Alaska State Legislature
News from the Senate and House Majorities

Jerry Ritter (907) 465-3804
Wendy Lindskoog (907) 465-4582
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

Continuing the Commitment That's Working for Alaska

Five-Year Plan Spending Reduced $190 Million Since 1996

Child Protection, School Funding, Deferred Maintenance -- Top Priorities

For Immediate Release: May 12, 1998

Juneau -- The Twentieth Alaska Legislature ended Tuesday evening with the Republican-led Majority once again delivering on its "Commitment to Alaska." Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Gail Phillips praised members of the 20th Alaska Legislature for their two years of hard work and for rising to the challenges facing Alaska.

On the first day of session, the Republican-led Senate and House unveiled their ongoing "Commitment to Alaska" -- a mission statement detailing their 1998 priorities. Protecting Alaska's children topped the list, followed by a commitment to providing excellence in education, addressing the state's deferred maintenance needs and achieving targets in the Majority's Five Year plan to reduce state spending.

"The Majority exceeded our Five Year fiscal plan target and achieved total reductions of $190 million in the last three years," said House Speaker Gail Phillips (R-Homer). "We passed a number of bills to address Alaska's child safety issues, rewrote Alaska's school funding formula, and implemented a comprehensive deferred maintenance package to fix Alaska's public facilities, and prevent a maintenance backlog in the future," Phillips said.

"Halfway through our Five-Year plan to close the state's fiscal gap, oil prices plummeted," said Senate President Mike Miller (R-North Pole). "This gave us greater resolve to continue our commitment to reduce state spending. It's hard to imagine what our balance sheet would look like had we not introduced, and then surpassed, our five-year plan," Miller said.

"We began the Twentieth Legislature with a 'Commitment to Alaska' to deliver a smaller, smarter government," said Senator Drue Pearce (R-Anchorage), Co-Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. "To accomplish this goal, we stuck to our Five Year Plan and initiated results-based budgeting -- a budget process that funds state services based on the measurable results they deliver. Through results-based budgeting, we will enable future legislatures to more wisely allocate state dollars," Pearce said.

"The Majority budget takes care of Alaska's needs," said Representative Mark Hanley (R-Anchorage), Co-Chair of the House Finance Committee. "This budget adds over $80 million to children's programs to directly help kids, rather than increasing the bureaucracy."

"This year we hammered-out a long overdue rewrite of the state's education funding formula," Miller said. "Our new plan improves and simplifies the current formula," said Miller.

According to Miller, the new formula includes additional money to correct funding disparities between school districts and hold rural communities harmless. It adjusts funding on a per student basis, adds a school accountability initiative, a grant funding program, and establishes special needs funding at 20 percent. This improved formula will add $20 million dollars to K-12 school districts and increase public confidence in education funding.

Representative Gene Therriault (R-Fairbanks), Co-Chair of the House Finance Committee, said part of our education package increased funding for the University of Alaska system. "The operating budget for the university increased by $2 million and the capital budget authorizes $54 million in bonding to maintain University of Alaska campuses and includes money to build a new University of Alaska, Anchorage Library. That's good news for higher education," Therriault said.

"The Deferred Maintenance Task Force, established last year, worked with the administration and communities statewide to identify approximately $1.5 billion in deferred maintenance needs," Speaker Phillips said. "We have taken steps to ensure that our deferred maintenance problem won't happen again," Phillips said.

"Low oil prices have prevented us from funding these projects out of the Constitutional Budget Reserve. However, low interest rates made bonding through the AHFC an ideal solution," said Senator Bert Sharp (R-Fairbanks), Co-Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. "This includes some $54 million for rural school maintenance projects and $29 million for rural school additions and replacements," Sharp said.

More than 30 percent of the Task Force's recommended projects are included in the FY 99 Capital Budget, Senate Bill 11, and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation bond package. Repairing schools was the top funding priority following by university buildings and other public facilities including the Anchorage International Airport, roads, ferries, and harbors.

"Regardless of what outside agitators or people with personal political agendas say, the Republican-led Majority has consistently stood-up for rural Alaska," Phillips said. "We have funded tens of millions of dollars worth of projects designed to improve the quality of life in rural Alaska. This includes everything from village safe water projects, to above ground storage tank repair and replacement, school construction and all of rural Alaska's deferred school maintenance needs," Phillips said.

The Republican-led Majority ends the Second Session of the 20th Alaska Legislature with a record of hard work, proven efficiencies in government operations, a long overdue reform of the politically sensitive education funding formula, a good start on the state's deferred maintenance backlog, and the sure and certain knowledge that, thanks to its efforts, Alaska is now a safer, healthier place for children.

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Broadcasters: Comments are available on the Majority Actuality Line at (800) 478-6540.