JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska House ended the special session Friday, marred by deep divisions and unable to come to terms on a plan to address the state’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
A number of legislators took turns saying their piece, with some poking at Gov. Bill Walker and others expressing regret that more had not been accomplished. This is not a proud day, Anchorage Democratic Rep. Les Gara said.
Adjournment came five days into the session, without a single bill hearing held by the gridlocked House. House Speaker Mike Chenault had said he asked the House Finance Committee to consider hearing Walker’s proposed sales tax to at least get it on the table. Committee co-chair Steve Thompson, a Republican from Fairbanks, said there wasn’t interest among legislators in starting that discussion.
“I’m very disappointed that we didn’t accomplish something that was helpful to the state,” Thompson said in an interview.
The sales tax was the lone new revenue measure on Walker’s special session agenda. Others – including a personal income tax and industry tax increases – were considered previously and failed to gain traction.
The agenda also included the centerpiece of Walker’s fiscal plan, which would use Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to help pay for state government and change how the annual dividends most Alaskans receive are calculated. The bill faltered in the House during the last special session after passing the Senate.
The session won’t officially be over until the Senate consents. Senate President Kevin Meyer, a Republican from Anchorage, said he would have to discuss the issue with his members but said the Senate probably would adjourn also. The Senate next meets on Monday.
Heading into the special session some lawmakers expressed skepticism about what might be accomplished weeks after the last special session ended and weeks before the primary election. Walker said he called this special session when he did, after vetoing nearly $1.3 billion from the budget, thinking those vetoes would take away the legislative excuses he was hearing for not acting on a fiscal plan. The bulk of the vetoes came from limiting the amount available for Alaska Permanent Fund dividends and for oil and gas tax credits.
Instead, much of the attention was on trying to garner support for a veto override session. The House wanted to meet but the Senate declined. Meyer said there didn’t appear to be sufficient support to overturn any of the vetoes.
Anchorage Republican Rep. Craig Johnson called Walker’s action on the dividend dangerous and tantamount to stealing money from Alaskans. Anchorage Republican Rep. Liz Vazquez said she considered this a “day of mourning” since Walker’s vetoes on those two big-ticket items would be allowed to stand.
In a rare move, Chenault temporarily stepped down from his perch as speaker to address his colleagues. He said Walker’s proposals have been discussed “ad nauseam’’ and widespread agreement on a path forward has yet to emerge. Staying in Juneau for the rest of the special session wouldn’t change that, he said.
Chenault suggested that Walker could call lawmakers back into session if the governor can secure majorities in each chamber – 21 votes in the House and 11 in the Senate – to pass his bills. Walker on Thursday questioned the usefulness of calling legislators into another special session if they didn’t pass a plan during this one.
“By doing nothing this year, the House sets us on an even more challenging journey to a sustainable fiscal future,” Walker said in a statement Friday.
Walker’s administration has warned that without action to fix the deficit, a major state savings account faces depletion and the popular dividend program will be in peril. The state has already seen its credit rating downgraded.
Sen. Anna MacKinnon, a Republican from Eagle River, said an idea she was brainstorming for a next step included bringing majority and minority House and Senate members together to see if they could narrow the focus of the fiscal debate and find common ground. She said she hadn’t had a chance to discuss the possibility of such a group yet with Chenault or the minority leaders.
Democratic Rep. David Guttenberg of Fairbanks said lawmakers from both parties talk about the need to move Alaska forward. “We have to actually do that here and not talk about it,” he said.
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