Legislature(2025 - 2026)
2026-05-16 House Journal
Full Journal pdf2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2667 SB 200 The following was read the second time: CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 200(RES) am "An Act relating to municipal assessments of farm or agricultural land; and providing for an effective date." with the: Journal Page CRA RPT HCS(CRA) 5DP 1NR 1AM 2571 FN2: ZERO(CED) 2571 Representative Kopp moved and asked unanimous consent that the following committee substitute be adopted in lieu of the original bill: HOUSE CS FOR CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 200(CRA) (same title) There being no objection, it was so ordered. Amendment No. 1 was offered by Representative Vance: Page 1, line 1, following "Act" (title amendment): Insert "relating to agricultural loans; relating to agricultural cooperatives; relating to workers' compensation;" Page 1, following line 3: Insert new bill sections to read: "* Section 1. AS 03.10.020(a) is amended to read: (a) The Board of Agriculture and Conservation (AS 03.09.010) may 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2668 (1) make a loan to (A) an individual resident farmer, homesteader, or a partnership, cooperative, or corporation composed of farmers and homesteaders for (i) clearing land for agricultural purposes; (ii) development of farms; (iii) storage and processing of farm produce; (iv) the purchase of livestock or machinery; (v) in-state manufacturing of food or production of animal feed; or (vi) the cost of shipping to and within the state for the purposes listed in (i) - (v) of this subparagraph; (B) an individual state resident, or a partnership, cooperative, or corporation for (i) storage and processing plants for agricultural products; (ii) the commercial production or processing of horticultural products in the state; (iii) the commercial production or processing of animal feed in the state; (iv) the raising or care of animals in the state for the purpose of marketing their fur; (v) in-state manufacturing of food or production of animal feed; or (vi) the cost of shipping to and within the state for the purposes listed in (i) - (v) of this subparagraph; (2) designate agents and delegate its powers to them as necessary; (3) adopt regulations necessary to carry out its functions, including regulations to establish reasonable fees for services provided and charges for collecting the fees; (4) establish amortization plans for repayment of loans, which may include delayed payments of principal and interest for not to exceed five years; (5) enter into agreements with private lending institutions, other state agencies, or agencies of the federal government to carry out the purposes of this chapter; (6) collect the fees and collection charges established under this subsection; (7) refinance a debt obligation incurred by a borrower 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2669 under this section or through another lender for a purpose authorized under (1) of this subsection if the borrower otherwise qualifies for a loan under this chapter. * Sec. 2. AS 23.30.230(a) is amended to read: (a) The following persons are not covered by this chapter: (1) a part-time babysitter; (2) a cleaning person; (3) harvest help and similar part-time or transient help; (4) a person employed as a sports official on a contractual basis and who officiates only at sports events in which the players are not compensated; in this paragraph, "sports official" includes an umpire, referee, judge, scorekeeper, timekeeper, organizer, or other person who is a neutral participant in a sports event; (5) a person employed as an entertainer on a contractual basis; (6) a commercial fisherman, as defined in AS 16.05.940; (7) an individual who drives a taxicab and whose compensation and written contractual arrangement is as described in AS 23.10.055(a)(13), unless the hours worked by the individual or the areas in which the individual may work are restricted except to comply with local ordinances; (8) a participant in the Alaska temporary assistance program (AS 47.27) who is engaged in work activities required under AS 47.27.035 other than subsidized or unsubsidized work or on-the-job training; (9) a person employed as a player or coach by a professional hockey team if the person is covered under a health care insurance plan provided by the professional hockey team, the coverage is applicable to both work-related and nonwork-related injuries, and the coverage provides medical and related benefits as required under this chapter, except that coverage may not be limited to two years from the date of injury as described under AS 23.30.095(a); in this paragraph, "health care insurance" has the meaning given in AS 21.12.050; (10) a person working as a qualified real estate licensee who performs services under a written contract that provides that the person will not be treated as an employee for federal income tax or workers' compensation purposes; in this paragraph, "qualified real estate licensee" means a person who is required to 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2670 be licensed under AS 08.88.161 and whose payment for services is directly related to sales or other output rather than the number of hours worked; (11) a transportation network company driver who provides a prearranged ride or is otherwise logged onto the digital network of a transportation network company as a driver; [AND] (12) a person employed as an independent contractor; a person is an independent contractor for the purposes of this section only if the person (A) has an express contract to perform the services; (B) is free from direction and control over the means and manner of providing services, subject only to the right of the individual for whom, or entity for which, the services are provided to specify the desired results, completion schedule, or range of work hours, or to monitor the work for compliance with contract plans and specifications, or federal, state, or municipal law; (C) incurs most of the expenses for tools, labor, and other operational costs necessary to perform the services, except that materials and equipment may be supplied; (D) has an opportunity for profit and loss as a result of the services performed for the other individual or entity; (E) is free to hire and fire employees to help perform the services for the contracted work; (F) has all business, trade, or professional licenses required by federal, state, or municipal authorities for a business or individual engaging in the same type of services as the person; (G) follows federal Internal Revenue Service requirements by (i) obtaining an employer identification number, if required; (ii) filing business or self-employment tax returns for the previous tax year to report profit or income earned for the same type of services provided under the contract; or (iii) intending to file business or self- employment tax returns for the current tax year to report profit or income earned for the same type of services provided under the contract if the person's business was 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2671 not operating in the previous tax year; and (H) meets at least two of the following criteria: (i) the person is responsible for the satisfactory completion of services that the person has contracted to perform and is subject to liability for a failure to complete the contracted work, or maintains liability insurance or other insurance policies necessary to protect the employees, financial interests, and customers of the person's business; (ii) the person maintains a business location or a business mailing address separate from the location of the individual for whom, or the entity for which, the services are performed; (iii) the person provides contracted services for two or more different customers within a 12-month period or engages in any kind of business advertising, solicitation, or other marketing efforts reasonably calculated to obtain new contracts to provide similar services; and (13) a person who is a member of an agricultural cooperative; in this paragraph, "agricultural cooperative" means a cooperative that is organized and operated for the purpose of (A) marketing agricultural products of members of the cooperative or of other producers of agricultural products, and providing a member with the proceeds of product sales, less the necessary marketing expenses, based on either the quantity or the value of the products furnished by the member; or (B) purchasing agricultural supplies and equipment for the use of members or other persons, and providing the supplies and equipment to the members at actual cost, plus necessary expenses." Page 1, line 4: Delete "Section 1" Insert "Sec. 3" Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2672 Page 3, line 13: Delete all material and insert: "* Sec. 6. Sections 1 and 2 of this Act take effect July 1, 2026. * Sec. 7. Except as provided in sec. 6 of this Act, this Act takes effect February 1, 2027." Representative Vance moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 1 be adopted. Representative Moore objected. The question being: "Shall Amendment No. 1 be adopted?" The roll was taken with the following result: HCS CSSB 200(CRA) Second Reading Amendment No. 1 YEAS: 16 NAYS: 24 EXCUSED: 0 ABSENT: 0 Yeas: Bynum, Costello, Coulombe, Elam, Galvin, Johnson, McCabe, D.Nelson, G.Nelson, Saddler, Schwanke, St. Clair, Stutes, Tomaszewski, Underwood, Vance Nays: Allard, Carrick, Dibert, Edgmon, Eischeid, Fields, Foster, Frier, Gray, Hall, Hannan, Himschoot, Holland, Jimmie, Josephson, Kopp, Mears, Mina, Moore, Prax, Ruffridge, Schrage, Stapp, Story Allard changed from "YEA" to "NAY" Stutes changed from "NAY" to "YEA" And so, Amendment No. 1 was not adopted. Amendment No. 2 was offered by Representative Carrick: Page 1, line 1, following "Act" (title amendment): Insert "relating to service areas;" Page 1, following line 3: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Section 1. AS 29.35.450(c) is amended to read: (c) If voters reside within a service area that provides road, fire protection, or parks and recreation services, abolishment of 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2673 the service area is subject to approval by the majority of the voters residing in the service area who vote on the question. A service area that provides road, fire protection, or parks and recreation services in which voters reside may not be abolished and replaced by a larger service area unless that proposal is approved, separately, by a majority of the voters who vote on the question residing in the existing service area and by a majority of the voters who vote on the question residing in the area proposed to be included within the new service area but outside of the existing service area. A service area that provides road, fire protection, or parks and recreation services in which voters reside may