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Alaska Legislature pre-filed bills II: Election holiday, Chinese purchase of land near military bases, internet pornography, and more

The second list of pre-filed legislative bills were released by the Legislative Affairs Agency on Friday. The Legislature gavels in on Tuesday at 1 pm, and the first tranche of pre-filed bills, revealed earlier this week, is at the bottom of this list. Check back with Must Read Alaska for in-depth reporting on some of the following bills:

HB 250, Rep. McCabe, Relating to municipal and school board elections; declaring Election Day a holiday; relating to terms of office for municipal mayors, municipal governing bodies, elected utility boards, and school boards.

HB 251, Rep. Rauscher, Exempting certain foods and drinks prepared in a person’s uninspected home kitchen from state labeling, licensing, packaging, permitting, and inspection requirements; and permitting a person to acquire meat from a producer by way of an ownership share in an animal if certain conditions are met.

HB 252, Rep. McKay, Prohibiting certain transactions by or with foreign adversaries.

HB 253, Rep. Wright, Relating to refrigerants designated as acceptable for use under federal law.

HB 254, Rep. Vance, Relating to liability for publishing or distributing pornography to minors on the Internet.

HB 255, Rep. McCabe, Relating to the Port of Southcentral Alaska; establishing the Port of Southcentral Alaska Authority to manage and operate the Port of Southcentral Alaska; and providing for an effective date.

HB 256, Rep. McCabe, Relating to closure of plants and facilities of a public utility and discontinuance, abandonment, or suspension of a public utility service.

HB 257, Rep. McKay, Requiring the Department of Natural Resources to make Cook Inlet seismic survey data available to certain persons; and providing for an effective date.

HB 258, Rep. Stapp, Relating to general relief and burial assistance; and providing for an effective date.

HB 259, Rep. Vance, Establishing the Council on Human and Sex Trafficking; and relating to the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.

HB 260, Rep. Stapp, Repealing programs for catastrophic illness assistance and medical assistance for chronic and acute medical conditions.

HB 261, Rep. Josephson, Establishing certain offenses concerning vehicular homicide; relating to homicide; relating to attorney fees; relating to preservation of evidence; relating to authorization to intercept communications; relating to juror counseling; relating to temporary detention and identification of persons; relating to fines; relating to sentencing; relating to voter eligibility; relating to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board; relating to license revocation; and providing for an effective date.

HB 262, Rep. Josephson, Relating to increases in rent for dwelling units; and providing for an effective date.

HB 263, Rep. Josephson, Relating to the obstruction or hindrance of lawful trapping of game; and providing for an effective date.

HB 264, Rep. Vance, Requiring the Department of Family and Community Services to adopt a uniform screening tool; requiring shelters for runaway minors to screen minors for victimization relating to sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation; requiring the Department of Family and Community Services to screen children in need of aid for victimization relating to sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation; and relating to the duty of the Department of Family and Community Services to investigate the experiences of missing children in need of aid who have been located.

HB 265, Rep. Vance, Changing the term “child pornography” to “child sexual abuse material.”

SB 173, Sen. Hughes, Safe Schools Act, 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 174, Sen. Bjorkman, Relating to the Honor and Remember Flag and the Honor and Sacrifice Flag.

SB 175, Sen. Tobin, Relating to an electronic product stewardship program; relating to collection, recycling, and disposal of electronic equipment; establishing the electronics recycling advisory council; and providing for an effective date.

SB 176, Sen. Tobin, Relating to membership on the board of parole

SB 177, Sen. Hughes, Relating to artificial intelligence; requiring disclosure of deepfakes in campaign communications; relating to cybersecurity; and relating to data privacy.

SB 178, Sen. Bjorkman, Relating to school terms: “A school term may not begin before the first Tuesday in September.”

SB 179, Sen. Bjorkman, Prohibiting municipalities from levying a tax on the transfer of real property; prohibiting the state from levying a tax on the transfer of real property; and relating to municipal taxation of mobile telecommunications services.

SB 180, Sen. Kawasaki, Relating to unfair trade practices and consumer protection; relating to fees charged to consumers; and providing for an effective date.

Paper chase: Chris Tuck is first in the door to file for mayor

Chris Tuck, a candidate for Anchorage mayor, was first in the door on Friday morning at the Anchorage Election Office, for the first day for candidate filing of official paperwork.

Three already-declared mayoral candidates and one new one made it official on Friday, signing their municipal paperwork and getting the notary stamp on it to be on the April 2 ballot.

