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Dear Neighbors,
The Alaska Legislature will see hundreds of bills, thousands of amendments and take tens of thousands of minutes of public testimony. In the end, the only bill that must be passed by the end of the year is the state operating/capital/supplemental budget and it is usually the last item to pass on the 121st day of session.
The state budget is around $16-billion and contains everything from troopers, snow removal, airport runway operations and ferry services. The budget also contains funding for local communities to aid in local school districts, for teacher, counselors and school nurses. The budget has funding that is calculated as a share of the oil wealth to each community mostly based on population called ‘revenue sharing’ or ‘community assistance’. It is used as the City of Fairbanks or Borough see fit and to lower property taxes. The budget will also contain billions in funds for roads, rails, runways, wildfire protection, healthcare expenses, disability services and the Permanent Fund Dividend.
Now is just one time that has been set aside to folks to testify on the budget and priorities to the State Senate Finance Committee. Each community will have a specific time to reach members directly and the entire process can be viewed at www.akl.tv. Fairbanks will be heard on Wednesday, February 26 from 1pm-2:45pm. A full calendar can be reached here: https://shorturl.at/0sSEG. As always, you can send me any comments regarding the budget that I would be happy to send to the Finance Committee to put on the public record.
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