Alaska House adopts capital budget in near-unanimous vote

JUNEAU — The Alaska House adopted the capital budget in a 39-1 vote Wednesday, displaying a rare moment of cohesion between the Republican-controlled majority and the more progressive minority.

Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent who oversaw the capital budget in the House as co-chair of the House Finance Committee, said the appropriations bill — which allocates around $500 million in state general funds to infrastructure and facility maintenance projects — was the result of “a very open, transparent” process.

The total budget amount exceeds $4 billion, and is mostly funded using federal dollars.

“By and large, this entire budget is built around life, health and safety needs around the state,” Edgmon told lawmakers.

In recent years, the capital budget has been included in a single bill with the operating budget, which funds state services, meaning that lawmakers could not vote separately on each of the appropriation plans. This year, leaders in the House and Senate agreed early on to follow a set schedule that would allow them to consider each bill separately and still meet the annual deadline for the passage of a spending plan by the middle of May.

“We did our best to be fair,” said Edgmon.

The Senate last month adopted a $3.9 billion capital budget, with three conservative Republicans opposed to the plan. Minority senators said their districts did not receive as many capital projects as the districts represented by the 17-member bipartisan Senate majority. The House then added just over $100 million to that plan under a prearranged agreement between the House and Senate.

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The plan as adopted by the House includes nearly $63 million for 26 school maintenance projects across the state, the largest figure seen in recent years dedicated to K-12 education facilities.

The bill heads next back to the Senate, which must approve or reject the House’s changes to the bill. If the Senate approves the bill, it will go to the desk of Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Edgmon said the budget process went smoothly thanks to “a commitment to sticking to the process of funding off a statewide list as well as allowing members to have individual projects to be put in the budget.”

“The governor will have a final say through the veto process, but by and large, it’s very heartening to see the House, which has been defined this year by a lot of contention and a lot of close votes and a lot of long sessions, come together and vote almost unanimously. That’s really a good sign and I think it bodes well for us getting out on time,” said Edgmon.

The lone House member who voted against the budget was Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican who does not caucus with the majority or the minority.

Dunleavy, a Republican, has in the past vetoed some items from the capital budget. He has not commented publicly on the capital spending plan this year.

Rep. Zack Fields, an Anchorage Democrat who caucuses in the minority, called the capital budget “inclusive” and “bipartisan” and said it has “the most significant investment in housing and weatherization that we’ve made in years.”

Rep. Kevin McCabe, a Big Lake Republican and member of the majority, said he thought the process of putting together the capital budget was “excellent.”

“Are there certain bits of fluff here and there? Absolutely,” said McCabe. But overall, he said the capital budget is important, and should not be seen as coming at the expense of the Permanent Fund dividend.

Lawmakers must still work out disagreements between the House and Senate on the operating budget, including the size of the dividend. That task has been handed to a six-member conference committee. Its members are Edgmon; Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin; Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer; and Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan.

The committee has already begun work on reconciling the differences between the House and Senate spending plans.

But the biggest task of determining the size of the Permanent Fund dividend — one of the largest single items of state spending — still lies ahead.

The House’s original plan called for a payment of nearly $2,300 per eligible Alaskan, but it would require the state to dip into an already depleted state savings account, which many lawmakers are determined to avoid. The Senate’s plan called for a payment of around $1,600 per dividend recipient. That includes both the traditional dividend payment and a supplemental energy relief payment, which is funded using surplus revenue from the previous fiscal year.

The payment is likely to land somewhere between the House and Senate figures. Agreement on the operating budget will be one of the last tasks lawmakers undertake before they adjourn the legislative session — which must happen by May 15 — but some legislators still hope to pass several other bills, including ones to address education and energy.