Current:Home > ScamsAlaska budget negotiators announce tentative deal as legislative session nears deadline-LoTradeCoin
Alaska budget negotiators announce tentative deal as legislative session nears deadline
View Date:2024-12-23 20:02:25
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska budget negotiators announced a tentative agreement Tuesday that includes direct payments to residents this year of about $1,655, winding down a budget process that lacked the acrimony of prior years.
Lawmakers face a Wednesday deadline to complete their work, with floor dockets packed with bills. But the atmosphere around the budget conference committee of House and Senate negotiators was bright and upbeat Tuesday morning — in contrast with prior years, when the size of the yearly dividend paid to residents was a major point of contention. This year’s legislative session has been marked by tension around education and energy issues, which remained in play.
The tentative budget deal calls for a roughly $1,360 dividend to residents this year, plus an energy relief payment of $295. Dividends are traditionally paid with earnings from the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state nest-egg seeded with oil money and grown over time through investments. People must meet residency requirements to be eligible for dividends.
The payments are similar to what the Senate proposed in its version of the budget earlier this month, though the energy relief payment is slightly higher. The House version of the budget proposed checks of about $2,275 a person, including a dividend of roughly $1,650, plus energy relief payments of about $625. The conference committee was tasked with hashing out differences between the two proposals.
The agreement is subject to approval by the full House and Senate.
Republican Rep. DeLena Johnson, a co-chair of the House Finance Committee and one of the negotiators, said the level of upfront communication around the budget was different than last year. Late in the session last year, the Senate passed a budget for government operations and infrastructure projects and sent it to the House as a take-or-leave proposition. The House adjourned without voting on it, leading to a one-day special session to finalize a package.
“I think there was an attempt on both sides to make sure that ... the appropriate process was followed and that there was transparency in what we did,” she told reporters Tuesday.
Last year’s dividend was $1,312 a person.
The budget plan also includes a one-time, $175 million boost in foundation funding for K-12 schools. School leaders and education advocates sought a permanent increase in aid, citing the toll that inflation and high energy and insurance costs have taken on their budgets and a need for greater budget certainty. But a bill passed overwhelmingly by lawmakers earlier this session that included a permanent $175 million increase in aid to districts through a school funding formula was vetoed by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and lawmakers failed by one vote to override that veto.
veryGood! (1915)
Related
- South Carolina lab recaptures 5 more escaped monkeys but 13 are still loose
- 20 years ago, the iPod was born
- Russian court rejects appeal of Evan Gershkovich, Wall Street Journal reporter held on spying charges
- Oscars 2023: Michelle Yeoh Has a Message for All the Dreamers Out There
- A list of mass killings in the United States this year
- Every Time Jimmy Kimmel and the 2023 Oscars Addressed Will Smith's Slap
- U.S. diplomatic convoy fired on in Sudan as intense fighting continues between rival forces
- A lost hiker ignored rescuers' phone calls, thinking they were spam
- Don't Miss This Sweet Moment Between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Dads at the Kansas City Chiefs Game
- Irish rally driver Craig Breen killed in accident during test event ahead of world championship race in Croatia
Ranking
- College Football Fix podcast addresses curious CFP rankings and previews Week 12
- Jamie Lee Curtis Gives Her Flowers to Everyone, Everywhere During Oscars 2023 Speech
- How Halle Berry and Jessica Chastain Replaced Will Smith for This Oscars 2023 Moment After 10-Year Ban
- Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage
- 'Unfortunate error': 'Wicked' dolls with porn site on packaging pulled from Target, Amazon
- Elizabeth Holmes grilled by prosecutors on witness stand in her criminal fraud trial
- NASA's Got A New, Big Telescope. It Could Find Hints Of Life On Far-Flung Planets
- Oversight Board slams Facebook for giving special treatment to high-profile users
Recommendation
-
Joan says 'Yes!' to 'Golden Bachelorette' finale fantasy beach proposal. Who did she pick?
-
Sudan group: Dozens killed in fighting between army, paramilitary
-
An Anti-Vaccine Book Tops Amazon's COVID Search Results. Lawmakers Call Foul
-
Archeologists in Italy unearth ancient dolphin statuette
-
Singles' Day vs. Black Friday: Which Has the Best Deals for Smart Shoppers?
-
Emily Blunt's White Hot Oscars 2023 Entrance Is Anything But Quiet
-
The U.S. is set to appeal the U.K.'s refusal to extradite WikiLeaks' Assange
-
Meet Parag Agrawal, Twitter's new CEO