Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday called a special legislative session for August in an effort, he said, to advance two priorities left unfinished at the end of the regular legislative session.
Some legislators said they saw the call as an attempt to prevent lawmakers from overriding the governor’s June vetoes, notably to public school funding.
In Dunleavy’s proclamation calling the 30-day special session, scheduled for Aug. 2, he lists two familiar subjects for lawmakers to address: the creation of a cabinet-level state Department of Agriculture and education reform.
“As elected officials, we must do all we can to put the next generation on the path to a successful and prosperous future, and that starts with a solid public education,” Dunleavy said in a news release. “Splitting the Division of Agriculture away from (the Department of Natural Resources) into a department will elevate food security and support our hard-working farmers while growing the agricultural sector.”
He did not provide further details on the legislation he plans to introduce, saying the bills would be available on the first day of the special session.
The call took legislative leaders by surprise, said House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent. Dunleavy had not contacted House and Senate leaders in an attempt to find common ground on the governor’s priorities rejected by lawmakers during the regular session earlier this year, Edgmon said.
“These are not new issues to us,” he said.
The chair of the Senate Rules Committee, Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski, said he saw Dunleavy’s move as “an attempt to try to foil veto overrides.”
“I don't think this is really anything about education reform,” Wielechowski said.
Dunleavy declined an interview request. Asked to respond to Wielechowski, a spokesperson said veto overrides were a function of the Legislature and referred further questions to legislative leadership.
Big Lake Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe said he had not spoken to the governor but said he doubted that the timing of the special session would doom efforts to override the governor’s vetoes.
“I don’t think the votes are there to override it anyway,” he said. “It's not surprising to see the governor want to get the veto override … off the table, so we can focus on fixing the education system instead of just throwing money at it.”
This session, lawmakers boosted the per-student figure in the state’s public school funding formula by $700, a longtime priority for lawmakers in the Democrat-heavy bipartisan caucuses controlling the state House and Senate. They overcame a veto to do so, mustering support from 46 of the state’s 60 legislators.
But last month, Dunleavy vetoed the funding from the state budget that would have allowed the money to flow to school districts. Using his line-item veto power, he cut $50 million in formula funding for public schools and $25 million for school maintenance projects. Dunleavy said low oil prices forced him to trim back state spending, though legislative leaders said the austere budget they passed already accounted for a drop-off in revenue from oil and gas taxes.
Lawmakers vowed to override the veto when they returned in January. But to successfully restore the funding Dunleavy cut, they’d need 45 legislators to support an override, meaning they could only afford to lose one vote.
Lawmakers have also said they plan override votes on other bills that Dunleavy has vetoed, including a bill strengthening legislative oversight of oil and gas tax collection.
Meanwhile, Sen. Forrest Dunbar, an Anchorage Democrat, is deployed to Poland as part of his service in the National Guard, Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said.
“That's a problem for the Senate,” he said. “We had 46 votes when we had the override vote earlier, so I am concerned we’ll be losing one. ”
Dunbar did not immediately respond to an email asking whether he would be able to return for the special session.
An ally of the governor, Republican Palmer Sen. Shelley Hughes, said she supported the governor’s call for a special session. Hughes pushed to split the Division of Agriculture into its own department during the session and has been a longtime advocate of the education reforms Dunleavy favors, which focus on expanding access to charter schools and homeschool.
“If we were to pass some of the education reforms — of course, I cannot speak for the governor — but I wouldn't be surprised if he would be willing to put some funding into it,” she said. “In fact, if we pass something that enhances the (2021 Alaska) Reads Act reading incentives, there's going to need to be funding for it.”
Edgmon, the House speaker, said he “would presume that everyone would be available,” though some members registered excused absences ahead of the end of the regular session.
The state Constitution requires lawmakers to consider a veto override “no later than the fifth day of the next regular or special session.”
“There's no way around that,” Stevens said. “We will have five days from Aug. 2 to override. If we don't do it, it's a dead issue.”
