Last fall, I was elected by my fellow Alaskans with a mission: balance Alaska’s woefully mismanaged budget and reopen Alaska for business. I’m proud to say that my administration is well on its way to making good on these promises. During my first year in office, I signed a budget that will cut Alaska’s $1.6 billion deficit by 40%. I also worked with our state government to identify 100 job-killing regulations in need of reform.

Since completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in 1977, Alaska’s economy has been intertwined with oil. When the price of North Slope crude plummeted from over $110 per barrel in 2014 to less than $30 just two years later, state revenues fell from over $4 billion in 2013 to just $750 million in 2018. Alaska’s credit rating collapsed and the Last Frontier became better known as the “worst state for business.”