The House ended its special session Friday, having taken no actions during the five days.
House Speaker Mike Chenault said the Legislature has already considered the Permanent Fund restructuring and tax increases that Governor Bill Walker asked them to pass.
“Staying here for another 30 days is not going to resolve the revenue issues before us,” Chenault said. “We have discussed ad nauseam all the different proposals and I cannot see any significant changes within the time allotted for this special session.”
The Senate declined an invitation from the House to meet to consider overriding Governor Bill Walker’s budget vetoes.
Senate President Kevin Meyer said there wasn’t enough support to reach the 45 votes needed to override the vetoes. They include a reduction in Permanent Fund Dividend funding that’s expected to cut dividends in half, to one thousand dollars per person.
“When we looked at all of the variables, all of the pros and cons, we just felt it was best to not accept the invitation to meet for the purpose of overriding the vetoes,” Meyer said.
The last House floor session was filled with speeches on the state’s fiscal crisis.
Anchorage Republican Representative Craig Johnson attacked Walker’s PFD funding veto.
“This time, Walker’s reached into the pocketbooks of every man, woman and child in Alaska and – in my opinion – stolen one thousand dollars from each of them,” Johnson said.
Juneau Republican Representative Cathy Munoz said Walker did the right thing by issuing the vetoes, even if she didn’t agree with all of them.
“I think the governor demonstrated a great deal of courage in his actions,” Munoz said.
Anchorage Democratic Representative Les Gara expressed concern that the Walker administration’s projected budget cuts could play into the hands of opponents of a fiscal plan.
“I think what he did was he told people who want major cuts, take no action and you get the cuts that you want,” Gara said.
Eagle River Republican Senator Anna MacKinnon said she’s interested in working with Walker’s administration and all four legislative caucuses on a task force that would consider a couple of the major issues that have stalled in the Legislature.
House Speaker Chenault expressed an interest her idea.
The Senate could vote to adjourn when it meets on Monday.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
