Alaska governor vetoes bill that sought to adjust state’s transportation planning

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed a bill from Rep. Genevive Mina, D-Anchorage, that sought to raise the priority of public transit programs like buses in state transportation planning.

Senators passed House Bill 26 by a 16-4 vote on April 29, and the House approved it on a 22-14 vote May 1. 

If the bill had been enacted, it would have mandated that the state include rural transit programs, like those in Nome and Tok, when drafting a statewide transit plan. 

It also would have mandated coordination with the Alaska Railroad, state ferry system, tribes and local planning groups when drafting a statewide transit plan.  

In his veto message, the governor said the bill was “unnecessary” and “redundant” because the state is already doing what the bill mandates.

In addition, the message said, adding transit explicitly in the core planning priorities of the Alaska Department of Transportation “inappropriately seeks to elevate a single mode of transportation above others.”That could affect the way the state applies for and receives federal grants, the message said.

Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, said that while the “state is doing planning related to public transit, part of the issue that the advocates that we have been working with have been facing is that they’re not always consistent about how they do those activities.”

In the past, she explained, rural transit groups have missed out on federal grants that have gone to urban ones in Alaska.

In addition, she feels the state hasn’t properly planned for ways to incorporate commuter rail programs on the Alaska Railroad or the Alaska Marine Highway into a statewide network.

“We’re not doing our best efforts as a state to really coordinate all these efforts together, so (the bill) would be the vision of incorporating that in the department’s responsibilities, even though they are doing some of this work already,” Mina said.

She said she does not expect legislators to override Dunleavy’s veto, which is his 12th during the 34th Alaska State Legislature.

Legislators passed 111 bills during the two-year legislative cycle, and more vetoes are possible as lawmakers gradually transmit their work to the governor for consideration.