House Finance Subcommittee advances legislature's FY27 operating budget, including restored gavel-to-gavel funding

The House Finance Subcommittee voted Feb. 25 to advance the Legislature's FY27 operating budget from subcommittee, authorizing the Legislative Finance Division to make technical and conforming changes. Representative Shoragi moved the motion and Chair Foster announced no objections.

Ramon Anderson, staff to the committee, summarized the major increases in the Budget Action report. "There's $912,000 basically to align expenditures for travel with anticipated expenditures, for lodging per diem," Anderson said. He also described a requested increment of "$755,000 for special session," noting the Legislature previously budgeted $1,000,000 for special session and "it costs approximately $375,000 a day for 1 day of special session." Anderson identified a final large item as "$855,000 for gavel to gavel," saying, "We no longer have federal funding for that" and the council has approved replacing it with unrestricted general funds.

Supporters on the committee emphasized transparency. A member speaking about the broadcasts said public access is essential for Alaskans and media to follow legislative work. Chair Foster and others said funding gavel-to-gavel preserves the Legislature's public record and accessibility.

There was one amendment listed in the packet that "will not be offered," and the committee took no formal roll-call vote after the motion was made; Chair Foster reported the FY27 budget moved from subcommittee by unanimous consent. Narrative and legislative finance reports were noted as forthcoming.

Next steps: the budget package will move forward as authorized, with technical adjustments made by the Legislative Finance Division and additional narrative reports to be provided to members.