The Alaska Legislature is coming back to Juneau.
Don’t expect lawmakers to stay long.
On July 27, the Legislature will convene what is expected to be a one-day special session to pass the state’s capital construction budget.
“We have conducted a straw poll, and the 27th is the day,” Senate Majority Leader Peter Micciche said by phone Thursday.
The capital budget funds road construction and building projects across Alaska, and most of its funding will come from the federal government, but it — like the state’s multibillion-dollar operating budget — was caught in the political divide between the coalition House Majority and the predominantly Republican Senate Majority.
An agreement between those two sides has now been reached.
The Legislature failed to pass the capital construction budget before the July 1 start of the state fiscal year, and that failure has begun to have consequences. Take the Haines Highway, for example. The Alaska Department of Transportation has long planned a $40 million effort to rebuild nine miles of the highway. The project was supposed to go out to bid in late July, but with no capital budget, it hasn’t. Aurah Landau, a spokeswoman for the DOT’s Southcoast Region, said that if the Legislature delays the capital budget until the 27th, the project will be delayed.
Other projects have also been affected, according to a list provided by DOT. Those include the effort to replace the ferry Tustumena, and projects to renovate roads and bridges from Ketchikan to Fairbanks.
During this year’s regular legislative session, the House passed one version of the capital budget; the Senate passed another.
Informal negotiations between the House Majority and Senate Majority have reached the harvest phase, and lawmakers will take formal action next week.
“We wouldn’t risk coming down if we didn’t feel like there was a comfortable agreement,” House Minority Leader Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, said by phone.
She said her caucus was preparing to arrive in Juneau by the evening of the 26th, ready to start work on the 27th.
Under the Alaska Constitution, the approval of ⅔ of the Legislature is necessary to call a special session.
Gov. Bill Walker could also call a special session, but he is required to give 30 days’ notice beforehand.
If lawmakers call themselves into action, they can act more quickly.
Micciche said allowing informal negotiations outside of session will allow lawmakers to conclude their work quickly next week. Unlike during the first and second special sessions this year, lawmakers will not be collecting per diem payments while waiting for a small group of negotiators to finish their work.
“I think it’s a better operating philosophy, instead of being in special session, to do the one-dayer or two-dayer,” Micciche said. I think when we get to the end of the regular sessions, these remaining conference committee-type issues —it doesn’t require the entire Legislature waiting in Juneau doing technical sessions.”
Details of the compromise capital budget have not been officially released, but legislators familiar with the compromise said it does not include a boost to the Permanent Fund Dividend. Members of the House suggested including money in the capital budget to raise the dividend to $2,200 per person, but that idea was rejected by the Senate.
The agreement will also decide the future of funding for several Alaska megaprojects, including Juneau Access and the Knik Arm Bridge. Gov. Bill Walker has said the state will not advance Juneau Access, but funding for the road north has not yet been recommitted to other projects.
The agreement is also expected to determine how much money the state will spend on subsidies to oil and gas drillers. The Legislature agreed last week to reduce future subsidies, but the state still owes almost $1 billion in already-outstanding subsidy claims.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.
