The only practical way Biden could win is if Trump didn’t get over 50% of the first-round vote in November and if Trump voters chose Biden as their second choice, highly unlikely.
Trump won over Biden in 2020, 53-43. without ranked-choice voting in place.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the difference between primary and general election rules.
Illinois legislators are working to change the term “offender” to “justice impacted individual” in state law, a move Republicans say disrespects victims of violent crime.
House Bill 4409 would add Illinois Department of Corrections representation to the Adult Redeploy Illinois oversight board, but it also changes the word “offender” to “justice-impacted individuals.” Republicans on the Senate floor said the name change could cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.
State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, urged lawmakers to vote no.
“Over and over again, we keep changing the name of how we are referring to those who have entered into criminal activity and each time we make that change, each agency has to make that change on every one of their documents. Right now in the Department of Corrections, there’s multiple changes that have been made and it’s costing thousands and thousands of dollars just to do a name change. Why is it necessary to make the name change?” Bryant said Tuesday.
The ARI program, through community services as an alternative to prison, aims to reduce crime and recidivism at a lower cost to taxpayers.
State Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, urged members to not get hung up on the name change because the program oversight board could use more representation.
“We’re adding the DOC, adding Human Services, Sangamon and Cook County adult probation and two members who have experienced the ARI system as offenders or as justice-impacted individuals,” Peters said.
Republicans said the focus shouldn’t be on what they called the “poor offender,” but rather the victims of violent crimes. State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, brought up how the Prisoner Review Board released Crosetti Brand, the man who killed 11-year old Jayden Perkins a day after his release. He said Brand wasn’t a justice-impacted individual but rather an offender.
“There seems to be this rush to take away all accountability for people who commit crimes. If a person is going to get on the right path, they have to know they did something wrong. This apologizing for the criminal, the person who chooses to commit crimes to the detriment of our victims, the people who don’t choose to be victims of crimes, is absolutely incredible. Crime is up 38% year-to-date since 2019. Crime is up everywhere. We have seen an incredible increase of drugs that have been snuck into prison, we are on pace for a record year” when it comes to drugs in prisons, McClure said.
McClure asked Peters, the bill’s sponsor, if the bill also sought to change the word “victims.” McClure also asked what the term justice-impacted individual meant.
“That means someone who has been impacted by the criminal justice system and is an individual,” Peters said. “We [in this bill] don’t mess with anything in regards to the term ‘victim,’ we just change the word ‘offender’ to ‘justice-impacted individual.’”
Proponents said the ARI program is successful in reducing crime and that it has eligibility requirements, specifically individuals in the program have to be first-time offenders.
The bill passed both the House and Senate and can be sent to the governor for further action.
To those encouraging the legislature to pass good homeschool laws in Juneau, I would say this: you are going into battle against a formidable enemy, and on ground of his own choosing. Tread carefully.
If you don’t immediately recognize the scene above, click the link for a refresher (Note: it’s less than a minute).
I have received more questions about homeschooling laws in the last few weeks than I have in the last two years combined.
Despite the backdrop of the recent court ruling, I see homeschool families engaging with legislators as a very positive thing. Honestly, we need a lot more of it. Those who are quiet are often forgotten by legislators in Juneau. Today, the NEA is very loud in the halls of our state capitol building, and homeschooling families are very not loud. In politics, this is always a recipe for disaster.
The questions have been coming faster than my ability to answer them, so I wanted to take a minute to step back and offer some targeted observations as a homeschool dad serving in the legislature. I expect you will find my observations unique, if nothing else.
Background
My family started homeschooling when I was in 1st Grade. We kept at it through high school until I headed off to the Army and West Point. My wife’s experience was far more traditional; various public schools and colleges from kindergarten through her dissertation at Montana State. She is the scientist in the family. Our oldest will be going into 4th grade in the fall. Thus far, homeschooling has been the best choice for our family. It has been anything but easy, but it’s been worth it to us.
Many of the opportunities I enjoyed growing up would not have been possible if my parents hadn’t decided to invest in homeschooling my siblings and me. I entered politics to protect those same freedoms and opportunities for my kids and so many others. It makes me something of an oddity in the legislature. Fame, fortune and ego are motivations that those in Juneau understand; protecting homeschooling, not so much.
