Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, tells reporters why the bill for next year’s budget was held over Tuesday until the final day of the session on Wednesday. The Senate floor session is scheduled to start at 11 a.m., giving the Senate and House 13 hours to resolve their differences before the 121-day session deadline. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, tells reporters why the bill for next year’s budget was held over Tuesday until the final day of the session on Wednesday. The Senate floor session is scheduled to start at 11 a.m., giving the Senate and House 13 hours to resolve their differences before the 121-day session deadline. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

Senate stalls budget for suspenseful final day

Legislature will have 13 hours to solve differences over PFD, other issues to avoid special session

The state Senate took no action on the state budget Tuesday, leaving just a 13-hour window for the House and Senate to resolve their differences on the final day of the session Wednesday if they want to avoid a special session.

Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said after Tuesday’s floor session his chamber’s vote on the budget bill was delayed because he doesn’t want to send a spending plan to the House that gets rejected due to their differences.

“I’m a little concerned about sending a budget to them and leading into possibly a special session,” he said.

Numerous closed-door meetings between House and Senate leaders have taken place in recent days, but the public business of debating and passing the budget will have to occur Wednesday between the Senate’s scheduled start at 11 a.m. and the adjournment deadline of 11:59:59 p.m.

Stevens and other senate leaders indicated there’s a willingness among some majority members to give ground on the main point of dispute: the size of the Permanent Fund dividend and how to pay for it. The Senate budget contains a $1,300 PFD that incurs no deficit that requires reserve funds to cover, but majorty members said after Tuesday’s floor session some are willing to consider a larger dividend and tapping into a limited amount of reserves.

“Personally, a small draw I might consider, but others are not considering any draw at all,” Stevens said, adding there would need to be a compromise and agreement within the Senate majority.

A larger PFD, without specifying a target amount, received support from Senate Rules Chair Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, with the caveat that a way to pay for it is needed.

“That’s what the plan is for tomorrow,” he said.

The House is seeking a $2,700 PFD that also incurs a $600 million budget deficit. A three-quarters vote of both the House and Senate would be needed to tap into the $2.4 billion Constitutional Budget Reserve to cover the gap, but in addition to the Senate majority saying they don’t support a large withdrawl the House Minority caucuses says they won’t vote to access the fund.

House Speaker Cathy Tilton, a Wasilla Republican, declined to comment before and after Tuesaday’s floor session on the Senate’s postponment of the budget.

If the stalemate remains, legislators can extend the session by 10 days with a two-thirds vote of each chamber, which Stevens said is extremely unlikely. Gov. Mike Dunleavy can also order a 30-day special session, but declined to offer specific comments about the standoff and his intentions if a budget isn’t passed by adjounment.

“Gov. Dunleavy has been meeting with legislators on both sides of the aisle, and he hopes they will come up with a resolution between now and tomorrow,” a statement issued by his press office notes. “The governor has always advocated for a budget that funds core services and provides a fair dividend.”

Stevens, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2001, said if there’s a special session it’s not likely to produce quick results.

“I’ve been through so many special sessions that members come and leave during the next month,” he said. “The real business that’s taken care of, as you’ve been here before, happens in the last week.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com.

More in News

Aurora forecast for the week of Nov. 27

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

An aerial view of mud and forest debris that buried a stretch of the Zimovia Highway a day after a landslide struck an area of Wrangell on Nov. 21. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Authorities in Wrangell suspend search for boy missing after deadly landslide

Authorities have suspended the search for the 12-year-old boy still missing following… Continue reading

Ron Ekis (wearing red) and Dakota Brown order from Devils Hideaway at the new Vintage Food Truck Park as Marty McKeown, owner of the property, shows seating facilities still under construction to other local media members on Wednesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
New Vintage Food Truck Park makes year-round debut

Two of planned five food trucks now open, with covered seating and other offerings in the works.

Steve Bradford (left) and Mark Kissel, both vice presidents of the Riverside Condominiums Homeowners Association, discuss repairs to two of the complex’s buildings on Aug. 9 as a bulldozer places rock fill under a corner of one building exposed by erosion during record flooding of the Mendenhall River on Aug. 5. Repairs to both buildings ultimately were successful. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Juneau Community Foundation offering pool of $28,300 in relief funds to Suicide Basin flood victims

Deadline to apply is Dec. 31, funds will be divided among applicants.

Key Bank was one of the banks victimized by a Juneau man who was sentenced Tuesday to two-and-a-half years in prison for stealing nearly $580,000 multiple banks and credit unions between 2020 and 2022. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
Former Juneau armored guard sentenced to 2½ years for stealing from banks, credit unions

Austin Nolan Dwight Rutherford, 29, convicted of stealing nearly $580,000 between 2020 and 2022.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Monday, Dec. 4, 2023

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

The Juneau School District is entangled in a dispute with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development about supplemental funds the city provides for what the district calls non-instructional purposes such as after-school programs and pupil transportation. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire file photo)
State seeks to change rules for ‘local contribution’ funds to school districts beyond the ‘cap’

Education department abandons challenge under existing state law to Juneau, other districts.

A chart shows the proposed plans for each of the Alaska Marine Highway System’s nine ferries next summer under a schedule open for public comment until Dec. 19. (Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Proposed ferry schedule for next summer looks a lot like this year’s — with one possible big exception

Cross-Gulf sailings will resume if enough crew hired; AMHS begins two-week public comment period.

Most Read