Gas tax package still off the Senate floor as the special session nears its limit

Alaska's fourth special session, called to take up a natural gas tax package, is on track to expire this week without the Legislature acting on it. The state Senate met Monday and took no action, and will not return to the floor until Friday, the session's final week.

The session opened July 27, and the state constitution caps a special session at 30 days, so Friday's sitting lands near the end. Monday's was a technical session, a brief formal gavel-in with no bills, no committee reports and nothing from the governor or the House. The Senate opened the session the same way on July 27, and unless something changes, that pattern will run out the clock.

The package at the center of it all would overhaul how pipeline property is taxed, limit what municipalities can tax, and create a volumetric tax system, none of which can advance if the Senate keeps gaveling in and out without taking it up. Neither Senate leadership nor the governor's office has explained the inaction on the record.