The Alaska House has passed the budget compromise, passing it on to the Senate for consideration.
If the Senate approves the budget, the state of Alaska will avoid a partial government shutdown which would happen if a deal is not reached by July 1.
The bill garnered minority support, with all but one representative voting to approve access to state savings. Rep. Lora Reinbold was the only one not in favor. Speaker Mike Chenault said he agrees with Reinbold’s principles of smaller government and deeper cuts, but…
Spkr. Chenault(R-Nikiski): “You can’t land an airplane straight down. You’ve got to coast it down a little bit. I think we’re on the right track. We cut about $800 million out of the budget. Next year we’ll look for more efficiencies and maybe a different way to provide the services that Alaskans want at a cheaper cost.”
Representative Kurt Olson said members of the House and Senate will probably meet with the governor later this evening.
Rep. Olson(R-Kenai): “The irony is that the final product looks real similar to what we had two weeks ago. There are various tweaks to it and a few adjustments but it looks real similar.”
The two sides of the Alaskan Legislature have been at a stalemate over the $5 billion budget since April, mainly disputing a pay raise for state employees.
Late Wednesday night a conference committee of the two chambers approved those raises for next year.
After that it asks Governor Bill Walker to not negotiate raises in the future, on the basis that negotiations may reopen if oil goes above $95 a barrel or below $45 a barrel.