ANCHORAGE — The House Special Committee on Fisheries on Feb. 22, 2025, voted to report House Bill 93 out of committee, advancing a proposal to align residency rules for hunting, trapping and sport fishing with the state’s Permanent Fund dividend (PFD) residency standard.

Representative Rebecca Himshoo, the bill sponsor, told the committee that HB 93 “seeks to align the requirements, qualifications for hunting and fishing with the qualifications for the Permanent Fund dividend” to make residency “more enforceable when there's question about residency for someone who's enjoying the fishing game resources of Alaska.”

The bill’s sponsor said the change would help troopers enforce residency rules without increasing arrests, and would “preserve the resource for the folks who are here year round.” She also noted that resident license fees are lower and resident bag limits higher for certain species.

Why it matters: Committee members said aligning the standards could give enforcement officers a clearer, quicker way to verify whether people claiming resident privileges really qualify, and could reduce the burden and cost of prolonged residency investigations and prosecutions.

Committee discussion and testimony
Major Aaron Frenzel, Deputy Director of the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Alaska Wildlife Troopers, said the department was neutral on the policy choice but that a definitive numeric absence allowance would make enforcement easier. “Having an exact number of days allowed to be absent for the State would make enforcement easier,” he said.

Representative Vance cited a Department of Public Safety figure that wildlife troopers average about 118 residency investigations per year and asked how many of those resulted in prosecutions. Major Frenzel said determining convictions requires deeper review of Department of Law records and court files; some investigations are forwarded to the Department of Law and may be declined for prosecution. He said a multi-count investigation can include many charges per incident.

Representative Cupp described a common field practice for quick verification: many residents who apply for a PFD can show proof on a smartphone during an officer’s initial contact. “I think it's a good bill,” Cupp said, adding that the ability to display a PFD filing online could make initial encounters non‑adversarial.

Representative Hedgeman cautioned that PFD eligibility is tied to the calendar year, noting a potential practical effect: "The PFD residency requirements are January 1 to December 31. So there's an impact there where somebody could come into the state in February and not be able to moose hunt that year or fish that summer…" The committee record includes a staff clarification that the bill would measure residency as “one year from the date you arrive” rather than the PFD calendar-year timing.

Action taken
Representative Edgmon moved to report HB 93 (version 34-LS0058) out of the House Fisheries Committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes. Hearing no objection, the committee reported the bill out of committee. The motion was announced on the record as approved and the committee signed the required documents.

Next steps and context
The committee recorded that HB 93 will proceed to the next committee for further consideration; the motion carried without recorded opposition at the Feb. 22 meeting. Committee members said they expect further refinement in later committee hearings and that members from other committees or the governor’s office may propose language changes on the statutory definition of residency.

The committee adjourned at 11:26 a.m.; its next scheduled meeting was Feb. 25, 2025, when confirmations were to be heard.

Quotes used in this story are taken verbatim from the Feb. 22, 2025 House Special Committee on Fisheries transcript.