Interior legislators react to Governor Dunleavy budget proposal

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Governor Mike Dunleavy released his proposal for the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, to be developed during the next legislative session.

With the start of session less than a month away, legislators from the Interior shared their thoughts on the governor’s budget, and revealed their priorities going into next year.

Republican Mike Prax, representing District 33 in the North Pole area, called the proposal “interesting” saying there are some things he would not have emphasized in the budget and others he wished he had seen more of, like education and certain capital projects.

Prax expressed optimism over carbon capture, while wondering if a focus on the Division of Forestry represents a worthwhile investment.

This legislative session, he hopes to focus on occupational licensing, particularly removing unnecessary barriers. “We can reduce the barriers for people transferring their license to Alaska, and that is going to help, both from the consumer point of view. There’s going to be more services available and from there we have a very mobile economy up here, because of the military and military spouses have unnecessary hoops to jump through,” he said.

Meanwhile, Democrat Ashley Carrick from District 35 sees the governor’s proposal as a starting point to begin the legislative process.

She says the governor’s budget shares some of her priorities, like child care, education and workforce development, although her policy decisions on these issues might be different.

Carrick particularly applauded the focus on child care, saying it’s a critical issue for the economy of both Alaska and Fairbanks.

While she supports an increase in teacher salaries, Carrick argues this is not the whole picture of a strong education system. “I think that the governor and I probably differ most on education policy and this budget that’s been proposed has flat funding for K-12 education. So I’d really like to see the legislature take some further action through a permanent increase to the Base Student Allocation as opposed to just focusing on teacher salaries,” Carrick explained.

Carrick identified affordable energy and housing as some of her legislative priorities next year.

Democratic Senator Scott Kawasaki said there will be many amendments to the budget when it reaches the legislature.

Kawasaki pointed out despite containing a nearly billion dollar deficit, the budget does not address new funding for education or the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

He also wrote that the proposal guts items for Alaskans in need like senior benefits and public health.

District 32 Republican Representative Will Stapp, meanwhile, says that with the legislature’s priorities included, the budget’s deficit is looking more like $1.3 billion. “My number one priority for Interior residents continues to be the high cost of energy. Gas, utility prices, those are higher this year than they were last year. I think you talk to the average person, just on their GVEA bill alone, it’s a big challenge,” he added.

Finally, Republican Senator Robert Myers called the budget proposal a good starting point, but incomplete because of the unwillingness of the legislature to come to an agreement on a comprehensive fiscal plan for the state.

He wrote that because of this, “It is hard to tell what the budget will look like come May.”

The next legislative session is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, January 16th.

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