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HB101 raises the age of protected minors from 16 to 18 across more than two dozen Alaska statutes governing sexual offenses, violent crimes, civil claims, sentencing, and child welfare.
OUR POSITIONAlaska's existing statutes draw many of their protective age thresholds at 16, leaving 16- and 17-year-olds outside the full shelter of laws that the rest of the country would recognize as basic child-protection measures. HB101 corrects that gap in a comprehensive and internally consistent way. The American Council supports this bill without reservation and urges every member of the legislature to vote for its passage.
The bill's reach is wide and deliberate. It raises the civil-claim age threshold so that victims of sexual abuse who were 16 or 17 when the harm occurred can seek damages in court (Fact 1). It expands felony-murder coverage, first-degree murder provisions, and second-degree murder sentencing minimums so that a child's age at the time of the worst imaginable violence is no longer the determining factor in whether the law treats that child as fully protected (Facts 2, 3, 4, 24). The American Council believes that a 17-year-old victim of homicide deserves the same weight of law as a 15-year-old, and this bill makes that true.
The protections extend into the full range of offenses that predators use to approach and exploit young people. Stalking that targets a child under 18 becomes first-degree stalking (Fact 7). Enticement of a minor now covers 16- and 17-year-olds, and the no-defense provision follows (Facts 10, 11). The production, solicitation, distribution, and non-consensual sharing of explicit images involving minors are all updated to reflect an 18-year threshold (Facts 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). In our view, the predatory grooming and exploitation that these statutes address does not stop when a child turns 16, and the law should never have implied that it did.
The bill also closes gaps in authority-relationship protections. Sexual abuse of a minor in the first and second degree are both amended so that an adult in a position of authority over a 16- or 17-year-old in the same household faces the same criminal exposure as one who abuses a younger child (Facts 8, 9). Courts gain the ability to appoint a guardian ad litem and use protective testimony procedures for child victims and witnesses up to age 18 (Fact 23). Endangering the welfare of a child and assault-in-the-third-degree provisions are updated in parallel (Facts 5, 15). Every one of these changes reflects the same moral conviction: adults who hold power over young people must be held accountable to a standard that matches the full span of adolescence.
The American Council calls on constituents across Alaska to contact their representatives and senators today. This bill has broad sponsorship and addresses a straightforward injustice. Passing HB101 is an act of principled, non-partisan commitment to the children of this state. We ask legislators to move it forward without delay.
HB101 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on May 19, 2025, where it remains the appropriate starting point for a bill touching criminal statutes across multiple titles. The bill has accumulated a notable list of cross-sponsors from both chambers and across party lines, including Gray-Jackson, Myers, Tilton, Kawasaki, Yundt, Bjorkman, Cronk, Merrick, and Giessel, a breadth of support that signals the measure has attracted serious legislative attention rather than remaining a single-sponsor proposal. The most recent cross-sponsor additions came in April 2026, indicating active engagement well into the session and suggesting the coalition behind the bill is still growing. Given that committee referral is the current pressure point, constituent contact directed at Judiciary Committee members is where voices in support of HB101 will matter most right now.