Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
02/10/2026 08:00 AM House TRIBAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Collaborative Approaches to Alaska's Food Systems | |
| Presentation(s): Aviation Supply Chains for Fresh Food | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TRIBAL AFFAIRS
February 10, 2026
8:03 a.m.
DRAFT
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Maxine Dibert, Chair
Representative Ashley Carrick
Representative Andi Story
Representative Justin Ruffridge
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
Representative Jubilee Underwood
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Robyn Niayuq Frier
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES TO ALASKA'S FOOD
SYSTEMS
- HEARD
PRESENTATION(S): AVIATION SUPPLY CHAINS FOR FRESH FOOD
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
ROBBI MIXON, Executive Director
Alaska Food Policy Council
Homer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-offered the Collaborative Approaches to
Alaska's Food Systems presentation.
TIKAAN GALBREATH, Chair
Indigenous Foods Working Group
Alaska Food Policy Council
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-offered the Collaborative Approaches to
Alaska's Food Systems presentation.
MICHAEL JONES, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Economics
Institute of Social and Economic Research
University of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the Aviation Supply Chains for Fresh
Food presentation.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:03:11 AM
CHAIR MAXINE DIBERT called the House Special Committee on Tribal
Affairs meeting to order at 8:03 a.m. Representatives Carrick,
Schwanke, and Dibert were present at the call to order.
Representatives Underwood, Ruffridge, and Story arrived while
the meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION(S): Collaborative Approaches to Alaska's Food
Systems
PRESENTATION(S): Collaborative Approaches to Alaska's Food
Systems
8:04:03 AM
CHAIR DIBERT announced that the first order of business would be
the Collaborative Approaches to Alaska's Food Systems
presentation.
8:06:17 AM
ROBBI MIXON, Executive Director, Alaska Food Policy Council, co-
offered the Collaborative Approaches to Alaska's Food Systems
presentation, via PowerPoint [hard copy included in the
committee file]. She began on slide 2, which introduced the
Alaska Food Policy Council. She described the council's
formation and its mission to connect, advocate, and inform. She
moved to slide 3 and she stated that the Alaska Food Policy
Council envisions a food system that is healthy, secure,
culturally relevant, and abundant. She moved to slide 4, which
introduced the staff of the council. She moved to slide 5,
which introduced the governing board of directors.
MS. MIXON moved to slide 6, which highlighted food security
week. She offered food security statistics, including that 95
percent of food in Alaska is imported and one in five children
face chronic hunger. She described the complicated logistics of
moving food across the state, particularly to communities off
the road system. She moved to slide 7 and she explained that
the Alaska Food Policy Council conducts statewide assessments on
food security. She moved to slide 8, which displayed three
conference flyers. She moved to slide 9, which highlighted the
working groups that the council conducts.
8:12:39 AM
TIKAAN GALBREATH, Chair, Indigenous Foods Working Group, Alaska
Food Policy Council, moved to slide 10, which highlighted the
Indigenous foods working group. He stated that there is tribal
representation in every working group, which can provide lived
experience and policy insights that support tribal programming.
He highlighted some challenges the council addresses, including
a decline in critical species, increased climate events, and
changes in migratory patterns. He also highlighted food
security gaps, systemic barriers, and uncertainty surrounding
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). He said
that the lack of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
processing facilities creates barriers to inspected meats. He
stated that there is an increased need for tribal consultation,
jurisdiction, and representation, and noted that, at the federal
level, leasing of aquaculture plots lacked input from local
tribes. He emphasized that tribal members should be represented
at all levels of government and on all committees.
8:19:37 AM
MR. GALBREATH continued his explanation of the Indigenous foods
working group. He stated that the working group provides
opportunities to strengthen the well-being and sovereignty of
Native people, including salmon habitat restoration through
culvert removal, federal hunts, and recognition of traditional
ecological knowledge. He said that the working group assists in
purchasing and distributing local foods and that federal dollars
support the local economy and are reinvested in our neighbors.
MR. GALBREATH stated that the Alaska Food Policy Council
evaluates potential impacts to the food system. The council
works to increase the public's familiarity with USDA and state
regulatory policies. He highlighted the barriers that are
created by lack of plain language in these policies. He
summarized that food sovereignty is health sovereignty and it
anchors identity and resilience. He emphasized that we need to
protect both traditional foods and language. He concluded that
tribes need the authority to operate their own programs without
bureaucratic barriers.
