It was a rough day for Rep. Lora Reinbold.
On Tuesday, as finance subcommittees in the Alaska House prepared to approve budgets for the state judiciary and the Department of Environmental Conservation, Reinbold offered 45 amendments. She suggested cuts to various programs and departments, instructions to save money and guiding principles — encouraging the state’s judicial system to reject Sharia law, for example.
All failed.
Reinbold’s amendments, while unusual in their profusion, are typical of the work going on in the Capitol as the Alaska House of Representatives nears the end of its annual budgeting process.
This week is being devoted to “closeouts,” whereby subcommittees devoted to individual departments finish their work and forward a recommended budget to the full House Finance Committee.
That committee is expected to take up the state’s operating budget next week, and House leaders have said they want to pass a budget and send it to the Senate (where the whole process will be repeated) by March 9.
This year, with the state expecting a deficit of between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, the budget process will be only half the struggle. The other half will come as lawmakers figure out how to pay for what they plan to spend. With oil prices starving the state of revenue, they’re considering spending Permanent Fund earnings, higher consumption taxes and even an income tax.
First, though, comes the cutting.
For DEC, which issues pollution permits and governs food safety (among other duties), Gov. Bill Walker suggested a budget cut of about $1.3 million over the current year.
“This committee,” said Rep. Cathy Muñoz, R-Juneau and chairwoman of the DEC subcommittee, “is recommending (cutting) $1.2 million … over and above what the governor has recommended.”
If the cuts are approved by the rest of the House and the Senate, the DEC’s budget will have been cut 26 percent in the past two years, to just $83 million. Forty-three positions will have been cut in the process, mostly through attrition.
For the state court system, the subcommittee — again chaired by Muñoz — decided against making cuts beyond those suggested by the governor. Walker’s budget calls for a nearly $4 million cut to the court system, which will be forced to close on Friday afternoons and continue to leave positions open if people quit or retire.
Additional changes are possible later if the House and Senate pass a long awaited sentencing-reform bill that promises to reduce prison and court costs.
With millions of dollars at stake, the process Monday was testy at times. Reinbold, who said she was awake until 2:30 a.m. working on her amendments, watched as Munoz threw most of them out for being written incorrectly.
“I’d like to speak to that,” Reinbold said after one amendment was ruled out of order.
“You have spoken to that,” Muñoz replied, ending further discussion.
Later, a frustrated Reinbold added, “It sounds like I’m not going to get help from the department or from staff for these little technicalities.”
On amendments that did reach a vote of the subcommittee, Reinbold found little support.
In the judiciary subcommittee, Reinbold offered an amendment that would “ban the use of foreign systems of law, such as Sharia Law, in our American courts.”
Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, said that amendment might prevent two companies or individuals from conducting a business deal in Alaska if they decided to use foreign law out of convenience. She suggested British Petroleum might want to use British law, for example.
Reinbold’s amendment failed 1-6.
In the DEC subcommittee, one of Reinbold’s amendments suggested getting rid of the program that governs pollution permits for mobile generators.
“Halt this program until it is re-evaluated because new research is coming out that has shown positive effects of greenhouse gases,” she wrote, “such as increased plant growth and opening up Arctic channels providing new opportunities for Alaska.”
Having seen her previous suggestions rejected, Reinbold withdrew her amendment.
“I just wanted it to be on record,” she said, repeating a phrase she used often as her amendments were turned down or withdrawn.
The DEC subcommittee failed to officially pass its budget out of committee on Tuesday, but that is expected Thursday after procedural action.
Later in the evening, other subcommittees were expected to wrap up their work as well. The Department of Education budget was expected to pass out of subcommittee late Tuesday, as was the budgets for the departments of Law and Administration.
On Wednesday night, the budgets for the departments of Commerce, Revenue, Labor and the University of Alaska are scheduled for closeout. On Thursday, it will be Transportation and Military/Veterans Affairs. On Friday, Corrections, Health and Public Safety will have their turns.
