Kodiak’s legislator in the Alaska Senate is wrapping up his 26th year in state politics, which he has said is his last. Republican Gary Stevens’ last day is Jan. 15.
There isn’t much legislative business for him to take care of at this point.
“The governor has called his last special session. I’ve talked to him, he’s not going to call another one," Stevens said. "So, it’s just a matter of making this transition, getting out of my office, getting everything brought to Kodiak and stored, and all of that.”
Stevens was speaking during KMXT’s public affairs show, Talk of the Rock, on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Cleaning out his office at the state Capitol building in Juneau may take some time. That’s where Stevens keeps a lot of art that he’s collected over the last two plus decades. He said he plans to donate some, including one piece that’s 120 years old, to the Alaska State Museum.
According to legislative records, over his long tenure across the House and Senate, Stevens was the primary sponsor of 35 bills that became state laws, plus 14 resolutions that lawmakers adopted and he cosponsored dozens more.
He focused mainly on fisheries and education. Stevens said his top education bills created legislative standing committees for education and improved reading abilities for young Alaskans. And a bill that became law this summer, will require all school districts to teach students civics beginning in 2027.
“To make sure they teach kids and young people how to be citizens, and what it means to be a citizen, and how important it is to vote," Stevens said. "And I’ve seen over the years that often young people have no idea, have no idea how lucky they are to be born in this country and be a citizen.”
Aside from his decades in the Legislature, he’s also spent years serving the public through his time on the Kodiak City Council, as a Kodiak Island Borough Assembly member from 1989 to 1995 according to Borough records, Borough Mayor from 1998 to November, 2000 when he resigned to begin his first term as a state legislator and on the local Board of Education.
"Honestly the most fun I’ve ever had in politics in 40 years was on the school board because everything you deal with deals with kids, and helping them move ahead, and helping them graduate and go to college," he said. "And so that relationship to education has always been really important to me.”
He also spent 25 years teaching at Kodiak College. Stevens is 85 years old according to his previous campaign site.
On Sunday, Sept. 13, Kodiak College honored Stevens’ 40 years of public service with a celebration and unveiling of a wall acknowledging some of his accomplishments.
So, what’s next for Stevens? He said he’ll be serving on a Kodiak College advisory board, which is a University of Alaska Anchorage campus. And he is in the middle of writing a play about events that took place during the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands during World War II.
In 2023, an original play he wrote called “Uncle Ted” about the life and legacy of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, no relation, debuted in Anchorage.
You can listen to the full interview with retiring state Sen. Gary Stevens on KMXT.org/talk-of-the-rock.
