On December 14, Governor Dunleavy released his budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2024. The governor can also submit amendments to his proposed budget for our consideration by mid-February. This budget proposal begins the budget process for the legislative session that convenes on January 16, 2024. The budget will be reviewed by House and Senate subcommittees for each agency, full finance committees in both chambers, and the floors of each chamber - that's at least 6 rounds of opportunities for amendments from legislators - before it is passed into law in the spring of 2024. This includes both the operating and capital budgets.

A list of all proposed capital projects is found here.

Below are some other agency highlights in the proposed budgets for next year (FY2025):

·   $138,000 toward reducing the caseload in the Office of Public Advocacy

·   $126,400 in new funding the Public Defender Agency for Holistic Defense model in Bethel

·   $650,000 increase to address recruitment/retention for payroll staff

·  $5.5 Million increase across all 13 correctional facilities for staff recruitment and retention

·  Increased funding for both Pre-Trial Services behavioral intervention ($4.2 Million) and Community Residential Centers ($5.7 million)

·   $3.8 million increase for health care

·   No additional funding beyond the base formula for schools. The Legislature has the opportunity to add funding.

·   $4.2 million for Major Maintenance and $4 million for School Construction

·  $5 million increase for Foster Care to align with higher cost of living

·  $1.5 million in additional grants for food pantries

·  $1.8 million additional funding (federal/state split) to fund 20 temporary public assistance technicians to address SNAP backlogs

·  Establish new Graduate Internship programs in the Civil Division and Criminal Division to assist with recruitment of state attorneys

·  $1.1 million for 6 full-time investigators across the state for domestic violence and sexual assault cases

·  $397,500 for two new positions to assist with drug prosecutions

·   $631,800 increase for the Alaska Military Youth Academy operations, plus two new counselors

·   Two new positions to help address increase of state-declared disasters

·  $698,500 for 3 troopers in Bethel to help with child crime investigations

·  $450,100 for 4 troopers based in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Soldotna to assist with Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons cases, plus an additional $250,000 for outreach

·  $942,500 (total) increase to increase support and equipment search and rescue operations based out of Anchorage, Nome, Fairbanks

·  $3.5 million to expand the Village Public Safety Officer program

·  Reorganize existing resources and staff in the department to establish a new Division of Victims Services

·  $915,000 for contracting snow removal statewide on pedestrian facilities and priority 3 and 4 roads

·  $23 million state match for Tustamena ferry replacement

·   $11 million (fed/state) for Railbelt carbon capture and sequestration project at UAF

·   $10 million for UAF research

The governor's Office of Management & Budget documents are found here for deeper details. I want to hear from you about what you want the Legislature to focus on as we review the budget, please feel free to call or email my office with any ideas, questions, or concerns.

I know we all have been struggling with another dump of snow in Anchorage this week. For more information about the status of road plowing, the Municipality provides an interactive map showing the winter road maintenance status for municipal-maintained roads. For state-maintained roads, visit Alaska DOT's website.

Visit Anchorage hosts a great calendar of the many public and family-friendly events going on in town throughout the holiday season.

If you have the means, I also encourage you to donate to the local Food Bank to help spread holiday cheer to our neighbors.