House GOP blames Senate for impasse

House Republicans said today they're frustrated over the stalemate in Juneau and are staging a hearing in Anchorage to hear the attorney general opine that the Senate is acting illegally.

"Another venue to discuss the issue, maybe a different set of fresh eyes and press on it," House Finance co-chair Bill Stoltze said from Juneau this morning.
"There's not a lot going on around here, quite frankly."
The House Finance Committee has scheduled the Anchorage hearing for Friday, on what will be the 12th day of a special session with no clear end.
Stoltze, R-Chugiak, said the morning part of the hearing will include the Alaska Energy Authority and the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. talking about projects in the budget that the Senate is refusing to pass to the House.
Attorney General John Burns in the afternoon will discuss his opinion that the Senate is trying to violate the Constitution.
The impasse is over language the Senate put in its proposed capital budget that says if Gov. Sean Parnell vetoes a single energy project, then none of the $400 million in energy projects would get funded.
Burns, a Parnell appointee, put out a memo yesterday saying that's an unconstitutional attack on the governor's line-item veto power.
Senators said they put the language in after Parnell threatened budget vetoes if his proposal to reduce Alaska's oil profits tax didn't pass.
They say the special session is Parnell's fault and won't pass the capital budget to the House until House members agree to the language.
House Republican leaders, who supported the oil tax cut, bristled this morning at the suggestion that the oil tax is what's causing the mess.
House Speaker Mike Chenault said the oil tax isn't part of the special session and the problem is the Senate refuses to let the House have the budget.
The House has a right to make changes to the budget, he said, and the differences with the Senate can go to a conference committee. If Parnell vetoes and there's enough legislative objection, the vetoes can be overridden, he said.
"The House is being left out of this argument, and the (press) has crafted it very well, along with the Senate, that it's all about oil taxes and what the governor may or may not have said whenever," the Nikiski Republican said. "I don't care about that (oil taxes) are not on the call; it's not an issue that's in front of the House.
"The issue is the House being forced to accept language that we don't agree with," Chenault said. The House Finance Committee will meet at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday.