Will Dunleavy's freeze on new regulations affect paid sick leave for Alaskans?

Yahoo

2 days ago

The Alaska and American flags fly in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Two weeks ago, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a hiring freeze for most state agencies, paused new state regulations, and restricted state workers' travel.
The governor's administrative order arrived amid growing concerns about state spending, and much of it is similar to orders issued during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency and the oil price shock of the mid-2010s.
But this order has a new wrinkle: a pause on new state regulations.
'In order for agencies to focus their attention on the State's core mission of providing essential services to Alaskans and maximizing operational efficiency, there is, effective immediately, a freeze on the promulgation of new regulations by all agencies. This freeze does not apply to regulations currently out for public notice,' the governor's new order states.
If laws enacted by the Legislature and governor are the building blocks of state government, regulations are the mortar that holds them together: Regulations, proposed by state agencies or boards and commissions, cover the details that laws don't, prescribing how state agencies should implement those laws.
'Governor Dunleavy issued Administrative Order 358 to ensure we are spending wisely and living within our means. This temporary pause on new regulations gives agencies time to evaluate priorities and reduce unnecessary regulatory growth,' said Jessica Bowers, a spokesperson for Dunleavy.
Since Dunleavy's order, the state's public records system shows only one new regulations package has been posted for public comment. In the same period last year, the online public records system shows seven. There were three during the same stretch of 2023 and five during that stretch of 2022.
This year, one of the biggest items affected by the governor's order is a packet of regulations that would fully implement last year's Ballot Measure 1, which requires paid sick leave and a minimum wage increase for workers starting July 1.
The measure, which was approved by 58% of participating Alaska voters last year, also forbids 'captive audience meetings,' in which employees must listen to an employer's views on religion, politics or unions.
New regulations require a 30-day comment period where the public can suggest changes to the final draft, and those regulations typically don't become effective until 30 days after the final version is signed by the lieutenant governor.
In March, Adam Weinert, a special assistant to state Department of Labor Commissioner Cathy Muñoz, said that 'the regulation packet is currently with the Alaska Department of Law, and we intend to have the packet out for a 30-day public comment in the near future.'
More than two months later, the packet still has not been published for public comment. The Department of Labor has not answered multiple requests for further information.
The delay has alarmed some of the measure's supporters, who think it could be part of a national pattern.
In Nebraska and Missouri, voters also passed paid sick leave ballot measures last year. In both places, state legislators proceeded to overturn those ballot measures this spring.
Here in Alaska, five Republican members of the state House introduced a bill that would roll back Alaska's voter-approved law.
'As those issues have won at the ballot box, really since 2016, we have seen an escalation of attacks to direct democracy and voter-approved initiatives,' said Chris Melody Fields, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a national progressive organization.
'We've seen that especially on the economic justice ballot measures that were passed in 2024,' she said.
The Alaska bill lacks the support needed to pass the House or Senate and may be unconstitutional, which leaves regulatory hurdles as the last obstacle before it becomes effective.
Bowers, in the governor's office, cited the text of the governor's administrative order and said that agencies 'can submit a waiver to move forward with paused regulations if the regulations are necessary to protect the safety of the public or to meet other essential State responsibilities.'
By email, she confirmed that the Department of Labor has submitted a waiver request and that it is under review.
The Alaska Department of Law, which has been examining the regulations package for more than two months, did not answer a question on Friday seeking information about the status of that review.
Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska chapter of the AFL-CIO, a federation of 63 national and international labor unions, said that regardless of what happens with the regulations, Ballot Measure 1 will become law on July 1.
She supported the measure and has been tracking its implementation with interest.
'Those regs need to have a 30-day comment period … they should have been out 90 days ago, so they could have taken in public comment,' she said.
Without regulations, Alaskans will still be entitled to sick leave and a higher minimum wage, but employers might not know how to keep track of that sick leave and report it properly, she said.
She noted that the Department of Labor has an FAQ about the measure.
Other organizations, including the Foraker Group and the law firm Landye Bennett Blumstein have also published detailed explanations on the new law going into effect.
Attorney Scott Kendall said that a regulations package could still go forward after the law becomes effective.
But Hall said that still leaves employers guessing.
'You're going to have a lot of employers who are confused about how they're going to track things,' she said.
Of the state's decision to wait on releasing regulations, she said, 'I'm not sure what they think they're doing aside from confusing people.'