The Alaska Senate passed the state’s $1.6 billion capital budget on Saturday. The big-ticket spending plan now goes to the House for consideration.
The capital budget includes items from highway construction in Haines worth $30 million, to airport upgrades in Anchorage worth $36.8 million, to a K-12 school in Kachemak Selo worth $10.9 million. About 85 percent of the money in the capital budget comes from the federal government.
Overall, the Senate’s capital budget is comparable to the one passed last year. But the portion of that spending plan funded with money state lawmakers’ readily control is very small, historically speaking.
The bill calls for only $77.5 million of state money in unrestricted general funds. As recently as 2013, that slice of the capital budget was more than $2 billion – almost 27 times bigger.
Anna MacKinnon, an Eagle River Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, told her colleagues a lot of hard work went into that austerity.
“It’s tough times that requires tough decisions and the Senate has risen to that occasion. We wish there was more money to spend and turn in our economy, and maybe if we have some other pieces of legislation successfully passed, that might be possible in a subsequent year.”
Before the 16-4 vote, MacKinnon also called out the credit rating agencies; their assessments of Alaska’s ability to repay its debts affect how expensive borrowing is in the future.
“The credit raters nationally are watching us. Several days ago, we were put on that negative watch again. Mr. President, they’re waiting for action, and we are trying to provide that action by doing what is responsible.”
The votes against the capital budget came from the Democratic caucus. Its members had offered five floor amendments, all failed.
The bulk of Saturday’s debate rehashed a committee debate from earlier in the week – and in 2015 — over funding for a school in Kivalina. The school’s funding, or lack thereof, may become a new legal flashpoint in the Kasayulie case, which identified illegal disparities in rural education funding.
Jeremy Hsieh is the deputy managing editor of the KTOO newsroom in Juneau. He’s a podcast fiend who’s worked in journalism since high school as a reporter, editor and television producer. He ran Gavel Alaska for 360 North from 2011 to 2016, and is big on experimenting with novel tools and mediums (including the occasional animated gif) to tell stories and demystify the news. Jeremy’s an East Coast transplant who moved to Juneau in 2008.
