The Alaska House of Representatives has voted to restrict the ability of the governor to accept additional funds from the federal government.
The issue came about after Gov. Bill Walker unilaterally accepted federal money for Medicaid expansion last year after the Legislature failed to bring the issue to a vote in regular session or special session.
The House approved House Bill 222 in a 26-13 vote with one member absent. The vote broke down largely along caucus lines, with the Republican-led majority voting in favor and the Democrat-led minority voting against.
It will not affect Medicaid expansion, which is already one year old and facing a lawsuit brought by the Legislature in the court system.
Brought by Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, the bill blocks the governor from accepting additional money if the Legislature specifically prohibits doing so.
If the Legislature doesn’t specifically prohibit accepting additional money, and the Legislature is not in session, the governor must ask the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, which can meet outside session. If the committee recommends not accepting the money, the governor must wait 90 days before overruling the committee. The current wait limit is 45 days.
Hawker, being treated for cancer, was absent for the vote. Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Eagle River, spoke in Hawker’s stead.
“This bill was put forward to protect the Legislature’s constitutional authority to appropriate,” he said. “This is a fundamental discussion that is a balance of powers discussion … about where the appropriation powers should lie.”
Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, responding on the floor, said the bill “is designed to open the door to allow the Legislature to do something that then breaches the Constitution.”
While the Legislature can override a governor’s veto, Josephson said the bill is effectively a pre-emptive veto override because it restricts the governor’s authority.
“We must provide the executive branch something it can legally veto,” he said.
Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, provided a copy of Senate Bill 347, which was vetoed by Gov. Tony Knowles in 1998 after proposing much the same thing as HB 222.
“I don’t care what a previous governor did in a veto,” Pruitt said before the House voted.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
In other business, the House voted 39-0 to approve House Bill 370, which allows communities to exempt a property from local property taxes for up to 20 years in order to encourage economic development.
The current maximum exemption is five years.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
The House also withdrew House Bill 241, pertaining to a nonresident surcharge for fishing licenses, from consideration.
Senate also in session
In the Senate, lawmakers approved bills restricting the ability of the University of Alaska Board of Regents to forbid concealed firearms on campuses; allowing the Department of Natural Resources to charge fees for access to its geological library; and setting educational requirements for children in residential psychiatric treatment.
Senate Bill 174, covered elsewhere by the Empire, limits the University of Alaska Board of Regents’ ability to keep Alaskans from carrying weapons on university property. The bill passed 13-5 with two members absent and now goes to the House.
Senate Bill 103, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, was approved by a surprisingly narrow 11-6 margin after Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, argued that it was being pushed by an outside firm and effectively written by that firm.
The bill calls for children undergoing psychiatric treatment at a residential center to be educated under a contract between the local school district and an educational program run by the center.
A letter written by the education committee of the governor’s council on disabilities and special education declared that the bill was written at the behest of United Health Services, a Fortune 500 company that owns a residential treatment center.
“It seems like it’s sort of this systematic effort to go state by state and pass legislation,” Wielechowski said.
Gardner said the bill is important to keep children undergoing treatment from slipping behind their classmates educationally.
“Sometimes, these kids never catch up,” she said.
In response to Wielechowski’s comments, she said the Alaska Mental Health Trust supports the bill, and the education subcommittee is a small portion of the disability council.
Following the 11-6 vote, Wielechowski called for the Senate to vote again, and Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, asked that she be removed as a cosponsor of the legislation.
SB 103 is being held in the Senate for a reconsideration vote.
In other business, the Senate voted 17-0 with three members absent to approve Senate Bill 170, which allows the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to collect fees from companies and university students who want to access the geological samples held at the state Geologic Material Center in Anchorage.
Built in a renovated Sam’s Club, the center is a library for rocks, containing core samples taken from exploratory drilling operations across the state.
“The plan was always that sustainable funding for the facility would come from charging for the facilities provided,” Sen. Giessel said.
SB 170 now moves to the House for consideration.
The Senate decided against taking action Thursday on Senate Bill 154, which would create a special license plate commemorating and raising money for the Blood Bank of Alaska. SB 154 is expected to face a floor vote Friday.
