Back ![Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, standing, talks with Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, during an "at ease" of the Conference Committee at the Capitol Thursday. Michael Penn / Juneau Empire](http://jun-cdn.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/133582.5219030_0.jpg "Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, standing, talks with Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, during an "at ease" of the Conference Committee at the Capitol Thursday. Michael Penn / Juneau Empire")
JUNEAU — While most differences between the House and Senate versions of the operating budget have been settled, the most contentious have not.
Those include prison, scholarship and coastal management program funding.
The House included $3.6 million for a phased opening of the Goose Creek Correctional Center; the Senate included none. Some senators want an audit of the prison first.
The House had $8 million for Gov. Sean Parnell’s merit scholarship program. The Senate has $1.1 million. Parnell proposed $8.2 million for scholarships and $1.1 million for a program with students with financial needs; the Senate swapped those. The Senate also stripped funding for a coastal management program that rural lawmakers consider broken.
The conference committee didn’t set another meeting date after Thursday’s work but negotiations are ongoing.
Comments (4)
Add commentI'm glad the second verse to the State song thing is fixed...
Thank GAWD they got that straightened out, it was really bugging me. Thank you Carl Gatto.
what skulduggery
Why do these legislators think the citizens of Alaska did not expect them to deal with thee budget items early in the session? I'm very tired of hearing about waiting till the end of the session to "finalize" the budget. Our legislators act as if the entire budget matter was not to be considered until now.
What I see is legislative inaction on the budget as a way to justify the return to a 120 session. As sure as there are politicains in Juneau the budget passage during the proposed 120 session will wait until the last few days when we will hear how there is not enough time. I remember when there was a move towards 150 day session so there would be time to do everything without special sessions.
So?
Out of curiousity, why isn't anyone willing to disclose which legislators and judges have invested in this prison...? Or the prisons we contract with down south for that matter...?
I think this 90 day rule is
I think this 90 day rule is stupid. Why can't we just say "Session starts January 6th (or whatever) and it ends when it ends."
who was the smart politician that said we have to do everything in 90 days?