8:28:45 AM
MR. GALBREATH, in response to a question from Representative
Story, stated that "producer" is defined by USDA, which is often
misunderstood. He explained that the [Agriculture Improvement
Act of 2018] ("Farm Bill") considers the number of producers by
state or region, and allocates funding based on producer
density. He emphasized the need to increase education on the
definition of producers to ensure that tribal farmers receive
the benefits they are eligible for.
MS. MIXON added that the agricultural census is taken every five
years and the last one was taken in 2022.
MR. GALBREATH added that the council partnered with a previous
Farm Service Agency (FSA) administrator to increase access and
demystify the farm industry. He expressed hopes to deepen the
public understanding of the programming available and further
clarify language within programs. He provided examples of two
pilot programs and emphasized that a lot of money has been
tribally designated in the state yet remains not accessed.
MR. GALBREATH, in response to another question from
Representative Story, explained the challenges of working
through permitting processes to effectively operate on state and
federal lands.
8:37:55 AM
MR. GALBREATH, in response to a series of questions from
Representative Carrick, stated that there is a link on the
council's website to join the Indigenous Foods Working Group.
He emphasized that the council turns nobody away and that all
voices are important in this work. He said that, currently,
more members are in urban areas, due to accessibility and
working priorities, but there are also many rural subsistence
users.
8:40:46 AM
MR. GALBREATH, in response to a series of questions from
Representative Schwanke, stated that home gardening is critical,
but cannot sustain communities. He noted the importance of
incorporating traditional plants in home and community gardens.
He highlighted the challenges of a dual management system and
that the tribal perspective is one of harvesting from abundance,
not from high yield.
8:47:51 AM
MS. LORD highlighted that the council works collaboratively with
stakeholders across the state. She moved to slide 14, which
highlighted the food policy framework for Alaska. She described
the council's work in many different reports. She moved to
slide 15, which provided a screenshot of priority
recommendations the council has received.
MS. LORD moved to slide 16, which listed guiding questions
regarding different policy themes. She emphasized that strong
food security policy addresses multiple themes, not just one
sector. She moved to slide 17, which listed questions to ask
oneself when considering food-related policy or funding
decisions. He moved to slide 18, which highlighted the Alaska
Food Policy Council's efforts to advocate and inform, including
weekly legislative updates, a bill tracker, and policy briefs.
He invited the committee to reach out to the chairs of the
council's working groups for more information. She moved to
slide 19, explaining that the Alaska Food Policy council draws
on cross-sector expertise to address long-term issues. She
emphasized the need for more data to improve food supply chains.
She moved to slide 22, which highlighted the Alaska Food Systems
Atlas & Data Dashboard. She said that the goal of a dashboard
space is to share the data that the council has collected. She
moved to slide 23, which included a link to the council's
StoryMaps. She explained that StoryMaps offer a way to share
data, images, and videos and that they follow food's
transportation from its origin to its destination in Alaska.
She moved to slide 27, which highlighted the Alaska Food Value
Chain Coordination Council. She explained that this council has
only had two meetings so far and she described the wide variety
of representatives from the food supply chain that have attended
those meetings.
9:00:35 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 9:00 a.m. to 9:01 a.m.
9:01:44 AM
MS. MIXON, in response to a question from Representative
Ruffridge, stated that USDA has funded the council through
grants and noted that a $7 million grant was terminated in July
2025. He said that private foundations fund specific projects.
He noted that there is $50,000 left on a said state matching
grant $50,000 and that he would provide the council's budget and
projects to the committee.
9:04:52 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 9:04 a.m. to 9:06 a.m.
^PRESENTATION(S): Aviation Supply Chains for Fresh Food
PRESENTATION(S): Aviation Supply Chains for Fresh Food
9:06:26 AM
CHAIR DIBERT announced that the final order of business would be
the Aviation Supply Chains for Fresh Food presentation.
9:06:50 AM
MICHAEL JONES, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Economics,
Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska
Anchorage (UAA), gave the Aviation Supply Chains for Fresh Food
presentation, via PowerPoint [hard copy included in the
committee file]. He began on slide 2, explaining that the
presentation would focus on supply chains for fresh foods and
medicine the delivery system, specifically for "off-road
Alaska." He highlighted that this is a blend of work funded by
state and federal grants. He said that there are many food
systems across rural Alaska, including wild food collection. He
stated that food often travels many miles before it reaches
consumers. He noted the importance of retail food systems,
especially as a risk-management system and for broadening diets.
DR. JONES moved to slide 3, which showed a map of air cargo
delivery across the state. He highlighted that rural Alaska has
an extreme dependency on aviation systems compared to anywhere
else in the country. He stated that next highest per capita
dependence is Hawai'i with less than half. He noted that the
supply chains are split in the state, with Southeast Alaskans
and Alaskans in the Aleutian Islands receiving goods via barges.
