Revenue is the top priority for Alaska's Senate Majority as a $1.5 billion deficit budget is the starting point for the start of Alaska's Legislative Session.
That’s the “million-dollar question” Sen. Lyman Hoffman , D-Bethel, posed to the group of Senate’s Majority as they started the first day of the legislative session. Hoffman, who co-chairs the Senate Finance Committee, says the governor’s budget has a $1.
5 billion deficit. With oil prices going down, he says it makes the budget even tighter. He warns that there will be discussion of dividend cuts and an increase in taxes, but even if those do happen, Hoffman says there’s still $200 million in items that weren’t addressed in the proposed budget.Another co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, says the majority of the session will be about the budget. “We’ve got to have a balanced budget and look out for the next generation of Alaskans. That alone, that item alone will suck up a lot of time,” Stedman said. “And it’s constitutionally mandated we have a budget.” Maintenance for major projects was not included in the proposed budget, which worries Senators. Stedman said that there was no money for maintenance in K-12 schools, universities or courts. He cited theThere is also a major concern regarding the governor’s veto of construction projects and the fallout of that veto on construction businesses. “We do have a deficit in this current fiscal year. And it is very difficult to deal with three-quarters votes. They get expensive,” Stedman said. ”So we’ll wait and see what the governor’s proposal is to fix the mess he created.” Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, and chair of the Senate Education Committee, says she hopes to tackle enrollment and attendance this Friday. She says the future of the session will include discussions of healthcare insurance, charter school funding, tribal compacting, and localized education. An election reform bill which passed the Senate last year is another major focus for the Senate Majority. The bill is aimed at cleaning up Alaska’s voter list, bans the use of undisclosed deepfakes designed to mislead voters, and repeals the witness signature requirement that has led to high numbers of military and rural voters having their absentee ballots rejected. When it comes to the gas pipeline, Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said that this will be the lead subject for Senate resources starting this Friday. Earlier on Tuesday morning, Pegasus-Global Holdings, Inc. — a global consulting firm — was contracted by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee to be a consultant on the gas pipeline. Pegasus will give a presentation to senators on Friday, as well as the companies that own the gas and the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates how much gas can cost. “The governor is proposing that we give up a substantial amount of property tax, not just for a few years, but for the life of the project. That’s a pretty big ask,” Giessel said. ”We’ve never done that before. So the fiscal issues are going to be huge.”No injuries reported after plane lands short of Anchorage runway, NTSB says ‘Any details will help’: Friends of man visiting from Texas missing for days near Healy struggle to understand his disappearanceLawmakers eye continued education funding wins for 2026 session as Dunleavy drops policy pushPeople gather in Anchorage against idea of U.S. military action against Greenland as Trump announces tariffs
Mike Dunleavy Senate Majority Alaska Senate Majority Bert Stedman Löki Tobin Cathy Giessel Budget Deficit
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