Capital budget targets Mat-Su roads

JUNEAU — The Alaska Senate quickly passed its version of the capital budget, a $2.2 billion offering that goes to the House about $150 million less than last year’s budget.

The Senate voted 19-1 Friday afternoon to approve it, leaving the weekend to deal with other big-ticket items with about one week left in the legislative session.

Those include working out differences in the operating budget, a bill advancing an LNG pipeline project, an education bill, a late-entry retirement funding bill and another late entry bill on appointing board members.

The capital budget largely covers regional and local needs for roads and highways, buildings and port projects. Even as the Senate has completed its work on the spending plan, the House Finance Committee, under co-chair Bill Stoltze of Chugiak, will complete its own vetting.

Budget debates among senators and members of the House can often drag on for an entire afternoon and evening, with a stack of amendments and debates over budget priorities. Late Friday afternoon, the Senate reviewed two amendments and closed out the budget legislation — Senate Bill 119 — in less than one hour.

Senate President Charlie Huggins of Wasilla said good communication with the minority drove an efficient floor vote. He said it was critical to take care of the capital budget before other weekend work began, such as debate on the Knik Arm bridge bill.

“To take major action on budget bills, I prefer not to do it late in the evening, and I prefer not to do it on weekends,” Huggins said. “You can do it, there is nothing wrong with it. Given the alternative, I’d rather do the alternative. “

Huggins said he understands the Knik Arm bridge bill will be more contentious than the budget bill, and he didn’t want to hold up the capital budget any longer.

“(The Knik Arm bridge) is a whole different critter,” he said. “That’s not a secret to anybody. You’re either going to like it or you’re going to hate it. Me, I think it’s foolish not to do it. It costs less than widening the Glenn Highway.”

Senate Finance Committee co-chair Kevin Meyer, from Anchorage, credited cooperation between the Republican-led majority and the minority for a vote that came without contention.

“Because of the good cooperation, I feel very good about this capital budget, “ Meyer said in addressing his colleagues on the Senate floor. “Our priorities and goals were to maintain our current assets, finish what we started and identify the critical high-need projects, including life, safety, energy and education needs.”

For the Mat-Su region, some of those appropriations are transportation heavy, thanks largely to federal funding. They include:

• $50 million for Parks Highway reconstruction from Mile 43 to Mile 52.

• $11 million for Lucus Road improvement.

• $50 million for Parks Highway resurfacing from Mile 90 to 146.

Wasilla Sen. Mike Dunleavy, who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, said this budget reflects a good start toward some belt-tightening.

“What I like about the budget is that it’s a little bit smaller than last year,” Dunleavy said. “What I don’t like about the budget is it’s not a lot a bit smaller than last year.”

Like many of his colleagues speaking on the Senate floor and in the Finance Committee, Dunleavy said the Senate did a good job of holding down spending, but it’s only a start. With tax revenue expected to decline, future state budgets need extra scrutiny.

“We have to do our best not to fall into a trap a lot of states and countries have in the past, and that is when they have a lot of cash, they spend it,” Dunleavy said. “We need to buck the trend. Inevitably, politicians spend a lot of money.

“We should bank it while we have it. We should delineate our true needs from our wants. We began this process the past two years. While on a train you can’t jam on the brakes. I understand that. If I’m fortunate enough to return next year, this will be atop the list.”

Dunleavy says the Legislature doesn’t have to wait until next session to begin prioritizing spending.

“I think we have to really dig into the budget this summer and going into the fall and seriously identify programs and things that we do that aren’t needs and aren’t constitutional mandates.”

Freelance reporter Steve Quinn is a veteran Alaska journalist who formerly covered state government for The Associated Press.