OPINION: How Dunleavy’s veto pen is hurting the most vulnerable Alaskans

On June 28, Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed $203,500 of the funds that the Alaska Legislature appropriated for the Alaska Legal Services Corp., or ALSC. ALSC is a private nonprofit law firm that offers free, and extremely critical, civil legal services to low income and disadvantaged people, including seniors, in urban and rural Alaska and protects these Alaskans’ fundamental rights in such underserved areas as veterans’ services, housing, domestic violence, health, public benefits and assistance for the elderly. The impact of the governor’s veto is tragic and its adverse consequences to Alaskans who need essential civil legal services are completely predictable.

One wonders why such a minute amount — $203,500, for a service shown to have bipartisan support — should be vetoed. Readers may recall that due to the underfunding and understaffing of the Division of Health, the division was unable to discharge its fundamental duty of timely processing food stamp applications through the fall and winter of 2023-24. Some of the applicants waited more than 11 months for the state of Alaska to process their applications for a governmental benefit as significant as food. This crisis affected our community’s most vulnerable, including the elderly, veterans, disabled individuals and families with young children — amounting to a third of all Alaska children statewide. As a result, these populations were forced to rely heavily on local food banks, faith-based organizations and tribal services to meet their basic needs. Recognizing this injustice, organized volunteers, including community justice workers and pro bono attorneys, selflessly offered their time and expertise to file hundreds of requests and moved to represent these disenfranchised Alaskans in hearings concerning delays and denials of benefits.

It is interesting that the entity that rose to the challenge of ensuring that the Division of Health met its essential statutory mission was penalized in this year’s cycle of funding by the governor’s veto. If the governor’s veto is intended as a retribution for ALSC’s focus on assisting Alaskans when the Division of Heath’s unlawful food stamp application processing delays began, it will be successful. The loss of these legislatively appropriated funds will affect ALSC’s ability to legally protect approximately 370 Alaskans who are denied food stamps and other essential public benefits and or at risk of homelessness. The data indicates those 370 Alaskans include veterans, domestic violence victims and 115 seniors.

In addition, Gov. Dunleavy’s veto means that ALSC has lost its capacity to provide representation to approximately 100 victims of domestic violence who may need protective order, divorce or custody advice and other essential services. Current data indicates that civil legal services are also necessary to help these women and their children find housing and shelter when they are trapped in a dangerous intrafamilial situation. Alaska has the highest percentage of domestic violence and sexual assaults in the United States.

The vetoed funding for ALSC is an insignificant amount in the state budget. But this amount of funding makes a critical difference to those Alaskans who lack the means to access the legal aid to protect their fundamental rights and ensure their safety and wellbeing. The Legislature can and should override the governor’s veto. Alaskans deserve better.

Marjorie Mock is a lifelong resident of Alaska and a lawyer who practiced for 35 years with the Alaska Public Defender Agency.

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