{"id":12011,"date":"2017-07-28T01:35:07","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T08:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/legislature-passes-1-4-billion-capital-budget\/"},"modified":"2017-07-28T01:35:07","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T08:35:07","slug":"legislature-passes-1-4-billion-capital-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/legislature-passes-1-4-billion-capital-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislature passes $1.4 billion capital budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a one-day special session Thursday, the Alaska Legislature passed a $1.4 billion capital construction <\/a>budget<\/a>, then adjourned without taking action on Alaska\u2019s larger fiscal problems.<\/p>\n

The Senate vote was 15-4, and the House vote was 27-13, with many members crossing caucus and party lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody got everything that they wanted, but overall this is the product of compromise,\u201d said Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome and the lead House negotiator for the capital budget.<\/p>\n

Juneau\u2019s three-person legislative delegation was particularly divided over the issue of Juneau Access, a long-planned $574 million effort to build a road north to quicken the travel time between the capital city and the North American road system.<\/p>\n

Previous legislators had allocated tens of millions of dollars for the project, but Gov. Bill Walker in December decided that the road should not be built<\/a> while Alaska faces a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.<\/p>\n

The capital budget passed by the Legislature reallocates about half the $47 million remaining in the Juneau Access fund for transportation projects in Lynn Canal.<\/p>\n

Rep. Justin Parish, D-Juneau, voted against the budget. Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, voted for it, as did Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau.<\/p>\n

Parish, who campaigned in 2016 as a Juneau Access opponent, became a proponent once in office.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past few days, dozens of my constituents have reached out to me,\u201d he said before the House vote. \u201cThey have asked me to do everything I can to preserve that funding. \u2026 I must be a \u2018no\u2019 vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egan has been a longtime supporter of Juneau Access but voted for the budget. While Parish saw the redistribution of half the road money as a loss, Egan explained that it was a success, because Gov. Bill Walker had originally proposed redistributing all road funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt keeps the road to the capital alive,\u201d Egan said in a floor speech after the Senate vote. \u201cBack in February, it looked like every last nickel would go away, so at least we saved something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River, cautioned that the Legislature\u2019s action this year is not a guarantee for future years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the straw is in the juice box, it\u2019s going to be very easy to draw off the rest of the money in future years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kito did not speak on the House floor but said after the vote that he has not changed his viewpoint and continues to believe that improved ferry service is the best transportation option for Juneau.<\/p>\n

Kito said it is possible that some of the redistributed Juneau Access money could pay for a new dock in Skagway that would be used by the Alaska-class ferries under construction in Ketchikan.<\/p>\n

Federal funds<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While Juneau Access was a paramount concern for capital-city lawmakers, much of the rest of the Legislature had its eyes on a bigger target: $1.2 billion in federal funding. That much money is unlocked with a state match of about $200 million, much of which will come from the state\u2019s statutory budget reserve, which has $288 million remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur construction sector is already suffering job losses and uncertainty across Alaska,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, in a prepared statement. \u201cProviding clarity and certainty in our capital projects spending will allow the Department of Transportation to move forward with confidence in authorizing final work for this summer\u2019s construction season and beginning planning for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Normally, the Legislature completes the capital budget in April, allowing DOT to send projects to bid before the limited northern construction season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about jobs,\u201d said Rep. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks.<\/p>\n

Because the Legislature has waited until now to reach agreement on the capital budget \u2500 which became embroiled in previous debates over the operating budget \u2500 some of those projects have been delayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if we pass this budget today, it\u2019s going to cost a lot of time,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

PFD cuts will stand<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

House Majority Leader Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, was among the legislators who took an unusual step Thursday by voting against a budget proposed by his own majority.<\/p>\n

Tuck, speaking on the House floor, said he could not vote for a budget process that failed to provide a full Permanent Fund Dividend. He equated the decision to an \u201cunfair\u201d income tax on all Alaskans.<\/p>\n

Tuck was among the lawmakers who previously voted for an operating budget that cut the 2017 Dividend to $1,100 per person, but he had pushed for the capital budget to contain additional money for dividends, enough to push an individual Dividend above $2,000.<\/p>\n

In the Senate, Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Wasilla and Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla, took similar stands and joined Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, and Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage in voting against the budget because of the dividend issue.<\/p>\n

No progress on deficit<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In a prepared statement, Gov. Bill Walker said he was \u201cpleased\u201d by the Legislature\u2019s action Thursday and will sign the capital budget before Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the House and Senate adjourned, Walker signed House Bill 111 \u2500 containing cuts to Alaska\u2019s subsidy of oil and gas drilling \u2500 on the third floor of the capital.<\/p>\n

That bill is the first to significantly address Alaska\u2019s multibillion-dollar deficit. The capital budget doesn\u2019t address that deficit, but some lawmakers on Thursday said they expect another special session later this year to address the deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the administration calls us back to keep pushing for a fiscal solution,\u201d said Rep. Andy Josephson on the House floor before leading into a joke. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily need that call this month or next month.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was only a little laughter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a one-day special session Thursday, the Alaska Legislature passed a $1.4 billion capital construction budget, then adjourned without taking action on Alaska\u2019s larger fiscal problems. The Senate vote was 15-4, and the House vote was 27-13, with many members crossing caucus and party lines. \u201cNobody got everything that they wanted, but overall this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":12012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,95],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-alaska-legislature","tag-alaska-state-budget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12011"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}