It’s been a chunk of time since the last newsletter. My, my, what has since transpired.
All of us, the entire State of Alaska, are peering into an inky black fiscal abyss. Earlier today, Governor Walker vetoed a bunch of budget line items, scolding the legislature for a job undone.
Anchorage – Earlier today, Alaska Governor Bill Walker used his line-item veto power to cut $1.29 billion from the FY 2017 budgets. The veto includes $430 million in tax credit and other payments to the oil and gas industry down to the statutory minimum requirement of $30 million. The veto of the oil tax credit money is supported by members of the Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition (AIDC) in the Alaska House of Representatives.
Anchorage – Earlier today, a majority of the members of the Alaska Legislative Council voted to stop the lawsuit challenging Medicaid expansion in Alaska. The lawsuit was dismissed in March by a Superior Court Judge after finding that the Social Security Act allowed the Governor to initiate Medicaid expansion and that existing state law required Governor Walker to provide Medicaid to the group of Alaskans eligible for expansion. The Alaska Legislative Council is made up of members of both the Alaska House of Representatives and the Alaska Senate and it represents the Alaska Legislature in some instances when the Legislature is not in session. Today’s action by the Legislative Council stops an appeal of the lawsuit to the Alaska Supreme Court.
On Saturday, June 18th, the House gaveled out of the Special Session with the Senate gaveling out the following day. We accomplished a lot during this time, but failed to reach consensus on some of the most important elements on the agenda. Here is a summary of what happened followed by an update on the NEXT special session scheduled to start on July 11th and some information on local events of interest.
