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1/x More folks Outside are beginning to become aware of @GovDunleavy's #akleg #akgov budget vetoes, so I wanted to create a thread with all the excellent reporting @adndotcom folks have been doing:
2/x On Friday, the governor announced he was using his line-item veto power to cut $444 million in spending as part of a two-year plan to balance the state budget without cutting the Permanent Fund dividend or raising taxes: adn.com/politics/alask…
3/x As @teganhanlon explained, one of the biggest recipients of the governor's veto pen was the @UA_System, which lost 41 percent of its state support, or $130 million (plus another $5 million cut by the Alaska Legislature). adn.com/alaska-news/ed… #akleg #akgov
5/x As @julia_omalley pointed out, services for the homeless were cut significantly, likely exacerbating a major problem in Anchorage: adn.com/alaska-news/an… #akleg #akgov
6/x Since Alaska doesn't have a statewide tax, the cuts won't reduce taxes. In fact, the cuts have the potential to actually increase them, as @teganhanlon explained, because state support for municipalities has been reduced: adn.com/alaska-news/an… #akleg #akgov
7/x One of the cuts was particularly unusual, @madelinemcgeeAK wrote. The governor vetoed several hundred thousand dollars from the budget of the Alaska Court System because he disagrees with its rulings on abortion: adn.com/politics/2019/… #akleg #akgov
8/x So what now? The Alaska Legislature has the ability to override the governor's vetoes ... adn.com/politics/alask… #akleg #akgov
9/x ... but lawmakers say reaching the three-quarters supermajority is unlikely. adn.com/politics/alask… #akleg #akgov
10/x That means the vetoes would stay in place, but a former state attorney general wrote in an opinion column yesterday that the vetoes are so large that they may be unconstitutional: adn.com/opinions/2019/… #akleg #akgov
11/x This story is far from over, and the folks at @adndotcom are continuing to write about it. If you care about this topic — regardless of your position on the vetoes — subscribe to the ADN so we can continue to do this work. Thanks for reading. adn.com/subscriptions/
