The Alaska House Finance Committee has advanced a budget for the next fiscal year with a full statutory Permanent Fund dividend and a $1.9 billion deficit. The budget includes a $1,400 dividend and $175 million in additional school funding. However, some legislators are pushing for a larger education appropriation, which would increase the deficit but reduce the dividend to $1,000. The budget faces a supermajority vote to spend from savings to cover expenditures and shortfalls.
The House has also approved a supplemental budget with $111 million in unanticipated expenditures, including funds to refill the state’s disaster fund and address a Medicaid shortfall. The budget lacks a way to pay for these expenditures, and a savings draw from the Constitutional Budget Reserve failed to garner enough support. The House minority Republicans feel excluded from the budget process and are expected to leverage their votes when the budget returns to the House after being heard by the Senate.
Legislators are facing a deadlock over the budget, with potential risks of a special session looming. The Senate may combine budget bills to exert more control over the final spending plan. The House Finance Committee advanced the budget along caucus lines, with six members of the Democratic majority supporting it and five Republicans from the minority opposing it. The bill now moves to a vote by the full House before advancing to the Senate.
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