SAN FRANCISCO -Alaska lawmakers adjourned Sunday after approving a last-minute flurry of legislation, including a $315 million general obligation bond measure for transportation projects.
The measure would go before voters in November.
Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to sign the GO bill. The GOP governor had proposed issuing bonds in the first place, though lawmakers more than doubled the size of her original $140 million transportation bond plan from January.
"If the proposition were approved in November 2008, it is anticipated bonds would be issued in early 2009 and debt service would commence in [fiscal] 2010," according to a staff report prepared for lawmakers by the Department of Revenue.
Palin had also proposed a $100 million bond measure to finance a crime laboratory, but that died in committee. Lawmakers put $12 million for site design and preparation into the general capital budget.
The final transportation bond measure would finance 28 different projects, up from nine in the governor's original proposal.
High oil prices have turned into a windfall for Alaska, allowing lawmakers to loosen their belts and indulge in the capital budget buffet line, bringing projects home to their districts.
The capital budget hit $2.9 billion, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
"The final capital budget was larger than some recent years - but so were the state's needs," according to a statement issued after adjournment by the Senate majority, which is a mix of Democrats and Republicans.
Many lawmakers also noted that they voted to pump billions into savings; the Senate majority reported that lawmakers approved a supplemental budget appropriating $3.6 billion into two reserve funds for the current fiscal year, and a further $1.4 billion in fiscal 2009.
Earlier in the session, lawmakers approved a package in which the state government will pick up a large share of outstanding retirement liabilities for local governments and school districts, and passed another bill authorizing Alaska to issue up to $5 billion of pension obligation bonds as a tool to pay for those obligations.
This year's session was the first under a voter-mandated rule reducing the legislative session to 90 days from 121.
