The Legislature has been criticized in the media and by some Alaskans for not doing its job this year. The House Minority Leader has, in articles published across the state, called the session a "fiasco". I strongly disagree. I am proud of my House colleagues for our accomplishments and some truly historic acts. It was the most difficult and arduous session I have experienced. The Legislature, together with our new Governor, worked long and hard to make tough decisions to change our state's direction.

The most notable was passage of a budget with a record-setting $59.7 million decrease in general fund spending. The general fund spending, excluding federal dollars and Permanent Fund expenses, for FY '03 came in at $2,496.7 billion and was reduced to $2,436.0 billion under the Legislature's budget. This included accommodating a $240 million increase in formula programs, entitlements, and debt service.

A majority of Alaskans have asked that our government be reduced in size and the cost addressed. The Legislature did this. What the Legislature did not do was pass a general statewide sales and use tax the Governor wanted - a $315 million 3% sales and use tax to minimize the draw on the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) to the $400 million level and thus help close the fiscal gap. The House took up the sales and use tax issue with only 21 days left in the session. Because of the complexity and controversy surrounding this proposal, we did not take any final action. The Administration offered to reduce spending further with budget vetoes if a tax was not passed. The Legislature took them up on their offer rather than enact an incomplete and complicated bill in the closing days of the session - one that would impact every Alaskan.

I believe we did the right thing. After a lot of hard work, late and long hours in the pressure cooker, we were then criticized for not doing our job. We chose to come home and listen to the people and see what they thought about this major step in solving our continuing fiscal gap.

The Governor did follow through on his veto threats by reducing general fund expenditures by an additional $138.2 million state general funds, yielding a budget of $2,297.8 billion. The Governor has also indicated that he wants to further reduce the budget. The questions before the public are:

1. how do we address the fiscal gap, which persists because of lower oil production (which means less money to the state); and
2. what level of services do Alaskans want if they have to dig into their pockets and start paying some state taxes?

I agree with the Governor that we need to emphasis natural resource development and increase revenues from those sources. I am very pleased with the legislation we passed this year to meet that goal. We have and can continue to make substantial progress with cooperation between the Governor and the Legislature. However, I am concerned that in spite of our best efforts to reduce the draw on the CBR that we cannot continue to meet our constitutionally required responsibilities and avoid harming the economy without the development of a long range fiscal plan.

Many of my Democratic colleagues have insisted on seeing a total "plan" before they will vote on anything. I believe in the art of the possible, which is making incremental changes. We have done this, including adoption of my HB 11 that redirects new lease oil revenue into the principle of the Permanent Fund at the Constitutionally mandated 25% rate. We also enacted spending cuts and some smaller taxes. We do need a real plan; however, we have started the process by taking some small steps forward.

The Legislative majority and minority have to work together with the administration in developing a fiscal plan that does the least harm to the economy and stimulates economic development and puts us on a balanced budget footing. Despite the comments from the Democratic Minority, the House Republican-lead Majority is always willing to work on doing the right thing. The campaign rhetoric needs to stop and the work needs to continue.

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Norman Rokeberg, a Republican, is a long-time Anchorage resident and has served in the House of Representatives since 1996. He currently serves as the Chairman of the House Rules Committee. He is a small businessman (a commercial real estate broker, and part owner of Powerhouse Gym of Anchorage).