After weeklong delay, Alaska House will try again to pass a state budget

JUNEAU — The Alaska House of Representatives will resume debate Monday on its version of Alaska’s state operating budget, ending a weeklong delay caused in part by disagreement over the handling of amendments proposed by minority Republicans.

Alaska legislators have until May 19 to approve the state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. If they can’t meet that deadline, now less than two weeks away, they will need a special session.

Even if the House approves its version Monday, the Legislature’s normal budget timeline will be squeezed. The Alaska Senate traditionally creates a competing budget proposal, and there will be little time to find a compromise between the House and Senate plans.

Despite the impending time crunch, House Speaker Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, said her intention is for the Legislature to pass the budget by May 19.

“That’s what we’re aiming for, and I’m an optimist,” she said.

Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka and co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said his committee is prepared to begin working on the House proposal as soon as Tuesday. He’s somewhat skeptical that lawmakers will be able to finish work on the budget without a special session.

“I’m still trying to come up with how to get out of here by the 19th. But it looks extremely tight and everything would have to go about perfect,” he said.

Last weekend, House debate on the budget stalled after members of the House’s coalition majority voted to end debate and stop considering amendments offered by the House’s Republican minority.

That outraged the minority, and the majority was further hampered by the sudden absence of Rep. Grier Hopkins, D-Fairbanks. Hopkins left the Capitol to attend the birth of his first child. That left the 21-member majority with only 20 members, one shy of a true majority in the 40-person House.

“We are overjoyed at the arrival of our first child, our daughter Isidora, and I truly appreciate my colleagues understanding that even with such huge decisions facing our state, family still comes first,” he said.

He said he will be present when debate resumes Monday.

The House’s budget plan includes $4.2 billion in services funded by tax revenue and transfers from the Alaska Permanent Fund.

That figure is artificially low, in part because the House plan uses several hundred million dollars in federal coronavirus economic relief in the place of more typical revenue.

Estimates from the nonpartisan Legislative Finance Division suggest the cost of annual state services is near $4.5 billion or $4.6 billion, depending on the estimate and rounding.

None of those figures include the Permanent Fund dividend, which is not included in the House proposal and is expected to advance in separate legislation.

The state’s annual capital budget — which funds construction and renovation projects statewide — also is unfinished and has yet to advance from the Senate.