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Alaska’s governor enacted two bills this week, giving final approval to a bill that sets a uniform disaster evacuation scale for the state and another that raises the amount of annual funding for the Alaska Legal Services Corp.
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Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed Senate Bill 192, the evacuation system bill, on Wednesday, and he allowed House Bill 48, the civil legal services fund bill, to become law without his signature on Thursday.
SB 192, from Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, mandates that officials use a standardized three-level designation when communicating when Alaskans should leave the area of a disaster. Previously, that system was only optional, and the lack of a standard has occasionally caused miscommunications around wildfires.
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“I am thankful that Alaskans will get clear and easy to understand instructions about when to prepare to leave and then when to evacuate in an emergency,” Bjorkman said.
HB 48 affects the organization that provides free legal help to Alaskans in civil cases. The Alaska Constitution mandates that the state provide free legal defenses in criminal cases, but Alaskans in civil lawsuits are not mandated to receive help.
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