One of Sarah Palin's last acts as governor was to veto a bill that would have allowed her state to accept $28 million in federal stimulus money that would go to energy cost relief. Lawmakers immediately began to consider an override, but many wondered whether the measure would enjoy the 75 percent approval it would need to pass.

It did.

Yesterday the legislature approved the override by a vote of 45 to 14. If only one more lawmaker had missed the special session, it would have failed.

Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman told reporters:

Instead of being the last state in the union to take this money we should have been the first. We live in the coldest state in the union and we should be setting the standard in efficiencies and how energy is being used throughout this state.

The federal money will initially be used to make public buildings in Alaska more energy efficient.