In Alaska, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has moved to restart stalled talks on a major natural gas pipeline by calling lawmakers into a special session, ordering the Alaska Legislature to meet in Juneau beginning Thursday at 10 a.m.
Dunleavy issued the order one day after the deadline for the regular session, saying the special session will cover subjects “germane to the title” of House Bill 381, which he described as a natural gas taxation measure tied to certain natural gas pipeline properties.
The governor’s announcement reached the House floor Tuesday afternoon through the chamber’s top leadership. House Speaker Bryce Edgmon interrupted floor debate on a tobacco bill to read out the announcement of the special session and the timing of the call.
After the announcement, work continued for a few hours on differing versions of a gas line bill, but both chambers appeared to pause their efforts at least for the day. Edgmon later said lawmakers were still trying to pass a gas line bill by the end of the regular session, even after the new timetable was set.
Just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the House voted 21-19 to send the bill from the floor back to the Rules Committee. The procedural move effectively ended the chamber’s prospects of passing the measure through the full Legislature by Wednesday night unless additional special parliamentary measures requiring a supermajority of lawmakers could be adopted.
In the Senate, lawmakers also continued reviewing a separate version of a gas line bill, but the Senate Finance Committee opted not to advance its version to the floor for a possible vote, keeping the bill in committee.
The competing versions of the gas line legislation differed on the level of tax breaks and incentives offered to the project, according to the reporting. Dunleavy’s version, introduced March 20, would give the developer substantial tax breaks and other incentives that he said are necessary for the project to be economically viable, while versions moving through the House and especially the Senate offered fewer breaks and sought to direct a greater share of pipeline revenues to the state and affected municipalities.
Legislative leaders also signaled that a compromise might be difficult to finalize before the regular session deadline. Majority caucus members in both chambers said it was unlikely that a bill resolving differences could pass by then, and lawmakers said key financial details about the project had not been provided by Glenfarne, the developer, or the state’s Alaska Gasline Development Corp., which is listed as a partner to the company.
The gas line push also followed an earlier effort that sought to link a gas line measure to other legislation. A House effort on Monday to pass a gas line bill as part of a deal that would also result in a state employee pension bill becoming law fell short, and House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp said Tuesday he hoped Dunleavy would be willing to include both items in a special session declaration. Kopp said he was open to advancing a gas line bill if it remained the only item on the agenda, but he criticized Dunleavy for needing to work more cooperatively with legislators.
“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 at the start of the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference, which runs through Thursday. During a joint press conference with U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the governor criticized legislators he said were holding up the bill he wants to advance, saying, “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.”
This special session order sets up a new window for lawmakers to consider the tax bill after procedural delays in the regular session, shifting the next key legislative steps to Thursday’s opening in Juneau.