Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has until the end of the day Thursday to veto or sign two dozen bills into law.
The 24 bills run the gamut. They include a wide-ranging education bill, taxes on nicotine vapes and pouches, a bill allowing a state development agency to pursue workforce housing, and a ban on certain artificial dyes in school meals, among others.
The deadline comes a day before a special session is set to end, as senators continue to wrestle with whether to approve a tax break Dunleavy is seeking for the Alaska LNG project.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski, who sponsored the food dye ban, says it’s in the governor’s interest to approve the bills. Vetoes could “create some ill will and create some more friction that we probably don’t need at this point,” Wielechowski said, acknowledging the ongoing special session.
“People tend to get attached to their bills,” he said.
Dunleavy’s office would not say whether the governor planned to sign the bills. In an email, spokesperson Jeff Turner said Wednesday only that the governor’s office would deliver the bills back to the House and Senate “sometime tomorrow.”
But several are markedly similar to proposals Dunleavy has rejected in recent years. One would expand the state’s corporate income tax to capture more revenue from out-of-state companies. Dunleavy vetoed a similar bill last year. He also vetoed a tobacco tax bill in 2022.
Two other bills — one extending a state design board and another allowing state-run Mt. Edgecumbe High School to access a rural school maintenance fund — closely resemble bills Dunleavy vetoed last year.
Fairbanks Democratic Sen. Scott Kawasaki said he hopes Dunleavy will sign a bill he sponsored offering people whose convictions are overturned a chance to once again receive Permanent Fund dividends. It’s an effort to compensate people like the Fairbanks Four, who were wrongfully convicted of a 1997 murder and exonerated nearly two decades later.
Kawasaki has a different take from Wielechowski. He’s skeptical Dunleavy signing or vetoing any particular bill will have much influence on their support for the governor’s Alaska LNG tax bill, he said.
“We don't get wedded to our bills, and I don't think anybody's going to change their mind suddenly if the governor were to ask to trade a bill for a vote,” he said.
Several said senators said Wednesday that no such trade had been offered.
If Dunleavy does not sign or veto the bills by the end of the day Thursday, they’ll pass into law automatically. Any bills Dunleavy vetoes could be subject to an override vote on Friday.
