Unit One: Who's the Boss?

In the governor, Alaska has an unusually strong chief executive. Under the constitution, the only officials elected statewide are the governor and the lieutenant governor, who run as a team in the general election. This gives the governor almost complete control of the executive branch. To illustrate, some states separately elect the attorney general and the secretary of state. In Alaska, the attorney general is an appointee of the governor, and the lieutenant governor fulfills the duties of secretary of state, principally overseeing elections.

The separation of powers is often contested on specific issues. During the administration of Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles, the executive branch and the Republican-led Legislature disputed whether the governor had the discretion not to implement a university land grant approved by lawmakers. Knowles contended that the Legislature needed a three-fourths majority to override his veto of the land grant because that is the constitutional hurdle for a spending bill. Members of the legislative majority said that was an incorrect reading of the constitution by Attorney General Bruce Botelho and that only a two-thirds majority was necessary. The Legislative Council asked the court for an opinion. The Supreme Court sided with the Legislature.

The Legislature also has clashed with the courts. In 1998, the Alaska Supreme Court tightened up the wording of one proposed constitutional amendment, regarding a ban on gay marriage, and entirely struck from the ballot a second proposed amendment limiting the rights of prisoners. In the first case, the court said there was superfluous wording that shouldn’t be allowed to clutter up the constitution. The ballot measure then passed. In the second case, the court ruled that the Legislature actually had drafted a constitutional revision, a more sweeping change to the document that can be done only by a constitutional convention.

Two years later, the Legislature attempted to limit the court’s power in this regard. A proposed constitutional amendment would have barred the court from changing the wording of proposed amendments and also would have allowed amendments that affected several sections of the constitution as long as the changes were limited to a single subject. But voters rejected the ballot measure, and the constitutional requirements for amendments remain unchanged.

Lawmakers also have failed to win court approval for limiting abortions through the appropriations process for Medicaid, the federal and state health care program for the poor. Proponents said they were trying to eliminate elective abortions being performed as psychological therapy, which they considered a loophole. Critics said the constitution’s explicit right to privacy prohibits state interference. Alaska courts have ruled that if the state is going to offer pregnancy-related services, it can’t distinguish between them.

The people have the constitutional right to enact laws through the initiative process and to reject acts of the Legislature by referendum. (They cannot propose constitutional amendments, however. Every 10 years, voters are given the choice of calling a constitutional convention, which they have never done. In 2002, they once again declined to do so.)

To be certified by the lieutenant governor, an application for initiative or referendum must be signed by 100 qualified voters. After the lieutenant governor certifies the application and drafts a summary of the proposed ballot measure, sponsors must circulate a petition and collect a number of signatures from Alaska residents equal to 10 percent of those who voted in the last general election. In 2004, voters amended the Constitution to also require that signatures to come from at least 30 of the 40 house districts and that the number of signatures from each house district equal at least 7 percent of those who voted in that district in the last general election.

When the application and certification process for a citizen initiative is complete, the lieutenant governor places the measure on the ballot of the first statewide election held more than 120 days after adjournment of the legislative session following the filing of the petition. If the Legislature enacts "substantially the same measure," the initiative is void and the measure does not appear on the ballot. This occurred in 2002, when the Legislature approved an increase in the hourly minimum wage (from $5.65 to $7.15), which mirrored an initiative that had been scheduled to go on the ballot.

Referendum petitions must be filed within 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the law is enacted. The referendum is placed on the ballot for the first statewide election held more than 180 days after the session adjourned.

An initiative or referendum is approved or rejected by a majority of the votes cast. An initiative cannot be vetoed by the governor nor repealed by the Legislature for two years. It may, however, be amended through the normal legislative process.

Initiatives cannot make or repeal appropriations, dedicate revenues, change the jurisdiction or rules of the courts, or enact local or special legislation. Similarly, a referendum cannot affect appropriations or dedicated revenue, reject local or special legislation, or undo laws required for the public peace, health and safety.