Legislature To Add Unorganized Member to LBC

The Unorganized Borough is an expansive, vast, and sparsely populated region of our state. Having a perspective from the people who live there ensures the LBC is well-rounded as it issues its decisions.”

Senator Mike Cronk

JUNEAU — On May 11, the legislature passed SB 63, a bill sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk that will alter the membership of the Local Boundary Commission (LBC).

The bill creates an additional seat on the commission for a member from an Unorganized Borough, changes the statute regarding the selection of the commission chair, and requires commissioners to live and vote in the district to which they are appointed.

The LBC’s role is to “receive, review, and make final decisions on petitions” regarding any changes to municipalities. This is of great interest to residents of Alaska's Unorganized Borough because organized boroughs hold the power to assess and collect property, sales, and other taxes, regulate land use, and administer schools.

Janae Erickson, Public Information Officer for the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, elaborated on the ways a municipal boundary can change:

“The [LBC] may consider any proposed local government boundary change. It may present proposed changes to the legislature during the first ten days of any regular session. The change shall become effective forty-five days after presentation or at the end of the session, whichever is earlier, unless disapproved by a resolution concurred in by a majority of the members of each house.”

“The second method, 'local action,' requires a vote of the residents in the area proposed for incorporation (in the case of a new borough) and a vote of both the residents of the existing municipality and residents of the annexed territory or area. Each bloc must approve the annexation.”

In 2025, LBC members moved through an approved petition to form the new Xunaa Borough in Southeast Alaska, oversaw a failed attempt by the City of Soldotna to annex a neighboring area (rejected by voters in the proposed area to be annexed), and provided informal guidance to an Eagle River petitioning group seeking to detach Eagle River from the Municipality of Anchorage and join it to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Currently, there are no known proposals to alter municipal boundaries within the Copper Basin. Valdez City Manager Nathan Duval stated in an April email, “The City has not made any decisions related to annexation or borough formation and has not recently discussed it.”

In January, the LBC formally expressed distaste for the current structure of the state. The cover letter accompanying its 2025 annual report stated:

“The Commission is concerned about the institutionalized barriers that, despite constitutional expectations, continue to disincentivize the formation of boroughs throughout the state. These disincentives also result in disparate treatment of Alaska’s communities because many continue to rely entirely on state funds and services even though they have been capable of taking on local government responsibilities for many years.”

This statement—along with language later in the report stating there is a “lack of parity between REAAs (Regional Education Attendance Areas) and municipal school districts” and implying the current structure contributes to the “challenge rural schools face in terms of deferred maintenance, and in some worst-case examples, deteriorated buildings that border on being unfit for occupancy” —rang alarm bells among anti-borough advocates. 

James Squyres of Delta Junction and Matt Obermiller of the Copper Basin attended the meeting to object to the report’s framing of these issues. 

Obermiller requested that the report be limited to the discussion of active proposals rather than an assessment of the state at large. 

Squyres submitted written public testimony stating, “A lot has changed since the constitutional  convention and the forming of this state. Many areas have evolved with a level of self-governance and self-reliance that was not envisioned, but is a product of hardy, proud Alaskans who live here.” 

Squyres argued uneven distribution of oil revenues throughout the state puts Unorganized communities at a greater disadvantage than the lack of local taxes. 

In a press release following SB 63’s passage, Senator Cronk stated, “The Unorganized Borough is an expansive, vast, and sparsely populated region of our state. Having a perspective from the people who live there ensures the LBC is well-rounded as it issues its decisions. SB 63 provides a voice to those who are currently voiceless.”