Yesterday, Jan 20, the Senate State Affairs Committee met at 3:30pm for the first hearing of SJR 2, which proposes amending the State Constitution to allow a legislative override of a gubernatorial veto by 2/3 vote of the Legislature instead of 3/4 vote. The amendment applies specifically to “bills to raise revenue and appropriation bills or items.”
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Matt Claman (D-Anchorage) introduced the bill to the committee. He stated: “SJR 2 makes an important change to our State Constitution to improve the public’s ability to influence executive and legislative decisions on revenue and appropriation matters.”
Senator Claman emphasized that Alaska has the highest voting requirement for overriding a veto on revenue or appropriations matters in the nation. Most states require a 2/3 vote from both legislative chambers to override a gubernatorial veto. A handful of states have lower requirements.
If passed by the Legislature, voters will see the amendment on the ballot in November this year.
Impact on Public Education
Laura Capelle, who is serving her first term as NEA-Alaska President, was invited to give testimony regarding SJR 2. Capelle has been a public educator in Fairbanks since 2004. She spoke on the impact the current Constitutional requirement of a 3/4 vote has on public education in Alaska.
According to Capelle: “The direct impact to public education of this veto override prevision [in the current Constitution] is it creates instability within our public education system. School boards, school board administrations, families, and educators are caught in the quagmire of uncertainty of education funding that’s essential for supporting students in their communities.”
She referred to Governor Dunleavy’s line-item veto of education funding in HB 57, claiming the veto could have caused a $51 million shortfall for public schools if the Legislature had not overridden the veto. The Legislature did override the veto, but only one less vote would have sustained the governor’s veto. When the Legislature passed HB 57, school districts had to “hedge their bets” when making budget decisions based on whether they thought the funding would survive the veto process.
Arguing that the current State Constitution unduly favors the Executive branch, Capelle stated, “The Framers of the U.S. Constitution thought that any veto requiring an override vote of over 2/3 of the Legislature as leading to undemocratic, unbalanced, excessive executive power. And now we can see why.” The U.S. Constitution allows Congress to override a presidential veto by 2/3 vote for any type of bill.
Public testimony
The Senate State Affairs Committee heard public testimony from three individuals.
Caroline Storm, a private citizen of Alaska, testified in person that she supports the amendment.
Theresa Obermeyer, an Anchorage resident, testified over the phone that she supports SJR 2, but not because Sen. Claman sponsored it. She spent most of her testimony criticizing Sen. Claman, asking why he had not done anything about the issue sooner during his 11-year career in Congress.
Calling from Homer, Therese Lewandowski testified in support of the amendment. She stated, “There is too much executive power… it just doesn’t seem right.”
Governor Misses Scheduled Hearing of SJR 13
In the same Senate State Affairs meeting on Jan 20, SJR 13 was scheduled for a second hearing. SJR 13 was requested by Governor Dunleavy, but no representative from the governor’s office attended the meeting.
Expressing frustration, Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) said, “The governor was notified. This was a publicly noticed meeting. He was notified; his office was notified several weeks ago that he would be heard on the first day, and they refused to attend. Is that correct?”
Committee Chair Senator Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks) responded, “Well, that is what it appears.”
Sen. Wielechowski indicated that the bill is not likely to be heard again due to the governor’s absence at the hearing.