not be altered or combined with another service area unless that proposal is approved, separately, by a majority of the voters who vote on the question and who reside in each of the service areas or in the area outside of service areas that is affected by the proposal. This subsection does not apply (1) to a proposed change to a service area that provides fire protection services (A) that would result in increasing the number of parcels of land in the service area or successor service area if the increase is not more than six percent and would add not more than 1,000 residents; (B) in a second class borough that would result in (i) decreasing the number of parcels of land in the service area or successor service area if the owner of the property to be removed from the area requests removal and the removal meets criteria adopted by ordinance; or (ii) increasing or decreasing the number of parcels of land in the service area or successor service area if the parcel is transferred to a service area that provides more accessible fire protection services to the transferred parcel; (2) in a second class borough to abolishment of a road service area or consolidation of two or more road service areas if (A) taxes have not been levied in the service area for road maintenance or construction during the last 12 months and there is no balance in any account available to pay for these road services for the service area; (B) during the last 12 months, the service area board 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2674 has not met with a quorum present and in accordance with law; or (C) there are no road maintenance contracts in effect for the service area or the existing road maintenance contracts fail to provide for minimum road standards required by law that are necessary to protect the borough from civil liability; (3) to require approval by the voters residing in a subdivision or parcel proposed to be added to a road service area if roads maintained by the service area provide the only access to the subdivision or parcel or provide access to the subdivision or parcel that is required by the subdivision plat or by other regulation or ordinance; (4) to a change in the boundaries of a road service area to exclude a subdivision or parcel that does not rely on the use of roads maintained by the service area for the subdivision's or parcel's only access or for access that is required by the subdivision plat or by other regulation or ordinance; (5) to a change in the boundaries of a road service area to include or exclude a parcel that is located in more than one service area so that the parcel is only located in one road service area; (6) to a change in the boundaries of a road service area to include a parcel that is partially located in the road service area if roads maintained by the service area provide the only access to the parcel; (7) in a second class borough to abolishment, replacement, or alteration of a service area created on or after July 1, 2026, or combination of two or more service areas created on or after July 1, 2026." Page 1, line 4: Delete "Section 1" Insert "Sec. 2" Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 3, line 13: Delete all material and insert: "* Sec. 5. Section 1 of this Act takes effect July 1, 2026. * Sec. 6. Sections 2 - 4 of this Act take effect February 1, 2027." 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2675 Representative Carrick moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 2 be adopted. Objection was heard and withdrawn. There being no further objection, Amendment No. 2 was adopted and the new title follows: HOUSE CS FOR CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 200(CRA) am H "An Act relating to service areas; relating to municipal assessments of farm or agricultural land; and providing for an effective date." Amendment Nos. 3 and 4 were not offered. Amendment No. 5 was offered by Representative Coulombe: Page 2, line 26, through page 3, line 6: Delete all material and insert: "(A) the use of land for profit for raising and harvesting crops, for the feeding, breeding, and management of livestock, for dairying, or for another agricultural use, or any combination of those uses; for land to be farm use land, the owner or lessee of the land must be actively engaged in farming the land and derive at least $2,500 of yearly gross income from the land; (B) the use of land adjoining land described in (A) of this paragraph as part of an approved soil conservation plan to support agricultural production on the land described in (A) of this paragraph; (C) does not include the use of land for the production of marijuana [THE PRODUCTION OF CROPS, FRUITS, OR OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS FOR HUMAN OR ANIMAL CONSUMPTION OR FOR THE SUSTENANCE OR GRAZING OF LIVESTOCK IF THE OWNER OR LESSEE SELLS AT LEAST $2,500 OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS PRODUCED FROM THE LAND DURING THE TAX YEAR AND FILES AN INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE SCHEDULE F (FORM 1040) WITH THE UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE];" Page 3, line 7, following "goats,": Insert "horses" 2026-05-16 House Journal Page 2676 Representative Coulombe moved and asked unanimous consent that Amendment No. 5 be adopted. Representative Mears objected. The Speaker stated that, without objection, HCS CSSB 200(CRA) would be held in second reading with Amendment No. 5 moved and pending to the May 17 calendar.