JUNEAU — A House committee on Thursday proposed an 11 percent cut to the Legislature's own $72 million budget, putting its own reductions in line with those proposed for state agencies by Gov. Bill Walker.
The House committee preserved a previously approved $4 million cut that would move Anchorage lawmakers out of their newly renovated offices downtown. It's also proposing five days of mandatory furloughs for full-time legislative employees, which would save another $700,000.
There's a $300,000 cut to the House Finance Committee's budget, which is used to pay for some salaries and travel, and another $200,000 in the "session expenses" category, which pays for more salaries, travel and staff for a subsidized legislative cafeteria.
"The public said, 'We want to see the Legislature reduce their budget,' and we did," said Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, who chairs the House's finance subcommittee for the legislative budget.
Lawmakers' own spending has been increasingly scrutinized as they've pressed Walker's administration for cuts to state agencies in the face of a $3.8 billion budget deficit.
Last year, the Legislature cut 5.4 percent from its own budget — less than all but two of Walker's 14 agencies — and went on dozens of trips to conferences even after legislative leaders asked Walker to consider travel restrictions. And some lawmakers' aides drew attention for their high salaries.
On Thursday, the House proposed cutting some of the pools of money that lawmakers have used for travel, like the entire $52,000 budget for the Administrative Regulation Review Committee.
Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, used some of that committee's budget during last year's legislative session for weekend trips home to Anchorage, and a rental car there, as well as for travel for her staff to a conference in Seattle.
The House also proposed cutting membership fees in half, to $23,000 from $46,000, for another organization that pays for trips for lawmakers: the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region.
And House members proposed cutting their own office accounts, which are used for travel and supplies, to $12,000 from $16,000, saving $160,000.
The move puts pressure on the Senate to follow suit, though members there have slightly larger office accounts of $20,000.
One of the co-chairs of the Senate's budget-setting committee for the Legislature, Fairbanks Republican Pete Kelly, said his chamber would "probably do a lot of the same."
"I've got a whole list of stuff that I'm going to do, too," Kelly said in an interview, though he wouldn't describe his ideas.
While the Senate will likely reduce the Legislature's budget further, some money will need to be added back to pay for Anchorage office space. Neuman's committee took out the $4 million to pay for the renovated offices, but it didn't include any money for a replacement.
One possibility, the state-owned Atwood Building, would cost lawmakers $665,000 annually in transfer payments to another state agency for office space and parking, according to a legislative analysis. That would eat up a little less than 10 percent of the savings in Thursday's budget proposal.
The Legislature is currently waiting for an independent analysis of the cost of staying in the renovated building, which rents for about $4 million a year, compared to purchasing the renovated space or moving to the Atwood Building.
Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, the lone minority member on Neuman's committee, said he's not sure lawmakers will follow through on their plan to relocate. If they stay, the savings proposed by the House on Thursday would be cut roughly in half because of the rent payment.
"I don't think that's over," Gara said in a phone interview late Thursday. "That's probably like a vampire that needs a few more wounds in it."
Gara, who represents downtown Anchorage, said he was comfortable with a smaller office account, but he noted that some of his colleagues have larger districts that require more travel.
The proposed furloughs, he added, were "a better way to do things than laying people off."
The Legislature's proposed budget goes next to the full House Finance Committee for consideration, and it's expected to be passed to the Senate next month as part of the full state operating budget.