Assembly Approves State Legislative Priorities

Two amendments to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly’s state legislative priorities pushed fisheries management to the top of the list and added language to update some actions.

District 5 Assemblymember Bill Gamble requested the changes on behalf of the Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission. Additional changes include exploring sonar capabilities to monitor during high-water events and to maintain the conservation corridor for northern-bound salmon to adequately meet northern Cook Inlet salmon escapement goals, while providing harvest opportunities. In addition, management action plans would be developed in 2026. Funding and staffing also were addressed.

District 4 Assemblymember Maxwell Sumner requested the removal of support to modify the Common Interest Ownership Act for the second year in a row. This State statute allows large landowners to skirt public input by developing under the State’s condo plat regulation. In a split vote, the item was removed from the legislative priorities.

Sumner also proposed that each Assembly member populate the list with their top priority and to split the list into the top items and others. This way, he says, the State legislature would know which items take precedence for the Assembly. With that, each member put forward their requests. 

Staffing the Borough with more Alaska State Troopers, a corporate tax holiday for Port MacKenzie District, support for user-friendly transparent healthcare pricing, State land transfers to the Borough, and amending State law to allow for four-year terms for local elected school board members also came out on top.

While other priorities will remain on the list, the top six will be the focus for the Borough when presenting to the State legislature at next year’s session.