House Finance Committee co-chair Rep. Alan Austerman (R-Kodiak) says the state can't cut its way to prosperity, and legislators will have to make some tough decisions in the next few years. Austerman says Alaska is in a different situation than when oil prices were low in years past because there is less oil flowing through the trans-Alaska pipeline. He says he thinks the best the state can hope for is for oil production to stabilize, given the aging legacy fields. He says legislators this year should take a hard look at projects and decide if they are the best places for continued investment. He says there isn't a vision for where the state should be, in terms of schools, roads or other infrastructure, making it tough to know where to focus spending.
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