Sen. Stevens: 'I'm reasonably happy' with governor's vetoes

Governor Mike Dunleavy announced his vetoes of the state operating budget Tuesday. In it are many cuts to education, Marine Highway and public broadcasting.
    District P Senator Gary Stevens, a Republican of Kodiak, who represents Homer in the State Capital, said he was  pleased with how the governor wielded the veto pen.
    “Well, you know, I'm pretty, reasonably happy with what the governor did. I mean, I heard his speech and I think he addressed everything reasonably well. A couple issues I have with it, but you always quibble with a budget,” Sen. Stevens said. “But I am happy that he was able to use the federal funding that's coming in that CARES Act that will supplement some of the things that he did veto. His plan was to veto those things and have them taken care of in the CARES Act.”
    The Federal CARES Act, passed by Congress last month will funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to Alaska, but Stevens admitted that none of the projects that Dunleavy vetoed are guaranteed to be funded through that mechanism.
    Stevens, a retired educator, said he was disappointed education funding was cut so severely.
     “Thirty-thousand dollars for early funding of education that we did this year, and we did last year, and he did veto that out of our budget, but he did indicate that that would be coming out of the CARES budget. But also the school bond debt that you know, that we were concerned, our borough in Kodiak and Kenai, the borough would have to the boroughs would have to pony up that money for the bond indebtedness,” he said, “But even though he cut that from our budget, that's also going to be covered by the CARES Act. So those are two big things I was concerned about.”
    In a previous conversation, Stevens said he believed public broadcasting funds were safe, given that the need for quick and accurate information was more vital than ever during the coronavirus outbreak. But it was not safe, with the governor slashing $2.7 million from public broadcasting.
    “Whether that money is found elsewhere for it or not, I really can't answer that. I mean, I don't, I don't see it in his budget, I looked through carefully. And I don't see that in his budget. And the big thing I guess I'm concerned about the, you know, for me anyway was the veto of 12 million from the university. We had put that back in. He did veto that. And though there's some thought that there may be some grant monies available, I doubt if we'll ever approach that $12 million figure, so the University is going to have to do some serious revamping and reductions in order to keep educating our young people.”
    Sevens said he would agree to a joint session to review the governor’s vetoes with an eye toward overturning them, but he does not believe there are enough other senators who would. A minimum of 15 would need to agree, along with two-thirds of the State House.