The special session on Monday, August 10, accomplished the legislature’s goal of overriding the veto of federal energy stimulus funds and confirming our new lieutenant governor, Craig Campbell. We also dealt with a little bit of a surprise in the form of an additional override request. Read more about it below.

Another issue I wanted to share with you comes on the heels of the archives building flood discovered the following Monday, August 17. It is too bad that the solution to our state’s historical archives problem wasn’t already in place. 

Thank you for reading this and being part of our wonderful community. I always enjoy hearing from you, so if you have any questions, comments or concerns or need assistance, please stop by the office, call, write or email.

The House Democratic Caucus discusses a veto override during the special session August 10, 2009.

Special session ends with a surprise 

The First Special Session of the 26th Alaska State Legislature lasted just over six hours, making it the shortest special session ever. The House of Representatives gaveled in at 9:00 a.m. in a warehouse-like room in the basement of Anchorage’s Egan Center. By 9:30, we had cleared the floor so that the Senate could gavel in as well. After a short recess to allow the Senate to hold a hearing on the confirmation of Craig Campbell, both the House and the Senate met in joint session.

Our first order of business was to take up the confirmation of Craig Campbell. Most recently Commissioner of the Division of Military & Veterans Affairs and Adjutant General for the State of Alaska, Campbell also served on the Anchorage Assembly for over nine years and had a long military career with the United States Air Force and Alaska Air National Guard. After some questioning in the Senate State Affairs Committee, Campbell was confirmed by a vote of 55-4.

Next on the agenda was the override of Governor Sarah Palin’s veto of federal energy stimulus funds. An override of an appropriation requires a three-quarters vote of the legislature meeting in joint session, or 45 of the 60 total votes, which is exactly what we got (and believe me, I was counting carefully). I’m excited that this is behind us and the state can get to work using the stimulus money in a way that will help Alaskans now and in the future with energy costs.

After the confirmation and the stimulus override, Senator Lyman Hoffman, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee along with Senator Bert Stedman, proposed another override of several capital projects. Although somewhat unexpected, this would be the legislature’s only opportunity to override vetoes according to the Constitution (Article 2 Section 16). The proposed override projects were:

• Ketchikan Port Berth I and II Replacement - $1 million (the legislature passed $4 million, but the governor vetoed $1 million of that)
• Ketchikan Port Berth IV Traffic Signal - $1.3 million
• Sitka Crescent Harbor Sidewalk Widening - $1 million
• Sitka Swan Lake Recovery - $1.7 million
• Anchorage Courts Campus Renovation - $4.9 million (the legislature passed $9.9 million for the project, but the governor vetoed $4.9 million of that)
• Anchorage Courts CourtView Enhancements - $394,300 (the legislature passed $1,344,300 for the project, but the governor vetoed $394,300 of that)

While the Anchorage projects would have been funded from the General Fund, the Southeast projects would have been funded by the cruise ship head tax. I supported this override because there was no discernable reason why the Southeast projects were vetoed in the first place. They are exactly what the funds are supposed to be used for. In addition, the funds should be distributed fairly among communities impacted by tourism and yet the only projects that were vetoed were those in Sitka and Ketchikan.

Unfortunately, not enough legislators agreed and the veto override failed by a vote of 40-19 (it also needed 45 votes to pass).  

Protecting Alaska’s history

We don’t often think of what happens to the documents that have gone into the making of our state. Not until something happens. On Monday, August 17, employees at the state archives building arrived to work to find that water had spent the weekend working its way into boxes and boxes of archived documents. The roof was being repaired, but a temporary covering had been blown aside by the wind, allowing rain to enter the building. Thankfully (and amazingly), a bunch of professional conservators just happened to be in town for a convention and volunteered to help state employees and community volunteers perform triage on the documents and everything was saved.

In the legislature, we have been receiving requests for years for funding from the Division Libraries, Archives, and Museums to fix the situation. The state archives building was literally splitting in two and sliding off of its foundation. The state library is too small and doesn’t have the proper environmental or security system to protect its collection. The state museum is outmoded and out of space. In fact, all three facilities are chock-full and the state has acquired temporary storage to accommodate the overflow.

The plan proposed by the division is to expand the current museum site on Whittier Street to house all three programs, dubbed the SLAM project (short for State Libraries, Archives and Museum). Despite the great need, the legislature has been sluggish in providing funding for the project. In 2002, $1.5 million was appropriated to purchase land adjacent to the museum with an additional $50,000 for site preparation. The FY2006 budget included $1.4 million for preliminary design work and planning for the project. In 2008, an additional $7.5 million was appropriated for planning and design. It is currently estimated that $75 million would be needed to complete the 100,000 square foot expansion.

Support within the legislature has been growing and coincidentally I was collecting signatures on a support letter for the project when the flooding occurred. It is our goal to see the SLAM project included in Governor Parnell’s budget proposal next session.