It was a mic-drop moment on a trampoline.<\/p>\n
In a surprise Thursday night move, the Alaska House of Representatives attempted to avert a statewide government shutdown by forcing the Alaska Senate and Gov. Bill Walker to accept a take-it-or-leave-it deal.<\/p>\n
The Senate left it, and Alaska’s state government is now two weeks from shutting down.<\/p>\n
“Tonight was not an ideal end to the session,” said Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, shortly after the House adjourned.<\/p>\n
In a series of caucus-line votes, the coalition majority that runs the House inserted a version of the state operating budget, funded primarily with savings from the earnings reserve of the Alaska Permanent Fund, into the state’s capital construction budget. The House approved that combined budget and adjourned a special session called by Walker.<\/p>\n
With the House having left the special session, the Senate must accept the House’s version of things or reject it and end the special session with no deal.<\/p>\n
While the Senate took no official action Thursday night, Senate President Pete Kelly has left little doubt. <\/p>\n
In a statement, he said the Senate Majority is “deeply disappointed in the House Majority’s actions tonight.”<\/p>\n
“Contrary to the House Majority’s rhetoric, their budget and adjournment tonight does not avert a government shutdown, but forces the Legislature into an additional special session that adds costs, grows uncertainty for the public and private sectors, and further hampers the ability of the two bodies to reach a compromise,” his statement said.<\/p>\n
Walker likewise condemned the House’s move.<\/p>\n
“We were surprised by the House Majority’s actions tonight,” the governor said in a prepared statement. “They did not get the job done for Alaska. A compromise is required to protect Alaskans and put the state on a stable fiscal path.”<\/p>\n
The House’s actions and the Senate’s expected response mean lawmakers will head into a second special session in the same position that they began the first one 30 days ago.<\/p>\n
They must pass a state operating budget (and find a way to pay for it) before July 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year.<\/p>\n
If lawmakers cannot agree upon an operating budget, all of the state’s 18,000 public employees will be laid off and become eligible for unemployment — if there is anyone left to issue the checks. The Alaska Marine Highway System will shut down. No business licenses may be issued. The state’s multimillion-dollar commercial salmon fisheries, prized around the world, will close for lack of management.<\/p>\n