The Alaska House advanced a targeted spending bill March 22, intended to address the state’s unprecedented backlog of unanswered applications for food stamp benefits and a shortage of public defenders in criminal cases.
The budget bill is being fast-tracked through the Legislature so that the money can be made available quickly. It contains provisions to draw from the $2.3 billion Constitutional Budget Reserve — the state’s main savings account — to spend a maximum of $115 million for unanticipated spending needs for the fiscal year that ends June 30, including more than $50 million for last summer’s fire season.
The fast-track bill also draws on savings to cover a quarter-billion-dollar hole in this year’s state budget, created by lower-than-expected oil prices.
Alaska North Slope oil has fallen significantly since the budget was approved last May, dropping from almost $120 a barrel then to the low $70s last week, creating an estimated deficit of $247 million.
In putting together the fast-track spending bill to cover the deficit and pay unanticipated expenses, lawmakers heard about several critical areas that state agencies said require additional funding immediately, instead of through the regular budget process that does not make money available until July 1.
Deb Etheridge, director of the Division of Public Assistance, said $3.1 million would help the state hire 30 technicians to help address the monthslong backlog for processing food stamp applications. The administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy cut more than 100 positions from the public assistance program in 2021, despite warnings about the impacts of inadequate staffing.
The state’s long delay in processing applications violates federal rules.
The Anchorage Daily News reported last month that three Stebbins elders were hospitalized for malnutrition as food banks and food pantries across Alaska are strained trying to meet significant demand from thousands of Alaskans still waiting for food stamps. The Dunleavy administration announced the next day that $1.7 million was being redirected to stock food pantries to help meet the need.
The budget bill also contains $3.1 million for the Office of Public Advocacy, in part to contract out work done by public defenders. Samantha Cherot, director of the state Public Defender Agency, said its staffing budget had been exhausted and additional funding is needed immediately.
The Public Defender Agency warned last month that a shortage of attorneys to represent low-income Alaskans meant that it would have to stop accepting new clients who face serious felony charges filed in the Nome and Bethel Superior Courts.
To spend from the Constitutional Budget Reserve — as the supplemental spending bill would do — requires support from three-quarters of lawmakers in both the House and Senate. That’s a high hurdle that has not been overcome for the budget since 2020, amid consistent opposition from members of the former Republican House minority.
Now in the majority, Palmer Republican DeLena Johnson, who manages the operating budget in the House, urged support to spend from savings to address “critical needs” facing Alaska, and to fill the current fiscal year’s deficit.
A bipartisan group of 35 House members supported drawing from savings for the spending needs— GOP Reps. Sarah Vance of Homer, David Eastman of Wasilla and Ben Carpenter of Nikiski were the only three opposed.
House Bill 79 now heads to the Senate, when the Finance Committee co-chair, Sitka Sen. Bert Stedman, said he expects that legislative chamber will “take action right away” to pass the bill unchanged for the governor’s signature into law.
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