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State Senate Bill 43 would mandate ‘science-based’ sex ed

Suzanne Downing
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45
State Senate Bill 43 would mandate ‘science-based’ sex ed

A bill introduced in the Alaska Senate would mandate age-appropriate, “science-based” sex education in Alaska public schools.

Senate Bill 43 is sponsored by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, and cosponsored by Sen. Loki Gale (she/her) Tobin and Sen. Forrest Dunbar. The bill will be discussed in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday at 3 pm. Invited testimony will be provided by:

Dr. Robin Holmes, Medical Director for the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic
Nicole Morentson, PPGNHAIK Education Manager
Taylor Stewart, Teen Council Member, Anchorage, a peer-led sex-ed advocacy group
Taralynn Chesley, Teen Council Member, Anchorage, a peer-led sex-ed advocacy group

The documents related to the presentations can be found at this link.

The bill doesn’t call it “sex education,” in the title but rather refers to it as “personal safety.” It also mandates drug and alcohol education for kindergarten through 12th grade, and says instruction must include a variety of topics, in eluding sexual abuse, cancer detection, dental health, infant care, and more.

The section requiring some of the mandated education states that schools are not just encouraged to teach these topics, but area required to do so:

Each district in the state public school system shall provide                            
19 [BE ENCOURAGED TO INITIATE AND CONDUCT] a program in health and                                                     
20 personal safety education for kindergarten through grade 12. The program must                                   
21 [SHOULD] include instruction in physical health and personal safety, including                                      
22 alcohol and drug abuse education, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), early cancer                                     
23 prevention and detection, dental health, family health including infant care,                                           
24 environmental health, the identification and prevention of child abuse, child abduction,                                
25 neglect, sexual abuse, and domestic violence, [AND] appropriate use of health                                           
26       services, and sexual health.                                                                               
27 (b)  The state board shall establish guidelines for the [A] health and personal                                     
28 safety education program required under (a) of this section. Personal safety                                        
29 guidelines shall be developed in consultation with the Council on Domestic Violence                                     
30 and Sexual Assault. Upon request, the Department of Education and Early                                                 
31 Development, the Department of Health, and the Council on Domestic Violence and                                         

01 Sexual Assault shall provide technical assistance to school districts in the development                                
02 of personal safety curricula. A school health education specialist position shall be                                    
03 established and funded in the department to coordinate the program statewide.                                           
04 Adequate funds to enable curriculum and resource development, adequate consultation                                     
05 to school districts, and a program of teacher training in health and personal safety                                    
06       education shall be provided.

Further, the bill says that science used to inform the curriculum should come from accepted sources, and that peer-reviewed journals are an accepted form of science, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bill specifically says the American Academy of Pediatrics is a credible scientific group. AAP has come out in favor of reshaping children’s identity through gender reassignment, hormones, and surgery, as necessary.

In this section,                                                                                        
22                 (1)  "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990;                                          
23 (2)  "medically and scientifically accurate information" means                                                      
24 information that is verified or supported by the weight of research in compliance                                   
25 with accepted scientific methods, that is published in peer-reviewed journals,                                      
26 where appropriate, and that is recognized as accurate and objective by                                              
27 professional organizations and agencies with expertise in the field of sexual                                       
28 health, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the                                      
29 American Academy of Pediatrics, and the United States Centers for Disease                                           
30       Control and Prevention;                                                                                       
31 (3)  "voluntary consent" means conscious and voluntary                                                              

01       affirmative agreement to engage in sexual activity.                                                           
02    * Sec. 4. AS 14.30.360 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                              
03            (e)  The health and personal safety education program required under (a) of                                  
04       this section must include comprehensive sexual health education based on a                                        
05       curriculum that                                                                                                   
06 (1)  instructs students on human development, sexuality, and                                                            
07 reproduction, including instruction on abstinence, anatomy and physiology, consent,                                     
08 contraception, healthy relationships, and the prevention of pregnancy and sexually                                      
09       transmitted diseases;                                                                                             
10                 (2)  is appropriate to a student's age and development;                                                 
11                 (3)  teaches medically and scientifically accurate information informed                                 
12       by scientific research and effective practices;                                                                   
13                 (4)  is consistent with the Future of Sex Education Initiative 2011                                     
14       National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12;                                            
15                 (5)  teaches students abstinence as the most effective means of avoiding                                
16       sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy, but that also includes                                    
17       materials and instruction on other forms of contraceptives and disease prevention;                                
18                 (6)  is inclusive of all students, regardless of gender, gender identity,                               
19       race, disability status, religion, or sexual orientation; and                                                     
20                 (7)  emphasizes that voluntary consent is required before sexual                                        
21       activity.

