Okay. Call this meeting of the House Finance Committee to order. Left the record reflect
that it's 1.34 p.m. on Monday, February 10th, 2026. Present today are Representative Moore,
Representative Bynum, Representative Hannon, and Representative Chomsky, President Galvin.
And three of our co-chairs are here, co chair Schruggie, Co chair Foster, myself cochair
Also present today are House Finance Committee staff,
Committee Assistant Helen Phillips,
Paige Tallulah-Lestofka, Secretary Brie Wiley,
Secretary Leah Frazier.
We also have our moderator Emily Mesh
from the Legislative Information Office with us.
Before we start, please mute your cell phones.
In today's meeting, we will hear the Alaska Mental Health Trust
present on its FY27 governor's budget overview,
then beginning at 2.30.
We will hear public testimony on House Bill 289, the Governor's supplemental bill.
With us today from the Mental Health Trust is Brent Fisher, Board Chair, Mary Wilson,
Chief Executive Officer, and Katie Baldwin, Johnson, Chief Operating Officer.
We have other members of the board with us as well.
If the three of you will please come forward and put yourselves on the record, we can begin
your presentation.
Hi, Mary Wilson CEO of the trust see you
Brent Fisher chair of board of trustees for the Trust
Hello, Katie Baldwin Johnson chief operating officer for The Trust great to see
Okay, take it away. Thank you the chair. I will start Mary, Wilson
so
Thank you very much to all of you for the opportunity to present.
I think we already introduced Brent Fisher, our Chair of the Trustees in Katie.
I also have on the line Julie Farley, who's our CFO, and
Justy Warner, whose our Chief Executive Officer for
the trust land office.
And then Allison is behind me,
who is our chief communication officer.
And you've got a couple board members in addition with you. Yes, we do. I want to introduce them real fast
Yeah, so this is Anita anita Halderman here who's one of our board Members in Kevin, Finean. Great
Thank you
and today's presentation we're gonna cover a bit of
Information about the trust we are gonna do a financial update and about and also the Trust FY 27 budget
Trust authority grants and programs the trust land office and what's ahead including a little bit about rural health transformation and our overlap with that
Take it away Brent, okay, thank you
So this slide is the current makeup of our board of trustees
Many of we've already introduced the ones that are here in the room as well as ourselves
The board, of Trustees is an independent board
and we provide governance, fiduciary oversight,
and strategic direction to the organization
in achieving the mission of the trust.
I've been a trustee for about, for five years now,
and this is my second year as the chair.
And I have to say that I believe that this makeup
of our trustees is probably the most productive board
that we've had since it was founded in 1994.
In the last three years alone, we've accomplished some pretty significant things that have made us productive.
We've realigned our charters and bylaws so that they more aligned with the trust settlement document.
We have increased our outlays, not only in raw dollar amounts, but also in the percentage of our investments that are being given out as grants to beneficiary servicing organizations.
we've successfully implemented over the last few years the crisis program initiative that we have
and it continues to grow throughout the state of Alaska, particularly in rural communities.
In addition, we started focusing also on more on prevention,
particularly for children and youth. So not only that,
we prevent mental health issues, but we present them from getting worse
In addition, we just completed a new strategic plan for the trust, which I think is the
most sophisticated strategic plans that the Trust has ever had.
Mr. Chair Fisher,
we've been joined by Representative Jimmy.
Okay. Please continue.
The makeup of our board, right now, Kevin Feynman, myself, John Morris, and Josie Hickel all live in Anchorage.
However, Josy Hackel was raised in Moose Pass,
and Kevin Fieman spent many years out in Nome.
Agnes Moran is from Catchekin, Corey Feymann from Chickaloon,
and Anita Halperman from Eagle River.
So we've got people who've lived, currently live around the state or have lived
Next slide.
Alaskans, who we consider to be beneficiaries of the trust
are Alascans who experience one or more of
the conditions that you see here on this slide,
we support both youth and adult beneficiaries
and we prioritize individuals whose mental health condition
or developmental disability place them at risk
for institutionalization if they don't have proper
community level services and supports.
We also work upstream to prevent, when possible, those conditions in Alaskans.
Next slide.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is a state corporation within the Department
of Revenue that administers the Alaska mental health trust, which is
a perpetual trust to improve, designed to, improve the lives of beneficiaries.
The Trust was established following a landmark legal settlement in 1994.
We spent some time covering our history last year, but if you'd like to learn more about
our inception, we have some great resources on our webpage.
The trust uses its land and cash assets to help ensure that Alaska has an integrated,
comprehensive mental health program.
We do this through grant making and through advancing efforts to improve our system of
care for our beneficiaries.
And while we are an independent corporation, we use our resources to partner closely with
the Alaska State Government, local governments, non-profits, tribal partners, providers,
and others in advancing our mission.
We prioritize our funds for system improvement, innovation, and strategic initiatives.
and which we'll talk about a bit more later in the presentation.
It's contracted exclusively by the Trust to manage its approximately 1 million acres
of Alaska lands and other non-cash assets to generate revenue over time
and better serve our beneficiaries.
And as an entirely self-funded corporation, the trust uses no general funds
A few other notes about the trust are that per-trust statute, only the Board of Trustees
has the ability to direct the use of trust funds.
Through our grants to state agencies and to community partners, we complement state spending
for beneficiaries, but trust fund are not intended to supplant state-spending.
Nor per settlement documents was the Trust meant to be the sole funder of the state's
We appreciate our strong partnership with the state of Alaska. We've worked productively with The Executive Branch Department since our inception
30 years ago, and we continue to leverage trust funds to support the states role in caring for the health and wellness of Alaskans.
As evidenced by our recently revamped mission and vision
Central to our work at the Trust is improving the lives of trust beneficiaries and the systems that care for them.
and you'll learn more about this in later slides.
For three decades, the Trust has invested
in mental health services and supports
impacting beneficiaries and systems they rely on.
These investments have delivered real progress,
yet we know that the Alaska system of care
can be approved upon to meet the needs of our beneficiaries.
Together, The Trust,
The trust land office,
aim to carry this vision and mission forward
thriving beneficiaries and thriving in their community.
Thanks, Brent.
We'll move on to our finances.
Director, we have been joined by Representative Stapp,
and we had the question from Representative Hannon.
Thank you, co-chair Josephson.
Mr. Fisher, although you went through extensive history
last year, I'm hoping that you can expand upon,
because by making the statement that 30 years ago, 1994,
public corporation was created, it might lead someone listening to think that's when our mental
health trust lands and trust obligations began. So not to revisit the whole history that led to
that creation in 1994, but just a little paragraph, so we're not leaving people with the impression
that in 1984 we started having an obligation to address the needs for mental health services in
lands were actually given by the federal government to the state of Alaska when it became a state when the
State was formed. With the intention that those lands, the revenues from those
lands the resources that were there would be used to help with the any kind of
mental health issues that a new state would have. And so that's really when
that started with when those land were granted. It was later in 1994 after
there was some disagreement about how the funds were being used from
that the trust was formed as an independent organization to make sure that all the resources,
the revenues from those resources would be used specifically for the mental health beneficiaries
within the state. And that's often coined as the reconstituting of the Trust, is that right?
That's the term I'm used to hearing. All right. So let's go to
Ms. Wilson.
Yes, thank you very much.
So to update you, to start an update
on our financial position,
we're gonna start with our assets,
which you'll see in this slide.
