Good to Get Home
I was in Anchorage on Saturday to meet with
constituents at the Spenard Rec Center. Sen. Hollis French was
there, too. So was Rep. Lindsey Holmes.
And so were Gov. Sarah and
Todd Palin. The Palins were a pleasant surprise, for me and for the people
who showed up to talk about issues and eat pizza.
We ate 23 pizzas, polished off more than
150 cookies, ate two veggie trays and drank two flats of water and nearly
100 cans of soda. And I got to talk with people about aerial wolf hunting,
the gas pipeline and money for school books, among other topics. Faces were
painted, balloon animals were made and a good time was had by all. Thanks
to everybody who gave up part of their Saturday to attend.
If I’m still in this seat next year,
we’ll have another one. You should come.
A Correction
Good thing I didn’t decide to take
my leftover campaign cash as personal income, which I said in last week’s
e-news was one of the options. Turns out that hasn’t been legal for
some time. Thanks to a sharp-eyed constituent, Bonnie Jack, for drawing that
to my attention.
No on the Budget
The powerful House of
Representatives, of which I am a powerful member, passed its version of the
state operating
budget this week. The bill spends about $10 billion – roughly
$8 billion in state funds and $2 billion in federal funds. That’s an
increase of about 10.5 percent over the current years’ budget.
What it didn’t do is save any money.
Because of record oil prices and the oil production tax law we passed in
November, we’ve got a whopping surplus this year, north of $4 billion
in all likelihood. So I offered an amendment to
save $3.6 billion of that by putting it into the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
The amendment failed, 14-25. The budget then passed 29-10.
I was one of the 10. I think 10 percent growth in the budget is too much,
and without a dime of savings I just couldn’t vote for the bill.
Here are some numbers to chew on. To pay
for the current year’s budget, oil will have to average $61 a barrel.
Right now, we’ll far exceed that amount, but only because oil prices
are so high. If they were more normal, we’d be in trouble. In 2006,
for example, the average price was $58.13. The year before it was $57.17.
And so on. We just can’t count on high prices to bail us out forever.
We should be making plans for when they don’t, and that means saving.
House leaders say we’ll do some saving
this session. We’ll see. A supplemental budget bill headed our way
from the Senate would put $2.5 billion in the CBR and another $1 billion
in an account that’s a lot easier to get at. I’m not crazy about
the “easier to get at” part.
However we go from here, my view is simple:
If we don’t put a lot of money away for the future, this session will
be a total failure.
One Small Problem
The supplemental budget coming from the Senate
also includes about $50 million in capital projects the governor vetoed last
year. This is an unusual maneuver, and the governor sent the Senate a letter saying
she isn’t very happy about it.
I’m of two minds. If I want the savings – which
I do – the way things sit right now I’ll have to vote for the
projects. I’ll do that because, frankly, $2 billion or $3 billion in
savings is more important to me than $50 million in capital projects. But
I’m not sure why we are picking what seems to me to be a completely
avoidable fight with the governor. Or, as we say around here, the most popular
elected official on the planet.
Vote Early, Vote
Often
If you got my mid-session report, then you
know there’s a poll up on my website asking your opinion on the state
economy. If you didn’t, you can take the poll by going here.
We’ll give you the results in next Friday’s e-news.
Till next time…
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