The Alaska Senate has declined an invitation from the Alaska House to meet together Friday, the deadline for a joint session to attempt to override Gov. Bill Walker's budget vetoes.
A spokeswoman for the Senate's Democratic minority said Thursday morning that Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, called the minority leader, Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, and said the Senate would meet in a "technical session" Friday. That means the Senate would meet to keep the current special session alive but wouldn't expect to have enough members on hand to transact business on legislation.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, another Anchorage Democrat, posted a message from his Twitter social media account that he was disappointed that "the Senate majority unilaterally decided against joint session to override vetoes without polling Democratic caucus."
Wielechowski has said he had hoped to override Walker's veto of some of the money to be used to pay Permanent Fund dividends in October. Walker said he wants to reduce the dividends to $1,000, and is hoping the Legislature would restructure the fund so that some of its investment income could pay for state operations and solve some of the budget's deficit of nearly $4 billion.
Daniel McDonald, spokesman for the Senate Republicans, said he had no information about what would happen Friday. Four Republican senators contacted Thursday morning for comment, including Meyer, didn't respond.
Earlier this week, the House speaker, Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, invited the Senate to a joint session.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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