Assembly will take public testimony on family leave plan

Suzanne Downing
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21
Assembly will take public testimony on family leave plan

On March 7, the Anchorage Assembly will hear public testimony on AO 2023-20, an ordinance to enact a paid parental leave benefit for municipal employees.

The ordinance comes up for a hearing just two weeks after the Assembly installed Juneteenth and Indigenous Peoples’ Day as new paid holidays, adding a net of two additional paid days off for municipal workers. It brings the total holiday schedule to 13, plus employees’ personal leave days. And now, more time off for new parents.

Sponsored by Assembly Members Austin Quinn-Davidson, Meg Zaletel and Chair Suzanne LaFrance, AO 2023-20 would formalize four continuous weeks of paid leave to new parents and guardians working for the municipality. The policy applies to new mothers, fathers, and legal guardians.

The costs to the city could be in the millions of dollars but the Assembly has given no fiscal transparency to this ordinance. The municipal budget, although it received vetoes from Mayor Dave Bronson, had several million added to it by the Assembly and now stands at about $584 million for this year, the largest operating budget in Anchorage history.

Quinn-Davidson served as the unelected temporary mayor after Mayor Ethan Berkowitz left office in a hurry in 2020, after after getting caught in a still-unclear relationship with a reporter. Quinn-Davidson, upon realizing that Dave Bronson had won the mayor’s race in 2021, hastily enacted the family leave policy, because her chosen candidate, Forrest Dunbar, did not win that race. Bronson rescinded it when he came into office.

“This policy is years in the making and long overdue,” said Assembly Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance. “In 2020, the Assembly authorized the adoption of a parental leave policy, and after more than eight months of research, development and assessment by municipal departments and stakeholders, the former Quinn-Davidson Administration adopted this very policy. The mayor rescinded the policy within weeks of taking office and the municipal workforce felt the burden of that hasty, short-sighted decision.”

The proposed ordinance is available to view online at this link.

Options to testify:

Provide testimony during the meeting at the Loussac Library Assembly Chambers.

Sign up to provide testimony during the meeting by phone: ancgov.info/testify. 

Provide written testimony: ancgov.info/testify.

Email Assembly members: [email protected]

Anchorage Assembly adding 160 hours of parental leave for employees via new ordinance

Lightfoot loses, as Chicagoans fed up with crime, taxes

Suzanne Downing
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31
Lightfoot loses, as Chicagoans fed up with crime, taxes

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was defeated in Tuesday’s election, getting just shy of 17% in the mayoral election. The leading vote getter is the CEO of Chicago Public Schools Paul Valles with nearly 34%, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 20.32%. Lightfoot, the city’s first gay, female, black mayor, has conceded.

Vallas and Johnson will be in the April 4 runoff for mayor.

With 9.5 million residents, Chicago is the nation’s third largest city, after New York City and Los Angeles. Runaway crime was one of the big discussions during the election season. Lightfoot tried to battle the perception that she had no plan for tackling it.

“You wouldn’t know it by watching the news or listening to the haters. But on crime, Mayor Lightfoot’s got a plan,” her commercial said, as she ran for reelection for a second term.

But Chicagoans know too well that the crime surge has been worse than ever: In the week ending Feb. 19, crime has been up over 55% this year compared to 2022, and 107% higher than in 2021. In every single category, except for murders and shootings, there have been double and triple-digit increases in reports of crime. Vehicle thefts are 255% higher in 2023 than they were in 2021.

Meanwhile, the rate of arrests are down by at least 6%. A recent poll revealed that crime and personal safety was the driving issue for 44% of Chicago voters.

“When Lightfoot first ran for mayor of Chicago, she came out of practically nowhere, polling in the single digits against a large field of better-known candidates. Back then, she tried something different for Chicago politics: not centering race. She made corruption and reform her prime topics and did not seek to carve out a piece of the city’s racial and ethnic puzzle for herself. In the end, she appealed to voters across the city – white, Black and Hispanic. She came out in front in the first round of voting and dominated the runoff, carrying all 50 wards and practically every precinct,” Governing Magazine wrote earlier this month.

“Well, four years is a long time in politics. Lightfoot is up for re-election on Tuesday and her campaign this time around looks a lot more like the traditional Chicago model. (The two top finishers on Tuesday will go to a runoff in April.) Lightfoot’s formerly broad appeal has evaporated, with her approval rating underwater, but she might not even make it to the next round because she can’t count on solid support from any racial or ethnic group, or any corner of the city,” Governing Magazine wrote. “Lightfoot, the city’s first Black woman mayor (and first openly gay mayor), has focused most of her attacks on Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, the other leading Black candidate. On Monday, she accused former schools and budget chief Paul Vallas, who is white, of ‘blowing the ultimate dog whistle’ for his call to ‘take back our city.'”

The state of Illinois has lost population for the past nine years. Only two other states lost more population in 2022 — New York and California. According to Illinois Policy, a conservative think tank, “Traditionally, the major reasons Illinoisans are choosing to leave the state are for better housing and employment opportunities, both of which have been made worse by poor public policy in Illinois. Nearly half of Illinoisans have thought about moving away, and they said taxes were their No. 1 reason. Population decline also contributes to the lower economic prospects of the state.”

Chicago has become the slowest growing major city in the U.S. for the past two decades. 

“Since its peak in 1950, Chicago has lost nearly 1 million residents. Rather than a simple pattern of population ‘booms’ and ‘busts,’ groups have migrated to and away from Chicago at different points in time,” reported a MacArthur Foundation study in 2022.

MacArthur Foundation, UIC report examines population shifts in Chicago, metro area

The defeat of Lightfoot comes as the National Democratic Committee is trying to decide if it will hold its national nominating convention in New York, Atlanta, or Chicago in 2024. Big Labor has been making a push for Chicago.

Alaska Republican Presidential Preference Poll: A year away

Senate gives unanimous no to pay raises for governor, lieutenant governor, and commissioners

Suzanne Downing
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40
Senate gives unanimous no to pay raises for governor, lieutenant governor, and commissioners

The office holders for Alaska governor and lieutenant governor haven’t seen a pay raise since 2010, and even though inflation eats away at their compensation, they aren’t going to get one this year.

The Alaska State Officers Compensation Commission recommended a 2% increase for each year since 2011, to make up for inflation, but the Senate voted down the raise, 19-0, with Sen. Robert Myers taking an excused absence.

The compensation commission is directed by law to “review the salaries, benefits, and allowances of members of the legislature, the governor, the lieutenant governor, and each principal executive department head and prepare a report on its findings at least once every two years, but not more frequently than every year.”

Senate Bill 86 rejected the raises that had been recommended unanimously, which would have resulted in the governor earning about $176,000 instead of his current compensation of $145,000. The lieutenant governor would have gone from $125,000 to $140,000 and department commissioners would have gotten raises to bring them to about $168,000. Currently they average $141,000, less than some of the people who work for them.

For comparison, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee makes about $187,000 a year, as the fifth highest paid among the 50 States. Most governors make about $148,000 per year, according to the Council on State Governments.

State Executive Salaries: Regional and State-level Comparisons

Peltola votes in favor of ‘woke’ ESG investing rules to harm Alaska resource development

Suzanne Downing
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39
Peltola votes in favor of ‘woke’ ESG investing rules to harm Alaska resource development

If Alaska’s Rep. Mary Peltola had her way, investment fund managers of America could starve Alaska’s timber, oil, and mining companies of all investments.

Peltola on Tuesday voted against a Congressional Review Act disapproval of a Biden rule that changed the relationship of fund managers to their clients, from being fiscal fiduciaries to being woke investors. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky.

The Congressional Review Act disapproval passed with all Republicans and one Democrat voting for it, and all Democrats voting against it. Peltola stuck with the majority Democrats.

The matter involves what’s called “ESG” rules, which allow fund managers to make investments based on evolving “Environmental, Social, and Governance” preferences — things that make liberals and Democrats happy.

The rules, prior to the Department of Labor changing them late last year — required fund managers to only consider the financial concerns of their clients — not some fast-moving woke target like critical race theory or critical gender theory.