To be candid, homeschooling is rarely on anyone’s radar in the capitol building. When it is mentioned, it’s usually a Democrat legislator complaining about how it’s not fair that homeschool students aren’t required to take as many state tests as their peers in brick and mortar schools. On Wednesday night, legislators voted on a bill that will allow Alaska high school students to receive the Alaska Performance Scholarship using either their GPA or their college entrance test exam scores (ACT/SAT, etc.). Until I pointed it out, no one realized that the bill excluded some homeschoolers (i.e. those not affiliated with a school district) from receiving the same scholarship based on their ACT/SAT scores.
HSLDA
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a national watchdog group that keeps an eye out for discrimination against homeschool students wherever it pops up. During my freshman year in the legislature, they notified us that Alaska had recently begun discriminating against homeschool graduates applying to work in state law enforcement. The Alaska Police Standards Council proposed new regulations requiring that henceforth independent homeschool graduates would need to go and get a GED before they could apply for jobs in law enforcement or corrections. Those regulations were approved by Gov. Bill Walker, and suddenly hurdles began going up.
Between HSLDA and my staff, we were able to help a number of graduates through the process in various creative ways, such as showing how one graduate’s curriculum was actually approved in the state of Tennessee, which was enough to satisfy the new regulations. In other cases, education officials had to be contacted to confirm a particular graduate’s bona fides. With the help of HSLDA, we crafted legislation to return to the way homeschool graduates had been treated for decades. The changes made sense and many legislators came on board to pass them into law.
Then the Alaska Police Standards Council weighed in and said that they didn’t mind making homeschool graduates jump through hoops, and they rather liked the regulations that they themselves had written (no surprise there). As long as there was no opposition, legislators were very glad to stand by homeschool students, but as soon as there was opposition, legislators withdrew their support. The results were disappointing, to say the least.
Big Brother: The NEA
If homeschool families are looking for more educational freedom, their main opponents are those looking for ever more state control over education. The National Education Association (NEA) is one such organization, and they are a monster in the legislature. In March, the NEA lined the halls of the capitol with teachers and came within one vote of overturning Governor Dunleavy’s veto of permanent increases to state education funding (Senate Bill 140). Nationally, the NEA is squarely in the Democrat political camp. Theoretically, the NEA should not be in a position to challenge a Republican governor’s veto in a Republican state with a majority of Republican legislators, but it did, and the NEA came extremely close to prevailing.
Historically, the NEA was not threatened overmuch by the small number of homeschool families in Alaska. With the growth of homeschooling since COVID, that is no longer the case. When the number of homeschool students approached 20,000, they launched a lawsuit against state correspondence programs. It’s about money, and it’s about control. Students are collateral damage.
The NEA counts many legislators among its allies. This was on full display last week during the legislative confirmation of Bob Griffin. For the last five years, Bob has been the single most active and vocal advocate for correspondence students on the State Board of Education. That earned him the ire of the NEA, especially after the veto showdown in March where Bob came out very publicly on the side of the governor and various education reforms. Following the governor’s victory in defending his veto, the NEA and its allies retaliated by calling in chits and torpedoing Bob’s reappointment to the board.
Moments before the vote on Bob’s confirmation, Democrat legislators publicly executed a campaign of character assassination against Bob. It was done to provide excuses for the NEA’s allies in the legislature to vote against an Air Force veteran and long-time advocate for Alaska students. When the chips were down, Twenty-one legislators stood with the governor and Bob, thirty-nine stood against him. After more emails came in supporting Bob, we renewed the effort to confirm his appointment. On the second vote, nineteen legislators still pursued his confirmation, but forty-one voted against pursuing it. Predictably, all nineteen legislators were Republicans. Among the forty-one legislators, there were 14 Republicans, as well as all Democrat/Independent legislators.
The Legislature voted down the confirmation of Bob Griffin to the Board of Education.
Seconds after Bob Griffin’s confirmation was torpedoed, the same NEA-backed legislator let loose a salvo against the confirmation of Bob’s ally on the Board of Education, Barb Tyndall.
Among other complaints, they declared that Tyndall was unfit to serve on the Board of Education because her 20-plus years of teaching experience had been at private Christian schools. It was a political misstep. From that point forward, her confirmation vote became as much about the state discriminating against Christians as it was about education policy. Unlike Bob, she was allowed to continue on the Board of Education, but twenty-six legislators (including one Republican) still voted to remove her from the board.
