Lawmakers adopt 3 bills caught in legal limbo in effort to avoid constitutional challenge

Yahoo

17-05-2025

May 16—JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature adopted several bills Friday in an effort to resolve a legal dispute that arose from last year's legislative session.
Lawmakers last year passed a bill that combined multiple measures, extending several boards and commissions; creating child care tax credits; and limiting the number of hunting guides in some parts of the state. But a former state legislator later sued the state over what he claimed was a violation of the "single subject rule," a constitutional requirement that provisions included in a single bill all relate to one cohesive topic.
The disparate measures at the center of the lawsuit were bundled into a single piece of legislation as the deadline for last year's session neared, despite concerns raised by legislative attorneys over the so-called "single subject rule."
Gov. Mike Dunleavy allowed the legislation to become law without his signature. Former Wasilla Rep. David Eastman then asked the Juneau Superior Court to block the Dunleavy administration from implementing the legislation. The lawsuit is ongoing.
In response, lawmakers this year advanced several pieces of last year's measure separately in three bills: one to extend several boards and commissions; one to make changes to rules governing hunting guides; and one to create the new child care tax credits.
Joe Geldhof, the attorney representing Eastman in the case, said Friday that the passage of this year's bills — even if they are signed into law by Dunleavy — would not render the ongoing lawsuit moot, because Eastman is still seeking a determination regarding whether last year's legislative action violated the state constitution.
"David Eastman wants a clear-cut ruling on the measure that was passed, and I think he's entitled to that, and I think the judiciary might be inclined to give it to him, so this doesn't happen again," Geldhof said Friday.
The case is scheduled for a two-day trial in December. Attorney General Treg Taylor previously requested the court to pause the proceedings while the Legislature considers bills "to cure any alleged defects" that arose from last year's bill. Superior Court Judge Larry Woolford denied the request.
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, said that the House's effort to pass the three bills Friday was done to put the ongoing litigation to bed without creating a new precedent. Lawmakers frequently rely on the ability to bundle together multiple bills in the final days of a session, Edgmon said.
"Being able to roll bills together in a sine die session is a valuable tool, but anytime it's misused, which on occasion it is, it can be a real nuisance," said Edgmon. "More legislators support having that tool available if it's used sparingly and judiciously, but there are some who think that it's not a necessary tool."
The three bills head now to the governor's desk. Dunleavy has not commented publicly on whether he will support the measures.
Senate Bill 96, the child care tax credit measure, allows certain corporations to claim credits in exchange for covering the cost of their employees' child care. The bill passed 35-4 in the House and 18-1 in the Senate, after multiple advocacy groups, including the Alaska Chamber, said it would help address a crisis in affordable child care.
"The incentive for that was to try to get the private sector to try to create more benefits and help the child care crisis that we're in," said Rep. Julie Coulombe, an Anchorage Republican who sponsored the original legislation last year. "It will help our economy, it helps our kids and it helps the private sector fight this battle with us to get more child care spots."
Senate Bill 97, the hunting guide legislation, which is modeled after an existing practice on federal lands, would limit the number of commercial guides on state lands. The bill passed the House with no opposition, 39-0. It passed the Senate 18-1.
"The intended results are twofold: reduce hunter conflicts due to overcrowding, and conservation of wildlife," said House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, an Anchorage Republican.
Senate Bill 80 extends the sunset date of four boards — the Board of Massage Therapy, the Marijuana Control Board, the Alaska Commission on Aging, and the Big Game Commercial Services Board. The bill passed the House and Senate unanimously.
The measure "ensures these programs will remain in place regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit currently pending in courts," said Rep. Carolyn Hall, an Anchorage Democrat.
Daily News reporter Sean Maguire contributed.