A group of Democrats in the Alaska House of Representatives has asked Speaker Cathy Tilton to conduct a survey among the members of the House to determine if there is an appetite for a special session that the Legislature would call itself into in order to override some or all of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s vetoes.
The letter to Speaker Tilton was signed by Reps. Calvin Schrage, Dan Ortiz, Jennie Armstrong, Andrew Gray, Cliff Groh, Zack Fields, Andi Story, Geneva Mina, Donna Mears, Ashley Carrick, Alyse Galvin, Sara Hannan, Louise Stutes, Andy Josephson, Maxine Dilbert, and Rebecca Himschoot.
Although not all are registered Democrats, it’s widely understood that those with an “undeclared” or “nonpartisan” labels are using them for convenience and vote confusion in their districts.
Of the 16 who signs the letter, nine are freshmen, having served for just one term in office. Many of those nine have never held any type of elected office before.
The old-timers who signed the letter — Andy Josephson, Louise Stutes, and Dan Ortiz — have been in office for several years and understand what they are doing: The Democrat minority is making political theater, all the while knowing the votes are not there.
Speaker Tilton said she was puzzled over the handwringing because the minority refused to give the House majority a three-quarter vote to fund the biggie-sized education bonus out of the Constitutional Budget Reserve, and didn’t give the House majority the vote to allow an extended session, so the budget could be hammered out in the compromises that are usually made in a conference committee. The extended session could have give lawmakers time to handle the problem created by the Senate Majority, which would not cooperate at the end of session.
The Democrats are upset because Gov. Dunleavy scaled back the additional spending that the was awarded to education for the coming year.
Rather than an additional $175 million for education, on top of the regular spending, Dunleavy left in place an $87 million addition boost for the fiscal year, which begins July 1.
But the Legislature’s budget and governor also awarded $3 million for the Alaska Reads Act, which is a program that is meant to help schools increase reading skills in Alaska students, which have dropped in recent years to second-worst in the nation, after New Mexico, according to The Nation’s Report Card.
In addition to the Alaska Reads Act funding, there is lots of extra education money in the budget for FY2023:
- $299 million for school bond debt reimbursement, helping local governments and school districts with the cost of school construction
- $117 million for Rural Education Attendance Area funds, ensuring rural Alaskan students have safe schools in which to learn
- $40 million in funding to the Major Maintenance Fund, clearing large, deferred projects on Alaskan school buildings
In FY2024:
- $67.2 million for school bond debt reimbursement
- $27.9 million for Rural Education Attendance Area funds
- $19.6 million for School Major Maintenance
In the Senate, Sen. Gary Stevens has let it be known he doesn’t think there is the will to try to get a veto override of the $87 million reduction in the expansion of the spending.
