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HB127 • 2026

OVERTIME ELIGIBILITY: NEWSPAPERS

An Act relating to the overtime pay exemption for certain newspaper employees.

Labor
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER
Last action
2025-03-05
Official status
(H) STA
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide information about the bill's impact on other exemptions such as those for agriculture or small businesses, nor does it specify enforcement mechanisms or financial impacts.

Overtime Pay for Newspaper Employees

This act changes the overtime pay exemption rules for certain newspaper employees.

What This Bill Does

  • Changes the definition of which newspaper employees are exempt from overtime pay requirements.
  • Increases the circulation limit for newspapers to qualify for this exemption from 1,000 to 4,000 copies.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Newspaper employees working at publications with a circulation of less than 4,000 copies.
  • Employers who publish newspapers and are affected by the new overtime rules.

Terms To Know

overtime
Extra hours worked beyond regular work hours that usually require extra pay.
exemption
An exception to a rule, allowing certain people or businesses not to follow it.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify how the change will be enforced.
  • It is unclear if there are any financial impacts on newspaper companies from this change.

Bill History

  1. 2025-03-05 297

    (H) REFERRED TO STATE AFFAIRS

  2. 2025-03-05 297

    (H) STA, L&C

  3. 2025-03-05 297

    (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS

Official Summary Text

OVERTIME ELIGIBILITY: NEWSPAPERS
An Act relating to the overtime pay exemption for certain newspaper employees.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
HB0127a -1- HB 127
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]

34-LS0454\A

HOUSE BILL NO. 127

IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA

THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION

BY REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER

Introduced: 3/5/25
Referred: State Affairs, Labor and Commerce

A BILL

FOR AN ACT ENTITLED

"An Act relating to the overtime pay exemption for certain newspaper employees." 1
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 2
* Section 1. AS 23.10.060(d) is amended to read: 3
(d) This section does not apply to 4
(1) an employee employed by an employer employing fewer than f our 5
employees in the regular course of business, as "regular course of business" is defined 6
by regulations of the commissioner; 7
(2) an employee employed in ha ndling, packing, storing, pasteu rizing, 8
drying, preparing in their raw o r natural state, or canning agr icultural or horticultural 9
commodities for market, or in making cheese or butter or other dairy products; 10
(3) an employee of an employer engaged in small mining operati ons 11
where not more than 12 employees are employed if the employee i s employed not in 12
excess of 12 hours a day or 56 hours a week during a period or periods of not more 13
than 14 workweeks in the aggregate in a calendar year during th e mining season, as 14
the season is defined by the commissioner; 15
34-LS0454\A
HB 127 -2- HB0127a
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]

(4) an employee engaged in agriculture; 1
(5) an employee employed in connection with the publication of a 2
weekly, semiweekly, or daily newspaper with a circulation of less than 4,000 [1,000]; 3
(6) a switchboard operator employed in a public telephone exch ange 4
that has fewer than 750 stations; 5
(7) an employee in an otherwise exempted employment or proprie tor 6
in a retail or service establishment engaged in handling teleph one or radio messages 7
for the public under an agency or contract arrangement with a c ommunications 8
company where the communications revenue of the agency does not exceed $500 a 9
month; 10
(8) an employee employed as a seaman; 11
(9) an employee employed in plan ting or tending trees, cruisin g, or 12
surveying, or bucking, or felling timber, or in preparing or tr ansporting logs or other 13
forestry products to the mill, p rocessing plant, railroad, or o ther transportation 14
terminal if the number of employees employed by the employer in the forestry or 15
lumbering operations does not exceed 12; 16
(10) an individual employed as an outside buyer of poultry, eg gs, 17
cream, or milk in their raw or natural state; 18
(11) casual employees as may be liberally defined by regulations of the 19
commissioner; 20
(12) an employee of a hospital whose employment includes the 21
provision of medical services; 22
(13) work performed by an empl oyee under a flexible work hour plan 23
if the plan is included as part of a collective bargaining agreement; 24
(14) work performed by an employee under a voluntary flexible work 25
hour plan if 26
(A) the employee and the employer have signed a written 27
agreement and the written agreement has been filed with the department; and 28
(B) the department has issued a certificate approving the plan 29
that states the work is for 40 hours a week and not more than 1 0 hours a day; 30
for work over 40 hours a week or 10 hours a day under a flexibl e work hour 31
34-LS0454\A
HB0127a -3- HB 127
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]

plan not included as part of a collective bargaining agreement, compensation at 1
the rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay shal l be paid for the 2
overtime; 3
(15) an individual employed as a line haul truck driver for a trip that 4
exceeds 100 road miles one way if the compensation system under w h i c h t h e t r u c k 5
driver is paid includes overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours a week or for more 6
than eight hours a day and the compensation system requires a r ate of pay comparable 7
to the rate of pay required by this section; 8
(16) an individual employed as a community health aide by a lo cal or 9
regional health organization as those terms are defined in AS 18.28.100; 10
(17) work performed by a mechanic primarily engaged in the ser vicing 11
of automobiles, light trucks, and motor homes if the mechanic 12
(A) is employed as a flat-rate mechanic by a nonmanufacturing 13
establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling or s ervicing motor 14
vehicles; 15
(B) has signed a written agreement with the employer that 16
specifies the mechanic's flat hourly rate of pay and the automo tive manual or 17
manuals on which the flat rate is to be based; 18
(C) is compensated for all hours worked in any capacity for 19
that employer up to and including eight hours a day and 40 hour s a week at an 20
hourly rate that is not less than the greater of 21
(i) 75 percent of the flat hourly rate of pay agreed on by 22
the employer and employee under (B) of this paragraph; or 23
(ii) twice the state minimum wage; and 24
(D) is compensated for all hours worked in any capacity for 25
that employer in excess of eight hours a day or 40 hours a week at one and 26
one-half times the rate described in (C) of this paragraph; 27
(18) work performed by an employee under a voluntary written 28
agreement addressing the trading of work shifts among employees if 29
(A) the employee is employed by an air carrier subject to 45 30
U.S.C. 181 - 188 (subchapter II of the Railway Labor Act), incl uding 31
34-LS0454\A
HB 127 -4- HB0127a
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]

employment as a customer service representative; 1
(B) the trading agreement is not a flexible work hour plan 2
entered into under (13) or (14) of this subsection; 3
( C ) t h e t r a d i n g a g r e e m e n t i s f i l e d w i t h t h e e m p l o y e e ' s 4
employer; and 5
(D) the trading agreement states that the employee is not 6
entitled to receive overtime for any hours worked by the employ ee when the 7
employee voluntarily works those hours under a shift trading pr actice under 8
which the employee has the opportunity, in the same or other wo rk weeks, to 9
reduce hours worked by voluntarily offering a shift for trade or reassignment; 10
(19) work performed by a flight crew member employed by an air 11
carrier subject to 45 U.S.C. 181 - 188 (subchapter II of the Railway Labor Act); in this 12
paragraph, "flight crew" means the pilot, co-pilot, flight engi neer, and flight 13
attendants. 14