Rep. Sarah Vance tells Seldovia council she voted against $500 million supplemental and previews bills affecting coastal residents

Representative Sarah Vance, a member of the Alaska House, joined the Seldovia City Council by phone on Feb. 23 to give a legislative update and answer council questions on the supplemental budget and several bills she described as priorities for coastal communities.

Vance said she voted against what she described as a roughly $500 million supplemental budget because it included many items she did not deem appropriate to pull from the state’s constitutional budget reserve (CBR) for a fast-track supplemental. "I voted no at this point in the stage," she told council members, adding that she and others had tried to amend the package to prioritize truly time-sensitive items.

She said her preferred approach would be to trim the request to fast-track pieces such as the DOT "meet the match" requests (which she estimated at about $70 million) and fire-suppression funding while rolling less-urgent items into the operating budget. "What I would like to trim it down to is the things that should be fast tracked and funded right now," she said.

Vance reviewed bills she said would affect Seldovia and other coastal towns. She described House Bill 356, the Alaska Coastal Micro Fisheries Act, as a measure to streamline Department of Environmental Conservation rules for small vessels (under 50 feet and under 10,000 pounds annually) to make it easier for small-boat fishermen to sell product at the dock and remain economically viable. She encouraged local fishermen to review the draft and engage with the fisheries committee.

She also discussed consumer-protection legislation (referred to in the meeting as HB 354) aimed at crypto ATM scams targeting seniors and requiring crypto ATMs to meet protections similar to bank ATMs, and said the measure would include reimbursement protections for victims. Vance raised a bill she had moved to the floor docket (HB 47) to criminalize AI-generated child-abuse material and said she was disappointed that House rules leadership did not allow it to come forward sooner.

On other topics she cited House Bill 357 (described in the discussion as a "heartbeat" measure providing informed-consent and civil liability rules) and House Bill 29 to allow school employee health-pooling with the state, which she said had support from some districts but had not yet received a hearing from the majority.

Council members asked about consequences for Seldovia if the supplemental or the operating budget is trimmed. Vance said she expects DOT requests that cover ferry "meet the match" needs to be prioritized and defended in the Senate, and she expressed confidence that coastal representation on the Senate Finance Committee would guard ferry funding. She also said March 13’s spring oil revenue forecast will strongly shape FY27 budget decisions.

Vance closed by noting the fast pace of the session in an election year and saying she would continue to press for measures aimed at coastal communities.

The council thanked her for the update; no formal action was taken during the work session. Vance left for other obligations and the council proceeded with its cash-flow policy discussion.