Alaska News

With no deadline for budget deal, Alaska Legislature settles in for long haul

Alaska state legislators on Tuesday settled in for the long haul, with one Republican leader saying he was optimistic in thinking that a budget deal could be done by the weekend.

Lawmakers are now six weeks past the scheduled end of their 90-day legislative session, with a government shutdown looming July 1.

The Legislature missed a Monday deadline for a deal that could have averted the mailing of 30-day layoff warnings to about 10,000 state employees.

Instead, the House and Senate took procedural votes that failed to reconcile different budget measures passed by each chamber.

Lawmakers ultimately moved Monday evening to create a joint House-Senate committee to resolve their budget discrepancies, though they acknowledged that for the short term, the pressure was off.

"We don't have a deadline," House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said in a brief interview Tuesday morning. "I hope it's a short period of time -- I hope a day or two."

But the conference committee hadn't scheduled a meeting as of Tuesday morning, and other legislators acknowledged the process would almost certainly take longer.

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"I'm optimistic -- I hope we can get this done by the weekend," said Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, the Senate majority leader.

Asked about the Legislature's timeline for a budget deal, Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, responded: "When's our deadline? You know, that's part of the problem."

"It just depends on when rational heads prevail," Guttenberg said. "We hope we get resolution every day."

The Senate held a brief floor session Tuesday morning then adjourned until Wednesday. The House also wasn't scheduled to meet until Wednesday.

Many offices in the Anchorage legislative office building were dark Tuesday morning, and Coghill said he was making preparations to leave town for a few days to work on some of the properties he manages, to care for his elderly father, and to see other members of his family.

"I've got a wife that hasn't seen me in three weeks," Coghill said.

Gov. Bill Walker announced at a Monday news conference that he'd hired a mediator to help with the Legislature's impasse.

The mediator, Matt Peterson, was scheduled to meet with the House Democratic minority at 1 p.m. Tuesday. But so far, the two other parties to the budget talks -- the Republican-led majorities in the House and Senate -- had not scheduled meetings with Peterson, a spokeswoman for Walker said in an email.

The conference committee has six members. Chairs are Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, and Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake. Members are Sens. Anna MacKinnon, R-Eagle River, and Donny Olson, D-Golovin, and Reps. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, and Les Gara, D-Anchorage.

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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