In letter to the Legislature, Alaska Gov. Dunleavy invites lawsuit over new Ag Department
- Alaska Beacon
- Sep 17
- 3 min read
The state’s executive and legislative branches have different interpretations of the governor’s executive order powers
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s governor will not withdraw an executive order proposing to create a new state Department of Agriculture, he said in a letter sent Monday to the leaders of the state House and Senate.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s letter comes days after a joint House-Senate panel voted to spend up to $100,000 on a lawsuit against the governor if he goes ahead with his proposal to create the department unilaterally.
Alaska is one of only two states without a cabinet-level state Department of Agriculture, and legislators have spoken favorably about the idea of creating one, but a majority of the House and Senate want to authorize that new department through law, not by the governor’s executive order.
In March, the Legislature voted 32-28 to reject an administrative order that would have created the Department of Agriculture by splitting off part of the Department of Natural Resources, the agency that currently oversees agriculture.
Shortly before the vote, lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced new legislation to create the department. Neither the House bill nor the Senate bill advanced to a final vote, and either could be taken up during the next regular legislative session, which begins in January.
When Dunleavy called lawmakers into special session in August, he reissued the executive order, but the leaders of the state House and Senate declined to accept the order as valid, saying that the Alaska Constitution does not grant the governor the power to issue an order during a special session.
Lawmakers also say they believe that it isn’t legal to reintroduce a previously rejected order.
“There clearly exists a disagreement between the executive and legislative branch as to the governor’s ability to introduce an executive order in a special session,” the governor wrote in Monday’s letter. “When such a dispute exists, it is appropriate to seek clarification from the courts.”
The governor’s letter notes that lawmakers could have met during the special session to vote down his executive order. Legislators have previously said they did not wish to do so, because taking the vote would have been the equivalent of acknowledging that the governor has the power to issue an executive order during a special session.
Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, is chair of the Legislative Council, the joint House-Senate committee that authorized the lawsuit against the governor.
By phone on Tuesday, she said she isn’t sure when the suit will be filed, but she expects it to move quickly.
The executive branch is preparing to launch the new department by Jan. 1, and legislators want to stop it before then.
“We have two prime legal issues that we think need to be addressed by a court, because the executive branch is interpreting them completely different,” she said.
Hannan said she expects that once a trial judge decides the issue, the losing party in the case will rapidly appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court for a final determination.
Regardless of who wins the case, Hannan said the state may still end up with a Department of Agriculture by June because legislators are advancing bills that would create the department.
“The 34th Legislature still may create a Department of Agriculture, but the executive order action of creating that and attempting to do it in a special session and after an executive order has been rejected, those are the legal questions that we need addressed,” she said.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
