Issue Position: Financial Fitness and a 120 Day Session

Issue Position

As a House Republican I worked closely with like-minded legislators to ensure adequate funding for our constitutionally mandated budget items. After a hard fight the budget was set at 4.6 billion, much higher than the initial proposal of 4.1 billion. This extra half-billion comes primarily from our Permanent Fund. The inflated budget represents a 15 percent increase from 2017, an increase which is unsustainable in an era of declining revenues. As the House Minority our proposals for budget cuts were consistently voted down as the House Majority continued to push for excessive spending. This cannot continue. I sponsored a House Resolution to require all committees to focus on passing the budget before taking up other issues. I was also proud to sponsor a bill to hold legislators accountable, that is if the constitutional obligation to pass a budget is not met in 120 days, per diems and salaries would be reduced.

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