9:13:28 AM
DR. JONES moved to slide 4, which showed a map of food journeys
across the state. He stated that his research has started to
measure how many planes are traveling along these "hub and
spoke" networks. He moved to slide 5, which showed headlines
regarding Alaska communities struggling to keep food on shelves
after aviation disruptions. He highlighted the vulnerabilities
off-road communities face and the ripple effects of weather-
related disruptions. He moved to slide 6, which showed a chart
of frequent weather station outages and a map of frequent
challenging weather. He emphasized the importance of weather
stations in allowing pilots to make safe and informed decisions
about flying. He emphasized the importance of funding Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) technology operators.
9:22:03 AM
DR. JONES moved to slide 7, which showed a real-time Automated
Weather Observing System (AWOS) outage dashboard. He stated
that AWOS is expanding its number of sites and highlighted the
new sites that will be rolled out for weather observation
stations. He moved to slide 8, which showed historical data of
daily outage trends. He noted the increase in outages this
winter and said he looks forward to running this program again
in April to evaluate outage trends in the first part of 2026.
DR. JONES moved to slide 9, which provided a regional breakdown
of outages. He noted regional the inequities of outages. He
moved to slide 10, which highlighted different ways food moves
to communities. He compared the benefits of moving food by the
bypass system of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and by air
freight. He moved to slide 11, which highlighted the low
quality that food often arrives in.
9:30:58 AM
DR. JONES moved to slide 12, which highlighted research from the
University of Alaska system. He stated that in rural Alaska,
the thinner market, with fewer folks selling, makes it easier to
pass costs onto the consumers. He said that fewer fresh produce
products are reaching Alaska, as they are the hardest products
to move. He moved to slide 13, which provided fresh produce
shipping data and spoilage rates over time.
DR. JONES moved to slide 15, which displayed a graph of salad
vegetables spoilage in Bethel versus Hooper Bay. He highlighted
the issue of produce arriving spoiled at stores, never even
reaching the shelf. He moved to slide 17, which displayed a
graph of salad vegetables spoilage in Dillingham versus Togiak.
DR. JONES moved to slide 19, which showed spoilage patterns
throughout the year by different transportation methods for
bananas and potatoes. He moved to slide 20, which showed the
same statistics regarding tomatoes and lettuce. He moved to
slide 21, which showed the same statistics regarding berries and
salad vegetables, which are particularly sensitive to spoilage.
9:39:20 AM
DR. JONES, in response to a question from Representative Story,
stated that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)
systems broadcast on frequencies that can be detected by ground
stations or satellite. He said that he has 30 days of
satellite-based ADS-B data, which provides a much higher window
of visibility. He stated that a low number of planes in Alaska
are equipped with a transponder, but there is a push to increase
that number.
9:43:33 AM
DR. JONES, in response to a question from Representative
Ruffridge, stated he has not found an economic analysis of off-
road Alaska food production. He said that many people have been
surprised by his research findings, explaining that readers
often did not realize the situation was so dire. He described
the cost drivers of indoor agriculture systems, which make
hydroponic systems difficult to establish.
9:47:45 AM
DR. JONES, in response to a question from Representative
Schwanke, stated that he can study only what is visible and what
can be quantified. He said that community trips to Costco
Wholesale Corporation ("Costco") warehouses are essentially
invisible to his research. He noted that surveys, which are
expensive, could consider Costco trips.
9:50:14 AM
DR. JONES moved to slide 23, which focused on pharmaceutical
shipping data. He moved to slide 24, which displayed a graph of
transit time patterns. He explained that the chart showed the
percentages of pharmaceutical shipments that took different
lengths of time to arrive at their destinations. He highlighted
seasonal dependent delays due to weather and travel spikes. He
moved to slide 25, which also focused on transit time patterns
and delay frequency. He noted that the mean transit time in
days is based on an estimated number of air segments. He moved
to slide 26, which showed a map of geographic patterns in
delays. He highlighted the clear difference between road system
and off-road system transit times. He moved to slide 27 and
highlighted the ongoing construction of his statistical model.
9:58:20 AM
DR. JONES, in response to a question from Representative
Ruffridge, stated that this is data on medication that moves
from Southcentral Foundation's pharmacy.
10:03:50 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Tribal Affairs meeting was adjourned at
10:03 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| AFPC.House Tribal Affairs.2.10.26.pdf |
HTRB 2/10/2026 8:00:00 AM |
|
| House Tribal Affairs - Jones ISER - 2.10.26.pdf |
HTRB 2/10/2026 8:00:00 AM |