Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Tuesday ordered the Alaska Legislature to convene a special session on Thursday — one day after the deadline for this year’s regular session — to consider a bill advancing a natural gas line that he has declared his top priority in his final months in office.
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, interrupted floor debate on a tobacco bill Tuesday afternoon to read an announcement about the governor’s order.
“I’d like to take just a moment to let the body know that the governor has officially called the Legislature back into special session starting on Thursday at 10 a.m. here in Juneau on subjects germane to the title of the following bill, House Bill 381, which is the natural gas taxation of certain natural gas pipeline properties,” he said.
Work on different versions of gas line bills continued for a few hours afterward by the House and Senate before both chambers appeared to give up those efforts at least for the day.
Edgmon, in a brief interview after the governor’s mid-afternoon announcement, said efforts to pass a gas line bill by the end of the regular session are still being made. But just after 5:30 p.m. the House voted 21-19 to send the bill from the floor back to the Rules Committee, effectively ending its chances of passing the full Legislature by Wednesday night unless special parliamentary measures requiring a supermajority of lawmakers occur.
The Senate Finance Committee also heard a different version of a gas line bill, but opted to keep it in committee rather than advancing it to the floor for a possible vote.
Dunleavy’s version of a gas line bill introduced March 20 gives its developer immense tax breaks and other incentives he says are needed to make the project economically viable. Versions of gas line legislation in the House and particularly the Senate offer fewer breaks, and seek to provide a greater share of pipeline revenues to the state and municipalities affected by the pipeline’s infrastructure.
Majority caucus members in both chambers have stated during the past day it is unlikely for a bill that resolves differences to pass by the regular session deadline. Concerns have also been expressed by many legislators that key financial details about the project aren’t being provided by Glenfarne as the developer and the state’s Alaska Gasline Development Corp. as a partner to the company.
A day-long effort by the House on Monday to pass a gas line bill as part of a deal that also would result in a state employee pension bill becoming law fell short.
House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, a chief advocate of the pension bill who led efforts to reach a deal with the governor, said Tuesday he was hoping the governor would be willing to include both items in a special session declaration. Kopp said he also was willing to work toward passage of a gas line bill if that’s the lone item on the agenda, but Dunleavy needs to work more cooperatively with legislators to get it passed.
“He is going to have to invest in relationships with people in this building and not hide on the third floor,” Kopp said. “He’s got to start showing up in offices, going around asking people how we can get to a yes.”
Dunleavy spent Tuesday in Anchorage for the start of the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference, which continues through Thursday. During a joint press conference with U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, which focused largely on natural resource industry projects in the state, the governor criticized legislators he said are holding up the bill he’s seeking.
“This is a decision on the part of the handful of folks in Juneau who wish, for whatever reason I don’t understand, to play with the future of Alaska,” he said.
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This story was originally published by Juneau Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.