Governor's Budget spotlights Public Safety, Domestic Violence Prevention

by Mike Mason, KDLG

Alaska Governor Sean Parnell is set to unveil his proposed Capital and Operating budgets Thursday at a meeting of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.     That presentation is scheduled to start at noon and the proposed F-Y 2013 budgets are expected to be posted at noon on the website of the Alaska Office of Management and Budget’s website at www.omb.alaska.gov.

Shortly after that presentation the Governor and his Budget Director will hold a press conference to answer questions from the Alaska media.

In advance of the formal release of the proposed budgets Governor Parnell has been pre-releasing some of the specific projects and initiatives he’s seeking funding for from the Alaska Legislature.

On Tuesday Parnell announced that the budgets will include quite a bit of funding related to law enforcement and the ongoing effort to decrease the epidemic rates of sexual assault and domestic violence in Alaska.

Specifically the budgets are expected to include $2.7-million dollars in funding for 15 new village public safety officers and one new state trooper. Another item that will be unveiled on Thursday is $800-thousand dollars in funding for additional screening and services for children exposed to violence.

That money will also be used for trauma informed care for adult survivors of violence.      The proposed budget will also include $1.3-million dollars dedicated to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation to house victims of domestic violence.

Another related funding measure will be a proposed $725-thousand dollars that could be distributed to domestic violence shelters and community prevention programs in Alaska.

The largest funding measure that was pre-released on Tuesday is $3-million dollars to continue the Governor’s much publicized effort to stop the epidemic of domestic violence and sexual assault.

In a prepared statement Governor Parnell stressed that his administration will not rest so long as the epidemic of domestic violence and sexual assault steals the hopes and dreams of Alaska’s women, children and men.

The final budget item unveiled on Tuesday is nearly $735-thousand dollars for targeted supervision of felons convicted of domestic violence offenses.

That money will also be used for management of institutionalized sex offenders.

Once again Governor Parnell is scheduled to unveil his F-Y 2013 operating and capital budget’s during a presentation Thursday in Anchorage in front of members of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.