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Capitol Report May 16, 2025

May 16, 2025

UA Regents Confirmed; Budget and Key Bills Keep Legislature Busy During Final Days of Session
This was the final full week of the 2025 legislative session. It included successful confirmation of all three UA Regent appointees and continued work to wrap up the FY26 budget, along with any bills lawmakers intend to pass this year. Committee meetings and floor sessions have been going late into the evenings as legislators debate key pieces of legislation during the final days of session. 

Legislature Confirms New UA Regents
On Wednesday, the legislature held a joint session to vote on the governor’s appointees to state boards and commissions, approving 97 of the 99 total appointees. Lawmakers approved all three of the UA Board of Regents appointees up for confirmation this year, confirming two new regents and the re-appointment of current Regent Karen Perdue. The two newly-confirmed members are Regent Christine Resler, who joined the Board earlier this year, and Student Regent Fernando Escobar, whose term begins June 1, 2025. 

Conference Committee Begins
The conference committee tasked with working out the differences between the Senate and House versions of the FY26 operating budget held its first meetings this week. After the House voted not to concur with the Senate’s changes to the budget, a six-member conference committee was appointed to negotiate the differences. The membership of the conference committee is as follows: 

• Representative Andy Josephson, Chair
• Representative Calvin Schrage
• Representative DeLena Johnson
• Senator Lyman Hoffman, Vice-Chair
• Senator Bert Stedman
• Senator James Kaufman 

The conference committee has met twice so far, but has yet to take action on the more significant budget items. The committee held a meeting on Wednesday to approve collective bargaining agreements and a number of items in the FY25 supplemental budget which address cost overruns for the fiscal year we are currently in. The UA team is following the conference committee process closely and continues having conversations with members about the university’s highest-priority budget items, namely full funding for employee compensation increases, as well as rising fixed costs across the UA system. 

Legislature Passes Capital Budget
On the capital budget side, the Senate unanimously concurred with the House changes to the annual infrastructure budget on Friday, meaning the bill now goes to the governor for consideration. This was one of the tightest capital budgets the state has seen. Some senators had expressed sorrow that many meaningful needs around the state simply could not be addressed with the dollars available.  

That being said, the following university items were funded in the FY26 capital budget: 

• Deferred Maintenance: $10 million
• UAA Leaders Archives Consortium Library Renovation: $1.25 million
• UAS Mariculture Program Expansion: $2 million
• UAF Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center: $53 million in receipt authority to accept private donations 

Legislative Spotlight:

HB 28, which UA is supportive of as a pilot program, was amended in the House Finance Committee yesterday. The bill sets up a temporary program in ӣ������ to help certain workers pay off their student loans. 

• What it does: The program gives money (grants) to full-time public school teachers and state employees to help pay their student loans. The bill was amended yesterday to apply to “in-state” and to those returning from “out-of-state.”  It’s a test program to see if this helps keep these workers in their jobs.
• Who can get help:
• You must work full-time as a certified teacher in an ӣ������ public school or as a state employee.
• You need to have finished a college degree or certificate program and have student loans from that education.
• How it works:
• You apply through the ӣ������ Commission on Postsecondary Education using their form and meet their deadline.
• If your loans are $24,000 or more, you can get $8,000 per year. If less than $24,000, you get one-third of your loan balance each year.
• You can get this help for up to three years.
• Teachers get paid after their contract ends; state employees get paid on their work anniversary.
• The program can give out up to 125 grants each year, with a total budget of $1,000,000. 
• Other details:
• The program will be checked to see if it’s helping keep teachers and state workers in their jobs.
• Reports on how well it’s working will be sent to the ӣ������ Legislature in 2026, 2027, and 2028. A final report in 2029 will sum up if the program was a success.
• How long it lasts: The program starts right away and runs until January 1, 2029, when it ends unless renewed.

Why it matters: This program is meant to make it easier for teachers and state workers to stay in their jobs by reducing their student loan debt, which could help schools and state offices keep good employees.

What We’re Also Watching
Now that the conference committee on the operating budget has been appointed, the legislature is now under what’s known as the “24-hour rule,” which means committee meetings can be scheduled with only 24 hours' notice, as opposed to the prior week’s notice normally required. Things tend to happen very quickly in the Capitol this time of year, but the UA team will continue tracking various bills and the budget process up until adjournment at midnight on May 21. There are no bills currently scheduled for any committee meetings next week, but that is likely to change as lawmakers move priority bills closer to the finish line. There are two key bills the legislature has already passed, but are still keeping a particular focus on as the end of session nears: 

• This is the omnibus education bill that includes a permanent increase to K-12 education funding. The legislature passed the bill and sent it to the governor for consideration on May 2, which means he has until May 19 to either veto the bill or let it go into effect. If the bill is vetoed, the legislature will have just a few days to attempt an override vote before the end of session. Addressing K-12 education funding needs is a high priority for the majority caucuses in both the House and Senate. 

• The legislature recently passed SB 113, which would levy the state’s corporate income tax on highly digitized companies doing ӣ������ in ӣ������, such as Netflix, for example. The bill has not yet been transmitted to the governor for his consideration, but the potential revenue generated by the bill is tied to the omnibus education bill, HB 57, as one of the funding sources for additional K-12 education funding. The final outcome of both SB 113 and HB 57 will have large implications on the legislature’s actions moving forward.