Fizzled fast: Democrats fail to override governor’s veto of spendy education bill

In a joint session of the Alaska House and Senate on Tuesday, Democrats’ and unions’ attempt to override the governor’s veto of House Bill 69 failed to get the 40 votes needed.

Democrats stood and pontificated, lectured, and insisted in no uncertain terms that the $1,000 extra to be made permanent per student is an existential need for Alaska schools. But they knew they did not have the votes.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, a Democrat who dissented from his party, said it’s too much and had no funding. The Legislature needs to come up with the revenue, he said. Hoffman, who is co-chair of Senate Finance Committee, said that HB 69 would cost the state $100 million more per year, and he is worried that next year, the Legislature won’t have the money to pay for it.

Jesse Bjorkman, a Republican who caucuses with Democrats, argued it’s only $77 million, contradicting Hoffman. He asserted that it’s the constitutional duty of the Legislature to pass HB 69.

But after the Democrats stripped all of the accountability pieces from the bill, it ended up just being a blank check, with the final vote to override ending up at 33 to 27.

The old saying, “If you don’t have the votes, talk. If you have the votes, vote” became clear early on in the joint session.

The votes were not going to be there and the Democrat majorities knew it, and true to the old saying, the Democrats (and a few tax-and-spend Republicans) talked and talked and talked.

With lower oil prices, a smaller Permanent Fund dividend, and a drained savings account, the Alaska Legislature is in a pickle. The 90th day of the session came and went on Sunday and the body is now in the home stretch for the 120th day, which is the constitutional deadline three weeks away.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has filed new legislation for education, which has his policy pieces in it and a smaller permanent funding formula for education. House Bill 204 was only referred to the House Finance Committee, bypassing the Education Committee, a sign that it may get passed before the 120th day.