New and returning legislators flocked to the capitol in Juneau on Jan. 21 for the first day of the legislative session.
Longtime Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Sen. Lyman Hoffman (D-Bethel) was sworn in as the temporary Senate president pro tem, or for the time being. Hoffman will serve as co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, focused on the state’s operating budget.
Incoming Rep. Nellie Unangiq Jimmie (D-Toksook Bay) was sworn into office for her freshman term representing the lower Kuskokwim in House District 38. Jimmie ran a campaign focused on the rural communities in the district, and saw strong support in the villages outside of Bethel.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Dalstrom administered the oath of office to Jimmie and three other Western and Northern Alaska legislators: Rep. Neal Foster (D-Nome), Rep. Bryce Edgmon (I-Dillingham), and Rep. Robyn Niyauq Burke (D-Utqiaġvik).
In her first year in the legislature, Jimmie will sit on the powerful House Finance Committee.
Jimmie is part of the bipartisan state House majority, which has identified education, energy, retirement reform, and balanced budgets as priorities for this legislative session.
During a Senate Majority press availability on Jan. 21, leadership spoke to many of the same priorities for the legislature’s other chamber. Hoffman spoke specifically about the need for a balanced budget, saying that there is “no way” Alaska can afford to see through the budget proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which would spend more than $1.5 billion of the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve.