Governor announces restoration of Senior Benefits, Pre-K Grants, Head Start

August 13, 2019: After negotiations with the Alaska House Republicans, Governor Michael J. Dunleavy announced that he plans to restore funding to Alaska’s Senior Benefits program, Pre-K and Head Start grants. The governor also approved a step-down approach to budget reductions at the University of Alaska.

“The governor has been very amenable to our requests and considerations through the negotiating process this last month, but the conversation on reaching a sustainable spending level is not over,” said Rep. Lance Pruitt (R-Anchorage), House Republican Leader. “We are in complete agreement our state’s expenses cannot continue to exceed our revenues, but we understand compromise was necessary to achieve some of the outcomes we were concerned about.”

“This year’s legislative outcomes are going to be very hard for many Alaskans to swallow, but I also cannot help but be proud of the critical progress that was accomplished,” added Rep. Cathy Tilton (R-Chugiak/Mat-Su), Republican Finance Leader. “We repealed SB 91 and took more than $400 million of debt off the plates of our children and grandchildren.”