"sen. anna mackinnon"

The committee will work out differences between the operating budgets passed by both bodies.

Senators introduced four new bills Monday that would require local governments and schools to pay more for pensions, end two college scholarship programs, and cut the amount that municipalities receive in state funding. Towns and schools are concerned about the effect on taxes and services.

Some lawmakers are questioning whether the fund, now worth $900 million, should be committed to benefit only about one in nine Alaskans.

The Senate voted for $100 million in executive branch cuts that aren’t allocated.

The Senate Finance Committee’s current budget includes $215 million in cuts. But Committee Co-Chairman Fairbanks Republican Sen. Pete Kelly said he’s aiming for a total of $500 million in reductions.

When lawmakers last saw the Alaska Safe Children’s Act, it was in a mutant form. The substitute offered by the Senate Finance Committee hewed much closer to the original bill

The Alaska Senate has passed a bill that would stop state reimbursement of new school bonds, including ones that are currently being considered in Anchorage.

A bloc of Democrats opposed the move. Sen. Bill Wielechowski argued that it was contrary to the intent of the initiative.

After sailing through the Senate, a bill to exempt Alaska from daylight saving time has lost momentum in the House.

Sen. Anna MacKinnon, a Republican state senator from Eagle River, points to negative health effects and the loss of productivity that comes from adjusting clocks twice a year.