05/20/2026
As of 8:50 AM Alaska Time on May 19, 2026, there were just 38 hours and 50 minutes remaining in the Alaska legislative session.
AKPhA President-Elect Brian McKnight and I were attending the final luncheon of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations Leadership Conference at United States Pharmacopeia headquarters in Washington, D.C.. Our flight home to Alaska was only a few hours away.
The night before, we had been scheduled to provide invited testimony to the Alaska State Senate Finance Committee on our bill to establish pharmacist prescriptive authority. The hearing was called with little notice, delayed for three hours, and ultimately canceled.
That delay meant I had to stay behind at the hotel, laptop open and phone ready, while the rest of the NASPA group headed out for an evening tour of the monuments.
Brian had to go without me.
He represented Alaska and AKPhA among our colleagues from across the country while I stayed back, waiting for a hearing that never happened.
The next morning, we knew another hearing was likely, but there was no official word.
We waited.
We refreshed.
We watched.
Then, in the middle of lunch, I opened my laptop and saw it: HB 195 had just been scheduled—and the hearing was set to begin in five minutes.
Brian didn’t hesitate.
“Let’s get to the airport. Now.”
At that exact moment, the hearing was delayed by one hour.
We grabbed our bags, called an Uber, and raced to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Forty-five minutes to the airport. Fifteen minutes through security. Just enough time—if everything went perfectly.
Of course, it didn’t.
Brian got stuck at the airline counter when no agents were available to take his checked bag. He looked at me and said, “Go. Get through security. Get to the lounge. Be ready.”
So I ran.
I cleared TSA, found a single open seat in the back corner of the lounge, and dialed into the hearing with two minutes to spare.
Invited testimony to the Alaska Legislature—from an airport lounge in Washington, D.C.
Because that’s what the final days of session look like.
Behind the scenes, Katy Giorgio, Representative Genevieve Mina’s staff, was expertly guiding the process and helping navigate the bill through the final legislative hurdles. Our lobbyist, Jordan Marshall, talked me off the ledge more than once as the pressure mounted.
And I’ll say this too: I’m proud of the role I’ve played leading Alaska Pharmacy Association through one of the most ambitious advocacy efforts in our history. This effort has demanded strategy, endurance, and a refusal to back down—and I’ve given it everything I have.
Then, later this afternoon, while we were in the air on our way home, the message came through:
HB 195 passed out of Senate Finance.
And it was immediately placed on the Senate floor calendar for final passage.
After 25 bill hearings, two legislative fly-ins, thousands of emails and phone calls, and more blood, sweat, and tears than I care to count, Alaska is one Senate vote and a Governor’s signature away from pharmacist prescriptive authority.
We’re not done yet.
But after two years of pushing, fighting, organizing, and outworking the opposition, we are standing on the goal line.
One more push.
Let’s finish this.
