On Monday, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy submitted a bill to the legislature appropriating the anticipated funding the state will receive from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Senate Bill 241 and House Bill 414 will appropriate capital and operating funds to state agencies and to some non-state organizations that will partner with state, local governments, as well as Alaska Native entities to implement IIJA funding and to pursue federal funding opportunities, his office said.
“While the federal infrastructure bill doesn’t provide the state with pots of unrestricted infrastructure funds that Alaska can spend as we see fit, it does contain substantial funding to improve our roads, airports, and water infrastructure, and new investments in bringing broadband to the state. In addition, the bill provides competitive opportunities for Alaska to modernize our electric grid, pursue clean energy technology, to develop our substantial critical minerals and rare earth elements,” Dunleavy said.
The bill includes $560.2 million in additional funds for surface transportation, rural water and wastewater programs, veterans’ services, and cybersecurity grants; $37.4 million for federal weatherization programs and the Alaska Low Income Home Energy Assistance Programs; $28 million for investments in the modernization of the electric grid and developing clean hydrogen, as well as for a research demonstration facility for the state’s reserves of critical and rare earth minerals; $5 million for the state’s Infrastructure Office to coordinate and consolidate IIJA funding, and $4 million to construct housing for teachers and public safety personnel in rural communities not connected to the road system.
Initial legislative hearings on the bills are expected to start this week.