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Senate Finance committee adopts committee substitute for $2.9 billion capital budget as working document
Summary
Committee adopted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 57 that reduces the governor's UGF request by $119 million, adds 26 projects and a deferred maintenance package, and relies on reappropriations and other funding maneuvers.
The Senate Finance Committee on April 10 adopted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 57, the capital budget, and set that substitute as the working document while staff and members continue review.
"This budget adds 26 projects requested by the Governor," David Scott, Senate Finance Committee staff, told members after the committee adopted CS 2. He described two tranches of spending: one for projects and another for deferred maintenance.
Scott said the substitute adds approximately $89 million for projects and a $36 million deferred maintenance package, including $19 million for the K–12 major maintenance fund, $5 million for the University of Alaska, $1.4 million for Mt. Edgecumbe High School, $750,000 for the judiciary, and $10 million in a statewide emergent fund. He said the projects include energy, housing, IT, public safety maintenance, port electrification, Dalton Highway maintenance and Alaska Marine Highway vessel maintenance. "This budget now contains $162,000,000 of UGF. That's $119,000,000 less than the governor's submitted budget," Scott said, characterizing total spending including federal funds at about $2,903,000,000.
Scott described funding maneuvers the committee used to reduce general-fund requests: reappropriating old unrestricted general funds from stalled DOT projects (about $47.1 million) and reappropriating old match funds (about $20.9 million), displacing roughly $68 million of UGF. He also said the committee increased an ADA dividend to its statutory cap to capture an additional $12.5 million, and that the combined moves displaced about $80 million of UGF.
Committee members were invited to review attachments provided with the substitute (attachments A–C: statewide totals, comparison to the governor’s amendment, and a list of projects) and to submit amendments by 4 p.m. the same day.
Chair members set the capital budget aside to align timing with the operating budget in the House and to allow further review. The transcript records no roll-call tally for the committee motion authorizing the substitute; the substitute was adopted and will be the committee's working document pending final adjustments.
