Committee hears on-the-ground impacts of federal workforce reductions on Alaska parks, fisheries and local economies

The Alaska House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2025, devoted its final order of business to testimony about the impacts of federal workforce reductions on Alaska’s economy and public services. Witnesses included Alaska Department of Labor Director Paloma Harbour, University of Alaska researcher Brock Wilson of ISER, and multiple federal employees or recent employees from the National Park Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who described lost jobs and local consequences.

Director Paloma Harbour (Division of Employment and Training Services, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development) briefed the committee on unemployment insurance eligibility and benefits. She said most federal workers are covered for unemployment insurance but not all jobs are covered (for example, many self-employed persons, independent contractors and certain personal-service drivers are exempt under Alaska statute referenced in testimony as Alaska statute 23 25 26). Harbour explained the base-period wage test: a claimant must have earned at least $2,500 in the base period and those wages must span at least two quarters, with an alternate base period available in some cases. She described nonmonetary eligibility rules — claimants must be able and available for full-time work in their customary occupation each week, meet work-search requirements (two contacts per week in urban areas, one in more rural areas), and register in Alaska’s job bank. Harbour noted an administrative back-and-forth between claimants and employers during separation determinations and said the federal standard aims for a decision within 21 days, though real-world timelines can be longer. The department reported 138 active federal claims, and 90–95% of federal employers’ responses so far characterized separations as layoffs due to restructuring. Harbour said the state’s unemployment trust fund is “overly solvent” and could absorb a large increase in benefit costs, but low staff levels in the unemployment office could produce delays in determinations if claims spike.

Brock Wilson, research assistant professor at the University of Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), presented data on Alaska’s federal civilian workforce. Using state unemployment insurance payroll data, FedScope and federal surveys, Wilson said roughly 16,000 federal civilian employees worked in Alaska in third quarter 2024 — about 3.2% of the state’s labor force and the third-highest share among states. Federal civilian employment was among the state’s largest sectors and had a relatively high average monthly pay (Wilson cited about $8,641 per month). Federal workers are unevenly distributed: the bulk are employed in the Anchorage municipality, with concentration also in Fairbanks and Juneau, but per-capita reliance is higher in some rural boroughs. Wilson listed major federal subagencies that employ civilians in Alaska, including the Federal Aviation Administration, Veterans Health Administration, Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Coast Guard civilian positions, Geological Survey and Bureau of Indian Affairs. He also reported that about 11.5% of the federal civilian workforce in Alaska had less than one year of federal service as of September 2024, a demographic detail cited in the context of probationary employee eligibility for agency-directed separations.

Several former or recently separated federal employees described operational impacts where they worked. Charles Morin Hill, formerly a maintenance supervisor at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, said he and roughly 20% of Lake Clark’s permanent staff were terminated and that the loss of supervisory-level maintenance staff threatens trail and facilities upkeep, visitor services, and compliance with OSHA and other health and safety codes at a park that serves a small community. Hill said he was on sick leave following surgery when he received a termination letter, that he had lost access to employment documents needed to file for benefits and that local replacement employment options in his village do not exist.

Andrew Diamond, who had been a survey technician at the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute, described being terminated 11 days before his probationary period ended. Diamond said his work deploying survey gear and maintaining electronic data-collection systems underpins stock assessments for groundfish and ecosystem monitoring (including juvenile salmon indices used for Yukon River forecasts). He warned that losing specialized technicians can delay data processing and reduce the timeliness and quality of stock-assessment inputs used in fisheries management.

Aaron Lambert, a fisheries management specialist at NOAA’s Alaska Regional Office, said he was hired in September 2024 to conduct a court-ordered Cook Inlet salmon stock assessment and was terminated in February 2025 as part of probationary-employee separations. Lambert said his removal risks delaying or disrupting the 2026 Cook Inlet assessment and could force other staff to be reallocated from other assessments or disaster-response work. He and Diamond described a workplace environment of rapidly changing guidance and mass probationary separations following Office of Personnel Management directives.

Committee members asked whether the state can replace federal functions. Witnesses said the state conducts some surveys, mainly salmon-focused, but cannot legally manage federal EEZ fisheries functions administered by NOAA and lacks the broad federal mandate and capacity to fully substitute for federal survey programs. Harbour and Wilson urged impacted workers to contact local job centers; Harbour said the department offers resume help, rapid response events, training funds, relocation assistance and limited short-term health insurance aid, and that reemployment services can be provided through local job centers though selection for that program can lag initial claims.

Representative Vance asked about job-matching success; Harbour said the department has been conducting outreach and rapid-response events but that placements from the recent federal separations were still being tracked and outcomes were not yet clear. Harbour reiterated the trust fund’s solvency but warned that delays in determinations are the primary operational risk because unemployment office staffing is low.

The committee recorded that testimonies from other separated workers had been uploaded to BASIS for public viewing. The hearing concluded with the committee setting amendment deadlines for two bills and announcing future agenda items.