Senate State Affairs Committee advances measure to lower veto-override threshold

The Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee on Jan. 22 voted to report a measure to the full Senate that would ask voters to amend Article 2, Section 16 of the state constitution to lower the legislative veto-override threshold for revenue and appropriation vetoes from three-quarters to two-thirds.

Sponsor State Senator Matt Klayman summarized the proposal as an effort ‘‘to improve the balance between the legislature and the executive branch’’ and said it is appropriate to present the question to voters. Klayman told the committee that ‘‘we remain the only state in the country to have override thresholds of that level’’ and argued a lower threshold would encourage engagement between the branches.

The committee spent most of its brief public meeting on the comparative context. An unidentified senator asked how other states handle overrides; Klayman responded that ‘‘a majority of states have a two-thirds override threshold’’ and gave examples and rough counts: he said Arizona has a three-quarters rule for some revenue matters but two-thirds for appropriations, that ‘‘one of the states’’ uses three-quarters for emergency measures, and estimated that ‘‘6 or 7’’ states allow an override by a simple majority while ‘‘7 or 8’’ use a three-fifths standard. Klayman acknowledged imperfect recall for some specifics.

Procedural notes recorded in the hearing show the measure was described variously in the record as ‘‘Senate Joint Resolution number 2’’ and later as ‘‘senate concurrent resolution number 2’’ (work draft 34 LS0175 backslash a). The record does not resolve which title is final; the committee moved and reported the item out of committee with ‘‘individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note.’’ Senator Bjorkman moved the motion on the record; the motion drew a brief at-ease recess, and when the meeting reconvened the chair announced there were no objections and the item was reported out.

Chair Kawasaki said the item has been before the committee for roughly a year and a half and noted the public may send testimony to the Finance Committee at senate.finance@akla.leg.gov. The chair also announced upcoming committee business on Jan. 27 (an update from Randy Roro of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority) and Jan. 29, then adjourned the meeting at 3:38 p.m.

The record does not include a roll-call vote tally on the committee motion, nor does it record a second to Senator Bjorkman’s motion; those details were not specified in the transcript.