Gov. Mike Dunleavy told lawmakers on Thursday he’d signed a $450 million fast-track budget bill. The closely watched bill provides $70 million dollars for construction projects, $75 million for disaster relief and nearly $100 million for wildfire suppression. Lawmakers passed it late last month.
“I appreciate the Legislature’s support of these proposals,” Dunleavy said in a letter dated April 2 and delivered to the Capitol on Thursday.
The bill also includes funding for various unanticipated expenses across state government in the ongoing fiscal year, including overtime for prison guards. It also provides $130 million to refill a state scholarship fund that lawmakers drew down last year in an effort to close a budget gap.
Construction industry groups had pressed for fast action on the bill. Complex fiscal maneuvering by the Legislature last year and a series of vetoes by Dunleavy left the state’s 10% match for $700 million in federal infrastructure projects unfunded. Industry groups told lawmakers that meant they were unable to properly prepare for the summer construction season.
But the bill faced delays in the House as Republicans objected to a proposed draw from the state’s $3 billion savings account, arguing war-driven oil revenue would cover the cost. The Democrat-heavy bipartisan House majority countered that banking on unknown future oil revenues in a volatile market was unwise.
Lawmakers ultimately failed to garner the three-quarters supermajority necessary to backstop the budget with a possible savings draw, leaving it unclear whether the state will have the money to pay for all the items in the budget. Republicans said they were willing to revisit a savings draw at a later date if it became necessary.
The bill was composed almost entirely of items requested by the Dunleavy administration, plus $20 million of so-called “headroom” to allow for additional expenses this year not explicitly included in the budget bill.
Dunleavy’s spokesman, Jeff Turner, said the governor signed the bill as-is with no line-item vetoes.
“It was an administration bill and he signed it,” he said.
