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The budget that legislators approved last week and will send to the governor for his signature into law or veto would provide around $804,000 in one-time additional state funding to the Petersburg school district for the 2023-2024 classroom year. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has not publicly stated whether he will approve the increase in state funding for public education. He did not propose any increase in the budget that he submitted to lawmakers at the start of the session in January, leaving it to legislators to decide an amount. State funding for pu...
JUNEAU — The Alaska Legislature is set to start a special session Thursday morning after failing to reach agreement on state budget by the midnight deadline on Wednesday that marked the end of the annual regular session. The House adjourned Wednesday at 9 p.m. without taking a vote on passing a budget, three hours after the Senate sent them their take-it-or-leave it spending plan. The decision by the Republican-dominated House majority led Gov. Mike Dunleavy to call for a 30-day special session to continue budget talks. That session is set t...
Alaska legislators, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and the commissioners in charge of state agencies will see pay raises after the Legislature missed the final deadline for a bill needed to block the increases. Starting July 1, Alaska’s governor will be paid approximately $176,000 per year, the lieutenant governor about $140,000, and commissioners will receive about $168,000 per year. Legislators will be paid $84,000 per year, up from $50,400, starting next January. The increases are the result of a convoluted series of events t... Full story
The Alaska House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow the state to set up a system for using state land to sell carbon-offset credits. The House action amounted to final passage of the bill, which was approved the previous day by the state Senate. The measure, Senate Bill 48, authorizes the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to lease out state land for up to 55 years for the purpose of preserving its powers to absorb atmospheric carbon. The bill has been a high priority for Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The Republican... Full story
Seniors and people with disabilities who need extra care would be able to get help at home under a bill passed by the Alaska Legislature. The state House voted 39-1 to approve Senate Bill 57 last Monday, following 17-0 approval by the Senate on April 24. “One of the hallmarks of a society is the way that we care for those who may have a disability or who are in need of extra care,” said Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, and an advocate for the bill, which was introduced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. If the final bill is appro... Full story
A federal judge issued an order Tuesday that appears to close an iconic Southeast Alaska salmon fishery for at least the summer season - a decision that threatens hundreds of jobs and a $30 million industry in response to a conservation group's lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed by the Washington state-based Wild Fish Conservancy, seeks to protect endangered orcas off the coast of the Lower 48 and British Columbia - whales that feed on some of the same salmon harvested by Southeast Alaska troll... Full story
Legislative leaders focused on the Permanent Fund dividend and taxes as they described the budget choices facing lawmakers trying to find a combination that will win enough political support to balance state spending. “The dividend has been the massive rock in the middle of the road,” making it difficult to find an affordable path to a long-term state fiscal plan, Anchorage Sen. Cathy Giessel, the Senate majority leader, said during an online discussion with Alaska Common Ground last week. “The dividend provides a lot of benefits to Alask...
(Alaska Beacon) The Legislature has passed and is sending to the governor a bill intended to reduce the cost of Alaska-made lumber for housing projects. The state House on Monday overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 87, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, of Nikiski. The Senate passed the measure without opposition on April 26. After it is signed into law by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the legislation would set up a quality testing system for lumber produced by Alaska sawmills. Currently, that lumber must be tested and graded by a national standards... Full story
Thousands of new mothers will receive extended Medicaid coverage under legislation proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and passed by the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday. The Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-3 to approve Senate Bill 58, which now returns to the Senate for a procedural vote before being sent to Dunleavy’s desk for final approval. In a separate action, the House also approved a permanent extension to the state’s renewable energy grant fund. House lawmakers had previously approved a 10-year extension, and the Senate changed tha... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy told legislators in a pair of closed-door meetings last week that he will introduce a state sales tax as a component of a budget-balancing, long-term fiscal plan. But with just three weeks left in the legislative session, with no details about the governor’s tax bill as of Monday, and with strong opposition from lawmakers who represent communities with a local sales tax, the odds of passage this year are extremely low. If the governor goes ahead with a sales tax bill, it would join more than a dozen proposals offered by H...
Alaska is 30 years into state budget deficits, borrowing billions from savings to pay the bills. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is five years into the job, still pledging mega Permanent Fund dividends even if the money isn’t there. Three months ago, Dunleavy in his State of the State address couldn’t even manage to acknowledge the need for a long-term fiscal plan, despite the budget math that adds up otherwise. Then the governor had an epiphany last week. Not a religious one, a fiscal one. He said the word “taxes.” Only he didn’t say it in public. T...
A bill advancing in the Alaska Legislature would dramatically shorten the time needed to approve the logging of some state-owned lands, shrinking approval time from years to days in the most extreme cases. Proponents say the bill will alleviate fire danger and revitalize the state’s dwindling logging industry by expanding the amount of timber that can be sold from public land, but legislative and public critics have noted that the bill’s lack of specificity gives the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources almost unlimited dis... Full story
In a pair of closed-door meetings with members of the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he is prepared to introduce a statewide sales tax as part of a long-term budget plan for the state. In his first term, the governor said he would not approve new taxes without a statewide vote — he didn’t include that caveat Tuesday. Legislators said the governor also did not immediately dismiss an income tax as he has in the past, but a spokesman for the governor denied that the governor would support one. “He said that every... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he does not support a request to add millions of dollars to the state budget to help child care providers, instead announcing the formation of a task force to examine the issue and provide policy recommendations by the end of the year. Child care, expensive and in short supply in Alaska, has benefited from more than $50 million in federal pandemic aid paid as grants to providers since 2020. With the end of federal funding, child care advocates have asked legislators to add $15 million to the state budget to boost...
