Alaska lawmakers override 2 Dunleavy vetoes, including veto of $50M in education funding

Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News on Aug 2, 2025

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JUNEAU — Alaska lawmakers overrode two of Gov. Mike Dunleavy's vetoes in a joint session Saturday.

The Legislature voted to override the governor's veto of a bill meant to ensure the state is collecting the oil and gas taxes it is owed, and also overrode a veto of roughly $50 million in education funding.

Lawmakers first voted 43-16 to override Dunleavy's veto of a bill meant to clarify the role of the legislative auditor. Overriding the governor required support from 40 lawmakers.

Lawmakers had adopted that bill after members of the Dunleavy administration declined to provide information on oil and gas tax audits to the legislative auditor, raising concerns among House and Senate leaders that the Department of Revenue was not collecting the full tax amounts owed to the state as required by law.

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon and Senate President Gary Stevens have said that the state could be losing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. Dunleavy called their concerns baseless.

The Legislature then voted 45-14 to override Dunleavy's education funding veto, just hitting the 45-vote threshold needed to override a budget veto.

Lawmakers did not discuss the vetoes ahead of casting their votes. From the hallway outside the House chamber, cheers from education funding advocates could be heard.

Lawmakers then adjourned the special session without considering any of Dunleavy's other recent vetoes, including of school maintenance and construction funding and other bills that passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.

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