Latest news with #Stutes
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate President Gary Stevens to retire; House Rep. Louise Stutes announces run for seat
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, prepares to open the Alaska Senate's floor session on Friday, May 2, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) After 22 years in the Alaska Senate, Senate President Gary Stevens is retiring. Stevens' decision has been discussed in the Alaska Capitol for more than a year, but on Tuesday, it became official as Kodiak Republican Rep. Louise Stutes became the first person to announce that she will run for Stevens' seat. 'I certainly will endorse Louise any way I can to help her out,' Stevens said on Wednesday. 'She should be a really fine senator. She's had a lot of experience in the House, and I think she'd do a great job, and I'd be glad to help her out in any way I can.' Stutes filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission shortly after the Alaska Legislature adjourned its regular session for the year. Legislators are forbidden from campaigning during the session, and the day after the first year of the legislative session typically marks the informal opening of the candidate filing period. Campaigning typically doesn't begin in earnest until after the second year of the legislative session. Stutes' early start may be a foreshadowing of things to come in the district: Stevens has represented the area covering Kodiak and the southern Kenai Peninsula since being appointed to the seat in 2003, making next year's election a generational shift for the district. Stutes said on Wednesday that fundraising doesn't come naturally to her, 'so I thought that I'd better get a jump start on it. You can't get a jump start on it until you file your letter.' Stutes said she doesn't know whether there will be many candidates in the race. Each of Alaska's Senate districts includes two House districts. Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, represents the other half of Stevens' district and hasn't filed a letter of intent for next year's elections. She did not return a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday afternoon. Stutes noted that her husband, commercial fisherman Stormy Stutes, grew up in Anchor Point, and they still have family members who live in Vance's district, so she has connections to that part of Alaska. This isn't the first time that Stevens has said he will retire, but it's certain this time. 'I'm 83 now. I'll be 85 when I retire, and I think that's just enough,' he said by phone. 'I have other plans, things I want to do. I wrote a play about Ted Stevens that was successful in Anchorage; I want to do another one. I'm a bit of a painter, and I want to go on and do painting and writing and concentrate on those things, as well as spend time with my grandkids.' Stutes said she's been interested in running to replace Stevens since that first abortive retirement. 'I'm really lucky. Gary and I get along really well. … He's been wonderful to work with. I'll really miss him, of course, because we have such a great working relationship,' she said. Voters elected Stutes to replace longtime Kodiak lawmaker Alan Austerman in 2014 and reelected her five times since then. She has governed as a moderate Republican, frequently joining the House's predominantly Democratic coalition and once served a term as speaker of the House. 'I'm like every legislator. I really feel like I'm helping my district and Alaskans. Right or wrong, I feel like I've been able to make a difference with the Marine Highway System. I believe I've been able to help bring fisheries to the forefront,' Stutes said. 'When I first got elected years ago, I told Stormy that the one thing I want to do is take fisheries from the back burner and put them on the front burner. And I think that I've been somewhat successful in moving it forward.' The Alaska Senate is currently controlled by a 14-person bipartisan coalition that includes nine Democrats and five Republicans. Three of those Republicans are up for reelection next year, and all are in potential swing districts. Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said they will run for office again. Stevens is the third. Among the coalition's Democrats, Sens. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, and Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, both confirmed that they will run for reelection. Sens. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, and Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, have not yet filed letters of intent. Hoffman has been in the Legislature since 1987 and in the Senate since 1991, making him the longest-serving legislator in state history. Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, said on Wednesday that he hasn't yet decided whether he will run for reelection. Sens. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, and Rob Myers, R-North Pole, also face reelection next year. Neither returned a text message seeking comment on Wednesday. Among incumbent members of the state House, Reps. Maxine Dibert, D-Anchorage, Carolyn Hall, D-Anchorage, and Donna Mears, D-Anchorage, have all filed letters of intent for reelection. Former Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, announced that he will again seek to challenge Rep. David Nelson, R-Anchorage, in 2026. Nelson had been elected in 2020, lost to Groh in 2022 and defeated Groh in Wednesday afternoon, Groh was the only nonincumbent to file with the Public Offices Commission. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Yahoo
Alaska accuses prominent Kodiak family of widespread fishing permit fraud