Our trust investments at the end of the last fiscal year
were 228.5 million plus 37.4 million in real estate equity
for total assets of 865 million,
which was a little increase over the first fiscal,
the previous fiscal of eight 48.
The green bars that you see, which are the big bar, is the Mental Health Trust Fund,
which is managed by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation,
which we refer to as our Corpus. That's worth $559 million. Last year, it was $551 million,
when it started in 1994. It was 200 million overall. Since its inception,
due to revenues from activities on trust lands,
due the permanent transfers for inflation proofing,
and also due market growth over that period of time
in the perm fund.
We have in blue, we can see trust reserves.
We had reserves to prudently ensure available spending
for beneficiaries even during periods of market downturns.
We aim for 400% of the annual spend,
and we currently have that in our reserves
in red you'll see unrealized appreciation of 125 million. Our unrealize appreciation varies
year after year. These are gains on paper but are not available for spending until it's realized
per APFC investment team determinations. We've been joined in our gallery by Representative
Yes, thank you. Hi. Thank you for being here appreciate hearing a bit of the history and and
Particularly in your introduction about all of The ways that you feel that we've strengthened mental health trust Authority. I appreciate that
My question is related to the numbers
I see, if I were an Alaskan, deeply concerned about mental health, and I appreciate that
we have to keep this fund in perpetuity.
But if we were to look at this and see that we continue to build a savings account or
an account, that there may be some concern that that's the goal.
That the goals is that were created an investment account.
And I don't think that's true, but I do know that you have changed your...
somehow there's been some decisions on the next slide around changing from 4.25.
4.5 and so maybe this will be part of the discussion, but I just want to make sure to
look at this visual and appreciate that some Alaskans might be concerned at seeing this
grow so much. Are we really investing in Alascans enough or are we investing
in the fund? And so as you proceed, I would appreciate having better understanding around
that because I do know that we have so many needs here in Alaska and I appreciate all you're doing.
Thank you so much for the through the chair. Thank. You so
much. For the question and I think as we go through
the financial slides, it'll go to a lot of that. And if not,
we can clarify afterwards. Perfect.
Thank
you very much, go
to slide eight, I
think.
So this slides illustrates how we determine our available
funding each year and the amount reflected here is for FY
27.
So let's go over that funding starting at the top.
The largest portion of our annual spend
is funded through a withdrawal from our invested assets.
This is the 4.5% of the average value
from the previous four years.
As noted on the slide, FY27 is a first fiscal year
where the payout reflects our increased payout rate.
Trustees worked with Callan, as a consultant last year,
to consider our Annual withdrawal
from Our Invested Assets and determine
that it was prudent
to change it from 4.25% where it has been since 2008 to 4,5%.
That increase is reflected for the first time in our FY27 budget,
and it resulted in an additional 1.9 million available funds.
Moving to the next line, the Trust Land Office, or the TLO,
spendable income is also contributes to our available spend estimate,
shown here at 4 .3 million, which is a two-year average.
We also have a two-year average of prior funds carried forward, which is 4.5 million that are in
Approved funds from prior years that have not been fully expended
Unused grant funds do roll back into our annual spend calculation and lastly we have 2.4 million in interest earnings from our most recent fiscal year
That contribute to the spend
And Miss Wilson you're going to tell us about I think
The small grants that you give that aren't run through our budget system
Are those smaller grants part of this total this forty five point five million?
Yeah, when I go through that, you'll see that the totals include all the grants we give mtar plus
Our other grants. That are not to the state got it correct. All right proceed, please
Representative Bynum for Ms. Wilson or her colleague.
Yes, thank you, co-chair Justin through the chair really quick.
Just a quick clarification on the previous slide there.
We have the little asterisk at the bottom there,
it talks about the draw rate.
And I don't recall the history on that, but could you briefly say this is a four-year,
four and a half percent average value draw is opposed to something that would be more
still matter what we're seeing in other things that we are doing.
For example, for the permanent fund, we do a five percent, five- year.
Can you just briefly describe the difference on why we would
be drawing at the lower rate for this as opposed higher rate?
Yes, and there is similarity there, so you're right about that.
When we had the analysis by Calum with around our 4.25 percent withdrawal and what that
should look like maybe, it was framed in the sense of we are a perpetual trust.
current beneficiaries need the maximum we can afford,
but beneficiaries 30 years and 40 years from now also need
that maximum.
So the discussion was, is 4.25 the right amount right now,
predicting with 90% certainty in 30 or 40
years what we might want to be giving that's equivalent.
And it felt like, as you looked through the numbers,
and as we ran many, many scenarios,
contemporary beneficiaries and saving more money than was needed for future
beneficiaries. It's an art and a science and we went through a lot of numbers.
This was the second year the Board of Trustees went
through that presentation and it really looked pretty conclusive that it was
very safe and would be to the benefit of our current beneficiaries to go to
the 4.5% draw.
The reason we do a four-year blend is to make sure that market changes don't
unduly impact the money so that if you had a bad year the year before and you
only blended two years you might end up with a falsely low beneficiary fund
amount that year. So four years seems to have been the sweet spot for the trust
and that's where that number comes from.
Thank you, Coach, your justice and through the chair.
As we move forward, one of the things I'll be thinking about
and maybe we'll answer is talking about the immediate need
that we have versus a potential future need
and trying to balance this immediate needs,
especially after COVID happened,
we know that there is really a higher incidence for need.
And so I'd just like to kind of have,
as we're going through
the presentation,
That immediate need versus any potential future need that we don't know about now. Yeah, thank you very much. Let's go to slide nine
So now we're going to show how much money we've been spending year over year
And you can see from this this shows that trusty approved spending as you see has we have had a trend of increasing spending
Particularly spending on beneficiaries, which is the medium blue
in the chart. I will note that this chart goes through FY 25 versus FY 27 because that's our last
complete year. So this does not yet show the payout increase of 4.5 percent but what you do see
is that the pay has increased anyway and that is due to the formula we used to blend the final
Also effective in FY 25, we started to include the value
of our below market leases for beneficiary serving organizations
on trust lands, which in 25 told a little bit more
than $1 million.
So, the trust owns about a million acres of land in southeast, south central and interior
Alaska, and that land is managed by the Trust Land Office or the TLO.
We have an excellent team at the TLO, which sits in DNR and is overseen by Jesse Warner,
who's the tLO executive director.
The trust has the responsibility to manage trust lands and non-cash assets over time
to generate revenue to support trust work on behalf of beneficiaries.
minerals and materials, energy, commercial ground leases, and program related real estate,
land sales, leases and permits. Revenue from land, trust land support our ongoing work on
behalf of the beneficiaries. Trust land like trust finances are managed with perpetuity in mind.
As you can see, we're anticipating earning more than 12 million in revenue from our trust
This slide shows some highlights from FY 2025.
We generated more than 12 million in revenues, and we sold two properties in our commercial real estate portfolio.
We didn't do a separate slide on commercial real estate
this year, like you may have remember last year.
In 24, the board decided to divest all the commercial
real-estate properties.
We've owned some of them for over 10 years,
because it seemed like the right time in the market.
As of this date, we've divested four of the six properties,
we have two left, both of whom are in Texas,
and they'll be, when the marketplace is right,
probably within the next six-state months,
we'll try to put those on the Market.
So following, I also wanted to mention IC Cape following 10 years of research and sort
of encouraging exploration results and a technical report.
IC cape is looking pretty exciting for the trust and we're still moving forward with
that in a systematic way for development of that.
The also, the TLO does finance the purchase of trust lands.
So what you'll see is interest revenues that are generated on the interest rates we charge
generate revenue and in FY 25 that was about 846 thousand dollars that we
generated. So Director if that's the right title you're purchasing land in
Alaska or elsewhere? So I'm sorry I may have conflated two things the when
people buy trust land they are able to borrow against our own assets
and pay us back.
So if you want to buy trust land for $2 million,
you wanna borrow $1.5 million.
We can get you a loan through the TLO.
That's what I meant to say.
But the land we bought outside,
the real estate holdings we're not doing anymore.
Those are done.
Right, and you're clearly not selling your Alaska properties.
Those were designed to be investment.
No, I was talking about the commercial real-estate.
Got it.
Yeah, we had this confusion in the last minute too.
I should have clarified.
No that's fine.
Representative Hannon.
Thank you, co-chair Josephson, Dr. Wilson, along that same point, if we go back a slide, on slide 11 under anticipated revenues for FY26, the component lands is the largest component, but that's not our commercial real estate, and if
How are we generating revenue on those yeah, I mean I have just on the on
the phone just I think you'd be best to take that question
All right, so this question is going to justy Warner executive director of the land trust portion
Miss Warner
Hi, this is just a Warner the executive Director of The Trust Land Office
The land section that you see on that chart is land sales, land permits,
land leases. So those land sails are sort of, you can think about those as subdivisions around the state,
subdivision parcels around this state.
Follow-up?
Follow up.
Can you give me of that anticipated revenue of
These aren't bankable funds.
I'm not asking you down to the dollar, but how much of that?
Because in general, what we've heard Dr. Wilson say is,
we're not selling off Alaska lands,
but now we got 7 million that's in sales, leases of lands.
And then you had a third element.
So I am looking to see of the 7,000,00.
I know in my community, I represent here in Juneau.
Before you were there, we had sort of a legendary
personal that you sold off the support that went for
three or four times the appraised value.
But it was always sort described as it's a one off
kind of parcel that the lands office had decided
could be sold with a very high return
and you didn't have many parcels of that magnitude.
So.
This dollar figure is telling me we must have some fairly large parcels we're selling off for a million here and a
Million there
Miss Warner
Representative Hannah and through the chair. Yeah, so let me just um, let's let we just separate
I think what the question is getting at is there is commercial real estate investment
Which dr. Wilson was describing as the trust is divesting themselves from those properties
those
There is locations in Alaska and there are locations outside of the state of Alaska.
The Trust Board has made the decision to divest themselves of those holdings.
This section right here is talking about lands in Alaskan that belong to the Trust,
and those are land sales.
Those are a land sale through our competitive land sell program, our negotiated land
A large part of this number that you're seeing is from land sales in Alaska.
Yes, follow-up, Representative Hannon.
Thank you.
So, Ms. Warner, can I conclude from that then, that this is either one time revenues.
We've sold the land, we won't generate money off of it again, as opposed to our minerals leases or tumbler leases, our material leases.
Representative Hinn, through the chair, the disposal of land is a one-time payment which
goes to the principal or the corpus of the trust.
Land leases that are done through a contract and the truck will ultimately get those back.
Those are classified as income which is spendable by the trusts and not necessarily always
principle or the corpus. The only, and Dr. Wilson got at it earlier just to clarify, is on those
land sale contracts, the interest from those contracts that are paid by the buyer, that is
That is revenue that comes in over the lifetime of that contract and those contracts can be up to 20 years
Mr. Chairman if I could have one follow-up I lied representative Hannon is
Seven million something that we could expect annually from sales of lands as revenue for the trust
Representative Hannen through the chair
You know we'd like to continue to see that
Interest rates are a main driver in that.
Interest rate are coming down.
The statutory interest rate for the trust
on these land-silled contracts is 3% on crime.
So when the feds come down, you know, a quarter of a basis point
or anything like that, our land sales reflect that in the contract.
It's a fixed rate in a contract that is signed at that time.
But the interest rates changes thereby driving.
you know, the interest from the public in land.
All right, representative staff.
Oh, thank you, coach here, Justin, through the chair.
You know shift a little gears here.
I'm just curious.
Do you guys have any trust land in the right away for the
AKLNG project through.
The chair, yes, and I'll let just explain that.
Just a question about the AK LNG right way.
Trifting representative step through the chair. We do we do have a portion of land that is on that route and
We, do, have an application in
But it's a very small portion
fault, mr. Follow up through, the, chair to I'm blanking on the name my apologies, but
Regarding permitting emo use with
Yeah, about the Permany demo use is that what you're asking about? Yeah. So I do have a little bit of information on that so
And this has been a great program by
Justy Warner.
So we have MOUs with Ketchikan wrangle and Kenai that foster collaborative approach
to land development across the southeast and south central.
By formalizing the partnerships, the T.L.O.
and the local government counterparts
want to align planning efforts, share technical expertise,
and identify mutually beneficial opportunities
that support both the trust revenue generation
but also local economic development.
I was going to ask about that, so it's just as well.
I think, rest of the steps question
was about contracts with Glenfarn.
I'll ask Justin then.
Ms. Warner on contracts with Glenfarn
Representative step through the chair we do not have any contracts
Thank you
This is chair josephson you said that you have an application in as to the right way in to do what
Third thing
We do have an application in, and it's simply for the linear use of truck land for pipeline.
It just seems like the pipeline would be applying to you, but you're applying it,
and I'm not losing sleep over this.
I just don't understand that part.
Yes, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for that clarification. We do not have an application and they have a application into us
So when I said they okay, we have in application in we had an applications from the customer into the trust land
I got it. The English language has its tricks
All right, so we will
We will go to I think slide 14
We're gonna get into
Yes, let's go into the FY27 budget.
So based on our budgets, you can see the largest portion of our annual spending is grant making
and beneficiary initiatives.
That's the big blue bar.
This big, blue, bar on this slide includes MTR grants to state agencies, and we'll talk
about more on the next slide, but also grants for non-profits, local governments, tribal
entities and other beneficiaries serving organizations.
We do continuously work to control spending and you'll see the yellow,
which is the trust authority agency budget and the green is a TLO agency
budget.
At the Trust Authority, we've had 17 FTEs since 2017, so for almost 10 years,
and before that we had 16.
And as you saw in our spend,
we're dealing with a lot more grant money outlay with those same 17 people
over the last nine years.
Feeling as the CEO in my examination over the past years, it's pretty lean in
Organization that's really effective with those numbers the TLO also has 17
FTEs and that is down from 19 following a consolidation of several positions in order to be more efficient
Dr. Wilson question from representative staff.
Yes.
Yeah, I think Coach, you're just in through the chair to Dr
Wilson and thanks for being here again.
So the trust is zero basis.
They're budget every year.
And your budget is actually bigger than some of our state
department's budget.
So I'm curious how cumbersome of a process is that for you
and how efficient does the Trust
execute that form of budgeting through
the Chair?
Dr Wilson.
Yeah.
Thank you.
From my perspective, having been there a year and then I'll let Katie speak about it,
it's not cumbersome because I've dealt with many different kinds of budgets.
I think it is pretty straightforward, to be honest.
The big thing is, do you have the right number of people doing the job?
Are you spending the money in the the wrong way?
Is it efficient?
And so on, and that's really the core of being successful in that budget.
And as you can see, our spend amounts go up and up,
and so we need to really make sure that that process works effectively.
Ms. Baldwin-Johnson, anything to add to that?
