Latest news with #Wielechowski
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaska lawmakers again unsuccessful in last-minute efforts to pass election reform
May 20—JUNEAU — An attempt to update Alaska's election laws has again failed in the final day of the legislative session, with lawmakers promising to return to the effort when they reconvene in January. Since 2022, lawmakers have sought several changes to Alaska's voting laws. Republicans want to more easily remove inactive voters from the state's rolls. Democrats want to make absentee voting easier and ensure that the state's rural, predominantly Alaska Native voters have equal access to the polls. Mirroring previous efforts, lawmakers this year again tried to craft a bill including both parties' priorities. And again, they fell short. The House and Senate majorities began the session with a shared commitment to updating the state's voting statutes, after previously failing to do so in the final hours of the 2024 and 2022 legislative sessions. But Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat who crafted the election bill in the Senate, said that the plan fell apart in the final days of the session because minority Republicans declined to support reforms sought by the majority coalitions. "I think a few people really started to take a partisan perspective on it and blew the bill up," said Wielechowski. Wielechowski said he had sought GOP support for the election bill in order to persuade Gov. Mike Dunleavy not to veto it. Dunleavy has not commented on whether he was opposed to the legislation, but Wielechowski said he was confident that the governor would veto the measure if it did not have minority GOP support. Senate Bill 64 passed the Senate earlier this month but stalled in the House Finance Committee as Republican committee members claimed the bill would open the door to potential election fraud. The package includes measures to allow Alaskans to correct mistakes on absentee ballots, a process known as "ballot curing"; it removes the requirement for witness signatures on absentee ballots; it speeds up the ballot counting process; it streamlines the process of removing ineligible voters from the rolls; it requires the Division of Elections to be staffed with rural liaisons; it guarantees prepaid ballot postage for absentee ballots; and it allows voters to opt in to receive absentee ballots every election year, rather than having to request an absentee ballot ahead of every election, among other changes and updates. House Minority Leader Mia Costello said that her caucus's move to block election legislation from passing this year was a "major accomplishment" for the House minority. "It just simply was not something that we thought should see the light of day," said Costello. Late last year, former House Speaker Cathy Tilton said during a talk radio interview that Republican members of what was then the House majority blocked an election bill — which contained many of the provisions contained in this year's measure — because it would have increased the likelihood of Alaska's Democratic U.S. representative holding on to her seat in the 2024 election by making it easier for people in rural Alaska to vote. After the failure of last year's election bill, Alaska Native voters again encountered barriers to voting. The Alaska Division of Elections didn't deliver election materials on time to rural parts of the state, then fired the elections chief for the regional office overseeing most remote communities in the state shortly before the November election, and also didn't open some rural precincts on time due to staffing challenges. The Alaska Federation of Natives and other Alaska Native groups supported many of the election reforms included in this year's bill, urging lawmakers to pass it in time for it to be implemented ahead of the 2026 election. "After it blew up in the House Finance Committee, we redoubled our efforts and got together with some of the harshest critics of the bill," said Wielechowski. "We had extremely productive conversations and actually came to a point where we had consensus." Those critics included Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, a Wasilla Republican, and Rep. Sarah Vance, a Homer Republican. The three reached agreement on a pared-down bill, but Wielechowski said that opposition among House Republicans remained. "When you sort of dig yourself in on a position and demonize something, it makes it difficult to un-demonize it," said Wielechowski. "I think that's what happened with this bill. There was a lot of misinformation." Shower said the original election bill "had too many things that I would consider access over security." "We worked really hard over the weekend to strip all those out," said Shower. "It became a very neutral bill." He said the "neutral" provisions that remained in the bill included ballot curing and measures to make it easier to remove inactive voters from the state's list. But Shower said that there wasn't enough time to convince Republicans to vote for the measure. "To do this over the weekend right before the end of session, was just a bridge too far," said Shower. "We had so many bad things to say the week before — we did a really good job of killing it — and then it was hard to pull it back." Vance said she hoped the stripped-down bill could be considered next legislative session. "We did come to almost 100% agreement, but we just simply ran out of time to be able to have the fuller discussion with our caucuses, so we have tabled that until January," said Vance. Wielechowski said he thought the majorities in the House and Senate could have passed a bill Tuesday without the Republican minority's support. But that would have made the bill vulnerable to Dunleavy's veto pen. "I don't want to pass something that is going to get vetoed — that I know will get vetoed — without doing everything I can to try to a point where we enact good policy," said Wielechowski. Senate President Gary Stevens and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said the plan was to pass the bill next session. "Next year, hopefully we can deal with this early in January or February, and have a little more leisure time to really get through all the details, and if we do it early enough, it'll have an impact on the coming election," said Stevens. Another measure to reimpose campaign contribution limits known as House Bill 16 was also halted in its tracks in the final hours of the session. Like