Senate Finance subcommittee adopts FY26 closeout for Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development

The Senate Finance budget subcommittee for the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development approved its fiscal year 2026 closeout report and forwarded the package to the full Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 14, 2025, in Juneau.

The closeout preserves the governor’s amended budget in most respects, denies all requests for additional unrestricted general fund increments and includes several fund-source and organizational adjustments that change how agency operations will be financed for FY26. The package includes recommended shifts to designated and receipt-supported funding and directs the Legislative Finance Division to make any conforming or technical changes before the full committee considers the report.

Margo Youngberg, staff to Senator Stedman, told the subcommittee the budget the subcommittee is forwarding includes total funds of $85,927,600 and recommends a total of 597 positions: “570 of those are permanent full time, 0 permanent part time, and 27 are temporary,” according to the closeout report the staff summarized. The subcommittee’s recommended fund table lists unrestricted general funds of $12,044,900; designated general funds of $67,862,700; other funds of $62,872,000; and federal funds of $43,148,000.

The subcommittee denied all general fund increment requests in recognition of current revenue constraints and made no additions to the governor’s amended budget, Youngberg said. The committee accepted a number of items requested in the governor’s amended budget, including a $141,400 increase in receipt-supported services to add a consumer service specialist position in the Division of Insurance to support complaint review; a $1,164,500 increase in capital improvement project receipts to maintain level funding for operations of the Alaska Broadband Office over the next two years; and a $30,000 increase in federal receipt authority for the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to align with grant awards.

The closeout also reflects a $738,000 reduction in unrestricted general funds that had been planned to support two positions and related contractual services in the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for carbon capture, utilization and storage work. According to the report, those positions were expected to be funded by carbon storage revenues in FY26, but the revenues have not materialized.

A proposed fund-source change recommended by the subcommittee would shift the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation’s annual operating costs from unrestricted general funds to statutory designated program receipts, reducing the department’s reliance on UGF by $2,487,500. The subcommittee report states the AGDC has requested and is interested in receiving the authority for those receipts; whether the receipts materialize remains contingent on the entity’s actual receipt authority and collections.

Senator Bjorkman moved to send the FY26 operating budget closeout for the department, with attached legislative finance reports (budget action report and wordage), to the full finance committee and to direct the Legislative Finance Division to make any appropriate conforming or technical changes. Senator Hughes initially objected to allow brief discussion, then withdrew the objection and the subcommittee adopted the report and sent it on to the full committee. The motion’s mover was recorded as Senator Bjorkman; no second or roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

After the vote, Senator Hughes thanked the chair and staff for their work, saying, “I just want to thank you, Senator Stedman and Margo too for your work on this. I actually saw some things that I appreciate you addressing, and I think you all did a good job.”

The subcommittee met for a single agenda item — the FY26 closeout — and adjourned at 8:07 a.m.