New hiring laws in Alaska for 2027: the $14 and $15 minimum wage steps, payroll cards, health care licensing compacts and what employers do next

As of November 2026, Alaska made few changes to how employers recruit and hire in 2026 and 2027, and the largest is pay. The minimum wage rose to $14.00 an hour on July 1, 2026 and rises to $15.00 on July 1, 2027 under AS 23.10.065, and because Alaska sets the exempt salary floor at twice the minimum wage for 40 hours, that floor rose too. The 2026 session added payroll card rules from July 1, 2026 (SB 79) and a run of health care licensing changes: new physician assistant practice rules (SB 89, September 16, 2026), the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact with fingerprint checks for compact privileges (HB 173, September 30, 2026), the medical, PA and psychology compacts (HB 110), and, from January 1, 2027, the Social Work Licensure Compact, a new respiratory care license and new nurse aide training standards.

Alaska passed no pay transparency, salary history, ban-the-box, AI hiring or E-Verify law in 2026. Each item below links to the bill on the Legislature's BASIS site, with the effective date its bill history lists. The standing checklist (Employment Security Tax account, the employee share of unemployment insurance, workers' compensation from the first employee, the paid sick leave notice at hire, new-hire reporting) is in our Alaska hiring hub; this page is the dated list of what is new.

Which Alaska hiring laws changed in 2026, and what changes in 2027?

Alaska laws and the federal rules that apply to Alaska employers, sorted by date.

How much must Alaska employers pay from July 2026 and July 2027?

The Department of Labor and Workforce Development's Wage and Hour page says that "as of July 1, 2026, The Alaska minimum wage is increasing from $13.00 to $14.00 per hour." The statute, AS 23.10.065, sets the next step: "effective July 1, 2027, the minimum wage shall be $15.00 per hour," and after that the department adjusts it each year for inflation using the Anchorage consumer price index. Alaska allows no tip credit, so tipped staff get the full rate, and the same section requires public school bus drivers to be paid at least twice the minimum wage (a contractor adjusts when it enters or renews its transportation contract).

The step that recruiters miss is the exempt salary floor. Under AS 23.10.055(b), an employee in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity must be paid on a salary or fee basis "at a rate of not less than two times the state minimum wage for the first 40 hours of employment each week." By that formula the floor is $1,120 a week from July 1, 2026 and $1,200 a week from July 1, 2027. An offer for a salaried coordinator or assistant manager that met the floor in 2025 may not meet it in July 2027, and the role then becomes eligible for Alaska overtime. Check salaried offers and pay ranges in job ads against the 2027 figure now, since offers made this winter will still be running when it takes effect.

Can an Alaska employer pay new hires on a payroll card?

Yes, under new rules. SB 79 (chapter 20 SLA 26) became law without the governor's signature on June 18, 2026 and took effect July 1, 2026. New AS 23.10.044 lets an employer credit wages to a payroll card account "if an employee has voluntarily authorized the credit or an employee has not authorized deposit of the employee's wages" by direct deposit. An employer that uses one must tell the employee:

• the employee's wage payment options;
• the card's terms and conditions, with a list of the issuer's fees;
• a cost-free way to get the wages and a cost-free way to check the balance; and
• that the card may carry fees beyond the issuer's.

The card must allow at least one cost-free withdrawal each week or pay period, up to net wages, and unlimited free balance checks by phone and electronically. The employer may not offer a card that charges for signing up, for the first card and one replacement a year, for loading wages or for point-of-sale purchases, and the funds must be insured on a pass-through basis. In practice the payment-method choice now belongs in the onboarding packet, next to the W-4 and the paid sick leave notice, with the card disclosure attached for anyone who does not choose direct deposit.

What changed for health care hiring in Alaska?

Most of the 2026 session's hiring changes are in licensing, which sets how fast a clinician from another state can start.

