Alaska News

Legislative budget cuts would end jobs, shutter Capitol tour program

The Alaska Legislature on Tuesday unveiled plans to cut back its nonpartisan support staff, which it said would save $1.7 million by eliminating 23 jobs and the Capitol tour program in Juneau.

The Legislative Council, the committee that controls the Legislature's internal business and budgets, approved the cuts in a vote Tuesday evening. The council's plan would also close legislative information offices in Kotzebue and Barrow for half the year.

The cuts are part of the Legislature's plan to reduce its overall budget for the next fiscal year by 6.5 percent, from $78 million to $73 million, as Alaska faces a multibillion-dollar deficit stemming from a crash in the price of oil.

The council approved the $1.7 million cut by a vote of 10 to 1, though it's still pending final passage of the full state budget being negotiated by legislative leaders.

The lone opposing vote came from Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, who said the cuts were too severe and disproportionately affected his district. Kito is the only member of the council who caucuses with the Democratic minorities in the House or Senate.

The budget plan for the nonpartisan Legislative Affairs Agency calls for cutting 10 positions related to the Capitol tour program — one full-time and nine seasonal. The agency's director, Pamela Varni, said at Tuesday's Legislative Council meeting that more than 14,000 tourists take guided tours each summer.

Other cuts include four legislative researchers, three positions in the agency's legal department, and two part-time custodians.

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The council's move would also close two legislative information offices, in Barrow and Kotzebue, for six months of the year. Those are in the Senate district of Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, and Varni said Tuesday that most districts have only one office open year-round. The budget plan would leave open year-round the legislative information office in Nome, which is also in Olson's district.

The council's chairman, Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the Legislature is not proposing cuts to individual lawmakers' office staffs this year. He said those decisions were made by the presiding members of each chamber, Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, and House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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