Alaska legislators vote to preserve boards representing midwives, barbers and massage therapists

Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, speak to legislators during a break in the Tuesday, March 12, 2024, joint session of the Alaska House and Senate. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

In an unprecedented joint session of the state House and Senate on Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature rejected eight executive actions proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

The proposals were among 12 executive orders issued by the governor earlier this year and mean state boards regulating midwives, barbers, and massage therapists will continue operating. The Alaska Board of Game will remain in charge of determining what animal species are allowed in the state. Boards advising a bald eagle preserve near Haines and a state park in Southwest Alaska will continue functioning.

Lawmakers sustained four of the governor’s executive orders, which will permit Dunleavy to eliminate four state boards and transfer their duties to state agencies.

No edition of the state Legislature before now has considered 12 executive orders simultaneously. 

“This is an unusual meeting. We have never done this in the history of the state of Alaska,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, after the final vote. “We’ve established precedent today.”

The 12 orders

No. 124 – REJECTED, (36 votes to reject, 23 to sustain): The commissioner of Fish and Game, rather than the Board of Game, would be in charge of permitting what animals may be imported into the state. 

No. 125 – SUSTAINED, (0 votes to reject, 59 to sustain): The functions of the Alaska Council on Emergency Medical Services would be transferred to the Department of Health, and the council would be dissolved.

No. 126 – REJECTED, (38 votes to reject, 21 to sustain): The functions of the Wood-Tikchik State Park Management Council would be transferred to the Department of Natural Resources and the council would be dissolved.

No. 127 – REJECTED, (43 votes to reject, 16 to sustain): The Board of Massage Therapists would be dissolved, and its authority would go to the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.

No. 128 – REJECTED, (36 votes to reject, 23 to sustain): The boards of the Alaska Energy Authority and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority would be split into two separate boards.

No. 129 – REJECTED, (34 votes to reject, 25 to sustain): The Board of Barbers and Hairdressers would be dissolved, and its authority would go to the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.

No. 130 – REJECTED, (58 votes to reject, 1 to sustain): The Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives would be dissolved, and its authority would go to the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development.

No. 131 – REJECTED, (33 votes to reject, 26 to sustain): The members of the state ferry operations board that under a 2021 law are appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate president would instead be appointed by the governor.

No. 132 – REJECTED, (40 votes to reject, 19 to sustain): The Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council would be dissolved, and its duties would be taken over by the Department of Natural Resources.

No. 133 – SUSTAINED, (0 votes to reject, 59 to sustain): The Criminal Justice Information Advisory Board would be dissolved, and its duties would be taken over by the Department of Public Safety.

No. 134 – SUSTAINED, (29 votes to reject, 30 to sustain): The Recreation Rivers Advisory Board would be dissolved, and its duties would be taken over by the Department of Natural Resources.

No. 135 – SUSTAINED, (30 votes to reject, 29 to sustain): The Alaska Safety Advisory Council would be dissolved, and its duties would be taken over by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

To reject an order, 31 votes were needed.

The Legislature’s votes also represented an unusual rebuke of the governor by lawmakers who had been unwilling to override any of Dunleavy’s budgetary or policy vetoes during his first five years in office.

Thirty-one votes are needed to block an executive order. Forty or forty-five are needed to override a veto.

Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, wrote on social media after the vote that if the day’s events had been a baseball game, then Dunleavy “would have had 2 intentional walks, 2 home runs and 8 strike outs. Barbers, massage therapists, midwives and bald eagles were among the winners!”

Executive orders, permitted under the state constitution, allow a governor to unilaterally change state operations if they enable “efficient administration.” Orders automatically take effect unless disapproved by a majority of the 60-person state Legislature, meeting in joint session.

Historically, executive orders are rare and are rarely rejected by the Legislature, even when controversial. 

When Dunleavy split the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services into two agencies, he did so with an executive order, and lawmakers did not halt the process.

This year, the governor issued 12 executive orders, and his office said at the time that they were in line with the governor’s goal to “make state government as efficient and effective as possible.”

But in the ensuing weeks, members of the public and state attorneys raised concerns about some of the planned actions.

In late January, a legislative attorney concluded that an order splitting the board of the Alaska Energy Authority and Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority into two separate boards was unconstitutional. 

The split has broad support, but legislators cited the legal analysis and voted down the governor’s order on Tuesday. Legislators are now advancing a bill to split the boards legally.

Public testimony appeared to sway legislators on a number of the executive orders, none more so than the one addressing the Board of Direct-Entry Midwives.

About 40 people are regulated by the board, but legislators received thousands of emails and phone calls urging them to reject Dunleavy’s proposal to eliminate the board and send its duties to the state department of commerce.

There might only be 40 midwives, said Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, but “after the month I’ve had, I feel like there’s probably 4,000 midwives.”

Stapp’s comments brought laughter from the assembled legislators, who proceeded to vote 58-1 to preserve the board. It was the widest margin against any of the governor’s orders.

The lone “no” vote came from Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, who said that he believed in the governor’s statement, that abolishing the board would result in efficiency.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, was excused absent from the joint session and did not vote.

Some midwives present in the House and Senate galleries for the vote said they hope that the wave of support leads to further reform in state law. 

Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, has sponsored a bill endorsed by the state midwives association. That measure is scheduled for a Friday hearing in the House Labor and Commerce Committee.

“I look forward to it passing the House, and then on to the Senate,” Allard said.

She said Tuesday’s vote “showed you don’t want a bunch of angry midwives after you, or angry women, for that matter.”

Staff for Gov. Mike Dunleavy did not answer questions asking whether the governor watched the vote on TV or what he thought about the result.

Jeff Turner, the governor’s communications director, provided a prepared written statement: 

“The purpose of the executive orders was to check the growth of government and improve efficiency. Therefore, the Dunleavy administration will continue to forward executive orders that streamline government and make it more efficient.”

Correction: The vote on Executive Order 135 was incorrect in the original version of this article. There were 30 votes to reject it, but 31 were needed.

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