After 10 days, no sign of legislative progress

The Legislature is entering its 10th day of special session with no sign the deadlock will be broken any time soon and lawmakers arguing over who is responsible for the impasse.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Hollis French gave a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday saying senators are trying to protect necessary projects from Gov. Sean Parnell, and that Parnell should get engaged in a solution.
"The politics started with the governor's proposed oil tax bill and his threat to veto capital projects if the reduction in oil taxes did not pass," said French, who is one of the 16 members of the bipartisan majority in the Senate.
Wasilla Republican Sen. Charlie Huggins, who leads the four members of the all-Republican Senate minority, said the majority is overreaching and Parnell isn't the one causing the problem.
"My constituents say, you guys grow up, get a life and get this answered. And quit cranking through our money down in Juneau. And if you want to continue this let's move the special session to Anchorage or Wasilla or Fairbanks so people can be there and see what's going on," he said.
Senate majority members said they don't like being in special session either, but called it important.
"Some folks in the Senate would like to be off to Norway, others would like to be bear hunting. We have family obligations. They've all been put on hold because we are here trying to sort out a difficult matter of important public policy," French said. "At the heart of it really what's keeping us here is some contingency language inside of the capital budget."
He was talking about language the Senate majority put in the capital budget that says if Parnell vetoes a single energy project than none of the $400 million in energy projects will be funded. Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman put the language in after Parnell threatened budget vetoes if lawmakers didn't cut oil taxes.
Parnell's attorney general says the language is an unconstitutional attack on the line-item veto authority the state constitution gives the governor. The Republican-led House also rejects the language, saying it's not appropriate.
The Senate refuses to pass the capital budget to the House until there's an agreement over the language. The House in response is holding on to the separate budget that pays for state operations and agencies in the coming year.
Anchorage Sen. French suggested that legislators who oppose the language are failing to stand up for their branch of government.
"Legislators should be looking to strengthen our body and not give up power to the governor. The only ones who should be opposing this are ones who might someday want to be governor. I can't imagine who that might be," he said.
Parnell never specifically threatened energy projects. But French said the Senate majority made it a priority to try and cut the cost of energy and decided those projects were most important to protect from the potential of being vetoed.
There are dozens of such energy projects including money for power line upgrades, home weatherization, the proposed Susitna dam and smaller projects in all regions of the state. The list includes hydro and biomass projects in more rural areas of Alaska and $3 million to convert old wood stoves in Fairbanks, in an effort to deal with air quality issues.
French praised the language that Stedman came up with to try and protect the energy package.
"He used contingency language in the capital budget that said if one is vetoed, they're all vetoed. It's the first time in the state's history this has been done exactly this way. First time ever in fifty years. The senator from Sitka, I think he thought up a better mousetrap," he said.
Wasilla Republican Sen. Huggins countered the language ties the hands of the governor and is an attempt to swing the balance of power in government. He said it's sure to end up in court and it would be better if lawmakers had the dignity to be able to come up with a compromise and pass the budget and go home.
"My neighbors are not happy about what we're doing, or what we're not doing. Because people are sitting in their offices and going on a tour of Juneau," he said.
The Juneau delegation in the Legislature was hosting an hour-long tour of the Alaska State Museum on Tuesday afternoon. Most legislators have little to do during the special session. Only the leadership is involved in figuring the main issues and those issues are at a crawl.
IS IT LEGAL?
Parnell has refused to negotiate with the Senate and say what projects he may or may not veto. He said the Senate needs to just follow the regular legislative process and pass the budget.
French said the governor should be coming to the Senate to talk about which projects he supports.
French called the disputed language a "new and improved twist" on things the Legislature tried in the past to curb the power of governors.
He gave the example of a budget passed in 1997, which Parnell himself voted for when he was a legislator. French also quoted Parnell saying two years later that "I would never waive the Legislature's rights to include conditional language in an appropriations bill." Parnell was Senate Finance co-chairman back then.
The 1997 budget language went to court in a case that took four years. The Alaska Supreme Court ruling was a mixed bag but French said he's encouraged by a finding the governor can't veto language in an appropriations bill.
French, an attorney, seemed confident the Legislature would win if this year's dispute goes to court. He said the courts start out presuming acts of the Legislature are constitutional.
"It's presumed that we think hard, that we work hard and the acts we do are right and true to the Constitution. The courts, when they review what we do in this body, will try to uphold our acts. The governor knows this as well," he said.
Alaska Attorney General John Burns, a Parnell appointee, disagreed in a Tuesday memo. He said a court would likely rule against the Legislature.
The language "is unconstitutional and unenforceable because it deprives the governor of his constitutional authority to review and reduce or strike individual appropriation items that do not serve the state's best interest," Burns wrote in the memo.