This week in Senate Finance we heard from the Office of Management and Budget on the governor’s fiscal year 2022 budget amendments.
One main takeaway from these changes is that motor fuel tax revenue is down again. This is important because that revenue helps fund highway maintenance.
Another change is to implement the suggestion from the Alaska State Legislature Task Force on Therapeutic Courts to add three positions: one new prosecutor, one new public defender, and one person to oversee and coordinate peer support groups for the various therapeutic court participants and graduates.
There was also a request for $800,000 to implement Ballot Measure 2 changes. Ballot Measure 2 was passed in November, and changes our voting from party primaries to ranked-choice voting. The Division of Elections needs these funds to be able to accommodate updated procedures for voting.
We also heard from Commissioner of Health and Social Services Adam Crum about the governor’s proposed plan to split the department into two departments. You can read the full executive orders here. The split would cost $5.7M with $5.2M in ongoing costs.
We will be holding more hearings on this, specifically with more cost-benefit budget analysis and legal ramifications.
Next week we will be focused on the Capital Budget.
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