News from the Senate Majority

Alaska State Legislature

Wendy Lindskoog, Senate Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: 907/465-4582
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Broadcast Actualities: 800/478-6540

For Immediate Release: April 5, 1997 Contact: Senator Drue Pearce, 907/465-4993

Senate Passes Supplemental Budget

Juneau -- The Alaska State Senate Friday passed the Supplemental Appropriations bill providing a total of $15.7 million in general funds for emergency and unanticipated state agency needs in fiscal year 97. The vote was 17 to 3.

Every year, the Governor presents a supplemental budget request that asks the Legislature to authorize additional funding for the current or prior fiscal year to cover deficiencies. Deficiencies can be caused by a law enacted after transmission of the budget, public interest, audit exceptions, over-expenditure or anticipated over-expenditure, or other emergency or unforeseen circumstance.

"One of the difficulties of writing a budget half a year ahead of the fiscal year is that its hard to project what your revenues are going to be and what your unforeseen needs will be," said Senator Pearce, Co-Chair Senate Finance.

The Miller’s Reach fire, for example, created an emergency need for supplemental funds last year. "The fire started after our budget deliberations were virtually complete last session," Pearce said. "To combat it, and provide emergency services for Alaskans rendered homeless, the Legislature was able to supplement the budget by appropriating additional money to cover fire fighting and emergency aid needs."

"I am pleased with the outcome of this year’s supplemental," said Pearce. "The $14.7 million passed Friday, along with the $1 million appropriation that will enable the State to challenge the Venetie Indian Country ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, provides sufficient funding for the state’s needs and is the smallest supplemental in the last ten years."

Key provisions of this year’s Senate supplemental include:

• $750,000 for Foster Care services.
• $3.7 million for fire suppression activities.
• $1.3 million for preparation and administration of value-added timber sales which will provide employment opportunities to Alaskans in various parts of the state.
• $1.4 million to improve security and provide additional operating money for the McLaughlin Youth Facility.
• $360,000 for replacement of Unalakleet's mainwater line.

Additionally, the Senate approved:

• $1 million of federal receipts to be spent on new inmate beds.
• $28 million of funding to the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation revolving fund for construction of the Kodiak launch complex: $18 million comes from federal receipts; $5 million is funded from the Alaska Science & Technology Foundation, with an additional $5 million from private industry matching funds.

The supplemental budget bill, Senate Bill 83, moves now to the House.

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Broadcast Note: Radio Actualities are available by calling 800/478-6540

Proposed Senate Operating Budget

The Facts:

+ Oil production is declining

+ Oil revenue is declining

+ Alaska’s expenses are higher than its revenues

= Alaska has a fiscal gap

• Alaskans voted to send a larger majority of Republicans to Juneau. We consider that an acceptance and approval of our efforts to balance the state’s budget and close the budget gap by focusing on budget cuts rather than instituting an income tax or attacking the Permanent Fund dividend program.
• Our goal is to create a smaller and smarter government by eliminating overlap and duplicative efforts between agencies, and trimming areas we feel are inefficient or are nonessential functions of government.
• The spending priorities we defined in our budget include education, public safety, and our transportation system with emphasis on maintenance of our roads and airports. Because we must reduce the size of government -- all other spending is on the table.

Department of Administration:

• Pioneer Homes are funded at a higher level than last year.
• Streamlined central administrative functions to realize savings.

Economic Development:

• Focused on identifying areas of duplication across Departmental lines to streamline services and realize savings through more efficient services.
• Identified areas of excessive overhead in the Division of Agriculture to help preserve the Agriculture Revolving Loan Fund balance for loans to farmers.

Department of Community and Regional Affairs (DC&RA):

• Fully funded child care grants.
• Maintained current funding level for Head Start programs.
• Maintained funding for rural energy programs.
• Kodiak Launch facility development funded fully
• Maintain current Alaska Tourism Marketing Council tourism marketing efforts
• Consolidates state economic development programs.

Department of Corrections:

• Exceeds the actual expenditures of the FY 96 budget by over $1 million dollars.
• Provides funds for 150 more prison beds accomplished by changing funding priorities to reflect a need to address our capacity problem. Encourages the department to make better use of low cost alternatives to hard beds.
• Allows access to over $5 million in new federal crime bill funds to provide additional beds over the next two years.
• Proposed $50,000 appropriation 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 prison population is classified as Native, we need programs sensitive to that fact.
• The budget requires state employees travel less.

Court System:

• Funded a Standing Master and a Family Court Master to deal with burgeoning caseloads related to domestic violence and family matters.
• Funding for several clerks, a Systems Analyst, a Federal Compliance Officer, operations and maintenance for the Kenai court allows for continued improvements in the case management system.
• Funding allows for rent increases.

