{"id":117,"date":"2026-05-18T17:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=117"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:38:15","slug":"alaska-house-votes-to-immediately-eliminate-sick-leave-for-many-workers-in-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=117","title":{"rendered":"Alaska House votes to immediately eliminate sick leave for many workers in the state"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Less than two years after Alaskans <\/span>approved a ballot measure<\/span> creating a mandatory sick leave law, the Alaska House of Representatives has voted to partially repeal it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska Legislature adds faculty member to University of Alaska Board of Regents \u2014 with a catch<\/a><\/p>\n

By a 22-18 vote on Saturday, the House approved <\/span> that would cancel the law\u2019s application for seasonal workers and for workers employed by a business with nine or fewer employees. The cancellation would take effect immediately, if the bill is signed into law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seasonal workers are defined as those who work at a specific job for less than six months per year.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of the House\u2019s Republican members voted for the amendment, including Reps. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, and Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, who are members of the House\u2019s predominantly Democratic majority caucus. Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, also voted for the amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of the House\u2019s Democratic members and its remaining independents opposed the amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The amendment was to <\/span>House Bill 193<\/span>, which would create a mandatory paid leave program for new parents, starting in 2030. That bill advanced from the House on a <\/span>36-4 vote<\/span> and was scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Monday afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

The four opposition votes all came from Republican lawmakers in the House\u2019s minority caucus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear whether the bill had the necessary support to pass the Senate before the end of the legislative session on Wednesday night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage, was largely identical to <\/span>House Bill 161<\/span>, a rollback measure that failed to advance in the Capitol this year despite significant lobbying efforts from business groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s fishing industry, tourism industry, construction industry, the state chamber of commerce and several local chambers of commerce all <\/span>have<\/span> advocated<\/span> HB 161.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the vote, several Republican lawmakers said they were heeding that call and voting yes on the amendment to HB 193.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually been my number one priority since I got back here this year,\u201d said Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, speaking about the rollback.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the desire for the rollback, Stapp explained, is because during its first year, seasonal employees saved their sick leave until the end of their term, then used it right before their departure, leaving employers short-staffed.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska Legislature nears final approval of smaller city councils, budget training for school boards<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is creating a workforce crisis at the end of the season that is going to progressively get worse and worse and worse for our fishing industry, for our tourist industry, for our construction industry,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking on the floor ahead of the vote, Coulombe said she had hoped to cancel sick leave for all workers at businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but she <\/span>received a legal memo<\/span> indicating that doing so would be illegal because Alaska\u2019s constitution prohibits the Legislature from repealing a ballot measure within its first two years, and such a large exemption would have covered roughly half of the state\u2019s workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said the sick leave law is \u201cgutting the small businesses in my community.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be listening to our business community right now, that so many of them (came to us) and said, \u2018We need help,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Zack Fields, D-Anchorage, was among the lawmakers who urged the House to reject the amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very problematic to substantially gut a ballot initiative less than two years after it was passed by voters,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Exempting seasonal workers means exempting multinational tourism and fishing businesses that operate in Alaska, he noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo we really need to exempt all the employees of massive multinational businesses like Holland America Princess?\u201d he asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, <\/span>fish processing plants<\/span> and cruise ships were hotspots of infection and disease. Outside the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism occasionally brings <\/span>waves of influenza<\/span> and <\/span>norovirus<\/span> to coastal communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have a tourism dependent economy, it is not in our interest to push sick people to come to work when they\u2019re serving food, when they\u2019re doing hospitality,\u201d Fields said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2024, Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, was one of the key organizers behind the sick leave ballot measure. Like her Democratic colleagues, she opposed the sick leave rollback but ultimately voted for the underlying bill even though it contained the rollback.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill is a great bill, and you can just see the strong bipartisan support,\u201d she said. \u201cThis whole building is an area of trying to figure out compromises and figuring out the ways where we can do good things that are supportive for families and can really address these issues about migration that our state has been facing. It\u2019s not over for the bill or for paid sick (leave), so we\u2019ll just see what happens on the Senate side.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola calls for congressional term limits<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The change, attached to a bill giving paid leave for new parents, would roll back a 2024 ballot measure approved by 58% of voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nAlaska House votes to immediately eliminate sick leave for many workers in the state - Moving to Alaska<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingtoalaskausa.com\/?p=117\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alaska House votes to immediately eliminate sick leave for many workers in the state - 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