By SEN. ROBB MYERS
In recent weeks, committees in the Alaska Legislature have been hearing some critical bills from the Senate Republican caucus, particularly those tied to fiscal policy, and we’re hopeful to keep the momentum going. As we push forward, we must not lose sight of why these measures matter. This isn’t just about stretching dollars or getting the most bang for our buck—though fiscal responsibility is key. It’s about something bigger: the health of Alaska’s private economy, which extends far beyond the walls of the Capitol.
Our state has faced its share of economic turbulence in recent years—Covid, volatility in the oil industry, and more. Yet these ups and downs mask a deeper, more persistent problem. Alaska’s job market peaked in 2012 and has been sliding ever since. Our state’s GDP peaked then as well. Yes, we’ve seen some modest job growth recently, but too many of those positions are filled by out-of-state workers. Why? We’re failing to build an economy that gives Alaskans enough hope to stay, invest, and raise families here.
A chance encounter a few weeks before Christmas drove this home for me. Driving south from Prudhoe Bay, I stopped to help a man with his truck on the Haul Road. His rig had Montana listed as home, and I asked what brought him so far north. He told me he’d lived here for most of his life, driving that same road for 20 years, until 2020 hit. Between Covid and the state’s economic struggles, he left for Montana.
Now he’s back temporarily, lured by good pay, but he’s not staying. His wife and kids remain down south. He doesn’t see a long-term future here—and that’s the crux of our problem. We don’t give either people or business hope that Alaska is anything more than a short-term bet.
Alaska’s government spending lies at the heart of this challenge. We’ve got to get a handle on our spending. Any one piece of spending is easily justifiable, whether it’s education, Medicaid, or capital projects. But the problem is that the aggregate is overburdening us. We are going to have to start prioritizing our spending based on the results in the rest of the economy–not just prioritizing our spending based on what is popular politically at the time.
This raises tough but necessary questions: How do we measure the success of our spending’s impact on the economy rather than just by how much we pour in? What signals are we sending to businesses considering investment here—are we partners or predators waiting to pounce when the state’s coffers run dry?
Talk of “new revenue” is swirling, but let’s be clear: That’s a tax, plain and simple, pulling more from an already strained private sector. If we don’t refocus on fostering a thriving private economy, there won’t be anything left to tax. We’ve spent a decade talking about the importance of maintaining government services. What’s the point of services if we have no one left to serve?
The stakes are high. People are leaving Alaska, and government services mean little if there’s no population to benefit from them. To secure Alaska’s future, we must prioritize results over rhetoric, economic vitality over short-term wins. The private sector isn’t just a resource to tap—it’s the foundation of our prosperity. Let’s start acting like it.
Senator Myers represents Alaska Senate District Q, which includes Chatanika, Fox, Two Rivers, North Pole, Eielson Air Force Base, Salcha, Anderson, Clear, Cantwell and Healy.
Senator Myers is correct. Try as they might, the legislature cannot blindly tax and spend its way to prosperity. Should they succeed in trying, the perpetrators of it will likely be long gone when the full effects are felt.
We the people of the State of Alaska deserve to have legislators that seek to serve THE PEOPLE, not the special interests that line their pockets and pay for their political campaigns. Serve the people. Create opportunities, not taxes.
One great place to start? Bringing sanity back into education funding. We’re paying $20,000 per student, per year now: and our politicians want to increase this outlandish sum? We’ve seen our student numbers decline 20%- how much money is enough?
Alaskans have been leaving ever since SB-21 was forced on us by legislators who literally worked for ConocoPhillips. 11 straight years of population loss. $10 billion in aggregate of lost dividends, or over $60,000.00 for a family of four. Prudhoe Bay is the most important and valuable oil field in North America and Alaskans have literally paid billions to develop it, yet we get the lowest take of any major oil field in the world. Worse, we pay an $8 dollar per barrel “credit” aka corporate welfare which has cost us billions.
Lets face it. Alaska used to invest $2 billion per year in the capital budget. Now, we only meet the federal match. All of this is because we are giving away our resource in violation of the Alaska Constitution.
You want Alaska to prosper, Rob? Return to ACES. Under that system oil did well, and so did Alaska.
I own ConocoPhillips stock, and have for years. It is not the enemy. Its job is to maximize its take from Alaska. Problem is these companies hire people that are way better at their jobs then members of the legislature. Numerous legislators were caught taking bribes, arrested, and sent to jail. When those corrupt legislators were gone, new ones that literally worked for Conoco moved in, and we ended up with the ruinous SB-21; and Alaska’s economy dying.
What a shame. This is entirely avoidable. We need leadership. Who will step up?
I love the idea of voting for what’s right even if it doesn’t align with one’s party. It’s the primary reason I hate the caucus system that chronically screws the voters while power is prioritized by self-serving politicians.
It’s true. More and more people see no benefits from staying in Alaska. As a life long Alaskan I thought I’d never see the day that I would willingly leave my precious Alaska. But now I can’t wait to move! Approaching retirement age I cannot see myself enjoying the parks or trails as they are now littered with trash and junkies. Our stores are locking goods up more than they lock up the people who steal. You cannot go a block without someone panhandling brazenly asking for money or drugs. Going downtown you risk your car being broken into. And when the police do arrest someone the courts simply drop the charges. Our property taxes are going to these homeless non-voting creeps and our roads suffer. This is not a place I want to spend my golden years!
Now you know why we say that the best thing about Anchorage is it’s only a one hour drive to Alaska from there.
More of the same from M, more nonsense that has been debunked, more denying the fact that the budget issue is a spending issue, more pretending that we can tax ourselves to prosperity, more denying the fact that M’s choice of governor took the pfd away and the legislature keeps taking it away to spend, spend, spend. In short, yesterday was a perfect day for M to make that post.
Free gas, we need to give away the natural gas. Anyone who builds a NG power plant can have an unlimited supply of natural gas they just need to give 25% of the energy back to the people of Alaska. Boeing Alcola, Tesla, Server farms, Google, are all major consumers of electricity. Free energy would bring long term prosperity. Oh, and complete the rail line.