A group of grassroots activists from across the state came to Alaska’s Capitol to visit lawmakers on Tuesday and speak in support of conservative budget principles, in opposition to state pension plans being reintroduced, why jacking up spending on schools with more “Base Student Allocation” commitments is a bad idea right now, and the importance of the “No Patient Left Alone Act.”
Americans for Prosperity Alaska hosted the group of 36 Alaskans from places like Fairbanks, North Pole, Kenai, Homer, Palmer, and Anchorage, and the Alaskans spent the day engaging with lawmakers. Some had never been to Alaska’s capital city, and so they are getting the full picture of the compact downtown, the smell of marijuana wafting through the streets, and the center of government’s college campus-like atmosphere.
Their timing could not have been more perfect. In addition to a relatively beautiful spring day in Juneau, a very gloomy financial forecast from the Department of Revenue was set to be announced; appears that there is a significant gap and that the State may come up short in this fiscal year alone, which ends June 30.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has scheduled a press conference for later in the day on the Revenue Forecast topic, but the buzz around the Capitol is that the amount could be as much as a $250 million shortfall.
Alaska’s budget is tied in part to how high the price of Alaska North Slope crude oil remains, the tax formula tied to that oil, as well as how many barrels are produced. The budget increasingly relies on transfers of funds from the Alaska Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve Account. The ERA currently has nearly $14 billion in it, but all but $3.9 billion are dollars already committed. A budget patch would likely come from the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
Also a hot topic today is pending legislation that would raise the salaries of legislators and the governor. On Monday, the governor vetoed a bill from the Legislature that disapproved the proposed 67% pay raise for lawmakers, 20% pay raise for the governor, and 20% pay raise for commissioners. The governor fired the members of the compensation commission and appointed a new commission, which has made the current salary recommendations.
Legislators have not had a pay raise since 2010 and those supporting large families may be nearly eligible for SNAP benefits at this point, since inflation has been aggressive in recent years.
The Americans for Prosperity Alaska group met for 20 minutes with House Speaker Cathy Tilton of Wasilla before fanning out across the building in groups on Tuesday. The Alaskans have over 50 meetings scheduled with Republicans, Democrats, and nonaligned members of both the House and Senate. Only a handful of legislators said they were too busy to take a meeting.