Through the chair, just briefly,
I would add that on an annual basis,
we're determining how much in the fund do we have
to redistribute in grant making.
And so...
You know in those lines as we're developing these projects is that we are you know
We're working towards and within that budget
It's been our process from the beginning. So it's just how we do business follow-up represent staff
Yeah, I think because you're just into the chair to miss Johnson
So you don't find the process cumbersome is do you think it is helpful in determining if you are having good efficiency in the use of the trust
distributions to
Process your budget in that type of manner through the Chair
I miss Johnson through the chair. I would say yes. It works well for us in our last fault
Yes, follow groups of staff. Thank co-chair Justin through chair
When you do your zero-based budgeting process on your bigger than $40 million budget
Do you ever find inefficiencies and pass that on the board and just make different spending decisions to have better
Utility and how you spend your funds through?
Miss Johnson
Would you like me to get through the chair?
Yes, absolutely.
Our board of trustees are very involved in the dialogue
around strategies and projects that are brought forward
to the board.
And we're always looking at opportunities to find greater efficiencies
We want to make sure that the dollars are having a maximum impact and where we are seeing that we aren't having that our Board of Trustees
supports us in pivoting and
Utilizing those funds in a different way final fault mr. Coacher. We'll follow. Yeah, I think coach you're just into the chair
Yeah
Thanks for the feedback and last question is if you were to recommend
that type of budgeting to some other type
of entity for the same purposes.
Would you do that through the chair?
Ms. Johnson.
Through the Chair, we'd be happy to share
what we know about our process
with anyone else that's interested in it.
Thank you.
And for that that I called Ms Johnson,
Ms Baldwin Johnson there the the person clearly.
Um, so let's go to slide 15.
Is that this one here?
Yeah.
So this is a closer look at our MTAR grants, the MTar grants are grants to state agencies.
So with that 11.4 million of MTR funding, there are many state of Alaska partners that receive those funds through our budget process.
There are more than 63 MTARR increments that have been transmitted to be included in the FY27 budget.
Those of you who will serve on any of these department budget subcommittees will see the MTR increments as part of that process.
And because of the zero base budgeting, they'll appear every year.
As a handout, we also prepared a list of all the FY27 trust MTER grants.
They should be a hangout with you.
That document will offer details on what projects and initiatives within the state agencies we're supporting.
either during the session or perhaps during interim.
You're conversing with these agencies about need.
Yes.
You are raising an issue.
They're raising and issue, is that how that happens?
Yes, that's exactly.
We work very closely with all the partners
at the state agencies, and it's in partnership
that we come to these recommendations.
Great.
OK.
There's a lot of variety there.
All right, Katie.
Sure, just very briefly, this is just kind of covers some of the ways that we work on
MTR projects with our state agencies, Dr. Wilson mentioned that.
It represents a longstanding commitment to our State partners who have a critical role
in serving beneficiaries since inception.
I think we can move to the next slide okay
So this this slide
We really just wanted to highlight the trusty recommended budget and
The differences between the governor's budget
As you can see the crisis call center. We had a difference of the 500,000 in general fund
That was not supported by the Governor
And then also we highlight the special needs housing grant and the homeless assistance program
the differences there in the budget transmittal letter from the governor the Governor highlighted that
While not supporting with general fund recommendations that it was the recommendation was to support through Ahfse dividends
Okay, important question least I think it is is it? Is it important to you how?
You're funded
In other words, does your agency care whether it comes from HFC or general fund?
Through the chair, that's a great question.
What I will highlight is in years past these projects were funded through a combination
while we certainly appreciate the governor's recommendation to utilize AHSU
dividends towards this project, the need certainly outweighs the funds that are
available. But you still get the program the way you want it, right? So if all
money spends green doesn't matter much.
We are, we're pleased with the recommendation for utilizing AHFC dividends for this project.
And as to the HAP fund, is the Governor saying I'm going to give you more than you asked
for?
Is that what that says?
So yes, you're correct.
What was proposed in the dividends was more then the general fund recommendation.
Okay.
Thank you, co-chair Joseph Sin through the chair on the first line, the one that does not have coverage from
AHFC that's 500,000 short on
The crisis call center
I presume that with half of what you were
Asking for
Then there would be fewer services
And what I don't know is what that would look like,
and I wondered if you could help us understand,
when you have 500,000 short,
what does that look to the crisis call center?
Either person or any of you, if know the answer.
I'll jump in on that.
Dr. Wilson, for the record.
Dr Wilson through the chair.
The, just on background on, our last year,
we recommended 750 and 750 for total 1.5.
and the general fund dollars were pulled out as well.
So this year our trustees recognizing that we went to a million from us in 500.
And it doesn't mean it'll be up to the Department of Health to figure
out how to fund the rest of that and what that looks like.
So it does mean that it won't happen, but it
Think they mean it doesn't happen, but it may not mean that and that'll be the work of the group as they go forward
Thank you, and if I may have follow-up shortly
Thank You
so
You've decided to put a million dollars into this program because you find that this is
an important part of The newer way of addressing or de-escalating or somehow
adding to how we are dealing with emergency situations.
And so I guess that's what I was sort of trying
to understand is you feel like this investment
is very important and now you put in a request
for the state to add into it,
but we don't really have a sense
because you're not the ones implementing it.
You don't know exactly what will be lost if the full complement or suggestion is not there. Is that correct?
Dr. Wilson
Yeah, well
I would say it this way that last year when there was a shortfall we did retain the call center services for the
988 line in spite of that shortfall
That money comes from somewhere
Within that budget so I would look at it the same way this year
I think it's a we think and we support it with a million dollars because it is critically important
You'll hear more about it in our slides from Katie. It's an extremely important program to the state of Alaska
So that's where we sit on it. Thank you
Dr. Wilson are you making your and I'll go to represent Hannon
Are you are making you're decisions as a board these important decisions after December 11th so that you can inspect the governor's budget?
No, this budget went in before December 11th.
So how do you know what, for example,
would be funded through the Department of Health?
Well, we put in our, I'll let you go through it, yeah.
Through the chair,
this is Katie Baldwin Johnson.
We have a statutory obligation to transmit our budget by December 15th
September, excuse me, I stand correct, September 15th I misspoke.
And so that is often well in advance of those conversations with the department.
However, with that said, we do make those recommendations based on the collaborative planning with
the departments on those items.
Got it, got it.
All right, questions on slide 17, pretty important slide.
Let's go to slide 19.
Yes, so this is a slide that's just about our strategic plan and
Chair Fisher had mentioned that we've got a strategic planned though. I think
Is the first one we have had in ten years and we really like it?
So what you'll see in the graphic on the right is that
We've shifted our priorities now
We will take care of the same beneficiaries that you saw in first slide so no beneficiaries lost in this plan
But what this does is it directs our our
focus areas into prevention for all beneficiaries, crisis response for
all beneficiary, treatment and recovery, and then ongoing support and well-being.
All of our beneficiaries will fit into one of those moments.
We feel like this has a more flexibility and more innovation and
more transformation possibilities.
a group and it makes a lot of sense to us. For me it make sense it's sort of a
medical model which is my background but it also is very effective in any in many
other ways and then you'll see underneath our core commitments.
A big part of this is data.
We're trying to inform our recommendations and our
decisions with data, and it's both data we have right now
and data that we don't have, but we'd really like to know
data to support need, data and sometimes we
have it,
but also what has been most effective, what do we need
to drive home,
and how do know that as quickly as possible, how
do get that wheel turning as
quickly possible and be evidence-based.
give money directly. We work with partners and we work really effectively with
partners.
