Governor Bill Walker said on Friday that the state government must have a say in which oil and gas projects are eligible for tax incentives.
Walker says he’s concerned that the oil and gas tax overhaul being debated by the House doesn’t give the administration approval over incentives. He proposed adding that authority, but it wasn’t included in the current version of the oil and gas tax bill.
“It’s one of those things that just I think got out of hand. And it was never intended to be, you know, a $700 million, $1 billion expenditure on something we have no say in,” Walker said. “Can you imagine us, you know, giving 700 million dollars to any entity in Alaska and not having any say over what it is?”
Walker also pushed back against a different legislative proposal to draw money from Permanent Fund earnings to cover the state’s $4 billion deficit.
Eagle River Republican Senator Anna MacKinnon says she’d prefer the House approve drawing money from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, which requires three-quarters of the House to agree.
But MacKinnon says drawing from Permanent Fund earnings is the Legislature’s last option if they can’t come to an agreement. This would take only a bare majority of both houses.
“The last option available to us should the minority not come together and support a three-quarter-vote draw that’s necessary to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve – then the only option we have is to go after the earnings reserve to fund the budget,” MacKinnon said.
Walker stopped short of saying that he would veto a budget that draws on Permanent Fund earnings without a long-term fiscal plan. But he says he opposes that approach.
The House was scheduled to begin debating amendments to the oil and gas bill – House Bill 247 – Friday.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
