JUNEAU — Gov. Mike Dunleavy is asking lawmakers to sit down and work out a long-term fix for Alaska’s budget woes, and he’s hinting that the clock is ticking.
In a message to the House and Senate this week, Dunleavy pitched the idea of a joint team to build what he called a comprehensive fiscal plan.
“We have an opportunity, post-session, to form this team and begin identifying, researching, and drafting legislation around the core components of such a fiscal plan to underpin Alaska’s future,” Dunleavy said. “By transmittal of this message, I am formally requesting legislative leadership join me in convening a joint team to begin this process.”
He acknowledged the talk of taxes in the Capitol but warned against diving headfirst into a “tax-and-spend” approach.
Given the fiscal situation with low oil prices and elections coming up in 2026, Dunleavy added that this may be one of the last opportunities for a bipartisan legislative-executive approach to create and pass a fiscal plan.
