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Senate president says seafood task force bills are moving; value‑added tax and insurance pooling highlighted
Summary
Senate President Stevens said the Joint Legislative Task Force on Alaska Seafood Industry completed its work and that roughly a dozen bills from the effort will move through the legislature; he identified expanding value‑added tax credits and insurance‑pooling proposals as likely priorities.
Juneau — Senate President Stevens said the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Alaska Seafood Industry has completed its final report and that several bills drawn from the task force will move through the Legislature.
“We've done our job. We finished the task force. We made the presentation and now all of those bills are in the possession of the legislature,” Stevens said. He estimated “12, 13 bills” will proceed, with many likely starting in the House Fisheries Committee before moving to the Senate Resources Committee.
Stevens highlighted two areas where the task force’s work could produce near‑term legislation: expanding the existing value‑added tax credit for processors that purchase qualifying equipment and ensuring that the value‑added activity and equipment remain in Alaska, and exploring insurance‑pooling for fishermen who said they cannot afford crew and vessel insurance.
He said the value‑added credit had been used effectively for processors that add equipment and value onshore and that expanding the program to more seafood products could help Alaska processors remain competitive.
On insurance, Stevens said pooling could reduce costs for fishermen who currently face high premiums and that legislation to enable some form of pooled insurance assistance or tax relief could follow from the task force recommendations.
Stevens said he expects bills to be considered over the next one to two years and that the task force results could have a measurable impact on the industry’s competitiveness and worker affordability.
No formal action was taken at the press briefing; Stevens described the task force’s completion and the legislative pathway for the task force recommendations.
