What We Heard at the House Majority’s 1st Press Conference

 

The Alaska State House Majority held their first press conference of the legislative session earlier today. Since you likely don’t have a half-hour to watch and take it all in, here is a quick look at the major messages we heard:

— They have a fiscal plan. It includes:

1. Restructure of Permanent Fund Revenues for use to fund state government.
2. New broad-based state taxes. The specifics of which to be decided upon later. The line “You can’t cut your way to a sustainable budget” was repeated several times.
3. Reduction of oil and gas tax credits.

— They know the state is in a recession. They believe massive cuts to state employment would further exacerbate that recession and should be avoided.

— They oppose the state spending cap being suggested by the State Senate Majority. They believe taking options off the table for future legislatures is a bad idea.