The Alaska House of Representatives has asked the state Senate to join it for a joint session at noon Friday for the purpose of overriding some or all of $1.2 billion in budgetary vetoes signed by Gov. Bill Walker. That includes Walker\u2019s cut to the Permanent Fund Dividend.<\/p>\n
Before the state fiscal year began July 1, Walker demanded that the Legislature implement a comprehensive fiscal plan to erase Alaska\u2019s multibillion-dollar budget deficit. When lawmakers failed to do so in a regular session, an extension of that regular session, and in a special session, Walker halved the dividend, eliminated $430 million in oil and gas drilling subsidies and cut millions from education and public safety programs.<\/p>\n
The Alaska Constitution requires the Legislature to override a veto within five days of the start of a special session following the veto. Friday will be the fifth day and the last opportunity to override any of Walker\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n
Daniel McDonald, a spokesman for the Alaska Senate Majority, said by email that senators \u201creceived the letter and the issue is being discussed among the caucus.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the House and Senate agree to meet on Friday, they will go line by line through each of the 41 vetoes. There must be a \u201cyes\u201d vote from 45 of the Legislature\u2019s 60 members to override the veto.<\/p>\n
It will not be easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost legislators don\u2019t think there\u2019s any chance,\u201d said Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake.<\/p>\n
While there is broad agreement on voting to override some of Walker\u2019s vetoes \u2500 House majority leader Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, and House minority leader Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, are working together \u2500 there is broad disagreement about what exactly should be restored.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery one of us has a priority of the items that were vetoed \u2026 but I also think that there\u2019s such a spread in what was vetoed that it will be very difficult for any one individual item, perhaps, to get the support to be overridden,\u201d said Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau.<\/p>\n
Kito said he favors an override on the governor\u2019s cuts to education, school bond debt reimbursement and to the university system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have to educate our students. We still have to make sure we\u2019re supporting our schools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Of the opposite viewpoint is Rep. Lynn Gattis, R-Wasilla.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pushing for a Permanent Fund Dividend veto override. I would have to say that it\u2019s not just my thought, but the folks in the Mat-Su are mad,\u201d she said. \u201cThey want me to push for that. I think for them, it\u2019s about how dare this governor think that he\u2019s going to do this without making the significant cuts and the cuts to all government?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kito and Gattis are emblematic of the Legislature\u2019s divide and the divide in Alaska as a whole. At a Wednesday afternoon Senate State Affairs Committee meeting in Wasilla, Sen. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, offered plenty of barbs for administration officials as the chanting of demonstrators was clearly audible through the walls of the Wasilla Legislative Information Office.<\/p>\n
Early Wednesday, Walker\u2019s staff released a six-page report<\/a> explaining that there will be dire consequences if the Legislature fails to raise new revenue through taxes, spending from the Alaska Permanent Fund, or some combination of the two.<\/p>\n By 2020, the state would be forced to operate with as little as one-third of the budget it has today. That would result in prisoners being released from jail early, mass layoffs and other unsavory actions, the report states.<\/p>\n But big cuts have big support in some areas of the state. Gattis said she doesn\u2019t see all of the bullet points on Walker\u2019s report as bad things.<\/p>\n \u201cI choose to say that it allows us to take action, the very action we need,\u201d she said. With other industries cutting back, it makes sense for government to do the same. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t have money \u2014 and it\u2019s kind of a bumper sticker \u2014 but if you\u2019re broke, you have to act like it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear now: We have a serious fiscal crisis,\u201d Walker said in a prepared statement<\/a>. \u201cHow we deal with this crisis will define us all \u2014 with no less than Alaska\u2019s future hanging in the balance. I therefore expect, and all Alaskans should demand, compromise and affirmative action by this Legislature on a comprehensive solution to our massive budget deficit during this special legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker went on to say that after Alaskans become familiar with the options in front of them, \u201cvoters will be much better informed about who should represent them in Juneau.\u201d<\/p>\n The Alaska Republican Party issued a statement saying it considers Walker\u2019s statement a threat to campaign against lawmakers who vote against his fiscal ideas. If that\u2019s the case, it could be a violation of the state\u2019s Executive Ethics Act, which prohibits \u201cuse or authorize the use of state funds, facilities, equipment, services, or another government asset or resource for partisan political purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGov. Walker issued a press release this morning in which he not only threatened sitting legislators, but strongly inferred he would campaign against anyone who doesn\u2019t answer his specific questions about addressing the budget gap,\u201d said Rick Whitbeck, vice chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, in a prepared statement. \u201cHe has stepped over the line when it comes to misusing the office. Alaskans have to ask themselves if he\u2019s violated the Executive Branch Ethics Act.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt might\u2019ve hurt him a little bit with some of his relationships with legislators,\u201d said Tuck, the leader of the House Democrats.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n Related stories:<\/p>\n Poll: Alaskans hugely support legislative term limits<\/a><\/p>\n Joe Miller really wants to fire Gov. Walker, and here’s how he plans to do it<\/a><\/p>\n