The Alaska House of Representatives finalized amendments to the operating budget Thursday after the Democrat-dominated minority caucus staged a dramatic walkout the day before over education funding.
to schools outside of the Base Student Allocation, the state’s per-student funding formula. The House majority proposed changing the funding source for that increase Wednesday from the state treasury to savings, which requires a three-quarters approval vote by both legislative chambers.
House Speaker Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, ended the heated floor session Wednesday shortly after 6 p.m. The House convened Thursday morning and continued debating the contentious education amendment, largely free of drama. After Wednesday’s walkout and heated floor fights, several House majority freshmen wore lapel pins on the floor depictingof a smiling cartoon dog surrounded by fire. “This is fine,” the dog says ironically.
The contentious amendment was adopted Thursday along caucus lines on a 23-17 vote. All members of the Republican-led majority supported it and all members of the Democrat-dominated minority voted were opposed. Wasilla Republican David Eastman, who doesn’t sit with either caucus, also voted against the amendment.
The majority’s amendment tied the three-quarters vote to fill the deficit and pay for the dividend with the one-time funding boost for education. Despite that, Schrage said Thursday that supermajority vote may still fail when the House votes to advances the budget to the Senate.
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