Companies like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, and Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America have all said they will no longer invest in drilling in the Arctic. In late 2022, HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, said it would stop investing in all new oil and natural gas plays.

With the Biden rule, the boycott on investing in Alaska could spread like a virus to many other funds held by retirement accounts worth billions of dollars in America.

But a vote could not be taken until the rule, which is now in effect, was finally published in the Federal Registry this year.

The measure has a companion resolution in the Senate, where it’s believed that there is the simple majority required to pass the CRA, with the support of Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Both of Alaska’s senators have signed on as co-sponsors to the one tool that Congress has to undo actions of the Administration.

This ESG rule, issued by the Department of Labor, encourages retirement fund managers to insert political bias into their investment decisions, in favor of environmental, social, and corporate governance ideals, rather than profitability. This rule is a slap in the face to the intent of Congress when it passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974, which set safeguards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in the private sector, as America moved away from defined benefit pensions and into individual retirement accounts.

Defending The Squad: Rep. Mary Peltola votes against removing Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee
Peltola votes ‘no’ on allowing health workers to choose whether to get a Covid vaccine
Peltola says she missed Strategic Petroleum Reserve vote because she used the bathroom and then left early
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USA Today: Rep. George Santos and Mary Peltola have something in common — resumes that don’t hold up

USA Today: Rep. George Santos and Mary Peltola have something in common — resumes that don’t hold up

Are Peltolas violating federal laws against influence peddling?

Are Peltolas violating federal laws against influence peddling?

Through her teeth: Rep. Peltola said Inflation Reduction Act is about cost of living, but Al Gore tells Davos it’s really a climate change act

Carbon crazy 101: Rep. Andrew Gray thinks there could be a GoFundMe account to keep oil in the ground in Alaska

Suzanne Downing
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27
Carbon crazy 101: Rep. Andrew Gray thinks there could be a GoFundMe account to keep oil in the ground in Alaska

Carbon credits are hard to understand. But after an hour and 45 minutes of explanation from the Department of Natural Resources, Rep. Andrew Gray was no clearer to understanding them. He said he wants the state to set up a sort of GoFundMe account that would keep Alaska’s oil in the ground.

At the end of a presentation by the Department of Natural Resources to the House Ways and Means Committee, Gray said that if carbon credits are going to work, Alaska needs to threaten to cut down trees if it’s going to get paid to not cut them.

Then, Gray suggested that Alaska needs to set up a crowd-sourcing fund to get paid to not tap its massive oil reserves. People from all over the world would gladly pay into the fund, and Alaska could fund its government with that, he said.

“Coming out of this idea that we might be able to get paid to not cut down trees that we weren’t going to cut down anyway, I kind of have the ultimate CCUS [Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage]: Is it possible under some circumstance for us to get paid not to take oil out of the ground? And my brief sort of crazy idea is to just sort of, if we did it like a GoFundMe, there’s so many environmentalists around the world that we could potentially set up a charge, to fund our government, to be paid not to drill oil. If we had people, if we had 100 billion in the ground, and we divide it up how much that would be over time, that we could potentially get paid not to drill. Do people talk about that? Is that possible?” Rep. Gray said.

John Crowther, deputy commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, was polite: “Rep. Gray, through the chair, I don’t think we’ve heard those kinds of proposals,” he said.

The presentation on carbon credits and Rep. Gray’s suggestions can be viewed at this link.

The exchange between Gray and Crowther illustrates how difficult it is for many people to understand the world of carbon capture, credits, and storage.

Background on the carbon bills from Gov. Mike Dunleavy

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced legislation to help the state can make money off of the carbon trading market. Senate Bill (SB) 48, SB 49, House Bill (HB) 49, and HB 50, the Dunleavy Carbon Management and Monetization Bill Package, creates statutory and regulatory framework needed so the State can take advantage of this growing sector. The package consists of two bills that would create a carbon offset program; and a carbon capture, utilization, and storage program.

Carbon Offset Program

SB 48 and HB 49 establish a statewide carbon offset program through forest sequestration within the Department of Natural Resources. Many of the forested lands in Alaska are not even commercially viable because of their size or location, but through a carbon offset program, they have the potential to generate additional revenue for the State of Alaska through biologic carbon storage projects that can mitigate a portion of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere.

