Legislature(1999 - 2000)
05/04/1999 09:10 AM Senate FIN
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE BILL NO. 32
"An Act making and amending capital appropriations and
reappropriations and capitalizing funds; and providing
for an effective date."
Senator Dave Donley gave the subcommittee report. The
committee was made up of Senator Gary Wilken, Senator John
Torgerson, Senator Al Adams and himself as chair. The
capital budget subcommittee employed a different process
this year, included many public hearings and considered
projects item by item. The mission the subcommittee was
given was to meet a certain funding level and attempt to
close the fiscal gap. The main concern was the use of
general funds. The Governor's budget request was
considerably larger than last year's capital budget and
would have utilized much more general funds. It also
anticipated passage of a large gasoline tax to help fund
some of the projects.
The subcommittee's intent was to capture as much federal
matching funds as possible. A larger state match would be
necessary to do so. Yet, the direction was to have a total
capital expenditure that did not exceed the previous year.
Senator Dave Donley felt the committee was successful in
capturing the maximum amount of federal funds while
reducing general fund expenditure as much as possible.
Senator Dave Donley noted there were some projects listed
in the proposal that were not allocated the full state
match necessary to take advantage of all available federal
funding. However, the federal funds were available for 18
months and could be realized in the next Legislative
budget. For example, $5 million in state match funds were
needed to obtain federal discretionary ferry funds for use
in Southeast. The current budget contained $4 million of
the $5 million required and the balance could be paid with
a subsequent appropriation in the next budget. Therefore,
projects that were short-funded in this budget would be
accessible in the next fiscal year and would not be lost.
The subcommittee written report did not mention that the
members concurred with the Governor's mental health capital
appropriations. He asked that those projects be considered
as proposed in the original bill.
Additionally, the subcommittee focused on the departmental
requests as areas for reductions to the Governor's
proposal. The subcommittee looked at the various agency
projects and adopted criteria. The criteria included
relationships to safety, school education, eligibility for
special unique federal funding sources such as the SEAMAK
money, deferred maintenance needs, essential completion of
a phased project, critical administrative needs, high
volume of use to maximize benefits for the maximum number
of Alaskans. There were projects not included in the
subcommittee's recommendation that did meet the criteria
because there simply wasn't enough funding to do all of
them. The subcommittee acknowledged it would like some
projects reconsidered by the full committee. However, that
would involve a reprioritization within the overall plan.
That was a decision the whole committee needed to make.
Within the US Corps of Engineers projects, the Governor
proposed a total of about $6.3 million for eleven projects.
The subcommittee proposed to add approximately $1,150,000
for the Cook Inlet Navigation project to that list. It also
proposed to reduce the funding for the Nome Port project so
that the state match would be 25-percent rather than 50-
percent. That would not lose any federal funds, it just
placed more burden on the City of Nome to come up with the
remaining matching funds. The whole committee could discuss
this matter further.
There were three specific reductions to the Department of
Environmental Conservation's request that came primarily
from the operating budget subcommittee chaired by Senator
Loren Leman. This included administration expense reduction
and was reflected in the capital budget. There was also an
incremental general fund request of $125,000, which was
changed in the proposal. They should be reflected in the
updated total before the committee members. Those were
operating aspects that were included in the capital budget.
The subcommittee was still meeting on the specifics for the
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities items.
The subcommittee had made the commitment to capture the
maximum amount of federal funding available. The committee
substitute would only show separate categories that totaled
the amount to be allocated to the department. The
subcommittee would continue to prioritize and place
projects into the categories and would issue a final report
in the next day or two. The intent was to capture all of
the TEA-21 funds.
The subcommittee recommended no changes to the National
Highway System Program or the Marine Transportation Program
from the Governor's request. This was to capture the
discretionary federal funding. He qualified that the
details were somewhat vague since the projects were in the
application process. The subcommittee recommended funding
$4 million of the potential $5 million needed to capture
those dollars. The acknowledgement was to fund the
remaining one million dollars in the next fiscal year if
all the projects received federal approval.
The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
would also be applying to the federal government for
funding of three large bridge projects. The projects had
been called many things including Pure Discretionary
Projects and Demonstration Projects but basically the
department would compete against all other states for
federal funds. They hoped to obtain approval for at least
one project, and possible two. The subcommittee provided
adequate funding for one project and intended that if an
additional project was approved the Legislature would
somehow come up with matching funding for the second
project.
Senator Loren Leman asked where the bridge projects were
located. He wondered if one was to link Gravina Island and
Ketchikan. Senator Dave Donley informed him that was a
different demonstration project and received separate
funding the year before. There were no funds provided this
year, but there could be another request the next year. One
of the currently proposed projects was in the
Kenai/Soldotna area. He was unsure where the others were
located and Senator Loren Leman determined he could easily
find out for himself.
Senator Dave Donley continued saying this variable was a
difficult projection to make and the subcommittee took the
advice from the department that they thought they would
obtain approval for one of the three projects. It could be
a problem if approval was granted for two or three of the
projects. The Legislature would need to find additional
funding to meet the match requirement.
The subcommittee would continue to work on CPP, TRAAK and
AMATS specifics and would have a full report on actions
soon.
Senator Dave Donley moved for adoption of CS SB 32 (FIN)
Version "D" as a Workdraft. Senator Al Adams noted he had
some concerns with the CS but would not object to its
adoption and would save his discussions for the full
committee. Without objection, the CS was adopted.
Senator Dave Donley requested the departments review the CS
and provide feedback. Many proposals would impact the
agencies and some fine-tuning would probably be necessary.
Co-Chair John Torgerson announced the schedule for capital
budget hearings. Wednesday, the committee would begin with
the Mental Health budget SB 31 and would then hear from
agencies on the impacts. Public testimony would be taken
starting at 6:00PM. Amendments were due by 3:00PM Thursday
and would be considered by the committee on Friday. He
expected the bill would be reported out of committee on
Friday evening.
Senator Dave Donley noted that this budget proposal would
capture over $1 billion in federal funds, at an expense of
approximately $132 million. Co-Chair John Torgerson
commended the subcommittee's efforts. While the CS was
subject to amendments, it was also subject to the fiscal
constraints.
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