---
type: "Bill"
title: "An Act establishing the month of February as Black History Month."
description: "An Act establishing the month of February as Black History Month."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ak"
legislature: "Alaska Legislature"
session: "31"
identifier: "SB 40"
citation: "Alaska SB 40 (31)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["HOLIDAYS", "PROCLAMATIONS"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["GRAY-JACKSON"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 33
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-01-28"
last_action: "2019-10-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b2676d23-c2e4-489e-8aee-6d46cc70ed2b"
source_url: "https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/31?Root=SB40"
source_hash: "0208d1c84f4de4a7e590d61795e44d0bbc1d05053c697f9d7a69853813178976"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ak"]
---

# Alaska SB 40 (31) — An Act establishing the month of February as Black History Month.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **SB0040A** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Text/31?Hsid=SB0040A)
2. **SB0040Z** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Text/31?Hsid=SB0040Z)

## Votes

- (H) PASSED Y37 N1 E2 #781 — **37–1** (pass) · lower
- (S) PASSED Y18 N- E2 #731 — **18–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- GRAY-JACKSON — primary (person)
- Begich — cosponsor (person)
- Birch — cosponsor (person)
- Bishop — cosponsor (person)
- Coghill — cosponsor (person)
- Costello — cosponsor (person)
- Kawasaki — cosponsor (person)
- Kiehl — cosponsor (person)
- Micciche — cosponsor (person)
- Olson — cosponsor (person)
- Stedman — cosponsor (person)
- Stevens — cosponsor (person)
- Wielechowski — cosponsor (person)
- Wilson — cosponsor (person)
- von Imhof — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-28** (S) Read the first time - REFERRALS `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-01-28** (S) STA
- **2019-02-01** (S) COSPONSOR(S): BEGICH, WIELECHOWSKI, OLSON, KAWASAKI, KIEHL, BIRCH, WILSON,
- **2019-02-01** (S) COSTELLO, STEVENS, VON IMHOF, STEDMAN, BISHOP, MICCICHE, COGHILL
- **2019-04-03** (S) STA WAIVED PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE, RULE 23
- **2019-04-04** (S) STATE AFFAIRS at 01:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
- **2019-04-04** (S) Moved SB 40 Out of Committee -- Please Note Time --
- **2019-04-04** (S) Minutes (SSTA)
- **2019-04-05** (S) STA RPT 4DP
- **2019-04-05** (S) DP: SHOWER, KAWASAKI, COGHILL, MICCICHE
- **2019-04-05** (S) FN1: ZERO(ADM)
- **2019-04-05** (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 4/5/2019
- **2019-04-05** (S) Read the second time `reading-2`
- **2019-04-05** (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UC
- **2019-04-05** (S) Read the third time SB 40 `reading-3`
- **2019-04-05** (S) PASSED Y18 N- E2
- **2019-04-05** (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H) `passage`
- **2019-04-05** (S) VERSION: SB 40
- **2019-04-08** (H) Read the first time - REFERRALS `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-04-08** (H) RLS
- **2019-04-08** (H) CROSS SPONSOR(S): TUCK
- **2019-05-02** (H) RULES TO CALENDAR 5/2/2019
- **2019-05-02** (H) Read the second time `reading-2`
- **2019-05-02** (H) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UC
- **2019-05-02** (H) Read the third time SB 40 `reading-3`
- **2019-05-02** (H) PASSED Y37 N1 E2
- **2019-05-02** (H) RETURN TO (S), TRANSMIT TO GOV NEXT
- **2019-05-02** (H) VERSION: SB 40
- **2019-05-02** (H) CROSS SPONSOR(S): TARR, WOOL, JOSEPHSON, SPOHNHOLZ, HOPKINS, KOPP, STORY,
- **2019-05-02** (H) LEDOUX, JACKSON, HANNAN
- **2019-10-23** (S) 2:25 P.M. 9/13/19 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-10-23** (S) Signed into law 9/19 CHAPTER 27 SLA 19 `executive-signature`
- **2019-10-23** (S) EFFECTIVE DATE(S) OF LAW 12/18/19

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b2676d23-c2e4-489e-8aee-6d46cc70ed2b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Alaska legislature records).