Legislators fearing the loss of the state’s Coastal Management program are trying to get an agreement from other legislators to call themselves into special session in order save the state’s voice in outer continental shelf and other ocean matters.

Support from 40 of the Legislature’s 60 members is needed for the Legislature to call itself into special session.

Several key legislators say they believe there is enough support among their colleagues for the Legislature to call itself back to Juneau for the year’s second special session.

“I don’t think anyone wanted (Coastal Management) to go away,” said House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, who cast a key vote against it on the session’s acrimonious final day.

Possible dates for a special session could be next Tuesday and Wednesday, he said. Holding such a session quickly would be a key to both avoiding conflicts legislators have, as well as keeping the issue separate from possible gubernatorial budget vetoes.

The key to a successful special session, and even the decision to have one in the first place, would be to reach an agreement on the program beforehand, said Rep. Bob Herron, D-Bethel, a member of the House Majority led by Chenault and a main negotiator on the coastal issue.

“We’re not going to go down there blind,” he said.

“We have to have an understanding what would be the basis for coming back,” he said.

Herron said he thinks an agreement can be reached, as does House Minority Leader Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau.

Herron and Kerttula were House members of the conference committee that reached a compromise agreement between the House and Senate versions of the Coastal Management bill on the special session’s final day.

The state’s coastal management program is scheduled to sunset at the end of June unless renewed, but a bill to reauthorize the program failed after coastal legislators tried to restore local communities’ voice in the process, while Gov. Sean Parnell resisted giving up any state authority to local interests he said were attempting to obtain a “veto” over development. Parnell may have heightened tensions again recently when he likened senators to snakes in comments to the Alaska Miners Association in Juneau.

The conference committee’s compromise bill was approved 14-5 in the Senate, but failed 20-15 in the House. Twenty-one votes in the 40-member body were required for passage.

Chenault said he’d support having a special session to reauthorize coastal management if an agreement could be reached that addresses the concerns that led to its failure in the House.

“I’m for trying to make the program work, as long as it does work for the state,” he said.

The House’s abrupt adjournment three days before the end of the last 30-day special session was a successful maneuver to force the Senate to adopt its version of the state’s capital budget without changes, or leave Alaska without billions in projects.

That gambit was successful, the Senate adopted the House’s budget, but the House’s quick adjournment meant the end of Coastal Management negotiations and apparent end of the program.

Now, Kerttula said, with that issue out of the way it may be possible to reach an agreement on Coastal Management, and save the 33 jobs scheduled to be lost at the end of next month.

“I think the budget play was paramount,” she said, and a focus on what’s about to be lost will likely lead to another special session.

“I want this program not to be lost, and I think we’ve got a good shot at it,” she said, especially if Chenault gets behind it.

Chenault said the Legislature was very close to reaching an agreement when the session adjourned, but it got caught up in bad feelings between some of the parties in the stress of budget and other negotiations.

“I think the pieces were there at the end of the sessions,” he said.

“If cooler heads prevail now I think we might be able to put something place that keeps Coastal Management and has input from local communities,” he said.

Senate leaders were unavailable for comment Tuesday, but have been highly supportive of Coastal Management.

• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.