The special session called by Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) is set to begin on Saturday, August 2 at 10 am in Juneau. It’s scheduled to last 30 days but all signals indicate it probably won’t last 30 hours. 

The circumstances of this special session are some of the strangest ever. 

Dunleavy called the special session under the guise of creating a Department of Agriculture and adopting education reforms. The Legislature already rejected his executive order proposing a Department of Agriculture. And he’s fought with the Legislature for years over increasing student funding and reforms he wants, like open enrollment and expanded charter schools. 

The real reason he called the special session was to block his vetoes from being overridden, namely his veto of $200 of the $700 increase to the Base Student Allocation (BSA) passed by the Legislature this session. Dunleavy vetoed that bill with the $700 increase, but the Legislature voted 46-14 to override that veto. Dunleavy then vetoed the amount down in the budget by $200. 

Per the Alaska Constitution, the Legislature has five days to consider veto overrides when they gavel back in. This normally would have happened in January when they come back for the regular session. But the five day constitutional provision also applies to special sessions.

Dunleavy figured that many legislators would not be able to come to a special session in the middle of summer due to travel and prior engagements, thus preventing them from having enough votes to override any of his vetoes. 

Senator Forrest Dunbar (D – Anchorage), for example, is deployed to Poland with the National Guard. But he recently announced he received permission to return for the special session. Dunleavy even asked House Republicans in the minority to not even show up for the first five days. Initially, some complied and said they would not show up. But it soon became apparent how dumb that would look. They also realized it would make for some great political attacks against them during their re-elections next year. 

Dunleavy put out a press release on Monday outlining his priorities for the special session. He also put out a video about his education reforms and the proposed Department of Agriculture, and said he would be waiting in Juneau to work with them. 

But just eleven minutes later, Senate President Gary Stevens (R – Kodiak) and Speaker Bryce Edgmon (I – Dillingham) put out their own press release. They made it clear they will only be focusing on two veto overrides, the $200 BSA veto and the veto of Senate Bill 183 – a bill overwhelmingly passed by the Legislature to compel the Department of Revenue to cooperate with the legislative auditor on oil tax matters. They say they plan on holding a joint session at 10:15 am, just 15 minutes after they are scheduled to gavel in.     

Dunleavy made several other budget vetoes and vetoed several bills, some of which passed overwhelmingly. But the plan seems to be to only address the two vetoes referenced above. This is probably to save Republicans from having to take multiple votes on overriding a Republican governor. But anyone is free to make a motion to take up other veto overrides, and that may happen. Someone can also make a motion to table a motion to take up other veto overrides. A majority is required to table a motion.  

It appears they will have the votes to override SB 183 and the $200 from the BSA, assuming the 46 people who voted to override the veto of the bill increasing the BSA vote to override the veto of the appropriation. Combined, the House and Senate majorities have 35 people. If all 35 are there, they would need five Republicans to override the veto of SB 183 and ten Republicans to override the veto of the $200 from the BSA.   

Several legislators have told the Landmine that they have already booked tickets out of Juneau on the Saturday night flight. Many are scheduled to attend the National Council of State Legislatures Legislative Summit in Boston from August 4-6. 

It’s possible Dunleavy could call them back immediately, but that would effectively be a declaration of war on the Legislature. The most likely outcome is they gavel in Saturday morning, vote on the veto overrides, and gavel out Saturday afternoon. 

The Landmine will be in Juneau reporting on the not so special session. Stay tuned!