Legislature(1999 - 2000)
2000-07-14 House Journal
Full Journal pdf2000-07-14 House Journal Page 3902 HB 312 The following letter was dated and received June 30, 2000: "Dear Speaker Porter: On this date I have signed with line item vetoes the following budget bill, passed by the second session of the Twenty-first Alaska State Legislature, and am transmitting the engrossed and enrolled copies to the Lieutenant Governor's Office for permanent filing: CONFERENCE CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 312 "An Act making and amending appropriations for the operating and loan program expenses of state government, for certain programs, and to capitalize funds; making appropriations under art. IX, sec. 17(c), Constitution of the State of Alaska, from the constitutional budget reserve fund; and providing for an effective date." Chapter No. 133, SLA 2000 ¦Effective Date: See Chapterá The operating budget for FY2001 continues fulfilling the commitment I made to protect Alaska's children, improve schools and keep Alaskans working. Taking all funds into account, the $6.97 billion budget is $137.5 million more than in FY2000 and $1.1 billion more than in FY1995. Permanent Fund dividends and inflation proofing are the largest factor in the states budget increases. They will go up $256 million next year and have increased nearly one billion dollars -- $973 million -- since FY1995. 2000-07-14 House Journal Page 3903 HB 312 I called this year's budget the "Children's Budget" because it continues the advances made in recent years to improve children's services and programs through Smart Start. The public will be well served by the legislature's approval of 72 percent of my proposed increases for children's health and protection and 76 percent of the funds I sought to improve Alaska's schools and the University of Alaska. There are no more important investments we can make than protecting our children, making sure they attend the best schools possible and providing job opportunities for their families. The operating budget for next year will go up $108.7 million in all funds. Federal operating funds are expected to increase by $54.5 million and general purpose funds to decline by $29.3 million. General purpose funded agency operations dropped $3.4 million and formula programs dropped $25.9 million, largely because the Legislature replaced state general fund dollars with federal and other funds in many formula programs. Some of the general fund difference is simply a result of recategorizing what used to be called general funds. For example, occupational licensing fees are no longer treated as general purpose revenues since they are used only to support the licensing function. In the combined operating and capital budgets, more than $37 million of the reduction in general purpose funds is attributable to this switch to the "other funds" category. Except for the initiatives to improve the status of children and education, the FY2001 operating budget generally takes a hold-the-line approach for state agencies. Agencies will be forced to absorb the costs of inflation and providing services to more citizens. In upcoming budgets, we will have to deal with the ramifications of the Legislature's decision to switch many ongoing services such as child care assistance and domestic violence shelters to fund sources that will last only one or two years. Following a precedent of Alaska governors before me, I made technical vetoes of intent language inserted in the bill since that language does not meet the constitutional requirement that budget bills be limited to appropriations. Governors routinely do this though they may plan to implement some of the suggestions. For instance, despite the technical intent language veto, my administration has already ensured that domestic violence shelters do not have to divulge 2000-07-14 House Journal Page 3904 HB 312 confidential information or determine the income levels of women who seek shelter. Also, new funds for a special parole program will be used to train VPSOs and pay them for work on parole cases as suggested in the intent language. (It is unfortunate that the Legislature turned down my recommendation to add $600,000 for VPSO salaries to recognize their important responsibilities and help reduce severe turnover rates.) The only exceptions to these routine technical vetoes are where the intent language clarifies the appropriation itself such as the explanation of the Medicaid ProShare financing arrangement. To avoid confusion, I have also made a technical veto of section 18 of the bill ("Four Dam Pool Transfer Fund") which appropriates Four Dam Pool revenues according to a prior statute. I have already signed new legislation which repeals that statute and therefore makes the appropriations in this budget bill inoperative. The newly signed legislation authorizes the sale of the dams in the Four Dam Pool and appropriates the sale revenues to a new Power Cost Equalization (PCE) Endowment. The PCE program continues to be funded in section 1 of the operating budget with revenues from the new endowment instead of the old Four Dam Pool Transfer Fund. Sincerely, /s/ Tony Knowles Governor"