G.O bond
We’ve been digging into the governor’s proposed General Obligation Bond bill in the Senate Transportation Committee lately. I support sending a bond package to voters for approval this year. It will fund vital projects for safety and economic development around the state. Plus it means jobs for Alaskans.
But the governor’s proposal needs a lot of work. To start with, a bunch of ideas in the bill are just flat out unconstitutional. The Alaska constitution limits bonds like these to a very few things, including "capital improvements." Our Supreme Court has already ruled on this: a “capital improvement” in a G.O. bond has to be a physical, lasting thing. Attorneys general through the years have written opinions that day-to-day maintenance doesn't clear that bar.
But the governor threw in a bunch of surveys, studies, and minor repairs. It's one thing to bond for a whole project, from design to ribbon-cutting. But design alone doesn't cut it. And in a state with billions of dollars of deferred major maintenance needs like roofs and foundations, I'm bumfuzzled to see stuff like a $14,000 septic tank on his list.
The biggest single part of his proposal is the yearly match money for two years' worth of federally-funded transportation projects. Those should be paid for in the budget like normal. Otherwise we'd be using an extraordinary funding source for annual costs. And bonding for the match doesn't make any extra federal funds available. Or make it come any quicker. If we're going to ask Alaskans to pledge the full faith and credit of our state for the first time in a decade, it should be for something more than spreading two years of annual needs over 20 years of payments. (I wonder if maybe the notion is to take credit for 'cutting' the budget gap without doing anything less or raising any revenue? Naaah, what am I thinking? That'd be cynical. Forget I mentioned it.)
Then there’s where the projects are proposed. We all benefit when every part of our state does well. Regions don’t sink or swim on their own. In a state as connected as ours we buoy our neighbors up or pull one another down. With 5% of the population here in Northern Southeast, we’ve got about half a percent of the projects. That won't work. We have important needs in our piece of Southeast, and I’m working to make sure we meet them.
