Legislators cautious of overreliance on high oil prices

WRANGELL­– In a break from past practice, the Alaska Department of Revenue this year will provide monthly updates to legislators whenever projected oil prices — and state revenues — move up or down more than 10%.

Several legislators worry that could confuse budget deliberations this session.

Revenue staff has updated the state’s twice-yearly oil-price forecasts internally but not released the numbers to the public, the department’s chief economist Dan Stickel told the Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 20. “We’ve decided to go ahead and start releasing them publicly.”

The department’s annual Dec...