With just a week and a half to go in Alaska’s current legislative session, the majority of lawmakers are saying they haven’t reached an agreement to complete the budget for Alaska and conclude the session in time.
“We have daily meetings together with members of the Senate … and we are looking for a method to put this “endgame” package that I can inform you now, we don’t know the details at this time,” said Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla on Friday.
Since 2015 odd-numbered years have caused lengthy and arduous debates over the budget while lawmakers debate the appropriate size of Permanent Fund dividend.
In the absence of a state election period to spur resolution, regular legislative sessions were followed by special sessions lasting 30 days, and lawmakers have often approached on July 1, the date to mark the beginning of fiscal year.
The debate continues over what is known as the Permanent Fund dividend. It is reported that the Alaska House has approved a draft budget, which contains the dividend of around $2700 per person and a one-time boost of $175 million to the public school budget.
The cost of both items would result in a huge budget deficit, which will have to be financed through spending on the main savings account of the state known as called the Constitutional Budget Reserve. This could be avoided in the event that prices for oil suddenly rise like they did after an unexpected spike following the Russian military invasion in Ukraine.
Reserve spending is subject to a supermajority vote in both the House and Senate The House vote was a failure due to opposition from the largely Democratic House majority.
This has left the House proposal unfunded as well as the Senate has proposed a different plan.
This option includes the possibility of a $1,300 dividend and no use of the reserve for budgets.
At a press conference held on Tuesday in which senators from the leading party declared that they’re unlikely to authorize budgets drawn from reserves, which currently stands as $2.6 billion. The state took over $1 billion out of its reserve to fund deficits in budgets which ended in the years 2020 as well as 2021.
“This is all part of a process, a negotiation and a compromise has to be reached. I believe we’ve made it evident where we stand. I believe there’s a interest among senators not to contribute money to our savings account in the event that (savings) are so low,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak.
In a statement on Friday Stevens stated that nothing has changed from Tuesday. Stevens refused to give a second interview through an official spokesperson.
House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, said that he “kind kind of” is a fan of”somewhat” the Senate budget “so it is my suggestion that we support it.”
While he is in favor of the Senate budget but he isn’t sure if there are enough majority of the House for it to be approved the plan, he said on Thursday.
This leaves a huge problem, and he asked “What is the alternative and how do you move forward?”
Procedurally the Senate hasn’t officially approved its plan through the vote of all 20 senators. However, in informal discussions in the hallway the plan appears to be able to get enough support from senators for it to be approved.
The draft schedule that circulated between House and Senate members in the month of March called for the Senate to vote on the versions of its budget next week, but it did not happen.
At present according to Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka The two bills which comprise the budget will be kept within the Senate Finance Committee for “flexibility.”
Initial plans show that the bill for capital spendingthat covers renovation and construction projects across the state and is being pushed to the Senate and then to the House the week following.
Rep. Craig Johnson, from Anchorage, says he doesn’t consider the situation to be one in which either one of the House or Senate must bow to one another. As the chair of the House Rules Committee, he assists in determining the time when bills are put up for vote in the House floor.
“I believe that if you examine the day 1 in the sessions in comparison to the day before the lines of communication have sort of been shifted slightly. That’s why there’s been improvements on both sides.” said the official.
Tilton and Tilton have declined to comment on whether talks have been focused on a potential dividend between House as well as Senate figures.
“We still have plenty of time. There are many different ways to reach the finish line,” Tilton said.
The story first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
