Senate Finance Committee adds $5.15 million for homeless assistance and reports out HB 265 mental health budget

On April 30, 2026, the Alaska State Senate Finance Committee adopted as its working document the Senate committee substitute for committee substitute for House Bill 265 (Finance) and reported the measure out of committee after an explanation of a newly incorporated amendment.

Senator Kiel moved that the committee adopt the committee substitute for House Bill 265 (Finance) as the working document. Senator Hoffman objected briefly and asked staff to explain the current version. Pete Eklund, staff to Senator Hoffman and the Senate Finance Committee, said for the record that the CS version L "just simply incorporates the amendment that was adopted yesterday, adding, dollars 5,150,000 to the, capital budget mental health capital budget for the homeless assistance program." After that explanation Senator Hoffman removed his objection. Senator Stedman then moved to report the CS (version L) from committee with individual recommendations and to grant legislative legal and legislative finance the authority to make technical and conforming changes; Senator Hoffman reported no objection and stated that the bill passes from committee with individual recommendations.

The explicit change noted on the record is a $5,150,000 addition to the mental health capital budget earmarked for a homeless assistance program. The committee advanced the committee substitute by voice (no roll-call vote recorded in the transcript) and granted staff the authority to make technical edits prior to next steps. The transcript does not specify further details about how the $5,150,000 will be allocated across projects or which agency will administer the funds.

The committee concluded its business and scheduled its next meeting for 9 a.m. the following morning.