JUNEAU — Alaska Gov. Bill Walker will deliver a 15-minute "state of the budget" speech on KTUU Channel 2 on Thursday evening.
The televised pre-recorded address will be an effort by Walker to "explain to Alaskans what is at stake and why we need to fix the problem this year," said spokeswoman Grace Jang, referring to the state's $4 billion budget deficit. Lawmakers are currently debating how to fix the gap, with less than a week left in their scheduled 90-day session.
Walker's speech, at 6:30 p.m., will be followed by two five-minute responses — one from a member of the Legislature's Republican-led majorities and another from a member of the Democratic-led minorities.
Asked whether the speech came at KTUU's or Walker's request, the station's news director, Tracy Sabo, said "it was a little bit of both." The channel's decision to host the speech, she said, grew out of a meeting Walker had with the station's editorial board.