Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a proclamation for a special session on Wednesday, calling Legislators back to Juneau in August to pass legislation on education reform and his executive order creating a new Department of Agriculture.
The special session also means that lawmakers cannot wait until January to vote on overrides to the governor’s budget vetoes and his vetoes on several policy bills. They must vote in the first five days of the special session.
That’s significant, because 45 votes are needed to override a budget veto, and while there were 46 votes in favor of a prior veto override this spring, at least one legislator who voted in favor of that override will be unavailable in August.
The 30-day special session is scheduled to begin 10 a.m. August 2 in Juneau.
Agriculture is currently overseen by a division within the Department of Natural Resources.
”Enacting a few necessary reforms to our public education system can elevate those children struggling in Alaska’s school system,” said Dunleavy in an email statement with the announcement. “As elected officials we must do all we can to put the next generation on the path to a successful and prosperous future, and that starts with a solid public education. Splitting the Division of Agriculture away from DNR into a department will elevate food security and support our hard-working farmers while growing the agricultural sector.”
The announcement comes in the wake of a historic veto override vote, 46-14, by the Legislature rejecting Dunleavy’s veto of an education funding bill, House Bill 57, raising the core of the state’s education formula by $700 per student. Dunleavy then made a budget veto of part of the funding for schools, pushing it down to $500 per student, and House and Senate leadership have promised to override that veto in the next session.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said he was surprised by the announcement and learned about it from reporters calling him for comment.
The special session will force lawmakers to vote early on veto overrides for education funding and a variety of other bills, he said. Legislative attorneys have told lawmakers that with the governor’s proclamation, they cannot defer those votes until the regular session begins in January.
That’s a problem for supporters of an education veto override, because 45 of 60 legislators are needed for that vote to succeed. This spring, a policy veto override garnered 46 votes, but Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, is in Poland on a National Guard deployment and is expected to be unavailable in August.
Other legislators may also be unavailable, Stevens said.
And supporters of an override have questioned whether all of the votes from the previous override vote will hold for a budget override.
In May, lawmakers voted 32-28 to deny an executive order by Dunleavy to create a new Department of Agriculture, citing the proposal’s costs as well as creation through an executive order rather than as legislation, with public input.
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