Crime package combining bills for a wide range of offenses passes Legislature

Raising the age-of-consent, AI-generated child sexual abuse material, sex offenses by health care workers, fatal hit-and-run collisions among inclusions in omnibus bill

Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, discusses a provision in an omnibus crime bill, which includes provisions of sexual assault legislation she sponsored, during a House floor session on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

A sweeping crime bill combining portions from a multitude of separate pieces of legislation on issues ranging from sex offenses against minors to fraudulent airbag installations in vehicles passed the Alaska Legislature on the final day of the regular session Wednesday.

House Bill 239 originally focused on sentencing for fatal pedestrian hit-and-run offenses, which passed the House unanimously before undergoing a drastic rewrite this spring in the Senate, said House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, the bill’s lead sponsor. The Senate passed the bill unanimously on Tuesday, sending it back to the House for concurrence.

"How the bill has come back to us now is with about nine various public safety bills and language sections, and I want to remind the body that the majority of this bill is language that passed also unanimously out of this body," he said.

Among the most notable additions is raising the age-of-consent from 16 to 18, which passed the House unanimously last session. The bill got held up in the Senate Judiciary Committee as Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, the committee’s chair and a candidate for governor, sought to make it part of an omnibus crime package that was unveiled in April.

Two other additions highlighted by Kopp involved bills sponsored by Juneau legislators.

One was House Bill 242 by Rep. Sara Hannan, a Democrat, which seeks to close what she calls "a serious loophole" in state law regarding sexual assault by health care workers. She introduced it after former Juneau chiropractor Jeffrey Fultz was acquitted of some charges in a high-profile trial involving accusations by about a dozen female patients. The judge, in dismissing one charge, stated the victim’s testimony didn’t meet the legal definition of sexual assault, which states the victim must be unaware they’re being assaulted by a person providing treatment for charges to be valid.

Hannan, during floor debate, noted it often takes a couple of years for a bill such as hers to pass, but its fate may have been helped by the omnibus bill.

"That bill was heard in a couple of committees and had all ‘do-pass’ recommendations, and I appreciate the members who heard that bill and was included in this omnibus crime bill," she said. "It was a fairly small and, by some standards, insignificant policy bill that I think without the opportunity to be rolled into a larger crime bill probably wouldn't be changed into law this session."

The other was Senate Bill 247 by Jesse Kiehl, a Democrat, criminalizing computer-generated child sexual abuse material. A similar bill by Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, unanimously passed the House in March. Vance said she supported having the changes she sought included as part of a bigger crime package.

"This entire bill shows the incredible work we can do when we collaborate together, when we set aside party lines and work together to provide justice," Vance said during floor debate.

The House on Wednesday concurred by a 39-1 vote, with Rep. Bill Elam, R-Nikiski, casting the lone vote in opposition.

"There's a lot of good things that I would agree with," he said. "There's probably some stuff in here that I wouldn't agree with. But a 65-page bill coming back under the guise of saying that this is just part of the process — I mean, this is beyond just a Christmas tree."

Other bills wrapped into the omnibus bill, according to a summary presented by Kopp:

• Establishing a tracking system and examination timelines for sexual assault examination kits.

• Criminalizing counterfeit airbags and their installation.

• Making some marijuana conviction records confidential.

• Establishing the crime of organized theft, including mail theft and medical record theft.

• Reassign the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee from being administered by the Department of Law to the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.

• Expanding confidentiality rules to include victims using tribal counseling centers.

Some of the provisions were sought by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who must either sign the bill or allow it to become law without his signature, unless the Legislature overrides a veto.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.