Freshman legislator Rep. Jeremy Bynum is more than halfway through his first session, dealing with the realities of not having enough money to pay for everything people want in the state budget.
The math of not having enough revenue to cover what the public wants out of state government isn't a shock to freshman Rep. Jeremy Bynum, who left four years of service on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough assembly to start his new job this year as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives.
What surprised him is the size of the gap between available revenue and spending desires, said Bynum, who represents Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Hyder, Meyers Chuck, Whale Pass and Coffman Cove.
He said lawmakers - and the public - need to set spending priorities for the state: "What services do you want" and how to pay for them.
"We need to come to a realization that nothing is free," Bynum said in an interview in the Capitol just past the midpoint in the session which started in January and faces a May 21 adjournment deadline.
"People want things," he said, but those wants add up. "We have a priority crisis."
A large annual Permanent Fund dividend is one of the more expensive wants among many legislators, though unless the state cuts spending elsewhere or collects new taxes the PFD this fall could fall to less than $1,000.
Bynum talked about how Alaskans need to balance how much of a dividend they need against the fiscal reality of state finances.
He declined to proclaim whether the state has a spending problem or a revenue problem, though he is frustrated that Alaska lacks a long-term, balanced fiscal plan.
"We're under a tremendous budget crunch," Bynum said.
Legislative fiscal analysts have said the state budget for this year and next is at least $600 million out of balance, requiring substantial cuts in spending, new revenues, a much smaller Permanent Fund dividend this fall - or a combination of all three.
The first-term House member said increased state aid for local school districts is his top priority this session. He was among three Republicans who voted with the Democrat-led majority last month to pass a large increase in the state's per-pupil funding formula.
The 17% increase in the base formula - if it makes it into the state budget with the governor's approval - could cover much of the Wrangell School District's budget shortfall for next year.
But the Senate is not as supportive as the House of that large of an increase, particularly as oil prices have fallen in the past week as President Donald Trump's tariffs have wreaked havoc on global commodities markets and raised the prospects of a recession. Oil revenues are the second-largest source of income to the Alaska state treasury, after Permanent Fund investment earnings.
Bynum said he has been surprised at how political the school funding debate is among legislators, where some insist on a big boost in the funding formula while others insist that accountability should come first.
"I don't see where we're any closer" to the long-term fiscal stability that is so important for school districts, he said.
As if the political and budget debates over state funding were not worrisome enough for local school districts, the loss last year of federal funds under the Secure Rural Schools program adds to the stress, he said.
The 25-year-old program provided federal aid for schools and road work in communities hit by the sharp decline of the timber industry on federal lands. The U.S. House declined to reauthorize the program last December, even after the Senate had voted to continue the funding.
Last month, Bynum succeeded in getting his legislative colleagues to adopt a resolution calling on Congress to reauthorize the federal program.
The failure by the U.S. House cost Alaska communities more than $12 million in funding, with the Wrangell borough losing out on an estimated $800,000 it had expected to receive for this year's budget.
"This is going to be an additional cost shift" to local districts, Bynum said of the loss of the federal aid.
In addition to debates over the state operating budget, Bynum said he wants to see more spending on the long list of deferred maintenance at public facilities across Alaska. "I didn't realize how bad it was," he said of the list that totals in the billions of dollars.
While some of his colleagues, particularly in the Senate bipartisan majority, are talking about raising new revenues with tax changes on the oil industry, the freshman declined to state his support for those measures. He said the industry needs stability to make investment decisions. "A knee-jerk reaction is not what the industry needs."
While acknowledging the Legislature needs to look for new revenues - adding that he is willing to look at options - "I would not want to look at an income tax for individuals or a statewide sales tax."
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