Senate Bill 64, Wielechowski said he thought the campaign contribution measure would not withstand Dunleavy's veto without minority support, so he declined to bring it to a Senate floor vote. Alaska has been without campaign contribution limits since 2021, when a federal judge invalidated the state's previous ones. After that ruling, Dunleavy said he's inclined to support unlimited donations, as long as they're publicly disclosed. Dunleavy then benefited from six-figure contributions during his 2022 reelection campaign. Shower said that he was concerned about reimposing campaign contribution limits because he thought the move could be disadvantageous to Republicans. "I support us finding contribution limits, because I would like to see big money out, but it has to be in a way that's going to balance the playing field for all candidates," said Shower. The bill as it's written, Shower said, "is going to hurt one side and not the other." House Bill 16 mimics the language of a ballot initiative that is set to go before voters in 2026 unless lawmakers adopt it next session. Daily News reporter Sean Maguire contributed to this story.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
At adjournment, Alaska Legislature leaves elections overhaul, campaign finance bills undone
Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, speaks to the Alaska House of Representatives on Friday, April 25, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) The Alaska Legislature adjourned its regular session on Tuesday without finishing work on a major elections bill or a bill reimposing limits on cash donations to election candidates. House Bill 16, the campaign finance bill, and Senate Bill 64, the elections reform legislation, are expected to return when the Legislature resumes work in January, and they could be part of a wave of major legislation that advances through the Capitol early next year. 'We got really close with the election bill, and I think the prospects for passing next year are good,' said Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham. 'I expect that we may have a legitimate shot at passing that bill early next session,' he said. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said that both bills could have gotten legislative approval, but they would have been vetoed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. 'We were told flat out, the governor would veto it, by someone in the governor's office,' Wielechowski said. The governor's communications office did not respond to an email asking whether Wielechowski's statement was accurate. If enacted, HB 16 would, among other things, limit Alaskans to $2,000 in donations per candidate in each two-year election cycle. Alaska currently has no limit on the amount of money a person can donate to a candidate. A ballot measure is slated for the 2026 election, but the restrictions could come into place earlier, if the Legislature approves. SB 64, as currently written, is a broad election reform bill that includes significant changes to the way the state deals with absentee voting. 'I think we are poised and in a position where there will be a number of pieces of significant legislation passed next year, probably early on in the session, and we will be dealing with a number of veto overrides during the session,' Wielechowski said. Wielechowski said the possibilities include an elections bill, a campaign finance bill, the long-awaited pension restoration bill and a bill taxing businesses whose owners are taxed separately from the businesses, known as C-corporations. To avoid a veto, Wielechowski and others said they intend to work with Republicans in the House and Senate minorities to try to garner support for a compromise that could win a veto-proof majority of votes in the Legislature. It takes 40 votes to override a policy veto; the coalition majorities in the House and Senate have a combined 35 members, meaning that additional Republican support would be needed. House Minority Leader Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, said she thinks changes to Senate Bill 64 are needed for any compromise. 'I was really proud of our finance team for helping stop that version of the bill, because it really had some things in there that were not productive and were not representative of our values and what we think should be in an elections bill,' she said. 'I do think there is room to make it better. I just think we weren't a part of that discussion (on advancing the bill), but I think they realized that we have to be, moving forward.' On the campaign finance bill, getting a veto-proof majority is 'possible,' said Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage and the bill's sponsor. 'I've personally spoken to a number of minority members who recognize the need for limits. They were disappointed as well that the bill wasn't taken up. We do have a very high veto threshold, so it'll be a challenge,' Schrage said. 'But as I remind legislators all the time around here, this is going to happen one way or another when this goes to the ballot, so I think we have an opportunity to save the time and expense and put this in place ourselves. If we don't, Alaskans will take action.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaska Senate passes elections overhaul to update voter rolls, introduce ballot tracking, curing
A sign posted on Aug. 18, 2024, outside of the Alaska Division of Elections office in Midtown Anchorage directs voters to the polling place inside. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) The Alaska Senate voted to enact new rules to streamline the voting process in Alaska and expand voter access. If signed into law, the legislation would update the state's voter rolls, mandate that the state pay for postage for mailed ballots, introduce a new ballot tracking system, and repeal a requirement that a witness sign absentee ballots, among other changes. The Senate passed Senate Bill 64 along caucus lines, voting 14 to 6 on Monday. The bill now moves to the House for consideration in the last week of the legislative session. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage and a bill supporter, called it a 'compromise bill' years in the making at a news conference on Tuesday. 'It includes 12 different bills that have been introduced over the years from members of all political parties — Republicans, Democrats, independents, minority and majority members,' he said. 