By SUZANNE DOWNING
Aug. 11, 2026 – Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed legislation that would have imposed stricter residency requirements on Alaskans seeking resident hunting, trapping and sport fishing privileges.
House Bill 93, sponsored by Sitka Democrat-aligned Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, sought to change the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s residency standards to more closely line up with the rules used to determine eligibility for the Permanent Fund dividend.
Under the legislation, applicants generally would have been required to maintain an Alaska domicile for the preceding 12 months and to have remained physically present in the state except for absences allowed under the PFD eligibility statutes.
The change would have meant that seasonal permanent residents — snowbirds — would not be able to obtain cheaper resident licenses and access to hunting and fishing privileges unavailable to nonresidents.
Dunleavy said in his veto message that the proposed requirements were “unnecessarily restrictive” and could create problems for legitimate Alaska residents who spend extended periods outside the state for work, school, military service or other reasons.
Senate advances HB 93, excluding snowbirds from resident hunting and fishing privileges
Although the bill contained provisions addressing members of the military and students, the governor said those Alaskans could still face the loss of resident status under the new framework.
Dunleavy also objected to the administrative machinery the bill would have created. The measure directed the Fish and Game commissioner to adopt new regulations, permitted the department to demand additional proof of residency and authorized the use of information held by other state agencies.
The bill also directed the commissioner to consider “all relevant circumstances” when deciding whether an applicant qualified as a resident.
According to Dunleavy, those provisions would have granted the department broad discretion while increasing documentation requirements, interagency data sharing and the regulatory burden on both applicants and the state.
“These changes create unnecessary complexity and uncertainty for applicants without demonstrating a commensurate benefit to the state’s management of resident licensing,” Dunleavy wrote.
HB 93 attracted bipartisan support but also generated opposition from Alaskans whose employment routinely takes them outside the state for long periods. Commercial pilots and flight attendants were among those raising concerns that the proposal could jeopardize their resident hunting and fishing privileges even though Alaska remained their permanent home.
The original House version passed in January on a 27-12 vote. After the Senate amended the bill, senators approved it 13-6 on May 16. The House voted 24-16 the following day to concur with the Senate changes.
The legislation would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2028.
10 thoughts on “Dunleavy vetoes bill that would have targeted snowbirds who hunt, fish”
That’s all democrats do all day – sit around writing regulations. I would like to see one thing from the legislature that reduces regulations but that probably will never happen.
Not me. I sit around all day, snorting and farting, and think about writing encouraging words, but only for Democrats. Republicans don’t donate to my little teeny blog. And Democrats are so damn tight that I barely have the funds to get my next bottle of liquor. I often wish I was a Republican, with a clean, clear and fully developed brain.
Sorry, but I disagree with this veto. Stricter regulation is needed to control use of “resident” benefits for Alaska’s fish and game. The cited group that allegedly would have been impacted by this legislation (pilots) already have an easy solution: take a day or two of vacation in Alaska to fit within the required time limits. Too many people count a shack on the Kenai as their abode, getting resident benefits, while actually living Outside
Why?
lifelong resident here, btw, I have zero problem with this.
Legally, one can be absent from Alaska for 179 days and remain a resident for both hunting and fishing as well as for the PFD. The same is true of federal subsistence residency in subsistence areas. You can live just east of the Chickaloon River (Glacier View Community Council area, for example) and spend November 1 through March 30 (152 days) each year in a condo in Vegas and qualify for federal subsistence hunting, an Alaska hunting and fishing license, and a PFD dividend each year, then go to your winter condo and gamble that PFD away while drinking complimentary martinis each winter.
When this came out, many on here basically argued that because they were born in Alaska, or had spent decades here, that they had what amounts to lifetime irrevocable hunting and fishing priveledges. I have never heard of any such such priveledges recognized by any state. You could be 80 years old, born in Alaska, never left the state. If you live somewhere else for most of the year, you are no longer an Alaska resident. I’d guess that Dunleavy has cronies who live in another state for most of the year who didn’t like this. Guides, maybe? Six months is a pretty reasonable amount of time.
Looks like there are enough votes for a veto override, do they need to wait for the next special session or can the Legislature take up a vote when they meet during this special session?
Thank you governor
Less bureaucracy, not more.
So you can move to Sitka and vote within a month of moving there and that vote may affect the whole community, but of course a looney Democrat has to try to pass a bill that only affects one person if they can fish as a resident if they’re gone 90 days in a year?? Are you fing kidding me? It doesn’t stop them from being able to fish. It just means they have to pay more to do so , are they don’t fish or hunt and don’t by the fuel for there boat and extra food , extra ammo etc etc that would mostly affect conservative business ownership.
Someone needs to look into the Elfin cove thing, Utah people working and harvesting the resorce as summer jobs, What’s really going on with that? That needs attention.