We want more partners, we want great partners but that is where we're going to
get, especially in places where don't go now or we don t currently have a
footprint.
We need to develop partnerships so that we can understand the effectiveness and
then finally you heard about natural resources.
We are stewarding those for impact, well into the strategic future and so we
want to get as much as we
stuff. We want to have the data that we need and we want
to circle the whole community and lifespan of our
beneficiary so that they can, you know, have fruitful and
happy lives as they go forward. And that's, that is what
this is about.
Representative Galvin.
Thank you, Coach, your justice sensor, the chair,
the four bullets I see along with it, which is
corresponding to your visual of the different priorities.
make a lot of sense.
What I'm trying to understand is if you have a dollar
and you had to choose where to put them,
you've four there, you talked about data driven.
My recollection, and that's, of course,
many people look at data differently.
And my recollection is, if put the more of the dollar
in prevention and early intervention,
the rest of that dollar by far into the future.
And I just wondered if there had been any discussions among the board about that.
Because I know you are limited in your dollars and you're trying to make sure that you have highest impact.
And so I guess I appreciate that.
You also want to take care of those who are here and now with high, high needs.
But also as you think about your overall plan and to your point of this being one of the most forward looking plans you've seen, I think, since.
The Mental Health Trust Authority has come up with one.
I just wanted to know if there was discussion around,
is this going to be equal 25% or are you thinking
about where's the best bang for your dollar given your time frame
and how you want to reach those goals?
Such a great question.
Mary Wilson, it's such a good question, so we have to,
you get a strap plan and then you've got a.
How does the operations match that?
What is that going to look like?
And you need to invest a little time and thought and working that out to get to the answers for that year and the next year.
So that process will include, I doubt it will end up 25% each one, it might.
But we do need establish how do we prioritize our dollars based on.
These priorities in each of these buckets and what is that going to look like so I don't have an answer for you
By next year when we come you can see what we did and how we got to that process
But I I we are that is a huge part of how will be successful and the region
It's important to be data-driven and have partnerships is because that will really inform the best answers we can possibly do
Right now, and then we'll have to go and go as we do
Thank you, co-chair Josephson, through the chair.
Specifically, you have your core commitments.
I was hoping that you could really be specific
when you talk about making data-informed investments.
What do you mean by that, specifically?
And then the items two and three,
if you can expound on, go into a little more detail
on those particular statements, that'd be very helpful.
Thank You, so.
Dr. Wilson.
Dr. Wilson through the chair.
So data-driven investments, it's a great question
because it means different things if you asked everybody
in this room and all of those are worthy in general.
What we're talking about are really needs assessment.
So if we want to look at youth suicide,
we know we have very high rates of suicide.
What are they, where are?
They where they cluster that kind of data.
What do you have?
What's the current reality?
And we wanna start there to the extent
that we can get that data and then the rest
for youth suicide what programs are already out there that have some evidence and then also what are we willing to try?
That we think might work and we want to tried on a small scale so we're innovating we are convening leaders and that type of thing
That's that's sort of the data and the other side of it is so you tried something was it effective?
So you have to sort go that route as well
Follow-up.
Thank you.
Could you adjust us in through the chair?
So when you're saying data informed, are you specifically gathering data to inform your
decisions or using outside sources and it's just basically saying an organization is giving
data on say teen suicides and so you are like maybe we should put more money there?
Or you actually put specific money into programs and then are your tracking like the results?
Right, both of those.
So we can't generate all the data ourselves.
We're not a data warehouse, so we get data wherever we
can, and then we want to be sure that we are measuring
effectiveness in ways that sometimes we
can and sometimes, we cannot, but when we
can we do it.
And I mean, I could go on forever and ever about this,
but I feel like it's the window into your reality,
and it is the windows into the effectiveness.
And wherever you can get that data,
Quick follow-up question for the chair. Thank you. I'm buying them
So when you do when do you collect that data or you are you trying to find a driven result?
How are we reporting that?
Dr. Wilson.
Yes.
So right now we, every quarter we go to our board and present on a certain topic, like
I'm a pediatrician, so we talked a lot about childhood stuff.
We'll do that.
And then if we have grants, we effectiveness of our grants that we've made and what are
the outcomes that have had, how many people have they touched, and how much families,
that sort of thing.
So that's current state.
And anything we can do and improve that, were up for it.
Thank you.
Okay.
20 I guess yes represent more for Dr. Wilson through the chair. Thank you
Chairs listen, I have a quick question just
Bouncing off representative Bynum's question
Do you have enlisted the programs that have been funded all these years without measurable outcomes or?
Do you have an example or can you give examples of ones that you guys have?
Yeah, and I think later in the presentation Katie has a list of programs.
We measure outcomes to the best of our ability in everything we do.
Every grant we make we have outcome measures.
The thing about, I guess when I'm talking about it,
maybe that is what you mean.
So if you give a $2,500 grant to someone
because they need a car to go to work
or they needed a lift in their house, that type of thing,
the outcome may be you satisfied that person's need.
And that's a good enough outcome.
Versus I am going to treat,
I will go somewhere.
at a homeless shelter and try to get everybody
to do something else and I'm gonna track 500 people.
That's what I mean.
It could be any of those things.
But we track all of our grant outcomes
to the best that we can.
Yes, last comment or answer was from Dr. Wilson.
Representative Moore.
Thank you.
Through the chair.
So just as a quick follow up.
So in the cost savings measures of all that,
do you remove those grants and programs
when you are finding that these are not?
You don't have any measurable results for them over a certain time frame.
Dr Wilson.
I'll let Katie answer that.
Katie Johnson.
Through the chair, thank you.
That is exactly what we're striving towards.
We're doing now and we are striving to be better at it.
So, yes.
Okay, Thank you,
Thank You.
Okay.
So we were on slide 20, I think.
All right, and so let me see.
Yeah, so we approved 10 in M TAR grant funds and 19 million for other trust grant making so those are the non-state funds that we that
We did that. We approved
We want to spend a few minutes I think on the other types of grantmaking so let's just go to that Katie slide
There we go
So this is slide 21
So, this
And at a glance, look at all of the trust FY 25 grant awards
and where they had their impacts.
We had 149 grants awarded in communities across Alaska.
Below market lease are included in that.
And the value of total grant investments is about 24 million.
And you can sort of see at glance where
this is coming from.
We train more than 5,000 beneficiary serving individuals in 100 communities.
We supported 5 thousand families with early intervention and education and support programs.
That resulted in 9,500 mobile team responses to individuals with site crisis.
So, just gives you a flavor of what's going on.
Representative Galvin for Dr.-
Thank you, co-chair Josephson, through the chair.
Visual there was not a listing for mini grants. I'm not sure if that was just an omission from the 2024
So in other words, this is the first time I've
Sent that I have seen the mini-grants
And I am just curious to know if they took place in 2024 and just weren't on the visual or if this it's new they're right there
That dr. Wilson or miss Johnson through the chair. Thank you
To your question. No, this is not new. We have
reported on many grants and prior presentations. It's one of our most successful programs that we do. Thank you
I appreciate that. I just didn't see it in the
2024 report and so this it clears it up. Good call.
