Analysis Finds Alaska Taxpayers Getting Least Value from Their State Legislature

Despite paying top dollar, Alaska's legislative return on investment begs major questions about runaway spending, inefficiency, and effective representation.

ALASKA, UNITED STATES, May 28, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new nationwide study on legislative productivity and costs contains a sobering assessment for Alaska - the state's lawmakers ranked dead last for delivering value to taxpayers.

The analysis from PlayUSA compared legislative output, compensation levels, and cost-efficiency metrics across all 50 states during the 2023 legislative session. While Alaska paid its legislators an average of $69,509 annually (7th highest), that hefty price tag did not translate to commensurate productivity.

In fact, when measuring the ratio of legislative costs to units of output based on bills introduced and passed, Alaska had by far the worst cost-efficiency of any state. Taxpayers paid a staggering $287.50 per "unit of productivity" - about 80 times more than top-ranked Texas.

"No matter how you slice it, these findings are not a good look for Alaska," said Walter Yuhl for PlayUSA. "Residents are paying top dollar for relatively meager legislative output compared to lawmakers in other states earning far less."

Other findings include:
-Alaska legislators introduced just 436 bills in 2023, the fewest of any state. They passed only 48 bills, also last nationally.
-Legislative compensation of $69,509 annually significantly outpaced the output, resulting in the worst cost-per-productivity ratio.
-By comparison, Texas topped the rankings by delivering high volumes of legislation at modest annual costs of just $7,200 per lawmaker.
-Even some states like New Mexico and Wyoming, which paid relatively low salaries, managed to be more cost-efficient than Alaska.

The full report, including rankings for all 50 states and details on the methodology, can be found on the PlayUSA blog: Legislative ROI: What States Are Giving Taxpayers Their Money’s Worth?

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About PlayUSA

PlayUSA provides reliable and trustworthy content and resources about the legal and regulated US gambling industry. Based in the United States, PlayUSA.com is part of the Catena Media portfolio of sites and is an independently owned and operated commercial organization. It is not directly affiliated with any one casino or gaming website.

Kimberly Yuhl
Catena Media
kimberly.yuhl@catenamedia.com