Updated: 18 seconds agoSens. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, speak to Kodiak Republican Senate President Gary Stevens shortly after passing the capital budget to the House on April 12, 2024, in Juneau.
The capital budget passed the Senate 15-3 along caucus lines. Fifteen members of the bipartisan Senate majority voted to advance the capital budget. Three Republican senators, who don’t sit with the majority, voted not to approve it. Democratic Sens. Lyman Hoffman and Donny Olson had excused absences.
“We’re very appreciative that there’s a real focus on doing something in these areas,” said Bryan Butcher, CEO of the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. “There’s not enough housing, not just in one area of Alaska. It’s true in urban Alaska, it’s even more true in rural Alaska.”at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, which is intended to alleviate pressure at the Alaska Native Medical Center., a nonprofit based in Washington state, that would give fish to Alaska food banks and food pantries.
Wasilla Republican Sen. Mike Shower, who is not a member of the majority, said on the Senate floor that the Mat-Su had missed out on some of its share of projects because of that agreement.Wasilla Republican Sen. Mike Shower expresses frustration at infrastructure spending set aside for the Mat-Su in the capital budget on April 12, 2024.
When accounting for the $550 million in capital budget spending, and legislation expected to pass, the House and Senate budgets combined would leave the state over $276 million in deficit. To balance the budget, the House’s proposed dividend is unlikely to survive negotiations with the Senate.Last year, the Senate combined both bills and advanced the budget to the House on the last day of the legislative session.