Thank You so much. That answer was from Miss Johnson. Just trying to get the record a little clear slide
I'm just in Miss Johnson
Thank you through the chair. I see that we're pretty tight on time. The FY 25 Trust Grant
Highlights, we wanted to make sure that you brought to your attention that
we do much more than our MTR projects with state agencies. Some of these on the slide,
I won't go into all the details, but they're very successful organizations. Set Free Alaska,
the Trust has supported them, which has enabled them to expand and double the capacity of services
to help them work down wait lists and improve access, so lots of work in that area.
Very successful grant with Central Foundation over four years, roughly $1.3 million for
them to really redesign how they assess and treat acquired traumatic brain injury within
their entire health care system.
That's an opportunity for them actually to scale this to broader areas of the state.
There's more information about that on our website and with lots more detail. Okay. Representative Bynum, then more
Thank you coach your justice and through the chair specifically
I was looking through to the rest of the slides here because I know we're tight on time
I'm was hoping that you might be able to talk about what partnership you guys are doing with
Department of Education early development specifically in the early intervention portion
We know that early innovation is important and I continuously hear that this is a tremendous need
within our education
area, and I just wanted to know, I asked this question last year as well, just want to
know what kind of progress we're making with coordination with D or school districts.
Yeah, to it.
Ms. Johnson.
Thank you through the chair.
Just very briefly in the interest of time,
how about we respond to that in writing
with a lot more detail.
We do a lotta work with the school districts.
We have one program officer that specializes in this area
and really is our in-house expert
on these early intervention projects
and working with school district.
So we're happy to follow up in riding
with more of that detail for you.
Thank You.
Representative Moore.
Yes.
Thank you chair Josephson through the chair. I have two quick questions
My first one I kind of flipped through this side a little and I can't find it and you may have already gone over it
I'm how much of the annual draw goes to admin
Services versus drug beneficiaries, and then the second one. Maybe you can give a a bit more
Intel examples of what the seven million dollars in capacity building is
Yeah, as far as the, how much the agency budget is versus the spend for the trust authority,
it's about 13.3%, I don't have it off the top of my head, it is a little bit down from
last year.
And then the Trust Authority is, you know, they're not part of the Agency budget because
they are earning money for us, so they aren't part the overhead for grant making, and they
don t make the grants.
Okay, all right, yes follow and then on slide 21 the seven million dollars in capacity building
Can you give some examples of what what that is?
What that line is there?
I'm looking at capacity buildings sure
So some of those projects may very well support
technical assistance to those organizations to expand their ability to address some of the challenges that not from nonprofit organizations experience it may be planning
It may, be doing the financial modeling around new service types looking at
You know what are the opportunities for expanding a new revenue streams so it also could be supporting staff capacity could
Could support training and for those organization's so
Just in follow up to that, we'd be happy to provide a more detailed list of what those examples are and what kind of grants we support in that area.
Yeah, sure. Maybe some more follow-up on that. That would be great.
Representative Jimmy.
Thank you, Coach R. Foster.
Welcome everybody. Thank you for the presentation up there
I see the tender woman's coalition support for $50,000 for at-use risk between 18 to 24. I just wanted to
Excuse me. No
What transitional housings is at the useless between I'm sorry
What were the impacts of the grant and will it be renewed?
Miss Johnson
Thank you through the chair we would be happy to follow up with more information on that
It's been a wonderful partnership. We've really enjoyed working with the organization.
We know it's a significant need as to whether or not we know if it is going to be renewed
I'd need to go back and look on
That but we'll be Happy to Follow up With More Information on Thank You one follow one different question off topic
The Cal crisis Center is an image and resource
Just doing to ensure that their care providers are
Culturally appropriate in supporting short giving support to every Alaskan
Miss Johnson
Thank you through the chair. That's a great question
There are a lot of people that really care about this that have been collaborating on
What are, what are how can the call center work to be a resource to the entire state?
And part of that is also ensuring that individuals that are responding to calls are culturally
responsive.
The tribal health system is working in regards to a tribal crisis call line as well.
So what you're bringing up is incredibly important.
We we want to ensure that it's actually going to be responsive and helpful to all communities across the state. Oh, yeah
Representative Tommy chef's key. Thank you, co-chair Josephson through the chair going back to your financial position
so
You called your trust fund that your corpus and that's invested with the permanent fund corporation. Is that correct?
It says
At the end of FY 25, you're at 559.
Now, I thought I heard you say at the
end 24, year at five 51.
What is your overall return on your corpus
that you get from the permanent fund each year?
Dr. Wilson.
Sorry, it varies year to year.
And I don't have it off the top of my head,
but it's been between 7% and 10% from The Corpus.
It's the same as the Perm Fund.
It all mingled.
It's the same as a criminal fund.
Okay.
So.
Yeah, follow up.
Thank you, co-chair John Josephson, through the chair.
So you're unexpected, unexpended funds.
You're doing that on a two year average
of the previous years.
Yes.
So where does that generally fall from?
Is that out of grant writing portion of your budget?
That's a great question.
So some unexpended are because they are written into that
fiscal year, but the intention is to spend them
in the following year.
Sometimes that's the way the grant making works.
Sometimes it is unexPended funds,
because say we were funding a position
and that position wasn't filled.
So it's that sort of thing.
And we do track, we call that lapse,
and we track the lapse and try to make sure
where it coming from and if any of it
is eliminatable that we should eliminate it.
Thank you.
And for clarity, that exchange was Dr. Wilson
and Representative Tom Myshevsky.
All right, let's go to slide 23
and finish up the slide deck, please.
Thank ya.
What I would just highlight, we'll skip this, is that one of the ways outside of grant-making,
the trust has supported technical assistance in grant writing.
This gets to capacity of organizations.
We help them be successful in submitting competitive proposals, seeking federal funding, other
foundation funding.
And we've, over the last three years, brought $45 million into the state of Alaska.
You do that out of generosity of your heart.
We, the trustees have supported a contract that has been renewed every year.
It's a small contract.
It is, I think, around $200,000, so when we look at the return of investment of those
dollars supporting organizations, it's been incredibly successful.
Representative Galvin, then Jimmy.
Thank you, Coach Jefferson, and through the chair.
I imagine that this particular work could be extremely valuable in this coming couple
of three, four years with the Rural Health Transformation Opportunities throughout Alaska.
Have you made a plan to expand that possibly so that the more challenged communities without
don't have the resources to hire a grant writer would be able to benefit from the federal funds
that will become available. I believe we're now looking at 272 million statewide
that have to be expended this year. So is that something you all are focused on?
And if you would just share briefly on that, I'd appreciate it.
Dr. Wilson.
We've been closely working anyway with the Department of Health and Katie and I've just joined the advisory committee for the Rural Health transformation and certainly that's one of the big topics is how do we leverage what we know.
And our abilities with getting the money out there in this first year. And so yes, we're heavily partnered in that.
Representative Jimmy.
Thank you, co-chair, just sending through the chair.
As I look at this map here, I notice that says a lot of statewide initiatives, and I'm
just hoping that you guys, while you're here or offline, if you could be more specific
to where these projects are in Alaska.
Yes, thank you.
Yes.
Jimmy's referring to slide 24, of course.
Go ahead.
Yes thank, we have a map of where we touch, that's not in this.
We do have the crisis now map I put up there that
But yes, thank you.
Thank you anything you want to touch on quickly about slide 24.
Through the chair, this is Katie Baldwin-Johnson, just that we're incredibly invested in this.
Our trustees have supported this, it's I think we are going on eight years.
We're seeing tremendous progress, communities are stepping forward, wanting to think about
different solutions to address the needs of individuals in crisis, and we see great successes.
