House Minority Leader Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, is disappointed as she leaves the Alaska House of Representatives on Saturday, May 14, 2022. Tilton was among 18 lawmakers on the losing side of a vote to agree with the Senate version of the state’s annual budget.
The Senate proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on Anchorage’s and Nome’s ports, plus millions more on projects across the state, but it wasthat dominated discussion. Even as individual Alaskans wrote their lawmakers in support of the $5,500, other Alaska residents, plus business and labor groups, lobbied against the Senate budget., Alaska Miners Association, Associated General Contractors, Council of Alaska Producers and the Alaska Support Industry Alliance.
Rep. Ron Gillham, R-Kenai, said that when he comes into work at the Capitol, he frequently passes someone sleeping on the sidewalk. Rep. Bart LeBon, R-Fairbanks, was a banker for decades before joining the Legislature. He said that if a business came to him with a business proposal akin to the budget, he wouldn’t approve their loan.The final vote crossed party and caucus lines: Four members of the House’s majority coalition voted in favor of the Senate budget, and three members of the House minority voted against it, as did Republican David Eastman, R-Wasilla, who isn’t a member of either caucus.
In November this will change ,buckle up