Juneau – Monday, the Alaska House of Representatives unanimously approved Senate Bill 91 to extend the current disaster declaration for the opioid epidemic in Alaska. The bill gives Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer needed statutory authority to proceed with the planned statewide response to the opioid epidemic. “Opioid abuse is tearing apart families and endangering public […]
JUNEAU – Tuesday, the Senate State Affairs Committee passed SJR1 to the Judiciary Committee, its next committee of referral. SJR1 would allow Alaskans a vote to safeguard the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) in the state’s constitution. The principal or “corpus” of the fund is already constitutionally protected and cannot be spent. However, the earnings of […]
Wednesday Ryan Zinke was confirmed to serve as the 52nd Secretary of the Interior with a Senate vote of 68-31. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) congratulated and welcomed Secretary Zinke to his new role as trustee to 567 Tribal Nations. As a key partner in advancing the trust relationship between the United States […]
JUNEAU – Today, the Alaska Senate Democratic Caucus sent a letter [PDF] to Governor Bill Walker expressing urgent and deep concern about personnel cuts made to the Criminal Division of the Alaska Department of Law. The letter was prompted by testimony given to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Alaska Attorney General, Jahna Lindemuth. Her testimony revealed that […]