The Alaska House of Representatives voted Monday to increase the amount of money the state pays K-12 schools per student in the 2023-2024 school year. The vote came as legislators opened floor debate on the state’s operating budget for the 12 months that begin July 1. That debate is expected to continue Tuesday. In addition to boosting school funding, the House on Monday voted to restore funding for a proposal that would have the state take over a federal program that regulates construction permits in wetland areas, and it confirmed House l... Full story
A state senator wants to direct a larger share of filing fees paid to the court system toward a nonprofit legal aid organization that helps several thousand Alaskans a year with their domestic violence, family law, housing, elder advocacy and other cases. The 56-year-old Alaska Legal Services Corp. “is part of our social safety net,” helping the most vulnerable community members, particularly survivors of domestic violence, said Anchorage Sen. Forrest Dunbar, sponsor of the legislation. Senate Bill 104 would amend state law to direct up to 25%...
It’s embarrassing that it took billions of dollars in losses for some legislators to acknowledge that the state’s fiscal house is leaking worse than a broken downspout on a Southeast Alaska roof. It’s too bad Gov. Mike Dunleavy acts like he has barely noticed the growing pool of mud at his feet. Start with the Permanent Fund, which generates investment earnings that have become the largest single source of revenue in the state budget. Last year was painful for most every investor, and Alaska was not immune to the downturn. The fund dropp...
Alaska legislators will get a 67% pay raise next January — from $50,000 to $84,000 a year — and the governor and state department heads will receive a 20% boost effective July 1. The wage hikes come after Gov. Mike Dunleavy replaced an independent salary commission that was unable to agree on a pay hike for lawmakers, with the new members convening on short notice to recommend the raises. An entirely new five-member commission met March 15 and added the legislators’ pay increase to an earlier recommendation that the governor, lieutenant gover...
The Alaska Legislature has passed a fast-track budget bill intended to immediately address problems with the state’s food-aid program for poor Alaskans and other immediate concerns. House Bill 79, proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is intended to address the food-aid problem. It transfers $3.1 million from the state’s Medicaid program to the Division of Public Assistance, which oversees the program. It also allows the division to use $3.7 million in additional federal funding available for food aid. The Alaska Senate voted 20-0 on Monday to app... Full story
After years of legislative debate over the size of the Permanent Fund dividend, reasonable voices are starting to grow louder, maybe even hopefully strong enough to outvote the irresponsible catcalls for an unaffordable dividend. It’s a welcome change. A bill in the House would restore dividend sanity by setting the free-money check at a percentage of the annual draw of Permanent Fund earnings, producing about a $1,300 PFD this year and growing from there. That would be about equal to the average dividend of the past decade, before the e...
Alaska school districts are scrambling to prepare for the new programs and policies outlined under the Alaska Reads Act that are set to go into effect next school year. The act has little funding attached to it and its implementation comes after three years of education interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which have left some questioning if districts will be able to meet all that it requires in the short time they have to prepare. Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the act in June 2022 in an...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a bill Tuesday that would increase the amount of parental permission needed to teach sex education and change students’ names or pronouns in school. If passed by the Legislature, students would need their parents’ permission before taking a sex education class or joining a program or club related to gender and sexuality. “There should never be a case where a parent sends their kids to school, and the child comes back having discussions about things they’ve learned in school that may be a sensitive issue or an affr... Full story
A state House committee last week held its first hearing on a bill intended to settle the Legislature’s biggest annual political battle: The amount of the Permanent Fund dividend. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ortiz, who represents Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla, would amend state law so that 75% of the annual draw on Permanent Fund earnings goes toward paying for schools and other public services, with 25% designated for the PFD. “Tonight, we’re going to open a can of worms,” Chairman Ben Carpenter, of Nikiski, said at the March 1 meeti...
The Alaska House of Representatives voted 35-1 on Wednesday to approve a letter urging state and federal officials to fight a lawsuit that could shut down a major king salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska. “This fishery has come under attack,” said Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, and the sponsor of the letter, House Joint Resolution 5, which now goes to the Senate. The resolution has broad bipartisan support in the Alaska Legislature, where lawmakers view the issue as one about an outside group attacking Alaskans’ way of life. “This resolut... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy made a smart decision last week when he issued an administrative order directing state personnel officials to review and change job requirements where appropriate so that applicants could more easily substitute “practical experience” for a college degree. Almost one in six state government jobs were vacant in December, according to the governor’s Office of Management and Budget. The most empty desks were at one of the most important agencies: Almost one in four positions at the Department of Natural Resources were vacan...
