Committee asks Sealaska for details on proposed multi-year internship program

The ethics committee discussed a request from Sealaska to run an ongoing, rotating internship program during the legislative session and asked the corporation to provide a fuller presentation and written criteria before the committee considers long-term approval.

Chair Joyce Anderson said the committee has previously approved non-university internship programs after vetting and cited the First Alaskans Institute as a precedent. Kevin, committee staff, explained that past approvals allowed organizations to send multiple interns after they explained selection criteria and accountability to the legislature.

Representative McCabe said he was comfortable relying on a competitive process run by Sealaska and welcomed a presentation but emphasized the need for oversight: "I'd love to see the presentation just because I'd love to see the presentation, but I'm pretty comfortable that they are going to make this competitive," he said.

Other members urged caution and recommended staff ask Sealaska for details on age groups, duration, supervision and accountability so the committee can assess whether such a program should be approved on an ongoing basis or require legislative council review. The committee asked Kevin to reach out to Sealaska and to pull the First Alaskans Institute file as a template for what the committee previously approved.

Next steps: staff will request detailed written criteria from Sealaska and invite a presentation to the committee; the committee will consider whether to delegate recurring approval authority to staff or require full committee approval for multi-year programs.