{"id":5046,"date":"2021-02-05T13:31:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T22:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/?p=5046"},"modified":"2021-02-05T13:31:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T22:31:54","slug":"senate-finance-committee-week-two-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/?p=5046","title":{"rendered":"Senate Finance Committee week two recap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5048\" width=\"512\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1778_50911699163_o-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The Alaska Senate Finance Committee meets on Feb. 5, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We just finished the second week of Senate Finance committee. We also announced the list of finance subcommittees and their members which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.akleg.gov\/basis\/Committee\/List\/32#tabCom4\">can be viewed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Legislative Finance Division<ul><li>Last Friday the executive branch (OMB) presented the Governor\u2019s proposed budget and continued on Monday morning with presentation. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021009\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View it here<\/a>.<\/li><li>This Monday the Legislative Branch fiscal analysts\u2019 responded to the Governor\u2019s budget. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021009\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View it here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Savings Accounts &amp; Budget Reserves<ul><li>We got a real picture of our cash reserves (Statutory Budget Reserve &amp; Constitutional Budget Reserve) and other major accounts: Power Cost Equalization, Higher Education Fund, and the Public School Trust Fund.\u00a0We also heard about how lack of cash reserves affects cash flows\/operations of the state. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021011\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View the full meeting here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5049\" width=\"512\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1792_50912514077_o-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The Alaska Senate Finance Committee meets on Feb. 5, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Public Debt<ul><li>State\u2019s credit rating, debt affordability, &amp; review of past payments and projection of future payments if we don\u2019t go further into debt.<\/li><li>Impacts of governor\u2019s proposed $350m bond package. The question here is whether now is a good time to go into debt for capital projects that will put more Alaskans to work during the economic downturn. Or if we should not risk going further into debt since we could use COVID-19 stimulus money from the federal government on these projects instead.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021011\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View the meeting here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>SB 50 \u2013 Capital Budget<ul><li>OMB presented the governor\u2019s proposed capital budget<ul><li>It is another lean budget. It has been \u2018flat\u2019 since 2015, which means there have been no major cuts since 2015, however this budget is still sizeable at $1.89 billion, which includes the $350 million bond bill.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Reviewed projects department by department.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021015\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View the full meeting here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Confirmation hearing for Revenue Commissioner \u2013 Lucinda Mahoney. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021018\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View it here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation \u2013 we need to balance the present and future needs of the state.&nbsp; We are making decisions that have generational impacts. The issue in front of the Legislature: Is the Permanent Fund permanent? Do we pass it on to future generations of Alaskans, or do we just spend it? I want to see it for future generations. I don\u2019t want to see it liquidated or overdrawn \u2013 that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t happen.<ul><li>The CEO of the Permanent Fund answered basic questions like:<ul><li>How does the Principal grow?<\/li><li>How does the ERA grow?<\/li><li>How much can we draw?<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021018\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View it here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5050\" width=\"512\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mg_1809_50912509817_o-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The Alaska Senate Finance Committee meets on Feb. 5, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>PRS \/ TRS<ul><li>What is the unfunded liability? $6.1 billion<\/li><li>How much does the state have to contribute on annual basis? Roughly $342 million\/year.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktoo.org\/gavel\/video\/2021021022\/senate-finance-committee\/\">View it here<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Main thoughts from this week: The state has enough revenue to meet obligations in the operating budget&#8230; without a dividend. But we\u2019re going to pay a dividend. The question is what size dividend do we pay, and how do we pick up additional reductions and expenditures from other revenue sources. I don\u2019t want to mask the true size of the deficit. No matter how ugly this tar pit looks \u2013 it is what it is, and let\u2019s do what we have to do to fix it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We just finished the second week of Senate Finance committee. We also announced the list of finance subcommittees and their members which can be viewed here. Some highlights: Legislative Finance Division Last Friday the executive branch (OMB) presented the Governor\u2019s proposed budget and continued on Monday morning with presentation. View it here. This Monday the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5046"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5060,"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5046\/revisions\/5060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bertstedman.com\/new\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}