03/22/2001 08:05 AM House STA

HJR  2-BIENNIAL STATE BUDGET                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
Number 1892                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR COGHILL announced that the  next order of business would be                                                               
HOUSE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  NO.  2,  Proposing  amendments  to  the                                                               
Constitution of the  State of Alaska relating to  the duration of                                                               
regular  sessions of  the  legislature and  to  a biennial  state                                                               
budget.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Number 1937                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  LISA MURKOWSKI,  Alaska  State Legislature,  came                                                               
forward  to testify  as sponsor  of HJR  2.   She said  HJR 2  is                                                               
different from  the other resolutions  before the  committee that                                                               
relate  to  shortening the  length  of  the legislative  session.                                                               
House Joint Resolution  2 focuses on a biennial  state budget and                                                               
provides the  added bonus  of a shortened  session in  the second                                                               
year.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  MURKOWSKI  noted  that  the idea  of  a  biennial                                                               
budget  is not  new.   The idea  has been  "floating around"  the                                                               
state  legislature   for  years.    The   federal  government  is                                                               
constantly  looking  at  going  to  a  biennial  budget  process.                                                               
Twenty-odd states have  either a full biennial  budget process or                                                               
some  mixed version  of it.   She  suggested that  the change  is                                                               
necessary, appropriate, and would allow for greater efficiency.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
Number 2000                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI observed that  the legislature is now 70                                                               
days into the session, and:                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     All  of us  have been  totally immersed  in the  budget                                                                    
     process.  None  of us in this room is  sitting on [the]                                                                    
     Finance  [Committee], and  yet  we're  all involved  in                                                                    
     that  process.   The agencies  have been  involved with                                                                    
     the  budget nine  months out  of their  productive work                                                                    
     cycles....    We spend  so  much  of  our time  in  the                                                                    
     budgetary process  that we  don't have  the time  to do                                                                    
     the oversight ....  We've  got these great missions and                                                                    
     measures that  we've implemented, but how  much time do                                                                    
     we  actually  have to  take  a  look  and see  is  this                                                                    
     working,  do we  need  to do  something different  ....                                                                    
     Well, I'm here to tell you  [that in] the 120 days that                                                                    
     we have,  we're not very  efficient with the  time that                                                                    
     we spend.   So  what I'm proposing  is that  during the                                                                    
     ...  first   year  of  the  legislative   session,  the                                                                    
     governor proposes  a two-year  budget, we  review that,                                                                    
     and  sign off  on a  budget that  will have  a two-year                                                                    
     cycle.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI  said that  would let  legislators spend                                                               
the  second year  of the  session  on other  issues.   It now  is                                                               
impossible to  focus on other  substantive issues  because "we're                                                               
interrupted by the budget all the time," she said.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
Number 2136                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  MURKOWSKI said  several states  have phased  in a                                                               
biennial budget rather than implementing  "the whole enchilada at                                                               
once,"  and she  thinks a  phased process  is worth  considering.                                                               
She suggested  that the committee  not roll  HJR 2 in  with other                                                               
proposals  for shortening  the  legislative  session because  the                                                               
shortened session is not the focus,  but "just a bonus" of HJR 2.                                                               
She said the  idea of a biennial budget makes  good, common sense                                                               
and has strong public support.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
Number 2188                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  COGHILL  said  his  intent  in  assigning  HJR  2  to  the                                                               
subcommittee studying  similar bills  was not intended  to thwart                                                               
any of those bills, and any one  of them that stands alone can be                                                               
dealt with  separately.  He  recognized that the  biennial budget                                                               
is a "stand-alone topic."                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE   MURKOWSKI   said   she   understood   that   the                                                               
legislature did not  want to "load up the ballot"  next year with                                                               
a dozen  resolutions for the voters  to consider.  "I  think that                                                               
you're absolutely  right in attempting  to do  some consolidation                                                               
here," she stated.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
Number 2254                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  JAMES said  she wanted  to put  it on  the record                                                               
that she has historically supported  the biennial budget as a way                                                               
to minimize  the effort  and maximize the  results of  the budget                                                               
process.   However, she  thinks a  biennial budget  is part  of a                                                               
long-range fiscal plan.  Putting  the session-shortening bills in                                                               
a subcommittee  is a  good way  to discuss  those ideas,  but she                                                               
would prefer that those bills  all become options in a long-range                                                               
plan.   She said she is  "not ready to  vote on any one  of these                                                               
until  I see  how we're  going to  fund ourselves  over the  long                                                               
term."                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR COGHILL said one of the  reasons he wanted to put the bills                                                               
in a  subcommittee is to  begin that discussion.   "It is  not my                                                               
intention to put  these into the black hole that  they never come                                                               
out of," he said, but rather  "to try to discover similarities or                                                               
dissimilarities and then proceed from there."                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
Number 2351                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON  observed that  there are  a lot  of things                                                               
Alaska has  that are better  than those  in the state  from which                                                               
she  came, but  the biennial  budget process  they had  there was                                                               
much more  efficient and gave  legislators time to think  about a                                                               
lot of other things.