The Capitol Report 3/28/17: Numerous education and budget bills on the move
by Michelle Saport |
The Capitol Report - March 28, 2017
Today's the 71st day of the legislative session. Hope everyone had a wonderful Seward's Day.
Hurry up and wait:
Although the House technically passed its version of the state operating budget last Monday, the bill was not transmitted to the Senate until Friday. Since the Senate didn't technically receive the bill until yesterday morning, it won't have its first Senate Finance Committee hearing until Wednesday morning. While delays of this sort aren't atypical, it's one of a number of indications that it's unlikely the legislature will conclude its business by April 16, the scheduled 90-day end date for the regular session.
The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled the balance of the week and this weekend to incorporate the House's recommendation into its own operating budget work. One of the biggest question marks is where the Senate will come down on K-12 education funding. For now, that decision is on hold, but there are indications that a 5 percent cut or $60 million reduction is possible.
Read the full report at alaska.edu/state/report.
The Capitol Report, written by Miles Baker, UA Associate Vice President for Government Relations, is designed to keep the University of Alaska community informed about the current legislative session, particularly its impact on the university budget.
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"The Capitol Report 3/28/17: Numerous education and budget bills on the move" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.