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JUNEAU — State lawmakers are kicking back at Gov. Sarah Palin’s plan for getting two sport fish hatcheries built in Anchorage and Fairbanks. And while the hatchery in Fairbanks — the Ruth Burnett Sport Fish Hatchery — would have been secure under Palin’s plan, it might not be under two legislative proposals at play.

The issue stems from legislation passed in 2005 allowing the state to issue nearly $70 million in bonds to build sport fish hatcheries. At the time, the money was considered enough to build facilities in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Since then, cost estimates for both facilities have roughly doubled. Lawmakers nagged Palin’s administration to come up with a plan to cover the additional costs, and this session some suggested the Fairbanks hatchery be scrapped altogether.

Ultimately, the governor and lawmakers from Anchorage and Fairbanks all agreed to work toward funding both facilities, and two weeks ago, Palin submitted a plan to the Legislature.

Shortly after, she allowed the Fairbanks project to go out to bid on schedule. By doing that, Palin essentially committed the state to building the Fairbanks hatchery, according to her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles.

And that’s what irked some lawmakers.

Earlier in the session, lawmakers inserted language in a budget bill dividing up the existing bond money between the two hatcheries. Neither facility had enough to be completed, so lawmakers from both communities had an incentive to work on a funding solution.

“That was always kind of the agreement,” Rep. Kevin Meyer, an Anchorage Republican and co-chair of the House Finance Committee, said Thursday. “We were going to work on this together so that both projects go.”

Meyer said it was critical to stay together on the issue because lawmakers from other parts of the state will likely protest the plan, and it might not pass without support from both Anchorage and Fairbanks lawmakers.

For now, Palin’s funding plan only covers the Anchorage facility and assumes the Fairbanks hatchery will be built with money already secured. But Meyer said he plans to introduce a substitute version of the bill that would make it cover both facilities.

The other legislative proposal deals with the language already in the state’s supplemental budget bill, which says Fairbanks can’t have more than $25 million of the bond money. (The facility is expected to cost $46 million.)

The new proposal, which was inserted into the state’s operating budget, says if the governor vetoes the limit on the Fairbanks funding, the Department of Fish and Game won’t get a $500,000 appropriation this year to run existing hatcheries. Like Meyer’s proposal, it has the effect of forcing lawmakers to consider both hatcheries at once.

Palin’s budget director, Karen Rehfeld, said Thursday that when the administration offered the proposal, it was simply trying to follow the direction it was given by lawmakers — come up with a plan for both facilities.

Sen. Joe Thomas, a Fairbanks Democrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he thought the maneuvers were just people negotiating for various things, adding that any big-ticket items would probably get used.

“I guess I could complain now about its being held hostage,” he said Thursday of the money for Fairbanks. “But I guess if I was on the other side, I would say, ‘Well, you’re taking all the money.’”

Thomas said despite the cost increases, he still supported building both facilities.

Companion versions of the governor’s bill are HB 418 and SB 301.