State House remains in deadlock

The state House remained in deadlock late Friday although the selection of Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome as a temporary Speaker allows the body to at least conduct procedural actions although no matters of substance can be taken up until the deadlock is resolved.

The standoff is between 20 Republicans and 17 Democrats aligned with two dissident Republicans and one GOP House member who says he won’t join an all-Republican majority unless it has a larger margin of control.

House Republicans cannot form a traditional organization or do any business of substance with only 20 votes, however.

Foster’s election as a temporary presiding officer did allow the House to formally accept Sharon Jackson, R-Eagle River, as the member replacing Nancy Dahlstrom, who was elected to the House in November but was then appointed as Commissioner of Corrections by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Dunleavy subsequently appointed Sharon Jackson to fill Dahlstrom’s vacant seat.

The limited functionality of the state House allows it to receive messages from the Senate and the governor, and also meet in joint sessions. That is important because Dunleavy is scheduled to give his first State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Until Foster took the podium it was felt the House could not legally convene in a joint session, which would have caused Dunleavy to delay his address, which is a tradition.

Rep. Dave Talerico (R-Healy), who would be Speaker if Republicans eventually prevail, said he was pleased at the bipartisan cooperation that allowed Jackson to be seated.

“We’re enormously grateful to the people of Chugiak/Eagle River for their patience, and we’re thankful to our colleagues across the aisle for their dedicated effort to ensure that Ms. Jackson was seated expeditiously, and in accordance with Alaska law,” Talerico said.

“I’m looking forward to resuming discussions with members on both sides of the aisle as we work to put together a (House) organization that can move Alaska forward,” he said.

In other legislative developments the Senate, which is up and running with a traditional Republican leadership, is conducting business. The Senate Finance committee held hearings Wednesday and Thursday on the oil price outlook and trends in North Slope oil production, which are both still vital to state revenues.

Commissioner of Revenue Bruce Tangeman briefed senators on details of the revenue department’s fall 2018 state revenue forecast and oil prices, which have fallen recentlys, and new state Resources Commissioner Corri Feige discussed her department’s outlook for production, which is expected to remain generally stable.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the Senate said on Thursday they will support a constitutional amendment that will guarantee a Permanent Fund Division to citizens, which Dunleavy also said he supports last week.

“It’s time to put the PFD in the Constitution, to protect it. Politicians have ignored a state law,” guiding how the dividend is to be funded, Begich said. “It’s time for Alaskans to decide the future of the PFD,” he said.

In a press conference Senate Democrats, who are led by Sen. Tom Begich, D-Anch., supported Dunleavy’s plan to pay PFDs owed to citizens due to an “underfunding” of dividends in 2016, 2017 and 2016 as well as a “fully-funded” PFD for 2019.

The senate Democrats said they were concerned about Dunleavy’s proposal to introduce a revised state budget that matches revenues, which would require about $1.6 billion in budget cuts. Sen. Jessie Kiele, D-Juneau, said large cuts to the state health and social services budget and behavioral health and drug treatment programs would exacerbate the state’s serious crime problem.

“If we cut social services it’s a fast track to increased crime,” Kiele said.

However, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anch., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he was heartened by comments by the governor’s Chief of Staff, Tuckerman Babcock, in a public in Anchorage recently that Dunleavy would be open to adding funds back into the budget if the Legislature votes for new revenues.

Wielechowski’s favored choice for new revenues is a tax hike on oil and gas producers by eliminating a per-barrel oil production tax credit currently in state law. Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, said he supported Wielechowski’s idea and if it happened about $1 billion to $1.5 billion in additional oil revenues would flow into the treasury, eliminating most of the deficit.