The Homeschool Community
I offer the above anecdotes to give you an idea of how lopsided things are in the state capitol building today. An appointee and close ally of the governor was just defeated in the legislature. Four hundred and seventy-one people contacted the Education Committees to keep Bob Griffin on the Board of Education, just using my website alone. Many others signed petitions, made calls, and sent emails. Even in an election year, that was not enough. The reasons why would take some time to unpack, but a fair summary is that homeschool families are not yet a force to be reckoned with in Juneau; the NEA already is.
If you hear me saying that politics is hard, and often unfair, you are right. It is hard, and it’s usually not fair. Bob is a stand-up guy who just got publicly excoriated for standing up for kids. Is it worth it?
If you think of education freedom as simply a “nice to have”, it probably isn’t. On the other hand, if you have come to see education freedom as crucial to your son or daughter’s future, then it is absolutely worth it.
The homeschool community dwarfs teachers organizations like the NEA in size. It isn’t even close. If current trends continue, that disparity will only become more pronounced over time. However, in Juneau, it is not as much about raw numbers as it is about political sincerity. Think of it like a boxing match between boxers of different weight classes. The homeschool community is two weight classes above the NEA in size, but the NEA has been boxing for years, and homeschool families have never been in the ring. In that kind of matchup, “Smart money” is on the boxer with the most training and experience.
The Midwives
The good news is that it doesn’t take years of training to become a force to be reckoned with in Juneau. We just watched one group make that transformation in less than 60 days. In January, the midwives board found themselves unexpectedly on the chopping block when the governor issued a surprise executive order to permanently dissolve their board. The word on the street was that there was nothing they could do about it. The governor wasn’t going to budge, and they had exactly 60 days to convince the legislature to veto the governor’s order, which was unheard of (until it happened).
At the time of the showdown, there were only 44 direct-entry midwives in Alaska. Even so, they reached out to the families they served, past and present, and became a near unstoppable force to keep their board alive. By the time of the vote, 59 legislators (out of 60 total) voted with the midwives to overrule the governor, myself included. The midwives were passionate about their issue and refused to go away quietly. The homeschool community could follow in their footsteps. Some, like the NEA, are banking on the fact that they won’t.
This Summer
At this moment, homeschool families are in a place very similar to where the midwives were in January, at the beginning of the 60 day countdown. It is 45 days until July 1st when Judge Adolph Zeman’s order is timed to go into effect. More immediately, the Alaska Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for June 25th, to give them time to render some kind of decision before the July 1st deadline.
The attorney general has advised against advocating for any permanent changes to the laws that deal with homeschooling, and to leave the current laws intact. Legally, it’s a sound argument. The Alaska Supreme Court could come in and overturn Judge Zeman’s decision, and that is exactly what the attorney general is hoping they will do. He is also asking the supreme court to stay the effect of Zeman’s ruling until they have issued their own ruling on the case.
Adolph Zeman
Don’t let anybody fool you, the supreme court is one of the most political organizations in Alaska. If they sense a revolt is brewing in the homeschool community, they will temper their judicial activism to avoid it. They want Judge Zeman retained at the ballot box in November. The chief justice himself personally supervised Judge Zeman’s retention hearing on May 8th. They pulled out all the stops, even asking Judge Zeman’s former law clerk (the judicial equivalent of a former intern) to come testify that Zeman should be retained at the ballot box.
Judge Zeman, very deliberately, did not consider recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions prohibiting discrimination against religious education. This is a major hole in his decision, and speaks volumes to the overtly political nature of the Zeman decision itself. For this reason alone, Judge Zeman merits an impeachment inquiry. Unelected Judges cannot be allowed to play legislator, and Judge Zeman has made himself the most important member of the legislature this year when it comes to state policy dealing with correspondence schools. If Zeman hadn’t intervened in such a dramatic decision, the legislature would still be debating the governor’s proposal to further expand funding for correspondence schools. Instead, the conversation has shifted to the future of correspondence schools themselves and the need for more government regulation.
