The Alaska Senate is calling on Gov. Bill Walker to save the Pioneer Homes in Juneau and Palmer from the Senate’s own cuts.
In a 20-0 vote Thursday, the Senate formally asked Walker to use his budgetary authority to transfer money from other parts of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to the Division of Pioneer Homes.
“I don’t want seniors to have to worry about that issue any longer,” said Senate Majority Leader Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna.
Earlier this week, state officials warned residents of the Pioneer Homes in Juneau and Palmer that those homes might be forced to close if budget cuts proposed by the Senate are upheld in the final version of the state’s spending plan.
Micciche, who oversaw the Senate’s budget for the Pioneer Homes, said a $6.5 million reduction in that division’s budget, identified by the nonpartisan Legislative Finance Division and state officials, was somewhat of an accident.
Micciche said Thursday that budget staff meant to make what’s known as an “unallocated cut,” asking Gov. Bill Walker to find a place to cut a certain amount of money from the HSS budget.
“In the final creation of the budget, a staffer looked for a line for an unallocated cut,” he said. “We admittedly should’ve put a little more thought into that line.”
The Senate’s Thursday vote was little more than a request. It doesn’t have binding legislative authority. It merely asks the governor to use the authority granted to him by the Legislature in this year’s budget to move money around.
It’s entirely possible that Walker won’t have to make that move. The House of Representatives proposed a budget that includes no cuts to the Pioneer Homes, and the different versions of the budget are still under negotiation.
“I think we emphatically made the statement today that seniors in our Pioneer Homes will be protected,” Micciche said.
Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 419-7732.
