Alaska House Majority Coalition

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.