 March 2,
2015
Dear Neighbors,
We Need to Hear from You!
The budget will be heard in the Finance meetings all week before it is voted on by the House in the near future. As you may have heard, we have an enormous $3.5 billion deficit due to lower oil production and prices under the “Oil Wealth Giveaway”. Here is a snapshot of some of the budget highlights that we will consider this week.
- Parents as Teachers, Best Beginnings and Pre-K (Eliminates early education)
- University of Alaska $23.5-million cut (Could eliminate athletics)
- K-12 education $12.7-million (will result in over 65 cuts in Fairbanks)
- Construction Education Academies (eliminated in budget)
- Youth Courts (eliminated in budget)
- Public Broadcasting 50 percent reduction (likely KUAC cut)
- Trooper Search and Rescue (likely eliminated altogether)
- Medicaid expansion and reforms (eliminated in budget)
We need you to be involved as we continue the discussion on the budget, priorities and our future. The Independent Democratic Caucus fought for some evening and weekend meetings to hear from working people, but there are currently none scheduled.
Budget Hearings this Week: You can testify on the budget on the following days and times, depending on where you live. Testimony is limited to two minutes by the Finance Committee Chairs and will also be accepted by email at lhscfin@akleg.gov.
Tuesday:
1:00-3:30 p.m. - Juneau
3:30-5:30 p.m. - Homer, Kenai, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Mat-Su and Seward
Wednesday:
1:00-4:00 p.m. - Fairbanks, Barrow, Dillingham
4:00-5:30 p.m. - Bethel, Cordova, Kotzebue, Nome, Valdez and Wrangell
Thursday:
1:00-4:30 p.m. - Anchorage
4:30-6:00 p.m. - Sitka, Petersburg, Delta Junction, Unalaska, Glennallen, Tok
Working Hard for Fairbanks Families,
![[SIGNED]](../../images/signatures/31.gif)
Representative Scott Kawasaki
Alaska State Representative
City of Fairbanks |
