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Fall appears to be upon us in the Capital City, and though we are not in session, I wanted to give you a short update on the the governor’s vetoes of programs and projects in House Bill 2001. HB2001 passed the legislature with a total of 40 (out of 60) votes, showing widespread and bipartisan legislative support.

Temperatures are finally cooling off and the smell of fall is in the air, but it is not cooling off in the Capitol. I want to dedicate this Legislative Update to my thoughts on the budget, the PFD, and where we go from here. I’ve now been here for eight months and have seen a lot and I have been thinking about Alaska’s situation even more.

It’s been a remarkable year–never have Alaskans come together to defend our state from the existential threat posed by Mike Dunleavy. I don’t think there’s any question that the recall effort forced the Governor to retreat from many of his initial vetoes. Thanks to Alaskans’ activism, we still have a chance to save our University system, and we protected funding for survivors of domestic violence, and for some but not all homeless programs. Unfortunately, Dunleavy is vetoing (for the second time) many programs that are critical for public safety and our civil society. Here’s a list of his re-vetoes, including a few low-lights:

On Monday, August 19, Governor Dunleavy approved the operating budget, HB 2001, and accepted the $1,600 Permanent Fund dividend, but made over $200 million in line item vetoes. In passing HB 2001, the legislature sought to restore most of the $444 million that the governor vetoed from the operating budget in June. The governor also announced his plan to call another special session this fall.

On Monday, the Governor signed the Operating Budget (HB 2001, a supplemental Operating Budget). Governor Dunleavy chose to double-down on many of his callous vetoes, while choosing to accept the Legislature’s funding in many areas. Although the re-vetoed items represent over $200 million in programs which Alaskans rely on every day, the Governor chose to back off on about 41% of his vetoes after facing unprecedented public outrage.

Now that we are finally out of session, it feels to me like summer has just begun. However, the start of school means summer is just about over. I’ve been so wrapped up in multiple special sessions and trying to pass a responsible budget that it feels like summer slipped away.

On Monday, August 19th, Governor Dunleavy released his full list of Special Session budget vetoes. The Alaska Legislature passed two special session budget bills in July with the primary intention of restoring the Governor’s original vetoes and protecting certain funding sources, such as the Higher Education Investment Fund and the Power Cost Equalization Fund.

Alaskans from Barrow to Ketchikan have been waiting to see what Governor Dunleavy would do with the partial Permanent Fund Dividend payment approved by the Alaska Legislature. The Governor announced today that he would allow the $1,600 payment to go forward. However, the Governor intends to call a 3rd Special Session for the fall where lawmakers will consider a bill paying out the remaining $1,400 to equal the PFD amount set out in state law.