NOTN- With just over a week left before Alaska lawmakers adjourn on May 20, the Legislature is entering its busiest stretch of the year as lawmakers scramble to pass budgets, major policy bills and a contentious natural gas tax proposal that lawmaker’s say has become the Governor’s biggest priority this session.

Alaska Public Media conjectured the final days of the session will likely center on three major areas: the state budget, the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline project and a flood of remaining legislation that must pass before the end of the two-year legislative cycle. Bills that don’t pass by adjournment will die and have to be reintroduced in a future session.

Negotiations are now underway between the House and Senate on the state operating budget. The House version includes a $1,500 Permanent Fund dividend, one-time school funding and expanded spending on child care and social programs. The Senate’s proposal is more conservative, with a $1,150 payment that includes an energy relief component and less education funding overall. Final negotiations may depend heavily on oil prices, which have recently remained above forecast levels.

Lawmakers are also debating how much tax relief should be offered to support the proposed Alaska LNG gasline project. Governor Mike Dunleavy has proposed replacing the state’s existing property tax on oil and gas infrastructure with a lower tax tied to pipeline throughput.

At the same time dozens of other bills are moving quickly through committees and floor votes, including a broad crime package, which includes bills targeting AI generated Child Sexual Abuse content, Sexual Assault kit tracking and raising the State’s age of consent.

There is a pension bill for state employees, a long time win for the legislature, that many expect Governor Dunleavy to veto before lawmakers leave Juneau.

But, the big question remains- will legislators pass these bills by the scheduled end of the session?

Juneau Senator Jesse Kiehl says it’s unclear pointing to that massive gas line bill that could push work into overtime.

“The Governor’s number one priority this year is the Gas line bill. He waited until two thirds of the way through the session to give us that.” He said, “The Resources Committees have been working like crazy, meeting multiple times a day. This is billions and billions of dollars worth of decisions, the kinds of things that will have impacts for 30 years to come. We’re working as hard and as fast as we can. Boy, it’s tough to see that passing before the end of the regular session. This time of year, it always looks like it’ll be overtime. Sometimes it is. Sometimes we can avoid it. But when I look at the issues that are pretty big, and may result in extra innings, we got that gas line bill on day 80 out of 121.”