Soldotna Republican Reps. Bill Elam and Justin Ruffridge have introduced their first bills of the 34th Alaska Legislature.
Ruffridge, who’s House District covers Kenai and Soldonta, now has two pieces of legislation moving through the legislature.
The first, House Bill 144, seeks to clarify and streamline an often-annoying health insurance process called prior authorization. That’s an insurance provider’s determination of whether certain medical services are covered by a patient’s healthcare plan.
If passed, the bill would give insurance providers three days to decide whether a service is covered. They’d have one day to act on expedited requests. If the insurance company failed to meet those deadlines, the patient’s request would be automatically approved.
The bill includes additional rules for Alaska’s Division of Insurance and insurance providers. It was heard for the first time Wednesday in the House Health and Social Services Committee.
Ruffridge’s other bill is House Bill 161, which would exempt businesses with fewer than 50 employees from a voter-approved requirement to provide sick leave. It would also exempt seasonal workers from those sick leave entitlements and require employees to make a good-faith effort to notify employers when they’ll be using sick leave.
Since Ballot Measure 1 passed last year, businesses must give employees one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employees at businesses with less than 15 workers are required to let workers accrue 40 hours per year. That accrual increases to 56 hours for businesses with more than 15 employees.
Ruffridge’s bill would also give employers permission to pay employees for the cash value of their accrued sick leave.
In a constituent newsletter, Ruffridge said the bill was introduced in response to Ballot Measure 1, which he says put “unnecessary burdens” on the state’s small businesses. House Bill 161 was referred to the House Labor and Commerce Committee.
Elam’s district covers the northern Kenai Peninsula other than Kenai and Soldotna. He introduced House Bill 171 last week. The bill targets so-called swipe fees for credit cards.
The bill aims to lower the financial burden of credit card transactions on businesses. When customers pay a business using a credit or debit card, that business is charged a fee based on the total amount of the transaction bill. Elam’s bill would remove tips and taxes from the transaction total.
In a statement explaining why he sponsored the bill, Elam says he wants to ensure a business isn’t penalized for handling money it ultimately doesn’t retain.
The bill was heard Monday in the House Labor and Commerce Committee.
State lawmakers are roughly halfway through the current session. Any bills that don’t pass this session will roll over to the next session, in 2026.