So we really are focusing on the data while the crisis stabilization units are not all
online yet.
that are moving in that direction, but overall with the communities that
are either operating mobile crisis, mobile integrated health teams, or co-response
teams like the English Police Department operates, you know, we're seeing over
10,000 different mobile responses that have resulted in a very high percentage
of those individuals not having contact with law enforcement and are being
resolved and needs being met in the community. So our trustees are very
very committed to this. There are a lot of partnerships that has resulted
within this being successful and we're going to continue to work with communities as they
step forward.
What are the MCT and MIH?
What do those mean?
So the mobile crisis team, generally that's referred
to a behavioral health response,
maybe a master's level clinician
and a peer support specialist,
generally folks that are with the mental health backgrounds.
And MIAH is a mobile integrated health
response which typically pairs a mental
health professional or appear with
the Mental Health background with Paramedicin.
And a co-response model is another way of doing this where you're pairing law enforcement
maybe with a social worker or somebody that has a mental health background.
All of these responses are important and valuable and it really depends on what works best in
the community and the resources that are available.
Okay.
Rep. Bynum, then Hannon.
Thank you.
In catch-can, we've seen the mobile integrated health being implemented and I think to great
success.
It obviously takes a lot of pressure off of our other first responder resources.
So I appreciate you guys putting effort into that.
But my question specifically is about the slide in general that when we look at cost
over this time period being invested and then we compare that against metrics that you put
to the left.
I don't guess there's just a very good direct correlation between a per capita investment.
For example, in the Matt Sioux, you know,
we have a pretty high per capita investment compared
to Anchorage, but yet I'm going to guess
that if we were probably going
to say the need was probably higher in Anchorage based
on data and information that we're hearing.
So I was hoping that maybe you could briefly just address
the potential observation of that per-capita spend.
through the chair that that is a very good question and in fact part of what we are wanting
to do reflecting back on the data and evaluation elements of this particular initiative is
really doing that analysis.
And, you know, I think that it will also help us see the impact of the dollars and how dollars are recommended in terms of
distribution statewide and working with different communities. So to that question, we don't have that analysis,
but it's something that would be a part of an evaluation that we would like to do.
And through the chair,
I would add to if I'm getting the gist of what you're saying as well.
It's the analyzing what do you suggest that the per capita spend and then really trying to get all the entities together so you understand
And are there savings to the health, to
the system?
And since all of these are discrete from each other, that's tricky.
But that really the bottom line is investing in this prevention, it's good for people,
the outcomes are good, and is there a dollar value and if there is what is that?
And I think that is really important as we globally look at this,
especially as you go into rural Alaska where we're going to be innovating.
This is an area where there's really great innovation possible.
It's very exciting to think about what it could look like,
and you need to establish the case for it.
Mr. Chair, the last comment was from Dr. Wilson's
Chair Fisher
I just want to add one of the thing because the crisis now
Project which has gone is multi-year
It's important that everybody understand the trust is a funder and so we have to have partners either local partners with the municipalities or
organizations within those communities, so and sometimes we would like to
Deploy funds in some communities, but there's no anchor there that we can deploy funds to and so it really and that's we
As more and more communities have seen what's happened with crisis now in different communities as we started out
It's we've had more in more interest from the more rural parts of Alaska to say
Hey, we want to do this in our community, too
And we got the money to get to give them to help get that going and so that's just one of the things that kind of slows us down
Crisis now is also an example of what it takes in some cases where nothing nothing existed before and there was really nobody
Facilitator in bringing the partners together and sit and selling the idea that we need to do this in Alaska
And so this you know
This is the kind of thing we'd like to use to move forward in the future
With big projects expanding through the entire state is take on that role
You know as we have done with crisis now to be that facilitator to bring the parties together where nothing exists at this time
Thank you
Representative Hannon and Jimmy
Thank you representative josison. So I represent Juneau where we built a
crisis stabilization a purpose-built facility for youth crisis
stabilization that is shuttered to its original purpose. It did not serve youth
that is not serving what it was designed and built for.
Are you in communications or development to try
because the need for a youth crisis stabilization still exists?
I don't believe any of the five projects up there are focused on youth.
I think we are still largely sending kids in crisis out of state.
So are we continuing to look at trying to take what was
A very modern facility that's never really
Pushed out and bring it online to serve youth in Alaska her in crisis. Kitty Baldwin Johnson
Thank you through the chair.
To your question, if we're in communications,
we are, our team is regularly working
with the local crisis collaborative in Juneau.
It's confirmed for us that the community
is very much so interested in seeing these services
come online, that that has not changed.
There's commitment in the Community
to support those services coming online.
We just need to figure out how to get there.
is a resource to the Juneau community.
There's opportunity to explore different options
for how those services might be brought online
and who might operate the services as well.
Representative Jimmy.
Thank you, co-chair, Josephson.
And I just wanted to add,
I'm kind of on the same line as Representative Hannon.
I see on that map that Southwest is not
Doesn't have its own blue color
Recently with the storm hay along I was wondering if you I if
You the mental health trust are going to be talking up options of providing
Services for survivors of the Storm because it was a traumatic one a really bad to run experience
I myself had to go through so I just wanted to put that up there
a comment
Yeah, yeah after the
The storm and all that a lot of the funders like us we jumped right in and tried it got together with other people
Concerned about that and try to figure out how we could contribute and we're still working on that
You know we do mental health stuff not necessarily buildings
But we partner with people who do do buildings and that sort of thing
So we are definitely in the in a group that's taking a look at how
We can help and and also help people. Who are not currently in their own home and what's going on with them?
Representative Moore
Yes, thank you chair does absent. I'm through the chair. It was just curious. Um, I
Know you guys are in an active audit
With ledge auditor. Can you give us any update where you?
Guys are at with that if on record if you can if not I understand
Dr. Wilson
Yes
We are an an act of audit and they requested materials last fall from us and we supplied all the materials
I mean then I think they've been on a pause with us. So that's where we are. At this point
Okay. I think 25 is largely self-explanatory unless you want to offer a couple of comments.
No, that's fine. That's good.
Okay, any other questions for these three fine public servants?
Don't see any. Okay I want
to thank Chair Fisher, CEO Wilson, COO Johnson for their presentation.
We're going to take a brief at ease before we take up the next bill.
Backed online here a back-on record in the Al Adams room at 254 on Tuesday, February 10th
We are going to take up the next item
Which we've calendared and I just want to explain sort of where we are on these items first. You see House bill
Which was previously filed by the finance committee
And it includes
And we took testimony, invited testimony on items identified in the governor's operating
budget on December 11th as supplemental items for FY26.
So House Bill 263 has previously been heard.
Sorry, two eighty three two Eighty three is the supplemental bill my apologies
Looking at the wrong line house bill two 80 so two eight three previously heard supplemental Bill
Reflecting items the governor sought as
Supplemental in his regular operating budget
House bill 289 is The governor's version of the subliminal budget filed. I think early last week
OMB director presented those
those are
They do not include the items he previously denoted in his operating budget that are reflected as House Bill 283.
So now we're going to take a public testimony.
The public may testify on either set or
tranche of funding requests from the governor.
The plan is to revisit these supplemental items on Friday.
There may be a committee substitute prior to that, and we will not impose an amendment
deadline on Friday.
It would probably be announced on friday for early in the coming week.
So the topic then is public testimony on any supplemental item as reflected in 283, HP
And what I see so far, first I'm going to go to the room.
