2025-10-15                     Senate Journal                      Page 1451
SB 54                                                                                                                         
Letter dated September 22 was received:                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Dear President Stevens:                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Under the authority vested in me by Article II, Section 15, of the                                                              
Alaska Constitution, I have vetoed the following bill:                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
         CS FOR SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE                                                                                   
         BILL NO. 54(FIN)                                                                                                       
         "An Act relating to registered interior designers and                                                                  
         interior design; relating to project costs for the                                                                     
         construction, enlargement, or improvement of                                                                           
         airports; extending the termination date of the State                                                                  
         Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and                                                                   
         Land Surveyors; relating to the State Board of                                                                         
         Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land                                                                       
         Surveyors; establishing requirements for the practice                                                                  
         of registered interior design; relating to the practice                                                                
         of architecture, engineering, land surveying,                                                                          
         landscape architecture, and registered interior design;                                                                
         relating to the scope of the certification requirements                                                                
         for architects, engineers, land surveyors, landscape                                                                   
         architects, and registered interior designers; relating                                                                
         to immunity for design professionals; relating to the                                                                  
         cost of construction for recreation centers; relating to                                                               
         liens for labor or materials furnished; relating to the                                                                
         procurement of landscape architectural and interior                                                                    
         design services; relating to the cost of construction of                                                               
         safe water and hygienic sewage disposal facilities in                                                                  
         villages; and providing for an effective date."                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
SB 54 goes well beyond a routine extension of the AELS Board.                                                                   
SB 54 would remove certified installers from most residential                                                                   
wastewater work and restrict them to only very small commercial                                                                 
systems. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation                                                                    
warns that this change would halt planned installations, force many                                                             
small systems to be routed to licensed professional engineers, and add                                                          
roughly $1,000 to $2,000 per system, with the sharpest impacts in                                                               
rural Alaska where engineers are scarce. That means higher costs,                                                               
longer waits, and fewer homes and businesses getting sanitation.                                                                

2025-10-15                     Senate Journal                      Page 1452
The bill would also repeal AS 36.30.270(e) and force qualifications-                                                            
based selection only for design-build procurements, barring any                                                                 
consideration of price. Eliminating competitive pricing in design-build                                                         
will drive up project costs and reduce flexibility across state                                                                 
construction.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
Finally, SB 54 expands the AELS Board to thirteen members and                                                                   
creates a new licensure track for “registered interior designers.”                                                              
Interior design is not a regulated practice in Alaska today; the bill does                                                      
not define “interior design,” and there is no public-safety rationale for                                                       
creating a new title and bureaucracy. The expansion increases cost and                                                          
confusion without a demonstrated benefit.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
Sincerely,                                                                                                                      
/s/                                                                                                                             
Mike Dunleavy                                                                                                                   
Governor