This bill would add new limitations to the use of force by police. SB 1 would prohibit police from restraining people in ways that prevent breathing or circulation of blood. But there appears to be wiggle room in the definition - it would bar officers from “knowingly” using them “in a manner likely to produce a loss of consciousness,” but would not bar them when deadly force is authorized by law or department policy.

- Senator Gray-Jackson (Begich)

The bill would require the Council to adopt regulations that would require officers (including police, probation, parole, and correctional) to de-escalate with people who respond “aggressively” to officer contact or arrest, using techniques that are not lethal. It would also require officers to intervene if they see (or ought to see) their colleagues engaging in misconduct, and report to supervisors. There are exceptions, however. De-escalation is not required if it is not safe to attempt. And intervention is not required if it is not safe to attempt. The regulations would also require officers to immediately report to their supervisors incidents of officer misconduct.

- Senator Gray-Jackson (Begich)

This bill would prohibit police from discharging a firearm at/toward a moving vehicle that another person is operating. There is an exception: police could fire weapons at a moving vehicle if it might kill another person or the officer.

- Senator Gray-Jackson (Begich)

 Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. SB 5 would make Juneteenth a state holiday.

- Senator Gray-Jackson (Kawasaki, Begich, Hoffman)

•  SB 14 would allow the Governor to fill judicial openings on these courts by appointing ANY lawyer who has practiced in Alaska for at least five years, eliminating the requirement to select the most qualified candidates.
• It would subject judicial appointees to legislative confirmation, a provision the Founders rejected by an overwhelming vote because it introduces politics into our system of judicial selection.  
• For the first time in state history, judges would have to pass a subjective ideological test. The legislation imposes a new and unenforceable obligation on the Alaska Judicial Council to determine that judicial candidates understand and commit to “strict constitutional interpretation of statutes and regulations and adhering to legislative intent.”

These changes that would politicize the judicial selection process, SB 14 would transfer the responsibility for providing voters with impartial information about judges in retention elections from the Alaska Judicial Council – which has competently performed these functions for years – to the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, which has no experience in evaluating judges

- Senator Shower

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PUBLIC TESTIMONY 3/30/2021 >>

Building on the successes of the Alaska Sustainable Energy Act, SB 17 extends the energy efficiency retrofit program to schools and community centers that are eligible for the Power Cost Equalization Program. This creates incentives to reform retrofits for buildings that receive State support for their energy bills, which will save the State, school districts, and communities money. 

SB 17 will also provide rapid economic recovery by bringing in new investment to support an Alaska-based clean energy industry.

- Senator Begich

This bill prohibits “severability” in a citizen's initiative - Severability is a feature of the law that allows the rest of a statute, contract, or proposed legislation to stand if a section of it is struck down by the courts.

A previous version of SB 23 was deemed to likely be an unconstitutional restriction on the people’s right to implement direct democracy through the initiative process.

- Senator Revak

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SB 39 seeks to undermine local control of elections, suppress voting in Alaska, and take away the legal mechanism that adds thousands of new voters annually rolls through Alaska's Permanent Fund dividend - automatic voter registration statute. It will increase barriers to voting by adding additional hurdles to vote by gutting the successful automatic voter registration system, which was passed overwhelmingly by Alaskans. SB 39 will strip municipalities and rural communities of the option to control their own election process.SB 39 is a "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist. Alaska's elections are safe and secure, and there was no evidence of voter fraud this last election cycle. SB 39 limits our right to act as a community and care for our elders, neighbors, and friends by making it illegal to deliver a ballot for a friend or neighbor. 

- Senator Revak

This bill proposes changes to new campaign disclosure reporting requirements enacted through the passage of Ballot Measure 2 in the 2020 general election. The measure will go into effect during the upcoming April 2021 Anchorage municipal election cycle and requires independent expenditure groups involved in candidate election activities to report to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) within 24 hours of receiving a contribution. It also requires the contributor to report within 24 hours of contributing to a group. Provisions of the proposed bill would extend these same reporting requirements to independent expenditure groups and their contributors involved in ballot measure campaign activities. The Alaska Center supports increased transparency in election financing, though we are opposing this legislation pending further legal analysis of its impacts.

- Senator Hughes

The bill seeks to give the Department of Natural Resources the power to authorize commercial development on any state land regardless of its status - refuge or park or otherwise - and to put a fine point on it, the bill proposes to repeal the Recreational River statutes that protect six popular and anadromous Mat-Su rivers: The Little Susitna River, The Deshka River, The Talkeetna River, Lake Creek, Alexander Creek, and The Talachulitna River.

- Governor Dunleavy