'Roughly 50% of the bill is at the request of the minority in the House and the Senate. So it is truly a compromise bill.' Wielechowski said the first goal of the bill is to update the state's voter rolls. 'We have 106% more registered voters in the state than we have citizens, and so it takes some steps to fix that,' he said. Under SB 64, the Division of Elections would send a notice to confirm address if the voter has: Registered to vote in a another state Received a driver's license in another state Registered a vehicle in another state Served on a jury in another state Obtained a resident hunting or fishing license in another state Pays resident tuition at at university in another state Receives a residential property tax exemption in another state Receives public assistance in another state If passed, the bill clarifies residency as 'as a place where a voter has a reasonable and articulable plan to return to whenever they are absent.' The bill would shorten the timeframe in which Alaskans are marked as inactive voters and can ultimately be removed from the voter rolls if they don't vote. It also would expand the list of things that trigger notices to start that removal process. Once those notices are sent, the voter will have a chance to respond within 45 days, or be moved to an inactive status for a period of 28 months, or two elections. In that time, a voter can confirm residency and their voter registration by contacting the division, or by voting. Wielechowski said the bill addresses the causes of ballots being disqualified, by eliminating the witness signature requirement for absentee ballots and allowing mistakes to be corrected ahead of Election Day. 'It fixes a number of issues that have resulted in voters' ballots being thrown out, particularly military voters, and particularly those in rural Alaska: There's a witness signature problem,' he said. Wielechowski pointed to House District 18, which includes Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, as having the highest rate of reject ballots in the last election. In the 2024 general election, the state rejected 1,303 absentee ballots, or 1.7% of ballots cast. Nearly 40%, or 512 ballots were rejected due to 'improper or insufficient witnessing.' That was fewer than the special election in 2022 following the death of U.S. Rep. Don Young, when over 7,500 ballots were rejected, with a third of those due to a lack of witness signature. If passed, the bill would allow for voters to fix minor errors, with the division notifying and allowing the voter an opportunity to correct a mistake before Election Day, a process called 'ballot curing.' The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, which advocates for civil and voter rights, has been calling for both items, and supports the bill, according to Michael Garvey, its policy director. 'We've seen it lead to completely unnecessary rejections,' he said. He noted that rejection rates have been higher in rural districts, as well as districts with higher proportions of Alaska Native voters. 'And so someone who's taken the time to fill out their ballot, put it in the mail, put a stamp on it, and a lot of cases to have that rejected, and then just to be notified that it didn't end up counting, that's pretty dispiriting,' Garvey said. 'And so the state really should have a way to allow voters to fix that small amount of mistakes.' The ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2022 asserting the state violated due process rights when rejecting ballots without notice or opportunity to correct errors. The Alaska Superior Court denied the motion in a January ruling, but said that the Legislature could enact a 'notice-and-cure system.' Under the legislation, voters would be notified of technical mistakes before an election and be able to correct them. Voters would not be able to open the envelope and change their vote, but be able to fix external mistakes, such as missing a signature. The division would notify the voter within 24 hours, by email or phone number, and the voter would be able to provide identification and correct the mistake by filling out and submitting a form. The bill also establishes a new ballot tracking system, so voters can be notified when their ballot is received and counted. It also provides for paid postage for all absentee ballots. Other new provisions in the bill include: Adding tribal identification cards to the list of acceptable voter identification in person and by mail; Removing hunting and fishing licenses from the list of voter identification; Establishing a new rural community liaison position within the Division of Elections to support rural districts, including recruitment and training of poll workers; Requiring that secure ballot drop boxes be available at every division office, and allowing municipalities to provide drop boxes in accordance with division regulations; Requiring the state to develop a cybersecurity program, and notify the public if there is a data breach; Requiring that absentee ballot counting start 12 days before the election; and Requiring the division to publish results for all rankings in the precinct results. The Division of Elections has estimated that if passed, the bill's new provisions, staff salaries and cost of paid postage would cost $765,000 in one-time costs and $190,000 annually. However, Republican members of the Senate objected to what they say is not enough security protocols to prevent opportunities for voter fraud. 'We have a moniker: You want to make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat,' said Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla in an interview Thursday. 'I want to be clear that I've never said fraud swung an election. I said I want to make sure we don't have the potential for fraud, which I think the Division of Elections director agrees with.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Shower said he opposed removing the witness signature, without another kind of verification check. 'We suggested several things, like doing what the Permanent Fund Division, use their data, have two attesters… (who) under the penalty of perjury, would have to attest that yes, you are, in fact, her (the voter),' he said, and it was rejected by the bills sponsors. Shower also opposed several items, including ballot drop boxes, and has concerns about the language around residency and whether voter rolls are accurate or updated. He said he also has concerns that mail-in absentee ballots present a scenario where they're fraudulently filled out, and the division cannot verify the true identity of the voter. 