Alaska News

7 people to watch in the Alaska Legislature's 7 final days

JUNEAU -- With one week to go in the 2015 legislative session, most of the big issues from the start of the session remain unresolved. Top House and Senate lawmakers are negotiating over two versions of the state budget that have huge differences in funding for education and for state employee compensation. Meanwhile, key votes are expected on bills that would carry out or sideline key parts of Gov. Bill Walker's campaign platform, from expansion of the Medicaid health care program to his plans to develop a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. We can't predict what the final deal will look like or when it will emerge, but we can tell you who the figures are likely to be as the Legislature hurtles toward its scheduled adjournment on April 19. Here are short profiles of seven of the key players.

Bill Walker, governor

Gov. Walker was elected five months ago on a broad, nonpartisan platform and pledged to put Alaskans first. Translating his agenda into legislative success, however, has proven more difficult: The Republican-led House and Senate have slowed or modified key Walker proposals to expand Medicaid to more low-income Alaskans, to increase the size of a state-controlled natural gas pipeline from the North Slope and to put in place a new plan to ship natural gas to Fairbanks from Cook Inlet. Walker is expected to wield his constitutional veto powers and budget clout during the last week of the session to try to push his agenda through. But he'll have to fight to ensure the Legislature doesn't reject any of his Cabinet picks and board appointees. Some confirmation votes, including on Walker's choices for attorney general and for the Alaska Board of Fisheries, could be close.

Rep. Mike Chenault, House speaker

Long-serving House Speaker Chenault, a Republican from the Kenai Peninsula community of Nikiski, has been the primary legislative obstacle to Gov. Walker and his agenda. Walker wants to expand the Medicaid health care program. Chenault and his caucus say they need more details. Walker wants to change the plans for a state-controlled natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. Chenault wants to stick with the status quo. The speaker's focus for the end of the session will likely be on corralling the votes he needs to override an expected veto of his own bill to thwart Walker's pipeline plans. Meanwhile, Chenault is pushing another bill that would grant millions in tax credits to a company that's pondering whether to reopen the shuttered fertilizer plant in his hometown.

Sen. Kevin Meyer, Senate president

Senate President Meyer is the third arm of the state's leadership triangle, along with Gov. Walker and House Speaker Chenault. He's an Anchorage Republican who works for oil company ConocoPhillips. He's easygoing and less confrontational than Chenault. Meyer has nonetheless been in lockstep with the House speaker in their dispute with Walker over plans for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. But he now has to help resolve differences with the House after members there objected to a Senate budget that made deeper cuts to education and state worker pay than expected.

Jim Whitaker, governor's chief of staff

Whitaker was a provocative pick to head Walker's staff because of Whitaker's contentious relationship with key Republican lawmakers. Whitaker is a former Republican legislator from Fairbanks who a decade ago publicly criticized conflicts of interest held by his colleagues who worked for or with oil companies -- including Chenault and Meyer. Chenault still won't speak to Whitaker, but he has pushed other legislators to oppose Chenault's bill that would thwart Walker's plans for a state-controlled gas pipeline from the North Slope. Expect Whitaker may play a key role in the Walker administration's legislative endgame, especially on the pipeline dispute.

Tom Wright, Chenault's chief of staff

Wright is enough of a Juneau institution that he's sometimes referred to as the 61st legislator. He's a tall, big-bellied Cook Inlet commercial salmon fisherman who gets to his office early and listens to classic rock and Johnny Cash as lawmakers trickle into the Capitol. As chief of staff, he helps keep in line the 26 ideologically and geographically diverse members of Chenault's sometimes fractious majority caucus, which includes very conservative Republicans from the Mat-Su region and moderate rural Democrats. Wright's job will be critical as House members are expected to take tough votes on expanding Medicaid and overriding a gubernatorial veto of Chenault's legislation on a North Slope gas line.

Rep. Chris Tuck, House Democratic leader

As a small minority, Anchorage Rep. Tuck's caucus had minimal leverage during most of this year's session. But that's expected to change over the next few days because of the Legislature's potential need for money in a state savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve. It's still not clear if the money will be necessary, but if it is, it could require a vote by three-quarters of House members -- more than the size of the Republican majority. That would empower Tuck and the rest of his caucus to try to roll back some of the cuts to education and to state employee compensation in the Senate's version of the budget.

Sen. Pete Kelly, Senate Finance Committee co-chair

Kelly, a Fairbanks Republican, was one of the earliest and loudest legislative opponents to Gov. Walker's plan to expand Medicaid. And he's remained firmly against the idea over the course of the session, introducing a bill to reform the program without expanding it. He'll likely be a key player in the Legislature's debate over Medicaid in its closing days. The Senate Finance Committee controls the operating budget, and his position as co-chair gives him extra clout as his chamber tries to preserve the Senate's deeper cuts to education and state employee compensation than in the House's budget package.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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