• Physician assistants. SB 89 (chapter 21 SLA 26), effective September 16, 2026, says a physician assistant may practice "only under a written collaborative agreement" with a physician, except at a physician-directed facility, a health care facility licensed by the Department of Health, a federal or tribal facility, a federally qualified health center or rural health clinic, or a military and veterans' facility, or where the board approves practice without one. The PA attests to the agreement on licensure and renewal. HB 195 (chapter 24 SLA 26), enacted when the Legislature overrode the governor's veto on June 19, 2026, also renames the profession "physician associate," so update job titles as the board's materials change.
• Interstate compacts. HB 110 (chapter 28 SLA 26) enacts the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, the PA Licensure Compact and the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact, which took effect 90 days after the act became law under AS 01.10.070; its Social Work Licensure Compact sections take effect January 1, 2027. HB 173 (chapter 41 SLA 26), effective September 30, 2026, enacts the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact. A compact privilege depends on the compact's own commission and rules, so confirm with the board that privileges are being issued before promising a start date.
• Fingerprints. HB 173 requires an applicant for a compact privilege as an occupational therapist, audiologist or speech-language pathologist to submit fingerprints for a national criminal history check, and physical therapist license applicants must be fingerprinted under AS 08.84.030(a) as amended. Build fingerprint turnaround into timelines for traveling therapists.
• Respiratory therapists. From January 1, 2027, HB 110 adds a new chapter, AS 08.90, under which a person may not practice respiratory care, or use a title such as "R.C.P.," unless licensed by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, which requires a national respiratory therapist certification. Someone already practicing on the day before may continue without the license for up to one year.
• Nurse aides and pharmacists. HB 244 requires certified nurse aide training programs, from January 1, 2027, to train aides in communication, client rights, dementia and Alzheimer's care, among other skills. HB 195's pharmacist sections, including license transfer for pharmacists licensed elsewhere, take effect the same day.

What did not change in Alaska?

• No pay range or salary history law. See the Alaska pay transparency guide and Alaska salary history page; roles open to Washington applicants can still pick up Washington's posting rule.
• Criminal history. No ban-the-box rule for private employers; see Alaska ban-the-box and Alaska background check laws. With the EEOC guidance rescinded, a job-related review using the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it and the nature of the job) is still a sound way to decide and document.
• E-Verify is still not required by Alaska law; see E-Verify requirements in Alaska. The FAR E-Verify clause, FAR 52.222-54, is separate from the OFCCP rule removal and still binds covered federal contractors.
• AI in hiring. No Alaska statute regulates AI screening tools; see AI hiring laws by state.
• Drug testing and recording. The voluntary testing statute and one-party recording consent are unchanged; see Alaska drug testing laws and Alaska recording consent for interviews.

What should Alaska employers do before January 1, 2027?

1. Reprice offers and job ads for the $14.00 rate now and the $15.00 rate on July 1, 2027, and check every salaried exempt role against the $1,200 weekly floor that starts then.
2. Add the payroll card disclosure to onboarding if you use cards, and confirm the card program meets the fee and withdrawal rules.
3. Update clinical job postings for "physician associate," the PA collaborative agreement rules and the respiratory care license, and plan fingerprint time for compact privilege holders.
4. Check Form I-9 versions: paper forms should be the 01/20/25 edition or the 08/01/23 printing that expires 05/31/2027, and electronic systems should show the 05/31/2027 version.
5. Review reverification dates for employees on EADs in the affected categories; see Form I-9 reverification.
6. Remove references to the 2012 EEOC guidance from background check procedures and record a job-related reason for each decision.

What does this mean for staffing agencies in Alaska?

The wage steps reach agencies directly: bill rates for minimum wage assignments need the $14.00 base now and the $15.00 base for any contract running past July 1, 2027, and salaried recruiters on an agency's own payroll must clear the exempt floor. Agencies that pay temporary workers by card must give the SB 79 disclosure to every worker who does not choose direct deposit. Health care staffing firms gain more ways to place out-of-state clinicians through the compacts but should confirm privilege status, fingerprinting and, from 2027, the respiratory care license before a start date. The employment agency permit rules are unchanged; see our Alaska staffing agency guide and employer of record in Alaska. Other states' 2027 changes, for staff you place outside Alaska, are in new hiring laws for 2027.