Proposed ballot measures would increase the Alaska minimum wage and add compulsory paid sick days, and also limit contributions to political campaigns and state expenditures on nominees.
The Alaska Division of Elections received the proposal this week.
A proposed ballot measure will bring about some changes to the state’s labor laws. The measure would increase the minimum wage for hourly work currently $10.85 -which will rise to $13 in July 2025, $13 in July 2026, and $15 in July 2027. Then, it would increase each year based on inflation thereafter. Employers with fifteen or more workers to provide 56 hours — equivalent to seven days of paid sick time. Smaller companies would need offer 40 hours.
The law would also prohibit employers from mandating employees to attend political or religious issues that aren’t related to their jobs.
A former labor chief of the state Ed Flanagan of Juneau, who was the main sponsor of the initiative, stated that”the labor-related movement’s “Fight for 15” was launched shortly after he and other lawmakers proposed the state’s most recent large minimum wage increase that voters approved in 2014. This measure raised the minimum wage in Alaska up to $9.75 in January 2016 and also required annual increases following the initial increase.
There are more than twenty states with requirements that are higher than the national average.
“I’m not saying we need to be at the top in the world, but we sure aren’t at the bottom of the group,” Flanagan said.
He described the rise in the form of “moderate,” considering that inflation is already expected to push Alaska’s minimum wage well above $11 by 2024 and to over $12 by 2025.
Alaska AFL-CIO labor federation President Joelle Hall supports the proposal and stated that union members will fight to put it to the ballot and then approved by voters.
She added that the three components of the bill define the standards that all workers are expected to meet.
In the absence of paid sick leave, Hall said some sick employees must ask themselves whether they want to work or not “Do do I work tomorrow and earn no money or do I the office sick?”
Paid sick time protects not only employees, she explained however, it also protects anyone they come in contact with.
Another proposal made this week would reinstate campaigns limit on contributions. Limits previously set by Alaska were ruled out as too low. An election question that was submitted at the beginning of in the year pulled because that the Department of Law raised concerns regarding a clause that would restrict candidates from not raising more than one-fourth of their donations from outside state donors, as per Scott Kendall, a lawyer who helped draft two versions of the proposal for contributions to campaigns. The new version doesn’t contain the provision.
The bill would impose new restrictions for political parties, political candidates and organizations that attempt to influence the way the person is elected. For instance the contributions of individual candidates would be restricted to $2,000 in a two-year electoral cycle, which is essentially more than the limit of $500 per year under the prior legislation, which was invalidated.
Bruce Botelho of Juneau, an ex-state attorney general. He is one of the main backers of the bill.
“It generally reflects the extent in which inflation has outpaced” the previous limits, Botelho said.
He added that voters have consistently approved of similar ideas to those that are the basis of the bill in both the passage of previous limits on campaign finance and through the passage of Ballot Measure 2 in 2020 which contained measures to improve the transparency of donations to campaigns.
“I believe most people are favorable to the idea of spending on campaigning should be kept to a minimum and be disclosed,” Botelho said.
He is also a principal backer of the measure that was submitted to the division for elections this week. The measure will prohibit spending state funds on political parties’ candidates, regardless of whether it was the primary or at a convention. They themselves, the parties would be required to cover the cost as they do in presidential primaries.
The legislation wouldn’t have an impact on the current electoral system, which is an open primary run by the state that is open for candidates of all parties and independents. A different initiative on the ballot would end the current system and should it pass, political parties would have the option of choosing which candidates to nominate.
Botelho pointed out that courts have ruled that political parties are able under the constitutionally protected liberty of association decide the way they choose their nominees.
“But there’s nothing to force states like Alaska to provide the funds needed for how groups make their decisions,” Botelho said.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom will have until September. 3 to examine the applications for three initiatives and confirm that they are in compliance with the legal and constitutional requirements of the state before the organizers begin collecting signatures for them to be placed on the ballot in the coming year. All three applications for initiative were filed on Wednesday.
The three suggestions are in addition to a proposal which has been approved that would eliminate the state’s ranked-choice and open primary system of elections. The fifth proposal, which would introduce limitations on the term of legislators was filed in June, and is being examined by Dahlstrom.
If Dahlstrom approves the applications organizers will need to obtain over 26,705 signed signatures of registered voters from across Alaska for the measures to be placed to the voters’ ballots. They will appear on the primary ballot in August 2024 or general election in November 2024 ballots.
The story first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
