Capitol Report for Feb. 14
February 14, 2020
Capitol Report
Happy Valentine鈥檚 Day
The House Finance Committee is on track to complete its work on the FY21 operating
budget by the end of next week. Legislative leadership is driving hard to complete
the budget process and to transmit it to the Governor for his review, well in advance
of the legislature adjourning. Given recent history, this is an ambitious goal, but
if successful, it would give the legislature the option of taking further action in
the event that portions of the budget are vetoed. Alaska鈥檚 constitution gives the
governor 15 days, excepting Sundays, to act on a bill while the legislature is in
session.
Individual agency subcommittees are finalizing recommendations and forwarding them
to the full House Finance Committee for consideration next week. The committee has
scheduled twice-daily meetings on the budget next week, and for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, and Saturday afternoon. The committee鈥檚
full schedule for next week is available .
探花精选 Budget Action
The held its fifth hearing on the university鈥檚 FY21 operating budget last night, adopted
three amendments, and has largely concluded work for this year. Consistent with the
3-year signed in August, the Board of Regents (BOR) requested an FY21 operating budget of
$277 million unrestricted general funds (UGF), $25 million below current year levels,
and $50 million below FY19. In the budget submitted to the legislature, the Governor
allocated 55 percent of the $25 million reduction to UAF, 38 percent to UAA and 7
percent to statewide administration. In its first action last night, the subcommittee
unanimously agreed to remove those individual allocations, which will allow the regents
flexibility in deciding where to apply budget reductions. At the university鈥檚 request,
the committee also agreed to combine the separate allocations for UAF Organized Research
with UAF Fairbanks Main Campus. UAF believes organized research can be tracked more
simply and effectively through internal program codes, without the need for a separate
allocation.
In a third action, the subcommittee introduced and adopted an amendment to add $10.5
million to the university鈥檚 base operating budget for compensation increases. University
employees have been under a BOR imposed salary freeze for the last two years. In June
2019, the university completed a comprehensive compensation and benefits review designed
to improve equity, retention, and recruitment. In September, the BOR approved a three
year compensation plan that included $3.4 million in the current FY20 budget year
and $7.1 million for FY21. Unlike other public agencies, UA salary adjustments are
not automatically adjusted into the base budget considered by the legislature. While
the university has included the Board鈥檚 compensation plan in its budget presentations
to the legislature, incremental funding was not part of the university鈥檚 FY21 request.
During his State of the Judiciary address to the Legislature on Tuesday, Chief Justice
Bolger also requested a 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment for the court system,
to match the adjustment included in this year鈥檚 budget for executive and legislative
branch employees. Last year, most of executive and legislative brand employees received
a 3 percent adjustment.
You can watch last night鈥檚 and review the subcommittee鈥檚 from the legislature鈥檚 website. The subcommittee will hold a final, technical closeout
meeting next Tuesday, February 18 at 5 p.m. We would like to thank subcommittee chair
Representative Andy Josephson and subcommittee staff Nathaniel Grabman for their hard
work this year, and all the members for their strong support of the university.
Capitol Happenings
On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on UA鈥檚 efforts to increase
enrollment, and improve teacher training and retention. Vice President Paul Layer
discussed how our campuses are working to enhance enrollment through marketing, scholarships
and student success initiatives. Alaska College of Education Executive Dean Steve
Atwater gave a detailed presentation about how UA is recruiting professionals into
the teaching profession, accreditation issues, and addressing teacher shortages affecting
schools nationwide. You can view the meeting .
Education will continue to be a hot topic in the Capitol next week, with several pieces
of legislation in play, and the Alaska State Board of Education & Early Development
meeting with the House and Senate Education Committees.
On Tuesday morning, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski will give her annual address to a
joint session of the Legislature.
Bills on the Move
Next Wednesday morning, the House Education Committee will hear , which broadens the criteria for the Alaska Performance Scholarship. The legislation
by Representative Andi Story adds career and technical education to the list of subjects
students can pursue to qualify for the scholarship.
Next Friday afternoon the House Labor & Commerce Committee will hear legislation that
will help sustain UA鈥檚 workforce development programs. by Representative Adam Wool reauthorizes the Technical Vocational Education Program (TVEP). The program uses a portion of employee unemployment insurance contributions to fund
high-demand career and technical education programs. It brings in more than $6 million
to UA each year. The program is scheduled to sunset at the end of the fiscal year,
and we will be working with legislators to move this bill through the process.
On Thursday, UA鈥檚 Associate Vice President for Workforce Programs, Teri Cothren, provided
the house budget subcommittee with an overview of the benefits to Alaska of the . You can view that hearing .
Board of Regents
The Board of Regents wraps up the second day of committee meetings today in advance
of their regularly scheduled board meeting next week in Fairbanks. The board鈥檚 committees
on Academic and Student Affairs, and Facilities and Land Management convened yesterday,
and the Audit and Governance committees met today.
Next week鈥檚 two-day full board meeting will be held Thursday and Friday at UAF鈥檚 Butrovich
Building, Room 109. The agenda includes a review of the board鈥檚 strategic goals, university
athletics and an update from the 探花精选 Foundation.
The board will take public testimony on Thursday morning starting at 8:15 a.m. More
information on the board鈥檚 activities this week and next week, including agendas can
be found .
As always, board meetings are streamed live at .
D.C. Opportunity for Alaska Students
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski is now accepting applications for her . The program is open to graduating high school seniors to work in the Senator鈥檚 Washington
D.C. office this summer. Senator Murkowski also is seeking two intern coordinators
who will supervise the High School Interns in their daily activities. The deadline
to apply for both opportunities is 11:59 p.m. Alaska Standard Time on Monday, March
16, 2020.