They are Chris Tuck, Darin Colbry, Bill Popp, and Nicholas Danger.

Declared candidate Suzanne LaFrance did not file her paperwork on the first day of the filing period — she had been in Juneau for a fundraiser for her campaign the night before. Dustin Darden, Jenny DiGrappa and Mayor Dave Bronson were also not at the Election Office on opening day for filing. Candidates for the spring election have until Jan. 26 to register with the Anchorage Election Office.

On Thursday, the Election Office pulled random letters of the alphabet to determine the order that names will appear on the ballot. If all current declared mayoral candidates complete their paperwork at the city, and if no other candidate files, the order will be:

  • Bill Popp
  • Chris Tuck
  • Darin Colbry
  • Nicholas Danger
  • Dustin Darden
  • Jenny DiGrappa
  • Suzanne LaFrance
  • Dave Bronson

Neither of the already- declared candidates (Mark Littlefield and Cody Anderson) for Assembly Seat A District 2 filed with the municipality on Friday.

Filing for school board seats on Friday were:

  • School Board – Seat E: Pat Higgins, incumbent, and Kay Schuster
  • School Board – Seat F: Dora Wilson, incumbent
  • School Board – Seat G: Carl Jacobs, incumbent

There are many road service board seats on the ballot. So far, candidates filed for just two of them:

  • Bear Valley LRSA – Seat C – William Ennis
  • Valli Vue Estates LRSA – Seat D – Diane Sallee

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Gabrielle LeDoux trial date delayed — again

At the request of former Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, a trial-setting hearing for her election fraud trial has been delayed another month.

The indictment came down in March of 2020 for LeDoux and her two alleged accomplices, who are accused of trying to get people in a different district to cast absentee ballots for her, as she ran for reelection in 2018.

After numerous delays requested by the LeDoux legal team, the trial date was supposed to be set on Monday. But it has been delayed again until Feb. 5, just as it has been delayed eight other times since November, and numerous times before that.

The people that are the key witnesses who were registered at a single trailer are getting older and older. Critics call LeDoux’s delay tactics the “vulture defense,” expecting that some of the witnesses to die, as did Charlie Chang, one of the key witnesses who died early on in the legal process.

It’s unclear why, after all this time, LeDoux has not gotten a plea deal. She has felony and misdemeanor charges against her.

Repeal of ranked-choice voting group turns in 42,000 signatures to Division of Elections to get on ballot

Alaskans for Honest Elections, which is battling Alaskans for Better Elections, turned in petitions to the Division of Elections today with about 42,000 signatures of Alaskans from every House district in the state. The group said it beat the deadline to turn in the petitions by a month.

The Division of Elections must now go through all of the signatures to ensure they are valid, registered voters in Alaska, and that their names correspond to the district they said they live in.

Alaskans for Honest Elections says it has 150% of the signatures needed to appear on a statewide ballot. Whether the repeal of ranked-choice voting will be on the primary or general election ballot depends on when the Alaska Legislature adjourns this year.

“We did the impossible, with 700 volunteers. We led the drive to get the required signatures. We did this for fractions of what they did. They hired an out of state firm and flew professional signature gatherers from all over the country to Alaska to get their signatures We used Alaskans, led by Alaskans. The Pro-RCV group is taking money from the 1630 Fund which is directly linked to Arabella Advisors. Even the New York Times labels them as “Dark Money” Let’s beat them in 2024, make sure to tell everyone to show up and vote in 2024,” Alaskans for Honest Elections said in a statement.

They’ll be up against massive amounts of Outside money. Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, first used in 2022, is the darling of Democrats nationwide, bought and paid for by groups such as the Sixteen-Thirty Fund, and they will be loathe to allow it to be repealed in Alaska just as they are trying to spread it to other states, with Alaska as the poster child for its alleged merits.

Sen. Rand Paul starts a new PAC: ‘#Never Nikki’

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Sen. Rand Paul, a conservative Republican from Kentucky, announced the creation of a political action committee that will discourage voters from choosing Nikki Haley as the Republican presidential nominee.

“I have been watching the GOP Primary closely for a while now, and I like various aspects of several candidates – Republicans like President Trump, Governor DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy. I’m interested in the ideas of some independents too, such as Bobby Kennedy. As I look over the field, I don’t think I yet have a first choice, but I do know one thing: count me in as Never Nikki,” he wrote on the PAC’s newly launched website.