I only have three callers for Juneau, before I go
to room, Juneaux callors can call at 907 586 9085.
Anchorage callurs can called at 90 756 3908 5.
All other caller can be called toll free at 844 5 86 9 0 8 5,
be displayed on the screen.
I think that may be for me.
We also welcome written testimony.
Written Conant should be submitted
to house.finance at AKLEG.gov.
All right, so we'll get started.
Testimony, we're going to limit to two minutes,
although I have a hard stop at 320.
We may not need to limited to 2 minutes
based on The Dirth of Colours.
Anyone in the room wish to testify
of the supplemental budget, $2.83 or $1.29.
I'm going to make sure that the record reflects that we're
into public testimony, anyone in the room
wish to testify about House Bill's $283 or
$29, seeing and hearing none, I am going
to go online and I see the first caller is a Cody Oatman.
Mr. OATman, are you with us?
Yes,
I
Please put your name on the record, any affiliation, and give us your testimony on supplemental budget items.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, my name is Cody Omen.
I'm from Eagle River and I am representing the Alaska Labors.
I call on about the transportation infrastructure money.
Transportation match funding may sound like a budget detail, but for working Alaskans, it's about jobs, hours.
and whether there's a real construction season in 2026 and beyond. Transportation
construction is one of the largest economic drivers in Alaska. Every federal transportation
dollar supports union jobs, apprenticeship programs, local contractors, and material suppliers.
These paychecks ripple through our communities. A stable, predictable project pipeline is how we
You may hear two messages that seem to conflict.
DOT says funding can carry the program through July 2026.
Labor and the industry say the match is urgent.
Both of these statements are true.
DOT's statement assumes a reduced program with no interruptions and no flexibility.
Under that scenario, there's no ability to advance shovel ready projects,
replace early finishing work, or absorb cost increases.
For workers that means no margin for error and no guarantee of steady hours of anything shifts.
Timing is everything.
The right time to secure the match was last summer.
We missed that.
Project development takes months through design, environmental work,
federal authorization, advertising, bidding, award and procurement.
When funding arrives late, planning turns into scrambling.
apprenticeship hours, and contractor mobilization.
If the match comes late, DOT can't pull new projects forward.
Early finishing jobs can be replaced.
Funds may go to backfill old obligations
instead of creating new work in 2026.
For labor, that means fewer callouts, shorter seasons,
and less continuity. DOT worked really hard last year to keep projects moving,
the benefit of that. To keep that momentum, we need funding certainty now. Stable transportation
funding means stable jobs, strong apprenticeship pipelines, and a workforce Alaska can depend on
for the long haul. I thank you for allowing me to speak today on behalf of hardworking Alaskans.
Thank you, Mr. Omen. Questions for Mr Oman. Seeing none,
A Katie Kaposi, a Miss Kaposie, if you will, put your name on the record.
Tell us your affiliations and begin your testimony.
Hi there, good afternoon, co-chairs, Foster and Josephson.
For the Record, my name is Katie Kaposi and I serve as the President and CEO of the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.
I'm testifying today to urge contact passage of HB 283.
The Alaska Chamber is the state's largest state-wide business advocacy organization.
Our mission is to promote a healthy business environment in Alaska.
The Chamber has more than 700 members and represents businesses of all sizes and industries
from across the states, representing 58,000 Alaska workers and $4.6 billion in wages.
I'm going to just briefly reinforce one specific point from the NEAP, the MASH letter, since
and signed by the Alaska Chamber and 21 other Alaska business,
Alaska Natives, and statewide labor organizations.
And that is that Alaska is already halfway through the federal fiscal year,
and each data passes without access to the match.
Dollars is another day the state is unable to obligate funds,
advertise projects, award contracts,
and move planned work forward for this summer.
Failure to act promptly could result in lost jobs and increased costs.
Time truly is of the essence here,
and that you approve the FY26 match appropriation
as soon as possible to keep a lot of transportation program
on track and ensure the federal dollars
are put to work for Alaskans.
Thanks for the opportunity to testify.
All right, questions for Ms. Capuzzi.
Thank you for your testimony.
Seeing and hearing none,
we'll go to Mr. Swaling.
Mr Swailing, are you with us?
Yes, I'm here.
Please give us your name, which we think we know,
but give it to us, please,
and any affiliation, and give this your testimony.
Yeah, my name is Paul Swollen,
and my honor is the Swalling General Contractors.
Please go ahead.
As I've just mentioned,
my Name is Falls Swolling,
and I'm honor a Swalling General contractors,
a company that has supported.
many department of transportation projects over more than 75 years across Alaska.
I'm taking the time today to testify to urge the legislature to quickly approve the proposed
owe me a million of supplemental funding measure for the DOT to meet the federal match program.
For contractors, the most important thing is certainty. We need to know that the funding is
for these projects are there so we can schedule the work on time and on budget.
The last was construction, seeing these reports in short, and any delays can cause a chain reaction.
Projects get delayed, crews can't go to work with the cost to increase.
DOT has stated that they can stretch a reduced program through July, while this may be true in
these little to no wiggle room. If funding comes late, project schedules get compressed,
Bidded awarded before this work and began and that is not something that happens overnight.
And then contractors are left scrambling in the end.
This kind of uncertainty makes it hard to keep skilled operators, mechanics, improves, and motivated to work throughout Alaska.
Getting this funding early means projects can get done as planned.
Work is staying forward in communities with their roads, bridges, infrastructure they need to connect across Alaska
It's about giving duty and contract is the stability to get the job done right the first time
I heard just committed to act quickly so you can people ask the summer's 2026 insurance in season on tech
And I think people at that part of you today
Thank you for your testimony mr. Swelling. We either have a comment or question
for you from Rep. Galvin, if you're up to it.
Thank you, co-chair Josephson.
Just a quick comment.
Mr. Swalling, I wanted to thank you
for taking your time out of your day
to help us understand the context.
I know you do a lot of work in Anchorage and beyond.
And it's important that we understand
what you are looking at.
I wish you well in the season ahead.
Thank You, Vice Chair Hiddit.
I don't see any other callers at present.
Is there anyone else in
the room would like to testify?
Please come forward.
Thank you, co-chairs and members of this committee. My name is Caroline Storm. I'm the executive director of Coalition for Education Equity.
This is more a comment on the supplemental budget. It is frustrating for the education community and those suffering from lack of funding in public education to see the corrections
It gets an adjustment in the supplemental bill every year.
And we say that we have no money for public education.
I'd really like you to take a look at that and evaluate what is going on in corrections.
Thank you.
Thank You.
All right.
I think at this point, before I close testimony,
Taking at ease I may have to leave at some point, but per tradition if not rule
This hearing is typically ends at 3.30. There could be collars thinking they could call in now
So we're gonna take an at E's according to my instructions for 15 minutes and resume with any collers
I'm likely to turn the gavel over to a coach here. We'll be at e's at
House finance back on the record at 3 27
Last we checked in we were going at ease to see if anyone else called in for public testimony
I'm verifying that we do not have anyone. Else called-in
Not seeing anyone els for Public Testimony. I am closing public Testimony
And that concludes our business for today our next house finance committee meeting is scheduled for tomorrow February 11th
2026 at 9 a.m. At that meeting we will introduce and adopt a committee substitute on HP 263 the operating bill
And HB 265, the Mental Health Bill.
Then we will hear from legislative legal services regarding the veto of repealed appropriations.
With that, we are adjourned at 3.28 PM.