Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the State Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House Finance adopts governor’s operating and mental‑health committee substitutes with technical changes
Summary
The Alaska House Finance Committee on Feb. 12 adopted committee substitutes for House Bill 53 (operating budget) and House Bill 55 (mental‑health budget). Staff said the substitutes reflect the governor’s proposed budgets and include only technical, conforming revisions; the office of management and budget reported no concerns.
The Alaska House Finance Committee on Feb. 12 adopted committee substitutes for House Bill 53, the FY26 operating budget, and House Bill 55, the FY26 mental‑health budget, using the governor’s proposed language with technical and conforming edits.
Committee staff Alexander Schroeder told the panel that “this committee substitute… makes no substantive changes. Legislative legal has different drafting requirements, and this CS just makes technical and conforming changes to meet those requirements.” He also said the Office of Management and Budget has no concerns with the differences between the prior version and the substitutes.
Co‑Chair Josephson announced the committee’s intent before the motions, saying, “The committee substitutes that we plan to adopt today are the governor’s proposed budgets.” After a brief review and the customary procedural objections and explanations, committee members lifted objections and the substitutes became the working documents for each bill.
Representative questions were limited. Representative Bynum asked whether the substitute for the operating budget integrates both rounds of supplemental requests; the chair answered, “I think the answer is no — they are not integrated,” indicating the substitutes reflect the original governor’s proposals rather than later supplemental rounds.
The working documents adopted were cited on the record as work draft 34‑GH‑1462/N Marks dated 01/28/25 for HB 53 and 34‑GH‑1459/N Marks dated 01/28/25 for HB 55. Legislative staff Marie Marks (legislative legal) and Alexi Painter (legislative finance division) were noted as available for technical questions but did not give extended testimony before the committee adopted the substitutes.
The committee did not take roll‑call votes in the transcript; actions were approved after objections were removed and no further opposition was recorded. The committee moved on after adoption and returned later to take up other bills.
