Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski vetoed $24 million for gas pipeline negotiations and preparatory work April 7, displeased that lawmakers had put a legislative committee in control of the money.
Murkowski also vetoed $125,000 to be used to lobby for the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, saying he was concerned about the use of Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for it.
He cut another $200,000 meant for Mount Edgecumbe boarding school in Sitka, saying his administration had agreed to provide that money and a legislative appropriation was not necessary.
Murkowski said in a statement that he would resubmit the gas pipeline funding proposals to the Legislature for passage this session.
“We believe the Legislature will recognize the needs here,” spokeswoman Becky Hultberg said.
The state is in negotiations with three groups interested in building a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. The governor’s office requested that $28 million in surplus oil revenue be used for those negotiations and to be ready to swing into action if a proposal is approved.
The money was included in a $1 billion supplemental spending bill passed by the Legislature in March, but lawmakers split the funding source between the general fund and permanent fund earnings, and funneled the money through the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee.
The governor objected to lawmakers allocating the money to the committee instead of giving it directly to the state agencies doing the work. He also said the funding should come completely from the general fund.
In a letter to Senate President Ben Stevens, Murkowski said giving the legislative committee control violates the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branch.
“First, by giving a legislative committee power to contract with executive agencies to provide services that are necessary to execute the law, the legislative committee is exercising executive power by supervising those agencies during their execution of the law,” Murkowski’s letter read.
Murkowski left more than $4 million in general fund spending for gas pipeline work that did not go through the committee.
Samuels says oversight needed
Rep. Ralph Samuels, R-Anchorage, co-chairman of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, said the Legislature’s finance committees set up the funding structure so there would be more oversight of how the money is spent. He said he appreciated the need to keep pipeline negotiations confidential, but lawmakers needed to be sure the money did not go to non-pipeline projects.
Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, the other co-chairman, said he had his doubts about the governor’s separation of powers argument. But, he said, if the finance committees can be convinced they have the information they need on how the money will be spent, a deal should be worked out.
“The Legislature will come up with some other way of getting the level of assurance they need so the money can be appropriated,” Therriault said.Hultberg did not give a direct answer to whether Murkowski would veto other bills that use permanent fund earnings. Several such proposals are now in various stages of the legislative process.
“I think that actions speak louder than words,” Hultberg said. “We’ll have to wait until those proposals are in front of us.”
