Joint session will consider overriding Dunleavy budget vetoes

On Friday, a joint floor session of the Alaska Legislature will meet to consider overriding two of the governor’s vetoes.

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham, said the goal of the session was to override the governor’s veto of $5 million added back to the Alaska Marine Highway System and 50% of municipal school construction costs that had been vetoed previously.

Edgmon said there is “significant support” in the Legislature to override those vetoes but he didn’t know if it is enough to reach the required three-quarter supermajority threshold.

“Anything can happen in a joint session,” Edgmon said of the chances to override the vetoes.

Sources in the Capitol say with the 16-member House minority caucus uninterested in restoring the vetoes, the joint session is unlikely to get to the required 45 votes.

In July, the Alaska Legislature passed House Bill 2001 that restored roughly $284 million in funding that had been vetoed by the governor through earlier legislation. Lawmakers have five days from convening into session to meet and decide whether to override a veto.