House passes budget … but it’s not fully funded

By SUZANNE DOWNING

April 14 2026 – The Alaska House on Monday passed its version of the state’s operating budget to the Senate after days of floor amendments and debate, advancing a spending plan that remains not fully funded and setting up the next phase of negotiations in the upper chamber.

The House majority, led by Democrats, approved the budget despite the gap between revenues and spending, effectively passing off the unresolved fiscal problem to the Senate for further work.

The most significant change to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s original proposal was the removal of the statutory Permanent Fund dividend. Under current law, the dividend would have paid roughly $3,800 to each eligible Alaskan. House lawmakers instead opted to exclude that statutory formula-driven payout from the budget, continuing a years-long pattern of setting the dividend amount as a “leftovers” payment outside the law.

In addition to altering the dividend, the House added a series of funding increases across education and social services. Lawmakers included $147 million in one-time funding for K-12 school operations and nearly $11 million for student transportation. The budget also adds $7.5 million for child care recruitment and retention grants, $3.8 million for Head Start programs, and $1.5 million for child advocacy centers.

Health and public assistance programs also saw increases. The House included $15.4 million for caretaker Medicaid rate increases and $8.5 million to cover a higher state cost-share for federal food assistance programs. Another $5 million was added for community jails.

Lawmakers also boosted funding for fire suppression and disaster response, aiming to reduce the need for supplemental budget requests that have become common in recent years.

The operating budget heads to the Senate, where further revisions are expected.