Governor Mike Dunleavy held a press conference on Monday evening, joined by members of his cabinet as well as the executive director of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation to discuss Federal CARES Act spending.
Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer, joined the Governor in offering an update on the COVID-19 case-count. Governor Dunleavy claimed that the state’s numbers are among the best in the nation, even topping many nations in the world, and said that Alaska is on path to continue re-opening the state.
The Governor expressed his hope that Wednesday will be the day that the state legislature endorses the funds, as the Governor categorized them. Members of the Governor’s cabinet were introduced to offer insight on how their agencies will utilize CARES Act funding to assist Alaskans and Alaska businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Commissioner Amanda Price, Department of Public Safety: “The money that we will receive, as the state administrating agency for the state of Alaska through the U.S. Department of Justice, as the state administrating agency, DPS will receive $3.6 million, roughly, to provide really critical equipment and gear to keep Alaskans safe and to keep the workers within DPS safe.”
- Commissioner Julie Anderson, Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development: “The direct municipal relief funding of $568 million will be provided to communities for items that are necessary expenditures for responding to this public health crisis. This funding is allocated using a combination of quantified economic metrics and population, as distributed to the community assistance program.”
- Commissioner John MacKinnon, Department of Transportation & Public Facilities: “The Federal Aviation Administration announced $125 million to the state of Alaska for the airport grant program. What’s important about this is that funding, that $125 million, can be used for aviation purposes only and only for aviation purposes. Almost $42 million of that amount is going to the non-state owned airports, the airports such as Merrill Field, Kenai, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Palmer. These funds go straight to those airports and not through the state of Alaska or Department of Transportation.”
- Bryan Butcher, C.E.O. of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation: “$10 million, upon approval by the Legislature, would go to HFC to work to both prevent and address the issue of homelessness.”
Governor Dunleavy thanked Alaskans for the part they have played in making this pandemic much better for Alaskans than it has been for the rest of America.