A Bristol Bay sockeye salmon "mob" gathers in August 2004 in the Wood River, which flows into the Nushagak River just north of Dillingham. (Photo by Thomas Quinn/, University of Washington) State prosecutors have accused Kodiak fisher Duncan Fields and other members of his family of defrauding the state and fish buyers through a coordinated scheme that involved committing perjury and manipulating permits. Court documents filed Monday state that Fields and his family, who operate Fields and Sons Inc., illegally earned more than $1 million by temporarily transferring various salmon setnet permits to crew members, allowing the family to bypass state limits on individual ownership. Fields, whose family has been setnetting in Kodiak since 1961, denied the state's claims, saying by text that the 'charges stem from the gifting of limited entry permits to family and crew, something my family and I have done for more than 30 years. This is a common practice in the industry, and we believe that our family has been singled out to try to set an example with a unique application of existing statutes. The charges are not supported by the facts.' The criminal accusations against the Fields family — which include multiple felonies — surprised fishers and have implications beyond Kodiak. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, has paused work on House Bill 117, which would allow setnet fishers to pool their fish as a cooperative before sending them to a fishing tender for processing. Stutes, co-chair of the House Fisheries Committee, introduced the bill. Current regulations require each permit holder to submit their fish to a tender separately, but setnet fishers, including Fields, have testified that is impractical and has never been followed in practice. The investigation against Fields, which revealed fish pooling, prompted Alaska wildlife troopers to intensify enforcement of the regulation across the state, causing setnetters to ask for legislative action. 'It wasn't Duncan that brought this issue to us, but he's right in the middle of it, and so I just feel like it's better to stand down on that bill for now,' Stutes said, calling the bill unrelated to the accusations against Fields. According to court documents and legislative testimony, the charges against the Fields family stem from a 2023 message given to the Alaska Wildlife Troopers by the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. 'In 2023, the AWT received information about a set gillnet operation reportedly transferring ownership of permits at high frequency and delivering/selling fish under the names of one or two primary permit holders on behalf of other permit holders,' wrote Col. Bryan Barlow, director of the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, in legislative testimony. Alaska's 'limited entry' permit system was intended to reduce overharvesting while preserving local harvests. In Kodiak, a permit holder 'may operate no more than two set gillnets, with no more than 150 fathoms of set gillnets,' according to state regulation. Prosecutors say that to get around the restriction, members of the Fields family would gift setnet permits to crew members each fishing season, and then the crew members would gift them back to the Fields family at the end of the fishing season, retaining custody. CONTACT US The state argues in its initial filing that the gifts violated a state law that says a permit 'may not be pledged, mortgaged, leased, or encumbered in any way, transferred with any retained right of repossession or foreclosure, or on any condition of requiring a subsequent transfer.' 'As part of their investigation, wildlife investigators interviewed approximately twenty-one individual crewmembers who had permits transferred to them between 2020 and 2023,' court documents state. 'Additionally, they reviewed numerous commercial fishing documents to include permit transfer paperwork, crew member applications, crewmember contracts, gift affidavits, fish ticket data and other relevant paperwork for each individual.' Stutes, who represents the district that includes the Fields' setnet sites, gave credit to the CFEC for alerting police. 'You really have to give CFEC some kudos for catching it, saying 'Whoa, what's going on here? There's been too many transfers.' I'm really impressed with them,' she said. 'It tells me the system does work.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaska House plans vote next week on key public-school funding bill
A school bus drives in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) The Alaska House of Representatives is planning to vote next week on a bill that would significantly increase funding for the state's public schools. As currently written, House Bill 69 would raise the base student allocation, the core of the state's per-student public school funding formula. Proponents of the bill say the state has failed to keep up with inflation, while opponents argue that the proposed increase is unaffordable and brings no guarantee that school performance will improve. Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, and House Rules Chair Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, said HB 69 will be amended in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday morning and advance to a vote of the full House afterward. 'It's just going to depend on what kind of amendments there are, and if we can get it engrossed or not, but we're hoping that it will be mid to latter part of next week,' Stutes said. Engrossment is the legal process of incorporating amendment language into bills. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has expressed his opposition to the current form of HB 69, and members of the Legislature have been in closed-door negotiations with administration officials about possible changes to the bill. Dunleavy has repeatedly sought education policy changes, including making it easier to expand the number of charter schools and providing more support for correspondence programs, the primary form of homeschooling in Alaska. 