Jennifer Pemberton

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s austerity budget isn’t going over smoothly — even among members of his own party. Now, he’s taking his fiscal plan on the road with stops in communities from Nome to Fairbanks to Kenai. Members of the State House Finance Committee held their own dueling meetings.

As Alaskans got up close and personal with their elected representatives — what’s the message? On this episode of Paying Dividends, Alaskans weigh-in.

We hear reporters from Juneau to Bethel, in Southwest Alaska, where Gov. Mike Dunleavy and members of the legislature landed in the last week. They were taking feedback on the budget, PFDs, the state’s constitution and, really, whatever else was on people’s minds.

The reception they got was, in a word, mixed. There were protests at nearly every stop on the Governor’s tour. In Fairbanks, nearly 400 protesters showed up. In Nome, a woman was detained by police.

The Governor and lawmakers heard from people who didn’t want to see their dividends cut, but they also heard hours of testimony from people who opposed dramatic state budget cuts to things like education and ferries.

Rashah McChesney talks to KTOO and Alaska Public Media’s Andrew Kitchenman in Juneau, KDLL’s Shaylon Cochran in Kenai, KYUK’s Krysti Shallenberger in Bethel and KNOM’s Emily Hofstadter in Nome.

There’s a saying in Juneau, and probably in a lot of other state Capitols : the governor proposes and the Legislature disposes.

In the first two episodes of Paying Dividends, we’ve talked a lot about what Governor Mike Dunleavy is proposing — an austerity budget with sharp cuts to schools, health-care and ferries so the state can afford $3,000 Permanent Fund dividend checks.

In the Capitol, people like to refer to the governor’s proposal as his request — because really, it’s the House and Senate that decide how much to spend on each program, and they’re free to accept or ignore the governor’s advice.

In the House right now, the committees that are handling the budgets for each state agency aren’t even using Dunleavy’s proposal as a starting place — they’re starting by asking how much each agency would need to sustain the status quo.

But if lawmakers reject Dunleavy’s budget cuts and decide to spend more money on government services, how much cash will be left over for PFDs?

In this episode, we go back to the Capitol, to talk to lawmakers about what next year’s budget and PFD are actually going to look like.

While Governor Dunleavy was elected on pledges to pay big dividends while cutting state government, his detailed proposal to do that is not exactly going over smoothly with lawmakers — even those in his own party, like the Republicans who control the Senate.

Nat Herz talks to two of those senators and with Andrew Kitchenman, who’s been covering budget hearings in the Senate Finance Committee.

In this newscast:

• The Boeing plane under scrutiny after another deadly crash in Ethiopia isn’t currently operating in Alaska
• Genetically engineered salmon manufacturer says Alaska has nothing to fear
• Key senators speak out about their approach to the proposed state budget

Last time on Paying Dividends, we explored the ways that Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration could make good on its promise to pay full PFDs. And now we know that in order to do that, the governor is proposing steep cuts to the state’s budget.

And along with those spending cuts come job losses. Depending on which economist you ask, the state could lose anywhere from 600 government jobs to at least 12,000 jobs in fields like education and healthcare .

But Dunleavy is also proposing to inject almost $2 billion dollars back into the state’s economy through a larger PFD, arguing that the PFD and private sector will make up for job losses that come from spending cuts.

Host Rashah McChesney talks to reporter Nat Herz, who traveled to the Mat-Su Valley for a recent story and talked to someone who is passionate about the agriculture industry in Alaska — whose state support is on the chopping block — and a small business owner who is just as passionate about the potential economic benefit from a large Permanent Fund dividend.

To get the Dunleavy administration’s view on the budget’s impact on the state’s economy, Rashah sat down with Ed King, the state’s chief economist. He works for the Office of Management and Budget, giving the administration economic advice and analyzing the impacts of policy changes.

In this newscast:

• A lawsuit has been filed in Alaska against LuLaRoe clothing.
• The governor’s budget proposal includes a plan to stop sharing fish taxes with coastal communities.
• The City and Bureau of Juneau and the cruise ship industry tell SE Alaskans that they will continue to work together to resolve their differences.

In this newscast:

• The Alaska House of Representatives has a new speaker and can officially begin its work.
• Governor Michael Dunleavy’s power to reduce Alaska’s budget only goes so far.
• Proposed budget cuts to the state’s Department of Corrections includes a plan to send 500 inmates to prisons outside of Alaska.
• The governor’s proposed cut of $134 million would require drastic actions, says University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen.