Alaska State Legislature

News From The House Majority

Ken Freeman, Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 9801
Phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

For Immediate Release: March 13, 1997 Contact: Rep. Eldon Mulder (907) 465-2647

Subcommittee Proposes Budget for Department of Corrections

JUNEAU - Representative Eldon Mulder, Chair of the House Finance Sub-Committee on Corrections Thursday discussed his proposal for the Fiscal Year 1998 budget for the Department of Corrections.

Mulder said the proposal will save the State over $5 million in General Fund dollars in line with the goal of reducing the general fund expenditures for the state by $60 million.

He said that the budget proposal is a result of Sub-Committee hearings and Department of Corrections responses to many questions posed by the Sub-Committees.

"When the carry forward of funds from FY96 is discounted, the FY98 proposal is a modest increase in spending. The proposal maintains the current spending level and still provides an additional 150 beds in the system. This was accomplished by changing funding priorities to reflect a need to address our capacity problem," said Mulder.

Mulder said one of the most important items in the proposed budget is the $50,000 appropriated to the Rural Affairs Coordinator to review the cultural relevance of the inmate programs we provide.

"Programs that don't fit a person's culture are rarely successful. When over 35% of our prison population is classified as native, we need programs sensitive to that fact," said Mulder.

Mulder said the State has access to over $5 million in federal crime bill funds to provide the additional beds over the next two fiscal years. He said the budget requires the department to live closer to the FY96 levels of travel and professional contracting, yet is a $13 million increase over FY95 actual spending.

"The budget proposal will allow the department to respond to Alaska's needs in the context of limited budget resources," said Mulder.

The budget, as proposed, is an increase from the budget approved by the Sub-Committees last year. The department was allowed to carry forward more than $700,000 of unexpended funds from Fiscal Year 96. In addition, the Legislature allowed the department to use almost $2,500,000 in unexpended funds from Fiscal Year 95. The funds were used to purchase improved computer technology to deal with the ever increasing need for data to track prisoners and parolees.

"The people of Alaska elected us to reduce the budget. There is no reason those who chose to break the law shouldn't share the burden," said Rep. Mulder. "We are working over-time to address the requirements of the 'Cleary Agreement'. It seems that the Governor should be as willing to ask convicts to share the burden as he is to ask senior citizens and the poor."

"This is my third year working with the Corrections budget," Mulder said. "I believe this budget is a fair approach to our correctional needs. It exceeds the actual expenditures of the FY96 budget by over 3 million dollars. We provide funds for more beds and are encouraging the department to make better use of low cost alternatives to hard beds."

Mulder emphasized that the Department of Corrections budget has to be as frugal as other state departments.

"We cannot let our corrections budget exceed our University budget as has happened in other states. We need to remember that inmates are not exempt from budget cuts," Mulder said.

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