Alaska Fiscal Policy| Moving toward a sustainable budget for Alaska …

The Senate and House Finance Committees met jointly this morning to hear from Dr. Scott Goldsmith of the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social & Economic Research (ISER).  Dr. Goldsmith is the author of “Maximum Sustainable Yield:  FY 2014 Update,” the ISER study which outlines an approach to moving toward a sustainable budget for Alaska.

Both Dr. Goldsmith’s presentation, and the statements and questions following are instructive about the current problems faced by Alaska, and  the reaction by members of the Finance Committees to those problems.  Some of the slides will be familiar to readers of these pages.  Others, particularly those related to the calculation of the nest egg, are new.

For those interested in the subject, Dr. Goldsmith’s slides and the  hearing are well worth your time.  The slide pack is available here; the webcast of the hearing is available either by clicking on the picture above or here.  Given the timing, I would anticipate we will hear continued references to the presentation and subject as the Senate Finance Committee begins to dig deeply into the Operating and Capital budgets.  This hearing set a very strong baseline for continued efforts on building toward a sustainable budget.