Current statutes do not allow for carbon offset projects. The carbon offset program bill seeks to grant DNR the ability to establish a carbon offset program and enable carbon offset projects on state lands. The carbon offset program would allow private entities to lease state land to undertake carbon offset programs to meet their company goals of becoming net-zero for carbon emissions.

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage

SB 49 and HB 50 are part of the State’s efforts to get revenue from vast underground storage it has for carbon dioxide that is a byproduct of oil and gas project. The carbon dioxide can be injected into underground caverns and geologic formation and can be used to force out more oil, or just store the carbon dioxide.

Alaska’s older oil and gas basins, particularly in Cook Inlet, have the right geology to sequester carbon underground. Cook Inlet has been identified as one of the top spots on earth with the ability to sequester carbon underground — with at least 50 gigatons of capacity, the governor’s office said.

This bill specifically creates new authorities for State agencies to license, lease, and administer the State’s pore space for geological storage; administer pipeline infrastructure for transportation of captured carbon to geological storage facilities and administer injection wells and carbon storage facilities; and protect correlative rights of all subsurface owners.

Alaska Native corporations are already making money on carbon trading. “They’ve realized about $350 million on 350,000 acres of land. So that’s a small example, and there’s projects such as this ongoing in the Lower 48 with private landowners as well,” Dunleavy said earlier this month.

“Carbon management will complement—and in some cases enhance—Alaska’s existing industries like forestry, oil and gas, mining, tourism, and outdoor recreation,” said DNR Commissioner John Boyle. “These bills do not lock up State land, rather, they unleash new opportunities. Carbon offset projects will not prevent mineral development, timber harvests, new oil and gas exploration, or infrastructure development. Land within the carbon offset program area will still be available for hunting, fishing, camping and recreational activities for Alaskans and visitors.”Conventional resource development companies operating in Alaska stand to benefit in multiple ways from a strong State carbon management regulatory framework. These companies can use carbon credits to offset their carbon emissions, creating new opportunities.” 

“In Alaska, we are blessed with the resources of today, but we’re also blessed with the resources of tomorrow,” Dunleavy said. “With support from the Legislature for our carbon management bill package, we’ll change the conversation about new revenue. We’ve been told by some that we can generate revenue in the billions over 20 years just from our forest lands. This represents the means to fund services, lower the cost of living and improve our quality of life, to create wealth and billions of dollars in economic activity without taxing Alaskans or eliminating the PFD.” 

Environmentalists are not on board. Many of them see it as a way of delaying the conversion to renewable energy, and they don’t want to monetize nature.

But for the State of Alaska, getting Alaska’s natural gas to a market like Japan may depend on being able to show the Japan government, which is very sensitive to lowering the nation’s carbon footprint, that Alaska can sell space to store the natural gas byproducts like carbon dioxide, making Alaska a more attractive supplier. Such a framework for carbon storage may be the key to being able to build the Alaska gasline, supporters say, if Alaska can demonstrate that it can also provide the means to mitigate the carbon from natural gas.

He’d offended before, but until now, no one knew he had sexually abused a 5-year-old in an Anchorage park in 1994

Suzanne Downing
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45
He’d offended before, but until now, no one knew he had sexually abused a 5-year-old in an Anchorage park in 1994

An Anchorage grand jury has indicted 52-year-old Lawrence Andrew Lekanoff on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor — a five-year-old child in an Anchorage park in 1994.

Lekanoff, whose address one time showed him as homeless and living in the woods in Muldoon, has a history of other charges. He was arrested in the Lower 48 on Feb. 27, and faces extradition to Alaska.

In 2018, Lekanoff was arrested in Thurston County, Washington, where he was a transient who was required to register as a sex offender due to a 1996 conviction in Anchorage on one count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

For that 1996 conviction, he had received a 12-year sentence with four years suspended. When he was 24, he was accused of sexually assaulting two girls, ages 4 and 6. He’s also been registered as a sex offender in Montana and Colorado.

The Anchorage Police Department had investigated this 1994 case, but efforts to identify a suspect were unsuccessful at the time and the case went cold. The sexual assault kit collected in the case was tested in 2020 as part of the Capital Project, a State initiative to analyze untested sexual assault kits collected by 47 police departments across the state.

One of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s priorities was to get all the rape kits that had been on the shelf processed. Thousands of untested sexual assault examination kits from across Alaska were processed by the end of 2021. A new law requires rape kits to be tested within one year to avoid backlogs and delays of justice.