'We're trying to come out with a win-win-win document where everybody gets a little bit of a win — with the House, the Senate, the administration, the governor,' Stutes said. Members of the House's Republican minority caucus have expressed objections about the bill's course, saying they feel locked out of negotiations. Wednesday's meeting will offer the chance for members of the minority to offer their suggestions, and when the bill reaches the House floor, every member of the House will have a chance to propose changes. 'I guess we'll see what's up,' said House Minority Leader Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, speaking in an interview about the week ahead. 'On the floor, we definitely will be having amendments and talking to our amendments.' Edgmon and Stutes implied that the next version of the bill could include changes to education policy. While Dunleavy has pushed for changes, until now members of the House majority have sought to limit HB 69 to funding issues alone. In addition, HB 69 could have less of a funding increase than originally proposed. As currently written, it calls for a $1,000 boost to the base student allocation next year, plus another $800 spread over the following two years. 'Our anticipation is that the bill will leave the house with $1,000, or at least we'll go to the floor with $1,000 BSA,' Stutes said, but she and Edgmon were less firm on the additional $800. 'You know, getting through the house is one step, to the Senate is another step, and then negotiating with the governor along the way is an additional sort of element of it all. … In many school districts, $1,000 in terms of a permanent BSA increase is simply not enough, but it's the best we could do at this point. And, you know, stay tuned at the rules committee to see what happens next,' Edgmon said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alaska Legislature unanimously rejects automatic pay raises for lawmakers, governor and cabinet
Feb. 28—JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature on Friday unanimously rejected automatic pay raises for legislators, the governor and department heads. The State Officers Compensation Commission recently recommended that pay adjustments go into effect automatically every other year based on the Anchorage consumer price index. The cost-of-living adjustments were set to go into effect in 2027. According to state law, the compensation commission is supposed to recommend pay adjustments — if needed — every other year for the state's top political officials. The recommendations go into effect unless both the House and Senate approve a measure to reject them. The rejection measure approved Friday advanced swiftly through the Legislature this year. The Senate unanimously rejected the cost-of-living adjustments on Feb. 8; the House approved the same measure on Feb. 28. Kodiak Republican Rep. Louise Stutes said before the final vote that the state is struggling to fund basic services with constrained finances. She said the pay raises were estimated to cost over $500,000 in total. "Simply put, it's very poor timing and a very poor idea for us — as well as department heads and lieutenant governor and governor — to receive a pay increase," Stutes said. Two years ago, the salary commission recommended that the Legislature receive a 67% pay raise, along with significant pay bumps for the governor and top political leaders. That followed Gov. Mike Dunleavy abruptly firing a majority of the commission's members and replacing them with new ones. Legislators that year allowed the major salary increases to go into effect, which boosted their base level salaries from just over $50,000 per year to $84,000 annually. The increases came after several years in which pay adjustments were not approved for lawmakers or leading members of the executive branch.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Top Alaska House legislators reject plan to allow fish farms
Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, listen to information on Jan. 9, 2025, at an Anchorage hearing of the Joint Legislative Task Force Evaluating Alaska's Seafood Industry. Stutes and Edgmon are two of the task force's eight members. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) Two leading members of the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday announced their opposition to a proposal from Gov. Mike Dunleavy to lift the state's 35-year-old ban on fish farms. In a written statement, Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, and House Rules Committee Chair Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, said the bill will not aid the state's commercial fishing industry. Stutes also chairs the House Fisheries Committee, and Edgmon is the committee's vice chair; without their support, House Bill 111 is unlikely to advance. Dunleavy has proposed keeping a ban on salmon farming but is seeking permission for farming other types of fish. Alaska has banned all types of fish farming for decades under the belief that allowing farming poses social and environmental risks to the state's wild fish. 'Alaska's commercial fishing industry, our coastal communities, and fishing families across the state are suffering through historically poor market conditions, inconsistent returns, and unfair trade practices,' Stutes and Edgmon wrote. 'Make no mistake, the industry will recover; however, lifting a ban on freshwater finfish farming sends the wrong signal, at the wrong time. It also erodes the spirit of the current ban and provides a foot in the door for possible salmon farming in Alaska,' they said. 'We need to be focusing on solutions for our fisheries that positively impact our industry, market conditions, and the bottom line for our fishermen, not legislation that distracts from that.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
