Since 2012, members of the House and Senate majorities have refused to take action on Medicaid expansion. By refusing to allow a vote, they have effectively shielded their true beliefs.
Now, many of these same lawmakers want to prevent others from taking action as well. This week, the House passed House Bill 222, which would force the executive branch to do nothing as well.
The bill would allow the Legislature to prohibit the governor from accepting federal funds from a particular project.
The legislation is essentially a gubernatorial castration bill crafted and passed by lawmakers who refuse to get over the fact that not everyone believes in the do-nothing approach. Medicaid expansion was within their control at one time, but when they refused to make a decision, it fell to Gov. Bill Walker.
Now the House majority wants to punish him for making a decision.
Speaking on the House floor, members of the majority called HB 222 a matter of protecting the balance of power. In reality, it is the opposite.
A bill such as HB 222 not only upsets the checks and balances of state government, it could lead to further usurpation of power from other branches. At the very least, it is the equivalent of a preemptive override of a gubernatorial veto.
This is not simply about Medicaid expansion, or our support or opposition of it.
Many of the lawmakers pushing SB 222 are the same ones who helped create a $4 billion budget deficit through thoughtless spending. Now, they have failed to close the gap and want to restrict the ability of the governor to do so by accepting federal money.
One thing the House and Senate majorities don’t need is more power.
Refusing to increase taxes during an election year and signing a bloated rental agreement for a shadow Capitol (then looking to buy it for $32 million when the court rules against them), are signs of the kind of orneriness and immaturity expected of sore losers.
Walker was within his rights when he accepted funding for Medicaid expansion. The primary sponsor of HB 222, Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, even told this newspaper as much in 2015.
“I think anybody that was watching this process and understood that (Gov. Bill Walker) could unilaterally do this is (not surprised),” Hawker said after the governor accepted additional Medicaid funding. He later added: “… I don’t believe a litigatory effort would prevail.”
The Legislative Council, of which Hawker is a member, then voted to sue the state over expansion (Hawker did not vote). The lawsuit, which was estimated to cost nearly $1 million in state funds, was thrown out by Superior Court Judge Frank Pfiffner last month.
Majority members still refuse to give up the fight. On Friday, they again blocked a vote to de-fund the lawsuit.
This bill certainly makes a statement, but it isn’t the one that the House Majority wants you to believe.
