For Alaska to survive and thrive, our fiscal policy needs an overhaul.

• Author: Beedle, Joe
• Position: ALASKA ECONOMY OP-ED

Brexit is an abbreviation for "British exit," referring to the June 23, 2016, referendum whereby British citizens voted to exit the European Union. We would argue that Alaska's exit or avoidance to deal with fiscal discipline amounts to Alaska's exit from economic and fiscal reality, a dysfunctional end to prosperity, an "AK-IT" scenario. We need legislative action to reform our fiscal discipline so that we stabilize our fiscal and economic future and attract investment capital and viable business to the state.

At Northrim Bank, we are very proud of our Alaska roots and work tirelessly to engage with our customers and the community to build the best Alaska we can. As the Chairman of the Board and the President/ CEO of the Bank, the two of us have more than seventy years of experience in the financial industry and have lived in Alaska for more than one hundred years, collectively. We have a deep, caring, passion for Alaska and our company and so do our employees. We work every day to maintain discipline and grow Alaska business, and we engage to keep Alaska strong.

The past couple of years have been very disturbing to witness as the state of Alaska has accepted repeated annual budget shortfalls of $4 billion, rapidly diminished our savings accounts, and not made any meaningful progress on systemic or sustainable programmatic fiscal policy improvements. The state has become more divisive and dysfunctional and lost considerable confidence of many stakeholders, including credit markets, private sector investors, and developers of our base industries. Many groups and individuals urged the Legislature to adopt a plan that would provide sustainable relief for the budget short fall and create a long-term solution to the state's fiscal problems. Unfortunately this has not happened and as a result, the state's liquid financial reserves will drop below healthy levels next year. We do not have time to delay action further! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The lack of a sustainable plan has lowered the state's credit rating and caused turmoil throughout state agencies and the public and private sectors. We are extremely disappointed that even with all the discussion and public engagement that there is still no workable plan being considered by the Legislature. We know the Legislators are concerned about the upcoming election; but also, we want them to know that we, here at Northrim, stand for election everyday with our customers and investors. It is through our...