Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau)
While the Assembly appears ready to move quickly on an incentive package for Foxconn, the top Republican in the Senate is signaling the chamber may take a more deliberative approach.
Assembly Republican leaders plan to hold a public hearing on the bill this week, and said at a press conference Tuesday that a vote in the chamber could be held later this month. However, Senate Republican Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said his members don’t see a need to move forward with the $3 billion package until they know more about its potential effects.
For now, Fitzgerald said he’s putting a greater priority on the overdue state budget. “We need more information, we want to see something from the Fiscal Bureau on the bill itself…until we have that stuff, we’re just going to continue to focus on the state budget,” Fitzgerald said.
A report from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau should be available later this month.
The state budget is now more than a month overdue, and Fitzgerald said he’s hopeful the Joint Finance Committee will be able to meet later this month to wrap up its work on the plan so the full Legislature can vote on it. “Let’s get the state budget done…let’s make sure that everyone knows that we’ve got this under control before we try and jump in with both feet on Foxconn,” he said.