The Senate Finance Committee's Version of the Operating Budget
Overall, it’s not a bad budget, but it could be better.
We’re less than 20 days from the end of the legislative session and in the words of the Senate Majority Caucus leadership, we’re right on schedule.
It’s been a rollercoaster of a week, and I’ve had my first “tested in battle,” moments. I’m very proud of the work my legislative team put in this week fighting for Alaska.
But before I wax on too poetically about how awesome my team is, let’s move on and drill down about the good in the current Senate CS1 for HB 39.
The Good
$1 million for grants to rural public radio stations that serve less than 20,000 people.
$1 million for 8 reentry coalitions to support reentrant housing.
$5 million for the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP).
$15 million to rebase Community Based Services & Personal Care Attendants.
$30 million for community assistance.
$1 billion to be deposited into the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) if additional revenues are generated that exceeds the spring revenue forecast.
After the CBR deposit, if revenue comes in even higher, then up to $1.1 billion will be deposited into the Public Education Fund to forward fund education in Fiscal Year 2025.
Denying the effort to have Alaska take over wetlands permitting from the federal government. (404 primacy)
Denying the hiring of “parental rights” attorneys.
The Absolutely Great (drumroll please)…
$174.8 million in one-time funding for public education in Alaska.
$15 million to support child-care block grants.
$30 million for school major maintenance.
$31 million for deferred maintenance at the University of Alaska.
$3.9 million for 5th Avenue: Concrete Street to Karluk Street pedestrian improvements.
$8.3 million for Gambell & Ingra Streets overhead signal upgrades.
$8.25 million for Gambell & Ingra Streets utility pole removal and increased lighting.
$29.2 million in statewide deferred maintenance.
$6 million to renovate the UAA Alaska Leaders Archives and Consortium Library. (I ❤️ libraries)
Base Student Allocation Increase
The Senate Education Committee, which I chair, has been hard at work to get Senate Bill 52, which would significantly increase the base student allocation (BSA), across the finish line this year. We are very hopeful this legislation will become law but we have a backup plan. That’s why we championed a commensurate amount as one-time funding for schools in FY 2024. The $174.8 million added to the Senate’s version of the operating budget represents approximately a $680 increase per student in school funding. It’s not as much as we had hoped for, but it is still pretty darn good.
The things that are not great
While we celebrate the wins, we also recognize the losses we are facing. I’m thankful there is still time to work on increasing funding for Head Start, libraries across the state, and HistoryMakers. Several of these programs are in the House version of the budget, so I suspect Senate Leadership plans to let these items be conferenceable2 to give us the negotiating room we need with the House Majority Caucus.
This is, in fact, the point of politics.
Collaborating on a budget in a coalition means there are early wins and late losses. This is how I feel about the “standard” abortion restriction wordage and decrement for Medicaid Services. In recent years, the abortion language added to the budget directed the state to limit federal funds being used for “non-medically necessary” abortions. Let me be clear, this language is not-enforceable and violates federal law. Every year the abortion language and budget decrement are included in the budget. As a result, the State of Alaska is forced to pay the money needed for Medicaid-covered abortive services from our unrestricted general funds. This drives me crazy because if the language and decrement were not included in the budget, the state could leverage federal Medicaid dollars to cover these procedures.
Earlier this month, I was successful in getting the abortion restriction language removed from the budget submitted for the Department of Health; however, the language was added back into the Senate version of the operating budget. Earlier today, Senator Kiehl offered an amendment in the Senate Finance Committee to once again remove the language from the budget bill. Unfortunately, Sen. Kiehl lost the battle, which means the abortion language is still in the Senate version of the budget.
Now, I am a pragmatic person and I understand how this all works (again, politics), but I think the whole exercise is pointless and harmful. That’s why I’m committed to continuing to build my relationships and shoring up my political capital because I will win this fight to ensure abortion is safe, secure, and accessible to everyone per the Alaska State Constitution. Neighbors, quite frankly, women’s rights are human rights.
CS stands for Committee Substitute. When a committee amends a bill, they produce a substitute version of the legislation. This substitute version must be adopted by a majority vote of the body. Usually, the vote is unanimous, but there have been times when someone objects to the adoption and a roll-call vote is needed.
Once a bill moves through a body and receives a majority vote on the floor, the other body has the chance to change the bill. After following the same process, the bill is sent over to the first body for “concurrence.” If the first body of referral does not concur, the bill goes to a “conference committee” made up of members from both bodies. The bill then goes back to both bodies for a vote.