JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – Most members of the state’s Republican minority remained silent days after Gov. Dunleavy’s spokesperson confirmed to avoid veto overrides the governor told Republican minority members to abstain from the first five days of the special session – which has caused some House and Senate bi-partisan majority members to now accuse the executive branch of “gaming the system.”
“The Governor has asked house minority members to not show up for the first five days of the special session to prevent his vetoes to be overturned in the special session,” spokesperson for Dunleavy, Jeff Turner, said in a statement last week.
Turner’s confirmation came after the governor initially said the special session would address education reform and potentially create a Department of Agriculture. At first that caused extreme confusion for many lawmakers, because – in their view – those were not urgent issues and came on top of the governor vetoing special session funding.
“I have sincere doubts that senators are interested in a special session to have more unproductive discussion on the two subjects proposed,” Senate Majority Leader Cathy Geisel, R-Anchorage, told Alaska’s News Source shortly after the session was called.
“The absurdity of the subjects of the [special session] are dumbfounding. Add to the ridiculous agenda proposed by Governor that – he vetoed the funds we appropriated for a [special session]!”
The governor has declined a series of Alaska’s News Source interview requests over several weeks since he signed the 2026 operating budget and vetoed $122 million from the budget, including about $51 million in education funding. Turner told Alaska’s News Source Monday the governor would not be available for an interview this week – adding they would notify us when the governor is available.
“If (the legislature) take advantage of this opportunity, it allows lawmakers to focus their time and energy during the next regular session on fiscal matters, including the fiscal plan the administration will introduce next January,” Turner added.
Longtime Alaska journalist Tim Bradner, publisher of the Alaska Legislative Digest who has reported on the legislature for almost 40 years, told Alaska’s News Source Monday while legislative and executive branch tensions have been boiling for some time, in Bradner’s decades of covering the legislature he said there has never been this much animosity.
“He is influential but doesn’t have the type of control Trump has in Washington,” Bradner said, adding he was not sure if Dunleavy had control of his own party.
Alaska’s News Source reached out to all 25 members of the minority caucus for comment early Monday. Only one responded by publication.
Veto overrides in jeopardy
At the start of a special session, the legislature can take up veto overrides, according to Alaska Law, but for an override to pass, the legislature needs a two-thirds vote for bills and a three-fourths vote for bills including appropriations.
The legislature proved it has the ability to override back in May, when they overrode in a 46-14 vote for the education funding bill. Without members of the minority, though, it’s impossible to override any veto.
In the 60-person legislature, 25 members are in the minority. If all 25 follow the governor’s wishes and are absent, there will not be enough members present to override any vetoes.
Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole, told Alaska’s News Source in an email Monday he has not “yet purchased a ticket to travel to Juneau,” but said discussion dedicated solely to education would be beneficial.
“If the majority indicates they are interested in discussing some of these policy bills or other ideas, I’d be more than happy to spend a month figuring out what we can agree on,” he said.
Prax added in the email different education policy bills which have not yet made it through the legislature should be included in what he called a “Big Beautiful Education Policy Bill.”
Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, said last week she would not attend the special session, calling it “a waste of taxpayer money,” and that she would not override the governor’s veto.
But on top of the vote disparity, the legislature is also in a time crunch. Alaska’s constitution only delegates five days to override vetoes from the time a session starts, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage who is part of senate leadership, explained.
“There’s a certain level of respect that you have for the (legislative) process,” he said. “Even when you know you are running an amendment or running a bill that’s not going to be received favorably, you don’t try to game the system in a way like that.”
However, Wielechowski said after speaking with some Republican minority members, some have told him they plan on attending the first five days of the special session, but that the numbers will still be tight.
“It’s going to be a challenge, there’s no doubt,” Wielechowski told Alaska’s News Source Monday.
There are five major veto overrides, according to Wielechowski, the majority is looking to take on, including: the payday loan funding bill, the teacher housing for Mr. Edgecumbe High School bill, the line-item vetoes on education funding, the oil and gas tax audit bill and the disaster relief funding bill.
Wielechowski is also worried whether all members of the majority would be able to attend, specifically mentioning Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, who is currently serving abroad.
“Senator Dunbar is serving in the National Guard, and the commander of the National Guard in Alaska is Governor Dunleavy,” Wielechowski said. “If he gives permission for him to fly back then I would assume that he could fly back, and that would be great.”
When Alaska’s News Source asked the Governor’s Office whether Dunleavy would compel Dunbar to attend the special session, Turner said to ask Dunbar what his plans for the special session would be.
Dunbar nor his office have returned requests for comment Monday.
Education reform and an agriculture department
The governor has said the special session will focus on two issues: education reform and the creation of an agriculture department. What is included in those bills, though, is still being speculated by members of the majority as the governor’s office and minority stay quiet.
The extent of what those topics will cover is not yet clear. Turner said both bills would be available on the first day of the special session, August 2. Last week, he said those bills were in the process of being drafted.
A source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Alaska’s News Source last week the governor has several objectives that could be on the table, though, notably including the codification of open enrollment into state law.
“An open enrollment provision would really be devastating to parents who enroll their kids in charter schools and neighborhood schools, because it could potentially cause people to not be able to enroll their kids in neighborhood schools,” Wielechowski said.
But in return for getting what he wants, the source said the governor may be willing to budge on restoring a $200 based student allocation, or per-student funding, increase, mirroring the appropriations the legislature passed last session.
The source said members of the minority spoke with the governor Friday to discuss provisions included in the to-be-proposed Education Reform bill.
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