'Who knows where they went? Who knows how many of them came back? We have no idea,' he said. Opponents of these proposals have pointed out that there isn't much evidence of Alaskans committing the crime of voter fraud. The state has investigated a few cases – the current system catches when two ballots are submitted for the same voter, which has been extremely rare, and can result when a voter forgets that they had already cast a mailed ballot. Shower said he's concerned about personal data breaches like in 2020, where an estimated 113,000 voters' personal data was exposed, and he wants to see the state take more serious security protocols. The bill is now being heard in the House Finance Committee and is expected to move to a full House vote in the final days of the session, which ends May 21. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Corporate tax update, passed by Alaska Senate, could generate millions for dividends, services
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, speaks Tuesday, April 15, 2025, on the floor of the Alaska Senate. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) A change to Alaska's corporate income tax structure is expected to add as much as $65 million per year to the state treasury by diverting money from other states. The Alaska Senate voted 16-4 on Tuesday to approve Senate Bill 113, which clarifies that online sales to Alaskans amount to business activity within the state. If passed by the House and approved by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, it would be the state's first new revenue-generating law in years. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage and the sponsor of the bill, said that without the change, businesses can say that the location of an online sale is a server farm or warehouse outside of the state, making it ineligible for Alaska taxation. Passing the bill is a step toward resolving a major budget deficit, he said, adding that the change won't have an impact on Alaskans and isn't a tax increase. Thirty-six other states have adopted similar tax rules. 'It's about as close as you can get to a unicorn bill to raise money for the state of Alaska,' he said during a news conference on Tuesday. 'It's a bill that doesn't raise taxes on Alaskans, doesn't raise taxes on Alaskan businesses. It's not going to cost any more simply changing the structure of our corporate income tax. It will probably, quite frankly, shift money from other states to the state of Alaska, and so it'll be a unicorn. It's kind of a rarity. There's probably not too many of these out there,' Wielechowski said. Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, said the bill is necessary to modernize the state's tax system. 'You can get pretty much anything online and it comes to your door, and many of these companies that are doing business here in Alaska pay a little or no corporate income tax due due to what has become, I think, an outdated structure for how we assess companies that are primarily located out of state,' he said. Opposition came from four Republican members of the Senate minority, including Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, who said she believes it is inappropriate to pass a new revenue measure without also considering changes to the state's spending cap. Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, also voted against the bill, saying he doubts Wielechowski's claims and believes costs will be passed to Alaskans. 'Somewhere, somebody's paying more money if we're raising taxes. The businesses are not charities,' he said. SB 113 has been referred to the House Finance Committee for further hearings. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaska elections experts are uncertain about Trump order's effects
President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order dealing with federal elections, but because the U.S. Constitution reserves many electoral powers for the states, experts across the country and here in Alaska say they're not certain what effects Trump's action will have. 'The Division of Elections is reviewing the executive order and will collaborate with the Department of Law on any potential changes to policies or procedures,' said Carol Beecher, director of the Division of Elections, in a written statement. Multiple attorneys with expertise in Alaska elections law declined comment on the order, citing uncertainty about its applicability. Trump's order comes just as the Alaska Legislature is considering proposals to rewrite state elections law. A bill in the House and a similar bill in the Senate would each make a variety of changes, including to the state's absentee ballot process. Many states, including Alaska, count some absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day. Trump's order seeks to change that by stating that all ballots must reach elections officials on or before Election Day. 'I don't know that he can legally change that just with an executive order,' said Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage and one of several senators leading the push for the Senate bill. 'In fact,' Wielechowski said, 'I highly doubt that he can, and I'm not even sure that Congress can, quite frankly, because under the Constitution, the states have very strong abilities to run their own elections.' Earlier this year, Wielechowski requested a legal opinion asking whether existing caselaw requires Alaska to abide by an Election Day deadline for absentee ballots. No, said a legislative attorney. The Trump order also states that voters who register to vote via a national mail voter registration form must present a U.S. Passport, military ID or other document that shows the voter's citizenship. Most voters register to vote via state forms, rather than federal forms, so the impact of the new ID requirements isn't clear. One section of the Trump order says that states may lose federal elections funding if they don't mirror the new ID requirements in their own states. Alaska received $1 million in federal elections funding last year, budget records show. Wielechowski said he has already requested that legislative attorneys perform a detailed analysis of the elections executive order. 'I think the further they encroach, the more questionable what they do becomes,' Wielechowski said of the Trump administration's actions on elections. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
