State Senate: Bipartisan coalition
State House: Bipartisan coalition
Governor: Mike Dunleavy (R)
Attorney General: Treg Taylor (R)
Summary:
With a total of 60 lawmakers, the Alaska Legislature is the smallest bicameral state legislature in the United States. Alaska has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. The Republican Party controls the office of governor and the State Senate, and multipartisan governing coalition has controlled the Alaska House of Representatives since 2016. These coalitions primarily consisted of Democrats and independents after the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections.
Following the 2022 elections, it consisted primarily of Republicans. The Alaska legislature has considered many similar bills to its Republican counterparts, but has not passed any recent censorship-related legislation. The House has passed two speech-related bills in the 2024 session.
HB 254 creates civil liability for publishing or distributing pornography to minors on the Internet, requires sites to use commercially reasonable age verification method to verify that a person attempting to access the pornography is 18 years of age or older, and makes them liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor accessing the pornography. HB 358 creates a civil action for defamation when synthetic media is used in electioneering communications without a disclosure. Both bills are now being considered by the Senate.
The House is also considering a bill to limit social media use by minors. SB 214, a bill to create a civil liability for social media censorship was introduced in 2022 but did not progress. In 2022, Attorney General Treg Taylor joined two multi-state Republican AG efforts to oppose the Biden Administration’s mask and vaccine mandates, both of which were ultimately successful.
Key Policymakers:
- Attorney General Treg Taylor
Legislative Activity:
SB 214 (2022): This bill would establish a private right of action for individuals to seek civil damages against any social media company that intentionally fact checks, deletes, or uses an algorithm to disfavor, shadow ban, or otherwise censor the religious or political speech of a platform user. The bill also requires social media companies to prevent bullying or harassing behavior on the company’s platform. Introduced by Sen. Lora Reinbold [R] and Sen. Mia Costello [R] but did not progress.
HB 271: Orders that social media platforms may not allow a minor who is a resident of the state to create or maintain an account on the platform without first obtaining written consent for the minor to create and maintain the account from the minor’s parent or guardian. It also bans advertising, content targeting, and addictive features towards minors. Also allows for the AG to sue and a private right of action. It was introduced by the House Labor & Commerce Committee on January 16, 2024 but has not yet progressed.
HB 358/ SB 177: A bill to limit the use of AI-generated media and deepfakes in electioneering communications by creating civil liability if a disclosure is not used. Introduced by Rep. Mike Cronk [R] and passed the House on May 9, 2024.
HB 254: Creates civil liability for publishing or distributing pornography to minors on the Internet. A commercial entity that intentionally publishes or distributes pornography online must use a commercially reasonable age verification method to verify that a person attempting to access the pornography is 18 years of age or older. A commercial entity that violates this subsection is liable to an individual for damages resulting from a minor accessing the pornography. Introduced by Rep. Sarah Vance [R] and passed the House on April 26, 2024.
Legal Actions:
Alaska Joins 21-State Coalition in Support of National TikTok Ban. On August 5, 2024, Attorney General Treg Taylor joined a 21-state coalition urging the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to uphold the TikTok divest-or-ban legislation that became law on April 24, 2024. This federal law bans TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, sells its stake in the platform. In response, ByteDance and TikTok filed a lawsuit against the federal government. The attorneys general are asking the court to deny TikTok’s petition, asserting that Congress has the power to act in this matter of national security and foreign affairs. Their letter claims that “TikTok poses significant threats to both national security and consumers’ privacy by indiscriminately collecting user data that could be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party, a longstanding adversary of the United States. Additionally, TikTok’s operations infringe upon Americans’ right to privacy and promote harmful content to minors. Allowing TikTok to operate in the United States without severing its ties to the Chinese Communist Party exposes Americans to the risk of the CCP accessing and exploiting their data.”
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen co-led this amicus brief with Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and were joined by the AGs of: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah.
AG Taylor Joins Multi-State Murthy v Missouri Amicus Brief. This collaborative effort to sue the Biden Administration for working with social media companies to censor critics of covid policies was initiated by five individual plaintiffs and Missouri AG Andrew Bailey. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga took part in the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on March 18, 2024. Previous AG and current governor Jeff Landry had joined the Missouri suit in 2022. On February 9, 2024 Montana AG Austin Knudsen led a coalition of 16 Republican AGs in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting Missouri and respondents. Joining him were the AGs from Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Arizona Legislature.
In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the plaintiffs did not have a legal right (known as “standing”) to a preliminary injunction. Siding with the Biden Administration’s argument that the plaintiffs had not shown their injuries were attributable to the government, the majority cited the lack of any “concrete link” between the speech restrictions claimed by the plaintiffs and the conduct of government officials.
Alaska Joins with Other States to Successfully Challenge Federal Mask Mandate. On March 29, 2022 Attorney General Treg Taylor joined a coalition of states in a lawsuit against the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) challenging the mask mandate on public transportation. The lawsuit asserts that the state of the science has changed immensely over the past year, as admitted by the CDC itself, and yet, the unlawful and unnecessary mask mandate remains in place. The lawsuit argues that the CDC does not have the authority to introduce or enforce these restrictions on American citizens. This measure was not authorized by Congress, and the CDC did not put the mandate up for notice and comment, which is typically required for these types of regulations.
“Ignoring the standard established under the Administrative Procedure Act is not only illegal but deeply concerning,” states Attorney General Treg Taylor. “The CDC’s pattern of behavior continues to undermine the separation of powers doctrine embedded in our Constitution and Americans’ right to participate in the regulatory process through notice and comment.”
Individuals will be subjected to criminal penalties if they fail to comply with the Administration’s mask mandate. According to the lawsuit, this blanket preventative measure would be equivalent to creating a general federal police power. Alaska was joined in the lawsuit by Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ended the mask mandate in April 2022.
Attorney General Taylor Calls on the Biden Administration to Repeal Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers. On November 17, 2022 a coalition of 22 states including Alaska formally called on the Biden Administration to withdraw its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and all related guidance. The coalition of attorneys general filed a petition under the Administrative Procedures Act requesting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services take immediate action to repeal its Interim Final Rule (IFR) and State Surveyor Guidance, which require participating healthcare facilities to “develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that all staff are fully vaccinated for COVID-19.”
“This kind of overreach into the personal, medical freedoms of the people of Alaska is wrong,” said Attorney General Treg Taylor. “We began the effort to fight this a year ago and will continue working to stop these unconstitutional mandates.The vaccine mandate violates the states’ sovereign right to enact and enforce their laws and exercise their police power on matters such as compulsory vaccination and it fundamentally changes the deal under which they agreed to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Constitutionally speaking, it violates the Tenth Amendment; and the doctrines of Nondelegation, Major Questions, and Anti-Commandeering; and the Spending Clause.”
Attorneys general from Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, and Tennessee led the effort to submit the petition with Alaska joining attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
