Alaska legislators will return to Juneau for the 2018 legislative session Tuesday. The top priority is to fix the state’s budget crisis. If lawmakers do nothing this year, the state’s savings will run out. Both the Senate and House agree on part of the plan to fix the problem, using Permanent Fund earnings to fund government, but legislators from both chambers disagree on how to fill the rest of the gap. Senate Republicans say budget cuts will fix the crisis, but members of the House say that isn’t enough and want to implement a broad-based tax. KBBI’s Renee Gross reached Homer Representative Paul Seaton in Juneau to talk more about what’s at stake this legislative session.
Seaton also mentioned another priority for the House is to have education funding talks earlier in the session.
