Alaska News

Alaska Legislature propelled into overtime, plans to meet again Monday

JUNEAU -- An end-of-session baby and a marathon series of confirmation votes on Gov. Bill Walker's political appointees helped propel the Alaska Legislature into overtime Sunday, as the House and Senate were certain to miss the scheduled end of their 90-day session at midnight.

Both chambers left the Capitol on Sunday evening with a final budget deal still pending. House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, had been unable so far to negotiate a package acceptable to Senate Republicans and the House minority Democratic caucus.

The House Democrats' approval is needed to clear a three-quarters vote threshold in each chamber of the Legislature required by the Alaska Constitution to tap a state savings account called the Constitutional Budget Reserve.

Chenault said the Democrats were negotiating in good faith but discussions were complicated by the arrival early Sunday of 7-pound-9-ounce Penelope Grace Tuck -- the daughter of House Minority Leader Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, the Democratic negotiator.

Tuck flew to Anchorage from Juneau on Sunday morning to visit his new baby and partner, conservative talk radio host Bernadette Wilson. He had planned to return to Juneau on an afternoon flight but missed it and didn't arrive back to the Capitol until the evening. That set back negotiations on the Legislature's adjournment package -- though nobody blamed him.

"He did what I would have done," Chenault said.

After the confirmation votes took more than five hours to complete, Chenault resumed discussions over the budget package with his Republican counterparts in the Senate, with legislators expected to return to the Capitol on Monday morning for further negotiations and possible votes.

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By law, Legislative sessions are limited to 90 days, but the Constitution allows for 120-day sessions.

The negotiations come as the Legislature tried to finish a deal on an operating budget that's expected to be close to $4 billion. That's down about a half-billion from last year's budget, with lawmakers introducing sharp cuts to help close a multibillion-dollar deficit created by a drop in the price of oil. Revenues from oil fund the vast majority of state services and government.

House Democrats said they were pushing for restoration of two cuts to education of $47 million and $32 million that have been proposed by the state Senate and Walker, respectively. Their other requests include restoring money for raises for unionized state employees that the Senate also proposed to cut, as well as for passage of legislation to expand the public Medicaid health care program and to require schools to teach students about sexual abuse and prevention.

One of the House Democrats involved in the budget negotiations, Rep. Les Gara, said in an interview Sunday that his caucus is asking "not to set education so far backward that parents start leaving the state."

And he acknowledged that his caucus is pushing for expansion of Medicaid. But, he said, "we're also saying we're flexible."

The Republican-led caucus in the Senate, meanwhile -- which has the exact three-quarters majority required to tap the Constitutional Budget Reserve -- was left watching, unhappily.

In an interview, Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, accused House Democrats of "holding us all hostage" over a list of requests that amounts to "well over $100 million."

Meyer said the Senate Republicans are willing to make "some movement" on the education money, but he added that the Legislature would be in Juneau until a broader agreement is reached.

"I don't mind staying here, but it seems ridiculous the Democrats want to keep us here spending money in a time when we have no money," Meyer said.

Chenault said his caucus wants the proposed $47 million, or 4 percent, cut that the Senate made to the state's per-pupil schools funding formula to be restored in the state's operating budget package. But he added that the additional $30 million in education funding that the Democrats want restored would have to come as an amendment in the state's capital budget package.

"It'll be voted up or down," Chenault said.

Asked about Meyer's characterization that the Democrats were holding the Legislature "hostage," Chenault responded: "He can describe it how he wants to -- they're negotiating in good faith."

Chenault added, however, that his caucus also would not consent to adding "hundreds of millions of dollars back into the budget we don't agree with."

And he said it was unlikely that the House or Senate Republican-dominated majorities would negotiate on Medicaid expansion. That could put the Legislature at odds with Walker, who said in a news conference late Sunday that he'd like to have lawmakers take up the issue before they leave town.

Under the Constitution, Walker has the power to call the Legislature into a special session on subjects of his choosing.

"We're inclined to give that one more push here," Walker said.

Late Sunday, though, legislators trickled out of the building and eschewed the late-night floor debates that are typical staples at the end of the session. They're scheduled to get back to work again Monday morning.

"It's a process, and we just need more time until we get to a place where the minority and the majority are both comfortable with leaving," said Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, the majority leader in the House. "I think it's frustrating for all of us -- we're tired. I think it'll do the members good, though, to get some rest and get a fresh perspective."

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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