DNA evidence linked Lekanoff to the 1994 sexual assault, bringing his known victims in Anchorage to three. The Anchorage Police Department reopened the investigation, and the Department of Law’s Office of Special Prosecutions presented the case to the grand jury. 

If convicted, Lekanoff faces a sentence of up to 30 years imprisonment.

New Education Commissioner is Susan McKenzie

Suzanne Downing
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28
New Education Commissioner is Susan McKenzie

The Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development has selected, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy has approved Susan McKenzie as the new commissioner for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. Heidi Teshner, who has served as acting commissioner since July, will return to her previous role as deputy commissioner.

McKenzie does not have to stand for confirmation from the Alaska Legislature.

“Ms. McKenzie has demonstrated a strong commitment to improving education and a vision for Alaska’s education system that aligns with the State Board’s strategic priorities and direction, especially in reading improvement. I look forward to working with her and Alaska’s entire education community to improve outcomes for all students, ” Dunleavy said.

“As an educator for 40 years, my life’s work has been to improve education for students, optimizing their achievement, leading to greater future choices. I’ve witnessed the pattern of failure to support students with evidence-based practices and have been desperately determined to affect change,” McKenzie said. “Our children deserve our best. Movement into higher leadership roles has been a blessing, and I’ve realized there is great alignment in my skill set and the service as Commissioner. I bring gained educational wisdom, Alaska experience and relationships, strong leadership, and knowledge of Alaska Department of Education and Early Development to use for such a time as this. I am a change agent for ineffective systems and practices. As a servant leader, I lead by example and will be involved with all groups, making changes needed to provide an excellent education for every student every day.”

The State Board of Education is looking forward to working with Ms. McKenzie in moving the state’s education priorities forward for all the kids of Alaska,” said Chairman James Fields, DEED State Board of Education. “Ms. McKenzie comes with a wide breadth of experience in education and leadership including rural Alaska experience.”

Ms. McKenzie currently serves as DEED’s Director of Innovation and Education Excellence. Previously she was a superintendent for eight years in the Gaston School District in Oregon. Prior to this she served as a principal in the Copper River School District in Glennallen, Alaska. Ms. McKenzie began her career as a teacher and special education teacher in Oregon. 

She has a master’s degree in Education from University of Alaska, Fairbanks in Language and Literacy with a reading endorsement. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and added a Special Education endorsement later. Her administrator licensing was completed at Portland State University in 2009 and renewed in 2015 at Concordia University Chicago. 

Commissioner-designee McKenzie starts as commissioner on April 1.

Supreme Court seems skeptical of Biden’s student loan forgiveness powers

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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25
Supreme Court seems skeptical of Biden’s student loan forgiveness powers

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt.

Biden announced in August of last year that his administration would “forgive” $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples. Debtors who borrowed money before July 1 can qualify. 

For Pell Grant recipients, the debt reduction would total $20,000. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimated that the plan would cost taxpayers roughly $400 billion.

The Biden administration argued that the administration has the legal authority to cancel the debt. Justices poked back at that claim, asking whether Congress’ HEROES ACT, which allowed the federal government to delay debt collection because of national emergencies, really grants power to cancel that debt.

Justices point out that the law does not explicitly allow for the waiving of student debt in this way, but the Biden administration argued that forgiving the student debt was still in line with the purpose of the bill.

Justices also raised concerns that using a questionable legal argument to allow such a large release of federal funds may go beyond the power of the legislation. The Biden administration, though, argued that the legal challengers did not have a real injury because of the policy that would give them legal standing to challenge the plan in the first place.

The Biden administration has paused student loan repayment until the Supreme Court rules on this case, expected by June and no later than July.

“Today, my Administration argues our case for student debt relief in the Supreme Court,” Biden said in a statement. “This relief is critical to over 40 million Americans as they recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. We’re confident it’s legal. And we’re fighting for it in court.”

A poll from August 2022 found Americans are concerned that forgiving the student loan debt will hike inflation.

A CNBC/Momentive survey found that 59% of those surveyed said they are concerned forgiving the debt will make inflation worse.

“Republicans are especially concerned: 81% of Republicans say student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse, nearly double the number of Democrats who say the same (41%),” Momentive said.

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