The Alaska House Labor and Commerce Committee reported House Bill 156 out of committee as amended, adopting changes that remove civil fines tied to noncompliance and clarify that employers are not required to disclose the compensation of an individual employee unless another law requires it.

Representative Genevieve Mina, the bill sponsor, said she supports the amendment package and appreciated members' work to mitigate burdens on small businesses while pursuing wage‑transparency goals. Jeremy Applegate, chief of Wage and Hour for the state of Alaska, told the committee that deleting investigative enforcement language would eliminate the need to add investigator positions: "If you take away the investigative components, then you take away our need for investigator and at least 1 of the 2 admin staff that we have indicated." He said the department would reassess staffing if enforcement needs later change.

Committee member amendments included A.6, which added language specifying that employers are not required to disclose compensation of any individual employee unless otherwise required by law, and A.8, which removed civil fines tied to violations; both amendments were adopted. Earlier proposed amendments to shorten statute‑of‑limitations windows and to change penalty calculation were not adopted.

Representative Mina said the changes were intended to preserve the bill’s information goals while avoiding new enforcement costs and job‑creating PCNs (position control numbers) in the Department of Labor where possible.

By roll call the committee reported the bill out of committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes; the vote was 4‑2. Committee staff will finalize fiscal notes and committee paperwork for the bill’s next steps.