By AlaskaWatchman.com

The Alaska State House was scheduled to resume debate Sept. 13 on several amendments to roll back various vaccine mandates impacting Alaska. Unfortunately, House Democrats announced seven minutes before the required 10am floor session that they would be declining to attend at the scheduled time. They have not announced a time when they will be ready to resume debate on the amendments.

As was feared during yesterday’s (Sept. 12) vote to abruptly end debate, they are effectively holding the bill and all of its amendments hostage at the request of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA), which donated heavily to left-leaning house legislators in the most recent election cycle. 

The current battle over vaccine mandates has effectively become a battle between the large hospitals pushing mandates and the Alaskans who oppose those mandates, including many current healthcare workers at those same hospitals. To this point the governor has opted to stay out of the fight in an attempt to maintain good relations with both sides. Many legislators were hoping to do the same, but did not have that opportunity yesterday when the debate over SB3006 to increase healthcare capacity in Alaska turned to not only protecting the interests of hospitals, but of also protecting the rights of patients and healthcare workers.

Amendment 4, which received support from a majority of legislators in attendance, added a requirement to the bill that hospitals must allow a patient to have a single visitor with them during their time in the hospital, if the patient requests it.

Amendment 5, which resulted in a tie vote, but is expected to be brought up again now that additional legislators have arrived in Juneau, went further and would have again codified in state law that it is the right of every Alaskan to refuse a vaccine (or for a parent to refuse a vaccine for their child).

Legislators who voted to kill debate on amendments and put the bill on ice are shown in green.

In response to these amendments, both of which are opposed by the hospitals, the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association requested that legislators immediately end debate on the bill and put it on ice, which they did.

The vote to put the bill on ice was 20 – 16.

Unsurprisingly, 16 of the legislators who voted to kill the bill received campaign contributions from the hospital lobby during the last election.

The sixteen legislators who voted to kill debate after receiving $500 or more in recent campaign contributions from the hospital lobby are:

Rep. Bryce Edgmon
Rep. Zack Fields
Rep. Neal Foster
Rep. Sara Hannan
Rep. Grier Hopkins
Rep. Andy Josephson
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
Rep. Kelly Merrick
Rep. Dan Ortiz
Rep. Ivy Spohnholz
Rep. Andi Story
Rep. Louis Stutes
Rep. Steve Thompson
Rep. Chris Tuck
Rep. Adam Wool
Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky

Rep. Matt Claman received $1,000 from the hospital lobby, but was not in attendance for the vote.

Rep. Bart LeBon was the only legislator listed as having received $1,000 from the hospital lobby who voted against killing debate on the amendments.

The only legislators who voted to kill debate and who did not report recent contributions from the hospital lobby were:
Rep. Harriet Drummond
Rep. George Rauscher
Rep. Calvin Schrage
Rep. Liz Snyder

You can reach out to legislators through the Alaska Legislature’s Website.

Vaccine mandate vote delayed after legislators with ties to hospital lobby kill debate

Rep. David Eastman
Rep. David Eastman is a Republican member of the Alaska House, representing District 10 in Wasilla. He has served since January 17, 2017.


15 Comments

  • Joyce says:

    They are as corrupt as they come. The money they receive as kick backs into their pockets for their vote is so slimy. No wonder it is such a swamp there. We joe-public lose every time. They need to resign.

  • G Aleutian says:

    Because the legislators know better than we who pay them much more than $1000 donations to support OUR instructions to them so that we can work. The hospitals appear to becoming more death centers. That will affect their outcome numbers. Some hospitals may not make it through their next justification reviews. Learn to take better care of ourselves. The deep state sincerely doesn’t like us. Can you tell?

    • NORTHERN says:

      AGREED!

    • Sally Pollen says:

      Thank you for names and votes, AK Watchman and David Eastman. Thank you for taking us down the bribery money trail to understand WHY these legislators voted to kill debate on the bill. Only one legislator in the Mat-Su, George Rauscher, voted to end debate and why he did that is beyond me. Come on, George, explain yourself.

  • NORTHERN says:

    Always follow the money!

  • NORTHERN says:

    Thank you Eastman
    Keep it up

  • Michael says:

    How can criminals be in this position ?
    $500 or $1000 bucks ? There is much more money funneled into them than is stated . Who would sell out humanity for $500-$1000 ? Breaking ones constitutional oath and intentionally putting others health at severe detriment has consequences … and I believe one of those consequences are death . Especially if it is a conspiracy . Which is most definitely evident here .
    I believe in accountability. And law representatives should be held in the highest account . Any and every law rep , including police . When they took their oaths , it should be known that they will pay to the highest if they are corrupted . Law reps Should be the model example .

    ACCOUNTABILITY !!!

    Otherwise , any criminal can get in and corrupt the whole system .
    And that appears to be exactly where we have slumped to .

  • Greg says:

    Isn’t it interesting that these hospitals that stand to profit from these “Covid intakes”, and are willing to hospitalize “patients” that have the slightest of symptoms, by using “tests” that have been shown to be untrustworthy, and then they seek to force their opinions on everyone else because of their over-inflated sense of importance. There are many in the medical field that are refusing to receive this “vaccine” and are speaking out, but they get ignored or discredited by the mainstream media. Hey medical “experts”: you do not own me or my family. Why should you get to decide if my family members should have to risk being a part of the number of people that are experiencing the adverse effects of this medical experiment, especially when dealing with a virus that has such a high survivability rate. Someone said it right: to know what is really going on here, just follow the money.

  • Buzz Kelley says:

    “C’mon man” it is just a vaccine mandate. It is for the good of the people! Hope you understand.
    2) It is just a travel limitation mandate to reduce your carbon footprint. It is for the good of the people! Hope you understand.
    3) It is just a small house and small car mandate. It is for the good of the people! Hope you understand.
    4) It is just a sterilization mandate to curb overpopulation. It is for the good of the people! Hope you understand.
    5) It is just a wealth confiscation at death mandate because there are so many poor and homeless. It is for the good of the people! Hope you understand.

  • Michael says:

    Just like past inflictions on the populas,, this too will turn inward on the elites. Eventually the bubble will pop and the people will start sniping politicians. Just takes time to push them over the edge. Remember south Carolina? No most of you probably don’t read.