Alaska legislature could take up override again

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Latest on the Alaska Legislature’s attempt to override the governor’s budget vetoes (all times local):

5 p.m.

Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon says the Alaska Legislature could take up a vote to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes again on Thursday.

Edgmon spoke shortly after the Legislature failed to override more than $400 million in vetoes, with the governor targeting the University of Alaska for a bulk of those cuts. The vote was 37-1 but needed 45 votes, or three-fourths of all lawmakers, to be successful.

About a third of lawmakers did not vote since they remain in Wasilla amid a dispute over where the special session should be held.

Edgmon says growing public pressures may persuade lawmakers to vote for an override.

But a spokesman for the Republican House minority says in an email they have no plans to go to Juneau and will be back in Wasilla on Thursday.

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1:51 p.m.

The Alaska Legislature has failed to override vetoes by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

State lawmakers needed 45 votes, which represents a three-fourths majority of the 60 members of the Senate and House, to override vetoes.

Override supporters fell short as about one-third of the legislators did not attend the special session Wednesday in Juneau.

Dunleavy’s vetoes include a cut of 41% of state funding to the University of Alaska.

Dunleavy vetoed funding for a program that provides money to senior citizens who have low or moderate incomes and state support for public broadcasting.

He reduced spending for Medicaid and reimbursement to communities for school construction.

Absent lawmakers stayed away because of an ongoing dispute about where the legislature should meet. Dunleavy declared the special session should be held in Wasilla.

AP-WF-07-11-19 0108GMT