State of the State

January 27, 2022

Dear Neighbor,

Three years into the Dunleavy administration, the state of our state is strong—because the legislature has blocked all his major policy proposals, and because Congress and the Biden Administration have shepherded through the most significant federal investments in Alaska in a generation.

The Governor visited the legislature to give his annual State of the State speech this week, and it was surreal to hear him claim credit for legislative priorities, since we’ve had to fight his administration tooth and nail on nearly every single one:

Shelter and legal services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault: Yes, we funded that, and have had to re-appropriate funds for civil legal services and shelter year after year, since Gov. Dunleavy kept vetoing it. I’m glad that Gov. Dunleavy now claims to support these services, but we’ll see by his actions if he’s serious.
Most Valuable Permanent Fund in History: Governor Dunleavy took credit for the highest level of the Permanent Fund in history, which is ironic since we legislators have blocked his attempts to liquidate billions of Fund savings. And in the very same speech, he proposed raiding the fund again for mega-dividends, after his administration seems to have orchestrating the firing of Fund CEO Angela Rodell. It is rank demagoguery to praise the Permanent Fund’s health while proposing to raid it in the next breath. Regardless, I will continue to defend the Permanent Fund and the Percent of Market Value (POMV) statute that ensures its stability and growth.
Strengthening Public Safety: You probably recall legislators blocked Gov. Dunleavy’s plan to privatize prisons and send inmates to “crime university,” his veto of Village Public Safety Officer funding, and his veto of behavioral health treatment that cuts property crime. Now Gov. Dunleavy is praising correctional officers and proposing to increase Trooper funding. I’ve consistently supported more funding for prosecutors, public defenders, Troopers, VPSOs, behavioral health treatment, and a return to defined benefits for public employees to boost recruitment and retention throughout the system, so I am glad that Gov. Dunleavy has abandoned his previous policy positions but we need to make sure his words are followed by action.
Food Security: After vetoing funds for shellfish testing and local agricultural production, now Gov. Dunleavy has a new proposal to support these industries. Again, we legislators have appropriated funds to support food security for the last three years despite his actions, so a cessation of administration hostility would be very welcome if it comes to fruition.
Education: Year after year, Gov. Dunleavy has vetoed funds for classroom operations and for school facility maintenance, resulting in huge budget shortfalls in Anchorage and other districts. This year, Gov. Dunleavy claimed to support “fully funding” education, but in fact his proposal is a cut when we take inflation into account. We need to update the BSA (classroom operating funding) to at least keep pace with inflation, and we need to restore funding for school facilities, and we need to end the moratorium that prevents use of state dollars to reimburse local districts for school capital investments. To give you a sense of how large our capital funding gap is for schools, each year Anchorage is falling $30 million farther behind in deferred maintenance as a result of the state cutting off school bond debt reimbursement. We must fix the school funding gap this year.
Foster Care and Child Services: Last year Gov. Dunleavy vetoed funds (again) for foster care and for front-line child welfare services. This year, he says he will support the funding we’ve fought for every year. We must hold him to his word, because the cuts to OCS and the foster care system are unacceptable.

When I started working as a legislator, I had no idea how destructive the Dunleavy administration could be. However---I was equally surprised by how principled, creative, and tenacious legislators from both parties and citizens from across the state would be in protecting core services and the Permanent Fund from destructive proposals. The Governor’s State of the State speech this week was vindication of our hard work to defend institutions and public services that Alaskans have helped build over generations. I’m confident that by working together, we will prevail once again this year.

Supporting our public employees: I’m happy to report that the Labor and Commerce Committee, which I co-chair with Rep. Ivy Spohnholz, has passed HB 220, which would restore a defined benefit pension option for our public employees. This bill would not only strengthen recruitment and retention of state employees, but also help support our local government and school district employees. This new defined benefit pension is designed differently than previous defined benefit systems, in order to provide assurance of retirement savings for employees and retirees with much lower risk of systemic underfunding. I hope the House is able to pass this critical legislation.

Zack

Thanks to the Anchorage School Board for hosting a joint event with legislators, where we had an opportunity to visit King Tech High School classes.

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