Alaska State Commission for Human Rights to Hold Meeting in Juneau on February 11; issues limited guidance document on Ballot Measure 1 January 23, 2025 The Alaska State Commission for Human Rights (ASCHR) will hold its next meeting in Juneau, at the Downtown Branch of the Juneau Public Library located at 292 Marine Way, on February 11th at 2:00 pm. The Commission will hold elections for chairperson and vice-chairperson and will discuss investigative subpoena issuance and enforcement procedures in executive session with representatives from the Department of Law. The public is invited to attend the meeting in person or on Zoom, with public comment scheduled for 2:30. Following the commission meeting, the commissioners intend to meet with state lawmakers to advocate for potential legislation amending AS 18.80. They will advocate for legislative amendments previously approved by the Commission including creating an affirmative defense in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling in 303 Creative, LLC v. Elenis (Resolution 2023–07); moving the Commission’s annual report due date (Resolution 2023–03); creating a formal Commissioner removal process (Resolution 2022–10); expanding AS 18.80 employment jurisdiction to include nonprofit employers (Resolution 2022–04); and renaming the Commission to more accurately align with its constitutional function (Resolution 2022–03). The Commission previously advocated for four of these resolutions early in 2023 and saw broad bipartisan support in both houses. The Commission also recently published a guidance document on Ballot Measure 1. While most of the ballot measure is unrelated to discrimination, the Commission’s staff fielded some preliminary questions from business owners who are still scrambling to fully understand the measure’s impacts. The new guidance document explains that employers are prohibited from requiring employees to attend primarily proselytization meetings, but that voluntary religious meetings or meetings where religious references are used occasionally remain lawful. The ballot measure’s prohibition on mandatory religious meetings does not apply to bona fide religious employers such as churches and religious subsidiaries like parochial schools. Otherwise, AS 18.80.220 addressing unlawful workplace discrimination applies, and a business that compels its employees to attend a meeting focused on religious proselytization could face investigation. The guidance document can be found here: BM1 Guidance Documents. The Commission is an independent quasi-judicial state agency that aims to eliminate discrimination and support Alaskans when they face discrimination in the workplace, places of public accommodation, housing, credit and financing, and government practices. The Commission consists of seven volunteers who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature for rotating five-year terms. The Commission consists of Chairperson Zackary Gottshall (Anchorage), Vice Chairperson Mae Marsh (Fairbanks), William Craig (Sitka), Rebecca Carrillo (Juneau), Jessie Ruffridge (Soldotna), Shiela Cernich (Anchorage), and Dorene Lorenz (Juneau). Commission staff is available for assistance directly to the business community, either through speaking engagements to organizations, reviewing non-discrimination policies and procedures, and providing copies of its guidance documents, which are also available on its website at Alaska Human Rights Guidance Documents For more information about the agency, please visit the Alaska Human Rights website. To talk about discrimination experiences directly to an investigator, call (800)-478-4692 or (907)-274-4692.