Department of Education:

• Fully funded K-12 education.
• Focused on reducing administrative overhead in the Commissioner's office.
• Funded Vocational Rehabilitation at requested level with no reductions.
• Funded Alaska State Council on the Arts at requested level with no reductions.

Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC):

• Fully funded air and water quality programs.
• Fully funded statewide public services including domestic waste water management, enforcement, and compliance assistance, and the public service offices.
• Funded seafood and sanitation inspections to ensure public safety.
• Funded all federally mandated programs.
• Realize savings in the solid waste department by streamlining the department while maintaining quality service and state control.

Department of Fish and Game (F&G):

• Thwarted Governor's efforts to use Fish & Game fund money for activities not relating to sport hunting and fishing. The Senate budget retains the integrity of these state and federal revenues by reserving them for management of fish and game harvested by license holders as required by state and federal law.
• Adds $96,100 in General Fund Designated Program Receipts for the developing Southeast Sea Urchin fishery.
• Requires "Watchable Wildlife" programs to be supporting and encourages the Department to consider granting concessions to the private sector to operate these programs.
• Proposed FY'98 Department of Fish & Game budget is $2.2 million over FY'96 actual.

Department of Health and Social Services (H&SS):

Ensures access to basic health care for the poor, elderly and disabled:

• Medicaid -- Funds medicaid options including artificial limbs, hearing aids, eyeglasses, dental care, mammography, etc.
• Increases Emergency Medical Services grants by $200,000 for emergency medical equipment and training.

Better protects and cares for Alaskan Children:

• Increases funding for Women, Infants, and Children: Budget provides for an increase of $750,000 worth of baby formula and other necessities for children.
• Increases funding for the Infant Learning Program so that more children will be served.
• Increases funding for Foster Care/Adoptions: Increases state funding for foster care and subsidized adoptions, including those children with special needs.
• Increases state funding for the Healthy Families program.
• Starts an Inhalant Abuse Program.
• Replaces vanishing federal dollars with state dollars in the area of child protection programs.

Provides increased funding for Alaska’s juvenile justice system:

• Adds youth probation officer/community diversion grants.
• Adds money for increased staffing levels at McLaughlin.

Department of Labor:

• Funded all but 0.3 percent to protect the integrity of the Department’s programs that ensure the health and safety of Alaska’s workforce.
• The slight reduction will not affect the Department’s ability to receive federal funds -- more than 50 percent of the Department’s budget is derived from federal dollars.

Department of Law:

• Fully funded the Criminal Division’s request to further the Republican-led Majority’s commitment to safe neighborhoods.
• Restructured the Department's budget to enable Department managers and the Legislature to identify where the state's legal efforts are being directed. This will not only help future Legislatures determine the necessary level of funding required for the Department, it encourages improvements in the accountability and the management of our state's legal resources. Allows User Agencies to determine the level of their legal needs.

Military and Veterans Affairs (DM&VA):

• Fully funds veteran programs.
• Slightly increases funding for National Guard facilities/program.
• Fully funds emergency services.

Department of Natural Resources (DNR):

• Fully funded Oil & Gas programs which will further encourage exploration and development
• Fully funded Parks budget to keep campgrounds and parks open.
• Saved the Agriculture Revolving Loan Fund (ARLF) for future Alaskan farmers, rather than for funding the Division of Agriculture.
• Maintained current efforts in Timber and Mining.

Department of Public Safety:

• Added funding for two additional Alaska State Troopers.
• Focused on reducing administrative overhead in the Commissioner's office.
• Re-opened an Alaska State Trooper post on the Kenai Peninsula that had been recently closed.
• Funded grants for victim services.
• Fund lapse in supplemental bill funds five additional village public safety officers.

Department of Revenue:

• Encourages the Department of Revenue to look at more efficient and cost effective ways of providing child support enforcement services. The Legislature intends to provide the incentive and the means to compare performance of the private sector contractor with the performance of the Child Support Enforcement Division. The budget structure urges partial privatization beginning January, 1998.
• Found efficiencies by eliminating gaming as a separate division, returning the enforcement of the gaming statutes to the Income and Excise Audit division - - this eliminates administrative overhead, while ensuring the gaming regulatory functions are maintained at current levels.
• To realize $170,000 in savings, we encourage the Oil and Gas Audit Division to accelerate the schedule for taking advantage of the Retirement Incentive Program.

Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF):

• Restructure budget allocations to direct additional funding for road and airport maintenance.
• Reduce top-heavy administrative and bureaucratic costs and redirect the money to vessel operations of the Marine Highway System.

University:

• With a reduction of only 2.5 percent in general fund spending, the overall University budget is still increased by more than $6 million from last year.

Information Technologies:

• Provide for reduced technology costs through group purchasing and standardization of hardware and software.
• Reduced random, uncoordinated purchases of computer equipment.