Alaska lawmakers on Saturday refused to accept an executive order from Gov. Mike Dunleavy seeking to create a state agriculture department, setting up a legal fight between the legislative and executive branches.
Dunleavy introduced an executive order that would split the existing Division of Agriculture within the Department of Natural Resources to a new cabinet-level department as lawmakers began a special session on Saturday. It was one of two items he placed on the agenda for the special session.
But lawmakers rejected the order. Senate President Gary Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham independent, said in a letter to the governor that state law and the Constitution did not allow the governor to introduce an executive order during a special session.
In part, the pair wrote, that’s because lawmakers narrowly voted down a very similar order earlier this year.
“We’re encouraging the governor to introduce it again in January and deal with it properly,” Stevens said.
Lawmakers are also considering bills that would create an agriculture department.
Dunleavy, in a letter to legislative leaders, challenged the Legislature’s refusal to consider the order. He said the Constitution and state law did not limit executive orders to regular sessions and said he planned to create the department unless lawmakers voted the order down.
“Unless the Legislature convenes in joint session to disapprove the Executive Order as required by Section 23 (of the Alaska Constitution), I will consider it to have become law at the close of the special session and proceed accordingly,” he wrote.
