Lawmaker: Odds of Alaska governor’s deferred maintenance plan passing by March 1 appear dim

Alaska governor’s infrastructure plan appears shot

JUNEAU, Alaska — Gov. Sean Parnell’s $100 million deferred maintenance proposal is unlikely to pass the Legislature by next week’s target date, and his administration is partly to blame, a Republican state lawmaker said Monday.

Rep. Bill Stoltze, co-chairman of the House Finance Committee, said the governor’s request for an early maintenance budget “has been slowed down and maybe even derailed,” in part because the Parnell administration “hasn’t been able to get their budget together.” Stoltze said some departments lacked adequate descriptions of how money would be used, and not all projects were for maintenance.

“It’s good to set goals,” Stoltze said. “I have no criticism for the governor for wanting to have projects ready to go.”

But the vetting and approval process takes time, he said, and committee members Monday questioned whether some of the proposed projects were serious deferred maintenance issues or simply wish-list-type capital projects that didn’t need to be fast-tracked.

Parnell set a March 1 target date for lawmakers to pass his proposal — so work could begin by summer — during last month’s State of the State address.

Budget director Karen Rehfeld said the proposal wasn’t intended to be an “emergency” bill. The package was put forth as a supplemental spending measure for the current budget year. It includes projects that have been put off for lack of funding and offered in hopes that they wouldn’t have to wait until the next fiscal year, Rehfeld said.

Parnell spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Management and Budget and other officials provided additional information on projects last week; details from remaining departments were discussed Monday. She called a March 1 passage an “aggressive timeline” and said Parnell would still like to see his plan approved as soon as possible.

Stoltze said it’s possible a deferred maintenance program could be passed later this session, with an effective date that would still allow for work this coming construction season. At the very least, he expects deferred maintenance projects to be included in an overall capital budget for next year.

But there’s likely to be debate over how big the infrastructure pot ultimately gets and on what projects money is spent. Stoltze said city managers, nonprofits and others have requested about $3.5 billion for local projects, but the state won’t have the capacity to do all those.

Parnell has proposed capping capital spending at about $400 million, excluding projects like a crime lab for which there’s separate legislation. Members of the Senate’s bipartisan majority have interpreted this as giving them about $100 million for community projects, a figure that doesn’t sit well with lawmakers who say they held back on capital requests last year amid budget concerns.

Overall, Parnell has proposed a budget of about $10.5 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Rep. Mike Hawker, the finance co-chairman, hopes to have the committee version of an operating budget by next Monday — and hopes to have it on the House floor around March 10.