It took fewer than 24 hours and more than $34 million in capital project earmarks for members of the House Majority for the Legislature to reach an agreement on the state’s operating budget finally.
The Republican-led House balked at taking an up-or-down-vote on the version of the budget crafted by the bipartisan Senate on Wednesday night, closing out the regular session without finalizing a spending plan and requiring Gov. Mike Dunleavy to call a special session that started this morning.
Much of the day was spent waiting as the House and Senate held closed-door meetings to chart a potential deal on the budget. The Senate met and passed a motion that would position them for a potential drag-out fight over the budget. It wasn’t needed.
A deal finally materialized around 5 p.m. when the House met and immediately returned the budget back to the Senate. The Senate met, introducing an amendment adding $34.2 million in capital spending projects that Sen. Bert Stedman said were negotiated directly with the House.
“There are roughly 24 items in it totaling $34.2 million. They were worked in negotiations with the other body, the other body made all the selections, and we have adopted them all in this little amendment,” Stedman said. “After this amendment, we’re still $34 million-plus in the black.”
Without any debate, the Senate approved the amendment, signed off on the budget and adjourned from the special session.
The amendment makes no change to the size of this year’s dividend, the most significant sticking point this session. It’s still set at the $1,300 figure preferred by the Senate rather than the $2,700 the House has demanded throughout the legislative session. The Senate has added language to the budget passed ahead of the end of the session that funnels part of any surplus this upcoming year into an energy rebate—up to $500—that’d be paid out in 2024.
Instead, it appears that roughly $34.2 million in earmarks spread out over about two dozen projects did the trick.
Nearly half of that money will go to projects in the Mat-Su Borough, which is home to the core of the Republican-led House Majority. At the same time, the Interior, Anchorage (specifically the conservative Eagle River and South Anchorage areas represented by Majority Republicans), Kenai and rural districts represented by House Majority members all saw bumps in spending.
The only region not covered in the deal is Southeast Alaska, which is home to no members of the House Majority.
The House returned shortly after the Senate’s vote—kept the debate to a minimum—and passed the budget on a 26-14 vote that saw 10 Majority members join with the Minority Coalition’s Democrats and independents. House Speaker Cathy Tilton joined the 14 members to vote against the budget.
Tilton and several other Majority members did, however, cross over in support of the effective date vote on the bill, which will allow the budget to go into effect on time on July 1. That will avoid the risk of another government shutdown on that day, which became a possibility last year.
Details of the deal
You can find the full amendment covering the changes here:
Mat-Su spending
- $5 million for the reconstruction of the Palmer Library
- $5 million for a runway extension at the Wasilla Airport
- $4.75 million for Talkeetna water and sewer line repairs and upgrades
- $1 million for the Mat-Su Borough’s metropolitan planning organization support
Interior spending
- $7.1 million for the Veterans Cemetery
- $3 million for abatement at the long-abandoned Polaris Hotel in downtown Fairbanks
- $474,000 for an ADA-compliant elevator at the Salcha Senior Center
- $85,000 for maintenance at the Tok Chamber of Commerce
- $25,000 for the Kenny Lake Volunteer Fire Department
Anchorage spending
- $1.5 million for the purchase and establishment of the Eagle River Cemetery
- $2 million for Mary Avenue area storm drainage
- $1 million for the Starner Bridge Road and drainage in Eagle River
- $447,500 for drainage and ditching in the South Anchorage Hillside service area
- $200,000 for South Anchorage’s Hillside fire prevention and mitigation
- $420,000 for Lower Virgo Avenue emergency egress improvements in South Anchorage
Kenai spending
- $670,525 for Hope transfer site relocation
- $150,000 for the expansion of the Ninilchik Senior Citizens’ kitchen expansion
- $600,000 for the City of Kenai’s Wildwood Drive Roadway reconstruction
Rural spending
- $5 million for the City of Dillingham’s harbor float replacement
- $500,000 for the City of Kotzebue’s Cape Blossom Port Authority
- $269,410 for the City of Pilot Station to buy a bulldozer
- $500,000 for the City of Bethel Public Safety Communication Tower
Statewide spending
- $550,000 for the State of Alaska Police Policy Manual Project
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
