Since almost 20 years, Senator Bert Stedman represented large parts of Southeast Alaska in state Legislature. District A encompasses the communities of Ketchikan and Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and a few smaller towns between.
The next legislative session starts Tuesday. Stedman will be co-chairing the Senate Finance Committee for the 11th consecutive year. He will oversee the creation of a multi-billion-dollar operating budget.
There are many issues on the table. The Alaska Permanent Fund is a recurring problem. Stedman stated to CoastAlaska’s Angela Denning, that the state must balance its long-term fiscal health with its ability to pay large Permanent Fund dividends.
Listen:
Bert Stedman The problem is not in the individual dividend. It happens when you combine everyone’s dividends together. We don’t have enough cash. We’ll discuss this and come up with ways to rewrite the formula, make adjustments, and see what happens. There is no math model I have ever seen that suggests that we cannot afford to change the dividend formula.
Angela Denning I hear that instead of looking for more revenue, the state should look at what it is getting already.
Bert Stedman Some legislators support imposing income tax or sales taxes across the state, and paying it out in dividends. You’re only taking it away from those who are actually spreading it. This is absurd. It’s highly unlikely that we will pass a sales or income tax, a state tax, or a tax on statewide consumption.
Denning/CoastAlaska The Alaska Marine Highway System is one of the largest operating budget items. The lack of ferry service in Southeast and other coastal regions has been a problem in recent years. I wonder what the Legislature can do to address this. Your thoughts? Because Gov. Because Gov. He will be there for four more years. What would you like for this year’s celebration?
Bert Stedman Let’s not forget the Legislature is the appropriator. The governor can veto appropriations on a line item basis. It’s the strongest veto protection for any governor in the nation — it takes three quarters vote in the Legislature in order to reverse an appropriation-veto. If you cannot overturn his veto which is unlikely, he can set the level of funding at any level he likes. He is very influential in many of the budget negotiations. So I will work with him to try and restructure the marine highway as best we can, based on our current position along the coast. However, not all legislators support the marine highway. There are fewer people living on the coast than there is in the Railbelt. It is a challenge. The positive side is that we have federal funding, which Lisa Murkowski arranged in the appropriation bill several months ago. There are 200 million dollars a year for various system. The state is not the only one eligible. We are still trying to determine how much the state will actually receive when it arrives and how we should split it between capital and operating costs. That’s a positive. My goal is to ensure that the marine highway is still in operation four years from now.
