March 14, 2012

With five weeks left in the session, there is much activity in the capitol building.

The House Finance Committee passed out their version of the FY13 Operating Budget on March 13th and it’s good news for the university!

The House Finance Subcommittee on the UA Budget (a subcommittee of the whole) recommended the Governor’s numbers, meaning fixed costs, compliance issues and the Honors program funding to base. When the full committee met on March 13, Representative Anna Fairclough and Representative Bill Thomas offered a large amendment to include multiple agency amendments, including the following for UAF:

MAU  Program   GF $ Other $

Student Success 
UAF   Trio Program   $600,000 $273,200
UAF  National Guard tuition  $  80,000

Workforce Development
UAF  Vet Med   $200,000 $200,000
UAF  Early Childhood Ed  $144,000
UAF   CEM (Engineering)  $400,000  $400,000

Research
UAF  RAP   $300,000 $472,600

Other funding
UAF   CES 4-H/FFA  $250,000 $750,000

The FY13 operating budget is scheduled for House floor action on March 15 and will then head to the Senate Finance Committee where it will receive numerous hearings, including another opportunity for public testimony.

Many, many thanks to all those active advocates who took time to write letters, meet with legislators and attend the House Finance Committee’s public hearing on the operating budget. Your voice was heard, and it incentivized House Finance Committee members to vote for the UA amendments.

On the capital budget front, UA was on the schedule March 13 in the Senate Finance Committee. UA President Gamble presented the UA capital budget request to include the deferred maintenance request as well as the research requests.

UAA and UAF governance students came back to Juneau this week to encourage positive action on the UA FY13 operating budget. Confirmation hearings will take place for UA Student Regent Mari Frietag on March 16.

Several members of the UAF Alumni Board will be in Juneau from March 17 - 20 to advocate for UAF. Joe Hayes, Jim Dixon and Tania Clucas will also meet with the UAF Student Investment Fund leaders and attend their presentation to the House Labor & Commerce Committee on March 19.

Gwen Holdmann, Director of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power, will give a luncheon presentation March 20 in the state capitol to legislators and staff. She will be focusing on "Diversifying Alaska’s Economy through Applied Energy Resources" to give legislators an overview of UAF research in this area.

Please note: Expect to see another ‘call to action’ from the Senate Finance Committee within the next couple of weeks to support UA FY13 operating budget.

We appreciate all the hard work of our active advocates and encourage you to keep up the good work!