Whaddaya think? Whaddaya think? July 29, 2021 Dear Friends and Neighbors, It’s a special edition (short!) newsletter this week! Please share your ideas on a fiscal plan to move Alaska forward! The Fiscal Policy Working Group starts taking public testimony in Anchorage tonight, and your turn is coming. Legislators need to hear from you! There's no need to have sophisticated slides or charts. Legislators across the state need to hear what matters to Alaskans like you. This chart shows the gap over the past decade between our budget and state revenue. When the spending columns are taller than the revenue lines, we need a new plan. Time to Testify When: Monday, Aug. 2 from 6-9pm Where: Come to the Capitol in person (Room 532) or call in. From outside Juneau call 844-586-9085. If you’d rather testify in writing, you can email the working group at [email protected] Why: This year, the fiscal gap is about a billion dollars. Our savings are all but gone. We'll made it through with some one-time help from the feds, and some Permanent Fund earnings. Plus we’re drinking the dregs of those savings accounts. But that doesn't help us next year. Or the year after. Or the one after that. We’ve got big choices. Are we going to make more cuts? If so, please tell us what you would do without? Will we add revenue from broad based taxes like an income tax? Oil tax reform? Other taxes or fees? A combo of some or all? How will we set the value of the PFD and protect the future of the Permanent Fund itself? Should any of these things go into the Constitution? There’s a lot at stake. State funding educates Alaskans from Pre-K to UA, pays for Troopers, courts, and prisons, runs the ferries, plows the roads, supports health care and so much more. So please, please come out, call in, or write us with your priorities. I look forward to hearing from you. All my best, Did someone forward you this newsletter? Did you fall into it through the series of tubes? Want more? SUBSCRIBE Snail Mail? Alaska State Capitol Room 419 Juneau, AK 99801 Call: 800 550 4947 907 465 4947 Email Me! ‌ ‌ ‌ Contact My Staff, the people who power the work: Edric Carrillo 907 465 6419 [email protected] Cathy Schlingheyde 907 465 6827 [email protected] Senator Jesse Kiehl | Alaska State Capitol, Rm. 419, 4th Avenue & Main Street, Juneau, AK 99801 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]