The 2024 Alaska legislative session started Tuesday, Jan. 16. My main committee assignment will be to serve for the eighth year on the House Finance Committee, which is responsible for moving the operating and capital budgets to the full House for approval. The challenge we always face is allocating limited revenue to meet the nearly limitless funding requests, including the annual Permanent Fund dividend.
We will begin our work this session with the spending plan submitted by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which includes a deficit of $987 million and paying out a $3,400 dividend. While receiving that size of a PFD would be appreciated by everyone, including myself, the proposed deficit spending poses problems and threatens future dividend payments.
Additionally, allocating declining revenue to the PFD makes it difficult to comply with our constitutional mandate to “adequately” fund public education and provide for public safety. The base student allocation funding formula for our public schools has not been meaningfully increased since 2012, hindering the education of our future Alaska workforce.
Another pressing issue is the need for investment in our infrastructure, primarily through the need for a more robust capital budget.
And there is also a real need for increased funding for most state agencies, particularly the SNAP benefits backlog, Department of Transportation, Alaska Marine Highway System and more. Large numbers of job vacancies currently exist in almost every state agency, having a negative impact on their ability to provide needed goods and services in support of the statewide economy and to individual households.
These important issues will be very difficult to adequately address as begin the 2024 session facing a proposed budget with a $1 billion deficit.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at Rep.Daniel.Ortiz@akleg.gov or at 907-617-5116 if you would like to provide input as to where you stand on these important questions facing the Legislature.
Rep. Dan Ortiz
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