Building a state budget: an update and a coming debate ...

Last weekend I wrote a column on the direction in which the Governor's budgets are currently taking the state ("Sean Parnell's budgets .. and mine").  In that column I committed to laying out an alternative budget which avoids that outcome and provides Alaskans instead "a safe and secure fiscal future."

Today I have published the first step in laying out my budget, by posting my column that appears this month in Alaska Business Monthly.  The title of that column is "Why Alaska Needs to Reduce State Spending (and how to do it) ...."  That column provides an overview of the reasons why Alaska needs to reduce state spending and an outline of how I propose to go about it.

Earlier this week I published an outline and timetable for explaining the details of my approach.  As I thought through it, however, I concluded a better way is to start with the overview provided by this month's Alaska Business Monthly column and then work through the details.  The revised schedule for the coming details is as follows:

• Friday, October 11: "Reality bites" (The coming fiscal crisis is real)
• Friday, October 18: "We can't afford it" (Correcting the flaws in Alaska's budget process)
• Friday, October 25: "We can do this" (The next Alaska budget)

Separately, while there will be a more formal announcement upcoming, yesterday we finalized arrangements for a debate on November 11, 2013 before the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce's Make it Monday forum on state budget issues.  Scott Goldsmith and I will argue in favor of the following proposition:  "Limiting state spending to Maximum Sustainable Yield is the best way to ensure a sustainable fiscal future for the State of Alaska."  Others will argue against it.  It promises to be an interesting exchange.