“Based on her record and campaign, I don’t see how any thoughtful or informed libertarian or conservative should vote for Nikki Haley. If you agree, let your voice be heard,” he wrote.

Haley has surged past Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in some polls. In New Hampshire, Haley is now at 28%, up from 18% in November in a recent Emerson College poll. DeSantis is down to 7%. Former President Donald Trump is at 44%, down from 49%. The poll was conducted Jan. 8-10 among 751 Republican presidential primary voters in New Hampshire.

In national poll averages published by FiveThirtyEight.com, Haley and DeSantis are neck-and-neck at about 12%, while Trump sits at 60% of the Republican voters.

But Sen. Paul isn’t buying what Haley is selling.

“Nikki Haley supports Biden and McConnell and the forever-war crowd on funding for the war in Ukraine. Her thirst for war is so strong she actually said: ‘I’m sick of talking about a Department of Defense. I want a Department of Offense.’

“She even personally received millions of dollars from the arms merchants who benefit from the war, a conflict of interest that undergirds her eagerness for foreign military intervention. This position isn’t new either – as governor of South Carolina she gave tax dollars to those same arms merchants, and they showered her with campaign contributions and a seat on their board when she left office.While most others were decrying the mistakes of the past 20 years, and fighting for an America First foreign policy, Nikki Haley was aligning herself with and declaring her foreign policy allies to be John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

Nikki Haley believes in nearly unlimited foreign aid — we have sent over $100 BILLION we don’t have to Ukraine already and she wants more. But this also isn’t new. In her book With All Due Respect, she wrote ‘Humanitarian Assistance will always be a priority for the United States, we will always be generous.'”

But Nikki Haley’s ‘generosity’ with your tax dollars and her support for all foreign aid in the context of a $34 TRILLION dollar debt is in no way libertarian or conservative. Beyond the issues of endless wars, Nikki Haley’s lack of respect for freedom of speech is shocking to anyone who believes in the constitution.

Sen. Paul said that Nikki Haley believes that all internet posters should be registered and verified.

“This flies in the face of a free American Republic whose founders wrote anonymously the Federalist Papers and routinely posted newspaper articles and pamphlets under Pseudonyms. Anyone who doesn’t fully believe in free speech or who wants endless wars has no business anywhere near the White House.But wait, there’s more.

Nikki Haley routinely praised the mission of the United Nations, the results they achieved, and the people who ran it, Rand said.

“First up, her quote ‘I believe the U.N. does valuable work.‘ By that she means your tax dollars since the US is the primary funder of UN. She repeatedly praised the U.N. Secretary General (former president of Socialist International) and declared that they ‘think alike,'” he wrote.

“Nikki Haley disagreed with President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and Afghanistan and defended continued U.S. presence in both places. If you want to move quickly to domestic policy, in South Carolina, Nikki Haley advocated for a gas tax hike, a state-run vaccine registry and never lifted a finger for school choice,” Rand wrote.

Alaska GOP leaders to gather in Juneau for quarterly meeting

The Alaska Republican Party will meet in Juneau on Monday for its quarterly gathering of district chairs, regional representatives, and bonus votes.

The party’s leadership holds its winter meeting when legislators are in Juneau, and Republican legislators are invited to attend. House Speaker Cathy Tilton is on the agenda to give a legislative update; the Legislature gavels in on Tuesday at 1 pm.

The group will meet in the Treadwell Room at the Baranof Hotel.

There will be a training session to prepare for state and national conventions in what will be a busy presidential election year. There won’t be any elections for party organizational positions; the party’s chairmanship and other seats will be up for election in March. The only announced candidate for party chair is Nikki Rose of Anchorage. Party chair Ann Brown has not revealed if she is running.

Republican candidates for Congress are expected to make appearances in Juneau at the GOP meeting on Monday, including Nick Begich and Nancy Dahlstrom.

Also, the Alaska GOP will have its annual Juneau fundraiser sponsored by Capital City Republicans before the legislative session starts. That fundraiser is at 5 pm Monday at the Baranof Hotel. It’s a $50 donation to get in.

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 passengers sue Boeing, Sen. Cantwell demands documents from FAA

Some passengers onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 have filed a class-action lawsuit against Boeing after a door plug blew out of a 737 MAX 9 aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan 5 as it was climbing out of Portland International Airport en route to Ontario, California.

The aircraft depressurized and pilots returned to Portland and made an emergency landing.

Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore, trial attorneys out of Seattle who have sued on behalf of Black Lives Matter rioters and the like, filed the class-action lawsuit against the Boeing Company on behalf of six passengers on Flight 1282.

Daniel Laurence from The Stritmatter Firm stated at the company’s blog, “The NTSB has yet to pinpoint an exact root cause of Flight 1282’s alarming decompression. But given Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun’s forthright admission that this terrifying event was caused by Boeing’s ‘mistake’ (a soft take on its apparent negligence), our passenger clients elected to file suit as soon as possible in order to seek fair compensation for their injuries and those of all other passengers, spouses, and registered domestic partners, as soon as reasonably possible. Unfortunately, although everyone is glad that the blow-out occurred while the crew could still manage to land the aircraft safely, this nightmare experience has caused economic, physical and ongoing emotional consequences that have understandably deeply affected our clients, and is one more disturbing black mark on the troubled 737-MAX series aircraft.”

The litigants seek compensation for injuries and trauma sustained on the flight, including many who said they had difficulty breathing and ear bleeds, and some reporting that the oxygen masks did not all seem to work properly.

Alaska Airlines has refunded the tickets of the passengers and awarded each of them $1,500 for their discomfort and trauma.

On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration opened a new investigation into Boeing’s role in the incident to determine if the company had complied with regulatory standards for safety. The fuselage of the jet is built for Boeing by a subcontractor, Spirit AeroSystems, which also installed the fuselage part on the new 737 MAX 9 jets.

Spirit AeroSystems has a fuselage plant in Wichita, Kansas, although the door plug that blew out was made in Malaysia. It is a company that has a record of focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — DEI — and is now getting a lot of attention for its hiring focus.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, sent a letter to the FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker on Thursday demanding more information about Boeing and “Specifically regarding Spirit AeroSystems, please provide the Committee with an explanation of FAA’s oversight of Spirit’s production system and of FAA’s oversight of Boeing’s supplier control system as it relates to Spirit. Please identify what, if any, improvements in oversight by FAA that you intend to implement to ensure that Spirit’s future performance meets all FAA regulatory requirements.”

Cantwell has asked for last two years of notices of FAA quality-control audits related to Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems.

On Friday, the FAA said it was increasing its oversight and auditing of Boeing’s 737 MAX 9 production line and suppliers.

Thompson & Co. advances under new structure

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Thompson & Co. Public Relations has brought Heather Handyside on board as as president and chief operating officer. Handyside joins current T&C owner and CEO Jennifer Thompson and Blueprint Alaska President Sarah Erkmann Ward.

The three partners launched a new corporate entity that will formally combine Blueprint’s strategic advocacy agency and Thompson’s public relations and digital services.

“We’re grateful to the growing list of clients who trust T&C and Blueprint Alaska to share their stories and increase their influence in Alaska and beyond,” said CEO Jennifer Thompson. “I’m excited to combine our sister agency and T&C into one firm, creating more professional growth opportunities for our senior staff. Adding Heather, a seasoned and highly regarded PR expert, to our team ensures our growing list of clients has access to the best talent in Alaska.”

T&C will now be even better equipped to seamlessly blend public relations, strategic advocacy, and digital services to its diverse range of clients that include businesses, nonprofits, trade organizations, and government agencies, the company said in a statement.

“I launched Blueprint Alaska, in partnership with Jennifer, six years ago confident we could provide a unique approach to advocacy and strategic communications to Alaska,” said Erkmann Ward. “I’ve never looked back. Our Blueprint Alaska clients will benefit from the deep bench of T&C’s communications strategists as we continue to grow.”

Handyside, most recently chief communications officer at GCI, Alaska’s largest telecommunications provider, expects the transition to be a smooth one. She was press secretary for then-Sen. Mark Begich.

“I’ve worked with the T&C team for years and I’ve come to rely upon their team to develop effective communications strategies and remarkable events,” said Handyside. “I’ve always been impressed with T&C’s work ethic and commitment to clients, and I’m thrilled to join the agency to help lead this fun, fearless, innovative team.”

In addition to changes in structure and executive leadership, the company is entering the new year with a round of promotions for staff members:

Liz Baker, is senior vice president. A T&C veteran with nearly 12 years at the agency, Baker is a large contributor to its steady growth and reputation for providing strategic solutions, offering unmatched client service and having an outstanding company culture. In her new role, she will elevate the agency’s new business efforts while providing senior counsel and leadership to the agency’s clients and staff. With a total of 16 years of agency experience, Baker is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. She spent five years in T&C’s Anchorage office and now works remotely from South Carolina.

