JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Alaska lawmakers were within days of a government shutdown before they were able to hammer out an agreement on a budget that keeps the government operating for another year.
The budget approved late Thursday night limits the size of the check Alaskans will receive this year from the state’s oil wealth fund.
Lawmakers also again used savings to help keep state government functioning. They did not address a long-term solution to the state’s ongoing budget deficit, leaving House Speaker Bryce Edgmon to say the job is “only half done.”
It’s possible that lawmakers could still address a fiscal plan at some point this year. But, right now, Edgmon acknowledged the 40 members of the state House are weary after being in Juneau for five consecutive months.
Here’s a look at how the state got to this point and what remains:
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HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Typically, lawmakers pass a budget in April during their regular 90-day session. This year, it passed after lawmakers had been meeting for 157 days.
The House and Senate butted heads about how best to address the multibillion-dollar budget deficit that has persisted as oil prices have remained low.
The Republican-led Senate favored cuts to make the budget more manageable and limits on future spending. But the House majority coalition, composed mostly of Democrats, saw a need for new tax revenue. This contributed to a stalemate that marked the 90-day regular session, which was extended to 121 days with no resolution. The bickering continued through the first 30-day special session, prompting Gov. Bill Walker to narrow the focus during the second special session, which began June 16, to simply passing the budget.
Meanwhile, state workers were worried as they watched the days to a potential shutdown tick by. They received warnings that they could be laid off if a budget wasn’t finalized by July 1.
This was the second time in three years that a budget fight resulted in thousands of state workers receiving such warnings.
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WHO ARE THE WINNERS AND LOSERS IN THE BUDGET?
State workers will still have jobs on July 1, and Alaskans this fall will get a little windfall from the state’s oil wealth fund.
However, the budget compromise caps the size of the dividend check this year at $1,100 per person. Last year’s check was $1,022 after Gov. Bill Walker cut the size of everyone’s check roughly in half after lawmakers failed to pass a fiscal plan.
The budget fully funds K-12 education, but higher education was cut. The budget cuts the University of Alaska system, which has had $53 million slashed over the past three years, by another $8 million, a scenario that system President Jim Johnsen concedes could have been worse.
The budget also provides $57 million for oil and gas tax credits, less than the minimum set out by state law for the tax-credit fund.
House and Senate leaders called the spending plan a true compromise. But it remains to be seen how credit rating agencies will view it, as the state continues a draw-down of savings to help cover the deficit.
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ARE LAWMAKERS LEAVING JUNEAU NOW?
No, they didn’t gavel out after passing the operating budget.
Lawmakers still have unfinished business, such as approving the capital budget. Walker gave them more work late Thursday after they passed the budget: He added oil and gas tax credits to the agenda.
The capital budget, once peppered with pet projects when the state was flush with oil money, is a shell of what it once was, a victim of cutbacks.
Now the capital budget partly serves to provide matching funds needed for transportation and other projects. It wasn’t immediately clear when lawmakers would take that up.
There appeared to be little appetite in immediately renewing a fight over oil and gas tax credits. Lawmakers have said they intend to end the program of providing cashable credits for small oil and gas producers and explorers.
Senate President Pete Kelly said lawmakers are “worn out.” There are logistical challenges, too, with hotel rooms and cars hard to come by during tourist season, he said.
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