Lawmakers override Gov. Dunleavy’s veto of oil tax transparency invoice

Alaska lawmakers overrode Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a invoice meant to bolster the authority of the legislative auditor on Saturday, handing the governor a defeat with the primary vote of a particular session.

Along with an try to override Dunleavy’s veto of greater than $50 million in public college funding, House and Senate leaders stated the vote on Senate Bill 183 was a prime precedence for the particular session. The state Constitution requires lawmakers to carry override votes inside 5 days of reconvening.

The invoice handed the Senate unanimously and by a 30-10 vote within the House. Lawmakers stated it was vital to handle what the heads of the state House and Senate described as a “persistent pattern of obstruction within the senior ranks of Alaska’s Department of Revenue.” It got here after a precipitous dropoff in income from so-called oil tax and royalty settlements, which the state negotiates with oil firms. In 2020, these offered $281 million for the state’s major financial savings account; in 2024, that quantity dropped to $3.1 million.

Legislative leaders stated Dunleavy’s administration had not totally cooperated with an audit that seeks to look at the state’s assortment of oil taxes by failing to provide a abstract desk outlining settlements that the governor’s administration offered as just lately as 2019. Instead, lately, the administration has supplied uncooked knowledge that the legislative auditor stated was unusable. The invoice requires the administration to show over info to the auditor “in the form or format requested.”

Dunleavy vetoed the invoice, saying it raised constitutional points. He stated any allegations that the administration had acted unethically or illegally had been “baseless.”

The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee earlier this summer time approved a uncommon use of its subpoena energy to compel the administration to show over the info lawmakers are on the lookout for.