Alaska House Passage of HB 305!

Last Updated: December 9, 2016

We are pleased to share great news about House Bill 305, legislation supported by Yoga Alliance. On March 30th the Alaska House of Representatives passed this important legislation by a vote of 38-0! The bill introduced by Rep. Lynn Gattis and co-sponsored by Rep. Cathy Munoz, exempts yoga teacher training programs (YTTs) from unnecessary and burdensome regulation by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education (ACPE).

HB 305 will now move to the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, where a hearing will be held to examine the legislation on Thursday April 7. We want to thank Rep. Gattis for shepherding this bill through the relevant committees and on the floor of the House. We are also grateful for Rep. Matt Claman, who spoke in favor of the bill during the floor debate, expressing his support for exempting YTTs from this type of government regulation.

Help Build Momentum before the next hearing on Thursday – Contact Chair Mia Costello!

We need your help to continue our progress by making sure the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee supports our legislation and advances it to the full Senate. You can help by contacting Committee Chair Mia Costello and expressing your support for HB 305 and an identical bill, SB 190.

Here’s how to help:

1. Share your story: Write a short message explaining why you support HB 305. For example, you could explain why legislation to exempt YTTs from unnecessary regulation is important to you. This will be included as written testimony and shared with all members of the committee!
2. Email your statement: Send your message via email to Senator Costello to this address: Senator.Mia.Costello@akleg.gov
3. Get your friends, family, and fellow yogis involved: Do your friends, family, and fellow yogis also support Alaska’s yoga community? Ask them to send a message too! Please forward this email to anybody who may be interesting in supporting this cause.

Yoga Alliance supports this important legislation and we are grateful for the continued support of legislators for the Alaska yoga community. We want to extend a big thank you to all of the Alaska yogis who have already reached out in support of this effort.

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We’re proud to work on your behalf to protect our yoga community. If you have further questions please contact us at yaadvocacy@yogaalliance.org or call us at 888-921-9642.