Governor Mike Dunleavy delivered a message to the Alaska House and Senate today urging all legislators to join him in a bipartisan effort to address Alaska’s fiscal challenges with a comprehensive and integrated fiscal plan. This is not the first time the Dunleavy administration has approached the legislature to develop a long-term plan with all the necessary components. Given the fiscal situation with low oil prices and elections coming up in 2026, this may be one of the last opportunities for a bipartisan legislative-executive approach to create and pass a fiscal plan.
In his message Governor Dunleavy wrote, “Several tax proposals have been introduced during this legislative session. While I too share the concern about how we will fund government in the future, a “tax-and-spend” approach will not yield a sustainable, long-term fiscal solution. As I have consistently stated since my first term, a truly durable fiscal plan must include revenues, but it also requires clear guardrails: spending limits, statutory and regulatory reviews, and policies that make Alaska the most competitive state in the nation for investment and new business growth.”
“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. By transmittal of this message, I am formally requesting legislative leadership join me in convening a joint team to begin this process.”
Governor Dunleavy called four special sessions in 2021 to try and get lawmakers to begin the process of forming a comprehensive fiscal plan. He tried again two years later by asking legislative leadership to consider a special session and was turned down.
A copy of the letter is available by clicking here.
