JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Anchorage man who helped lawmakers write a bill looks to close a first responder loophole and allow injured K9 officers life-saving care, after an Alaska State Trooper K9 was shot and killed in 2017. He tied Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of that bill to the ongoing education funding battle Friday – as the governor said veterinarian concerns made the veto necessary.
“You have been a strong EMS ally over the years, even supporting early drafts of what became SB 21 during your time in the Senate,” long-time Anchorage paramedic Brian Webb said in in a copy of the letter he told Alaska’s News Source he planned to send Dunleavy. “That history makes your veto of HB 70 even more confusing. I can only speculate that this decision was more about political tensions following the override of HB 57 than the substance of the bill.”
“If that is the case, then Alaska EMS has become collateral damage in a political conflict it did not create. That is heartbreaking,” Webb’s letter goes onto say…