Kailee Stickler os also senior vice president. Stickler joined the T&C team immediately after graduating from the University of Alaska Anchorage and spent the last seven years developing the agency’s digital services, now T&C’s fastest-growing division. Having charted the path for digital services offered at the agency, she will oversee all aspects of the digital department in her new role, in addition to providing strategy oversight for the agency and its staff. 

Ariel Walsh Amand is chief administrative officer. With the new agency structure Walsh Amand will focus on the day-to-day operations of the agency from accounting, managing employee benefits and client and employee onboarding. With 14 years of agency experience, Walsh Amand is integral to overseeing and managing the finances for the agency and client budgets.

Emily McLaughlin is vice president. McLaughlin joined the agency as an intern 10 years ago, after graduating from University of Alaska Anchorage with a degree in journalism and public communications. Today, she leads accounts across industries like education, economic development, health care and more. Her clients benefit from her thoughtful strategy, community driven mindset, and media relations acumen. As vice president, she will oversee and execute client strategy, drive agency growth and champion company culture. 

Kelsey Baker is also vice president. In her seven years at the agency, Baker has supported clients through strategizing and creating compelling content, conceptualizing and executing unique events and managing accounts across multiple industries important to Alaska. In her new role, she will continue helping clients reach their goals while contributing to agency development.  

Ashleigh Carson is also vice president. Carson joined the agency in 2017 after 10 years spent in newsrooms. In her new role, Carson will continue building media relationships on the national and local level for clients in tourism, banking and more. Her analytical mindset and unwavering commitment to client success will only be strengthened with her promotion.

Day 12: Secretary of Defense remains hospitalized, Defense’s Inspector General opens investigation

It’s Day 12 for the hospitalization of Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin, who kept his medical crisis secret for weeks, until finally revealing to the president that he had been in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed Hospital.

Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder has vowed to keep the public informed, after the department has come under withering criticism for what was either poor judgment or incompetence in the chain of command. Austin did not inform President Joe Biden of his prostate cancer diagnosis in December, and didn’t tell President Biden or his second-in-command that he was undergoing general anesthesia on Dec. 22 and would be in the hospital overnight. He returned to the hospital on Jan. 1 after experiencing intense pain and nausea and was admitted to the ICU. But he didn’t reveal any of this to the president until later that week. The president was on vacation out of the country during some of that time.

Ryder said on Thursday that Austin continues to experience discomfort and has not yet been released from the hospital.

Friday marks the 12th day that Austin has been in Walter Reed; three of those days were in intensive care. He was described by Ryder as now performing his job from his hospital bed, after having delegated his duties to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Jan. 2.

When he transferred some of his duties to Hicks, he did not tell her he was in the ICU. Hicks was on vacation in Puerto Rico when she became the top civilian in charge of the “certain operational authorities” of the military, not knowing her boss was having a medical emergency.

Ryder said he still does not have a specific date for Austin’s release.

“Out of an abundance of caution, of course, we want to ensure that when the doctors feel it’s appropriate for him to check out, we’ll do that,” Ryder said.

The Defense Department’s inspector general on Thursday announced he will launch an investigation into the events surrounding Austin’s medical crisis, and the breach of protocols in informing the White House, Congress, and the public. Inspector General Robert Storch said his focus will be on the Office of the Secretary of Defense, but his scope could expand.

“The objective of the review is to examine the roles, processes, procedures, responsibilities, and actions related to the Secretary of Defense’s hospitalization in December 2023 – January 2024, and assess whether the DoD’s policies and procedures are sufficient to ensure timely and appropriate notifications and the effective transition of authorities as may be warranted due to health-based or other unavailability of senior leadership,” Storch wrote in a memo to Austin.

“The DoD OIG may revise or expand the objective and scope as the review proceeds. We plan to perform this review in accordance with Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, ‘Quality Standards for Federal Offices of Inspector General.’ We will perform the review at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. We may identify additional offices and personnel who might have information relevant to our review,” Storch wrote in his Jan. 10 memo.

“We request that you designate a staff member to serve as our point of contact for this review within 5 days of this memorandum. The point of contact should be a Government employee—a GS-15, or pay band equivalent, or the military equivalent—and knowledgeable of the matters related to the objective,” he wrote.