1998-07-15                     Senate Journal                      Page 4293
SB 347                                                                       
Message dated and received June 12, stating:                                   
                                                                               
Dear President Miller:                                                         
                                                                               
Under the authority vested in me by art. II, sec. 15 of the Alaska             
Constitution, I have vetoed the following bill:                                
                                                                               
SENATE BILL NO. 347 An Act relating to the                                    
increase of an appropriation item based on                                     
additional federal or other program receipts.                                  
                                                                               
The bill would make an unnecessary and unreasonable change in the              
procedure for spending certain federal grants or money earned by               
state programs that were not fully anticipated by the Legislature              
when the budget bills were passed. The bill would substantially delay          
the expenditure of these receipts at the discretion of the Legislative         
Budget and Audit Committee. This changes a process agreed to by                
the legislative and executive branches of the state nearly twenty              
years ago to end a lawsuit over the power of the Legislative Budget            
and Audit Committee to control the expenditure of these receipts.              
                                                                               
If the Legislature's action disapproving expenditures over the interim         
were the final say without any executive branch power, the following           
could not have been achieved:                                                  
                                                                               
                                                                               

1998-07-15                     Senate Journal                      Page 4294
SB 347                                                                       
Distribution of payments in lieu of federal taxes to nearly 100               
communities according to the intent of Congress such as                        
Angoon, Bethel, Craig, Cordova, Delta Junction, Dillingham,                    
Nenana, Nome, Shishmaref, and Unalaska.                                        
Purchase of land on the Homer Spit.                                           
Payment of vendors who had already provided salmon marketing                  
services on behalf of the Alaska fishing industry.                             
                                                                               
The process established in existing law allows adequate oversight by           
the legislative budget and audit committee while affording a                   
reasonable opportunity for state agencies to spend unanticipated               
receipts. The bill makes an excessive delegation of power to an                
interim committee of the Legislature and, by introducing a potentially         
substantial delay to the process of authorization, may jeopardize the          
state's ability to expend available money for essential public                 
purposes.                                                                      
                                                                               
						Sincerely,                                                               
						/s/                                                                      
						Tony Knowles                                                             
						Governor