Travel Insurance; Unemployment Benefits
HB 302 is a broad insurance and unemployment bill with two main parts. First, it creates a detailed statutory framework for travel insurance in Alaska, defining travel insurance, travel protection plans, travel retailers, travel administrators, blanket travel insurance, and related terms. It authorizes travel insurance limited producer licensing, allows travel retailers to offer and disseminate travel insurance under a licensed producer, sets disclosure and training requirements, classifies travel insurance under the inland marine line for filing purposes, and establishes rules for sales practices, advertising, cancellations, and the treatment of bundled travel assistance services and cancellation fee waivers.
Second, the bill revises Alaska’s unemployment insurance benefit structure. It increases weekly benefit amounts and dependent allowances, and adds an annual indexing mechanism that would raise maximum base-period wages and corresponding weekly benefits based on changes in the contribution base. Those unemployment changes are contingent on federal approval and, if approved, would take effect no earlier than January 1, 2027. The bill also includes conforming changes to insurance law, including updates to anti-rebate and advertising provisions and repeal of an existing travel-insurance-specific licensing section.
HB 302 amends multiple titles of Alaska law, primarily Title 21 (insurance) and Title 23 (employment security). In insurance law, it expands the Division of Insurance’s regulatory authority over travel insurance, travel retailers, and travel administrators; clarifies premium tax treatment for travel insurance; and adds new restrictions and exceptions related to rebates, value-added services, gifts, raffles, and advertising. In unemployment law, it raises benefit levels and dependent allowances and creates an automatic annual adjustment formula, but those provisions depend on federal approval before they can take effect.
The voting record suggests the bill was broadly supported overall. It passed the House unanimously on final passage and later received strong House concurrence after Senate action, indicating general bipartisan acceptance of the insurance and unemployment changes. The Senate amendment and final passage votes were narrower than the House final vote, which suggests some members had reservations about specific provisions even though the bill ultimately advanced with substantial support.
The most likely points of contention were the scope of the new travel insurance market rules and the unemployment benefit increases. On the insurance side, the bill gives the director significant rulemaking and oversight authority while also loosening some marketing and compensation practices, which may have raised concerns about consumer protection, inducements, and whether travel retailers should be allowed to sell coverage without full producer licensing. On the unemployment side, the higher weekly benefits and dependent allowances, plus automatic indexing, likely raised cost and program-expansion concerns, while the federal-approval condition reflects sensitivity to conformity with federal unemployment law.