Right after sending out our last Ulu newsletter, the Governor
signed the budget bill and included vetoes. As it stands now, it does
not look like the legislature has the votes needed in order to override
those vetoes, which is very unfortunate. When he made vetoes, he said
the federal Covid-19 money that will be coming to the state could cover
many of them; however, our sources do not agree that can happen for most
of the items. The Covid-19 funds must be used for expenses related to
the Covid-19 emergency, and cannot be used for items that are not the
result of that emergency. As you can see in the list of vetoes below,
most will not fit those criteria. We have attorneys and other experts
working to get better direction for how the funds can be used, and if
that changes anything about these vetoes then I will let you know. Until
and unless that happens, here are some of the vetoes of interest to our
district:
- Public Broadcasting: everything vetoed except for Satellite
Infrastructure. So there are NO funds in the budget for public radio or
public TV.
- Pre-K grants: the additional $4,300,000 was vetoed; $2 million that was in the base remains.
- Online with Libraries (OWL): was reduced $200,000; $472,000 remains funded.
- AHFC Homelessness: of $5 million, due to Covid-19 disaster, was vetoed entirely.
- Education: additional $30 million was vetoed entirely.
- Education school construction: funding was entirely vetoed.
- Community Assistance: the additional funding was vetoed
There were other vetoes made, so if you want to know about any others, please contact my staff to get more information.
CARES Act Distribution of Funds by Community
The Governor's proposed community funding amounts and the schedule
of disbursements by community from the CARES Act funding can be found
at:
This document is only what the Governor is proposing for
disbursement of community funds. It was submitted to the Legislative
Budget & Audit Committee yesterday on April 21st and will be
subjected to the legislative process.
The total $562,500,000 in CARES Act funding allocated for community
disbursements will be distributed on May 1, July 1 and October 1,
2020. The CARES Act money owed should hit the state treasury Friday or
Monday. The legislature is currently in discussions on if a virtual
session may be permitted in lieu of an in-person session due to the
current COVID health mandates. The Senate Finance Committee will likely
meet in the first part of May as well.
Highlighting the Power of Philanthropy in a Time of Crisis
Some
of our largest and longest-standing non-profits in Alaska have been
quick to organize to address some of the most immediate statewide needs
as a direct result of the COVID shutdown. The Rotary Clubs of Alaska has
partnered with the Alaska Community Foundation (ACF), Rasmussen
Foundation, United Way and many other non-profits in the State to form
Alaska COVID-19 Response Fund.
The ACF, a 501(c)3
non-profit, is housing the fund while the Rasmussen Foundation is
matching donations and covering all administrative costs so that 100% of
donations will be distributed to the communities and families in need.
The Fund has received over $1.4 million to date from company and
individual sponsors. Monday's donations to the Fund reached a record
daily total of $30,000 from over 40 gifts. It is worth highlighting that
$23,000 has been raised from individual Rotarians and, when the crisis
had started, they were quick to find creative ways to distribute the
first $1,000 to each of the 38 communities where they have active
membership.
The Rotary Clubs have been reaching
out to local and regional non-profits to help identify the highest
priority of need. These topics include childcare centers, domestic
violence shelters, food security, and homeless shelters. The individual
and family needs include food and rental / utility assistance. For
individual and family financial assistance: Funds are being received and
redistributed by a group of local organizations in the communities like
the Salvation Army, Kawerak, Bristol Bay Foundation, United Ways and
Lutheran Social Services who vet individual applications.
For
distributions and requests, ACF distributed about 250k from the fund
this past week, but at the same time had received over $7MM in requests
in the same time period. This shows that there is still a large unmet
need coming within our Alaskan communities. The consortium will continue
dispensing funds every couple of weeks to areas hit hardest by our
frontline areas and individual families resulting from the COVID crisis.
The local non-profits can continue applying since there is an ongoing
application process. $10,000 will also be distributed to each
community's local community foundation board over the next month.