The Legislature Today
Unfortunately, the legislature is in a truly terrible place right now when it comes to being able to pass good laws on correspondence schools. First, the last election did not play out well for education freedom. Legislators backed by the NEA far out-number those few of us who have connections with the homeschooling community. Second, after the election, NEA-backed legislators rose to positions of power in the legislature. At the same time, the four most conservative legislators, and those most naturally inclined to support education freedom, were effectively exiled for being too conservative, myself included.
In the senate, the three most conservative legislators were blocked from hiring staff, were blocked from serving on legislative committees, and are not part of the bipartisan leadership structure, which currently consists of nine Democrats and eight Republicans. In the house, my staffer was likewise fired, and I was blocked from serving on legislative committees and participating in the current bipartisan leadership structure, which consists of twenty Republicans and three Democrats.
As my state senator, Mike Dunleavy was a vocal proponent of education freedom. He, too, was exiled by the bipartisan majority in the legislature. His staffers were fired. He was stripped of his leadership positions, removed from his committees, and ousted from the majority caucus. For those unfamiliar with what a caucus is, think of it like joining a political party, but only for legislators, and only for two years.
The moral of the story is this: When you have a legislative caucus that is not pursuing a conservative agenda, you don’t need conservative legislators in leadership positions to help implement that agenda. In fact, the more conservative a legislator is, the less you want to put them in charge of anything, lest they put the breaks on your not-so-conservative policies. This is where we are at in 2024 in the Alaska Legislature.
HB400 and HB202
All this to say that the NEA and its allies have many cards to play in the legislature right now, and they have their allies in key leadership positions in both the house and the senate. From those leadership positions, if they want to block a piece of legislation, they can. If they want to add an amendment as a “poison pill“, they can. For the above reasons, it is very unlikely that we would see good legislation make it through the legislature right now, and very likely that any bills that do make it through will undermine the freedoms that homeschool families currently enjoy (like not being saddled with unnecessary state testing requirements).
Some legislators are doing a victory lap right now after passing HB202. This is far from a victory for education freedom.
The NEA gave HB202 a green light. Every NEA-backed legislator voted for it. That ought to tell you, at a minimum, that it doesn’t undermine the NEA’s enduring quest for more government control over education.
If you were following the recent battle over HB400, language that was similar to HB400 was stuffed into HB202 (a bill dealing with drug overdoses at school) late on Wednesday night. This is another reason why, instead of supporting specific bill numbers, it is always a good practice to focus on specific policies when you are talking with legislators. Identify specific policies that will be good for the state to adopt, and put your weight behind those policies. Otherwise, you might end up getting the bill number you asked for, but all of the policies that you didn’t.
By all accounts, it seems likely that the governor will sign HB202 into law in the next few weeks. Once signed, HB202 will put into statute (state law) some of the things that existed in Board of Education regulation back in 2014. Additionally, it will now also require correspondence schools to collect and submit information to the Board of Education, and the board to then submit that information to the legislature. State testing remains optional for parents, but any test results are to be sent to the board and on to the legislature.
With HB202, for the first time, we now have language instructing the board of education to follow the hybrid-Blaine Amendment in our state constitution, which instructs the state not to spend public funds to directly benefit a non-public school. The way this language is being interpreted by Judge Zeman is likely unconstitutional religious discrimination, which is one reason why the governor has appealed the decision. In any event, the portions of HB202 that relate to correspondence schools will automatically go away one year from now anyway. Definitely not a huge win here.
The Board of Education is now set to again take center stage in regulating correspondence schools as they did prior to 2014. Note, this is essentially what would have happened anyway even if HB202/HB400 hadn’t passed.
Let’s not beat around the bush. By asking Judge Zeman to declare Alaska’s correspondence school laws unconstitutional, the NEA deliberately created a crisis to sideline the governor’s 2024 education reforms. They succeeded. They used a flawed court decision—one that they asked for—to manipulate Alaskan families using fear. That is not ok.
On Wednesday, HSLDA and APHEA hosted a webinar on the history of the legislative battlefor independent homeschooling in Alaska. It’s an encouraging story. Homeschool families have fought and won legislative battles before. It’s just been awhile, and we’re really out of practice. Come join the fight!
Rep. David Eastman serves in the Alaska Legislature for Wasilla District 27 (formerly 10).
