Alaska House Speaker Mike Chenault is not letting the legislative special session derail a planned trip to Atlanta for what his office says is a meeting about a national conference to be held in 2012.

The Speaker, one of the most important players in a budget stalemate that has kept lawmakers in Juneau more than two weeks longer than planned and is costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a day, left town Monday night and is not expected back until Friday.

But what has many in the Capitol building shaking their heads is that Chenault reportedly told colleagues the trip is a golfing vacation as well, and that he wasn't going to miss the opportunity to play one of America's top courses.

Will Vandergriff, a spokesman for Chenault, says via email that: "Speaker Chenault is in Atlanta for a previously scheduled meeting as Alaska prepares to host the National Speaker's Conference in 2012. This meeting directly relates to his duties as the first vice-president of the National Speaker's Conference Executive Committee."

Vandergriff declined to answer a question about whether Chenault was loath to pass up a prime golf trip or, if not, why many in the building thought that's what he was doing. Vandergriff was clearly not pleased the question is even being asked.

He suggested speaking to Chenault directly about it on Friday.

Meanwhile, the House Finance Committee plans to hold a hearing Wednesday on what problems, if any, may arise from the delays in passing the capital budget. And House leaders plan a press conference Wednesday morning.

The House and the Senate have been at odds over a capital budget since late in the regular session. The House blames the Senate for failing to hand over the capital budget in a timely fashion; the Senate says the House has had ample opportunity to work on it separately and tell the Senate what changes it wants. Negotiators from both bodies have been meeting privately on it and some concessions have been made by the Senate.

The main disagreement is largely over whether the Senate can include language in the spending plan -- which at last count totaled about $2.5 billion -- that effectively prevents Gov. Sean Parnell from vetoing random energy projects. The Senate wants the energy projects to stick as a group, saying that is the way to carry out the Legislature's energy policy, which treats all regions of the state fairly. The governor and Railbelt lawmakers are pushing to move ahead with the proposed Susitna River hydroelectric project that would benefit the state's most populous areas, but rural lawmakers want help with their already sky-high energy costs.

Senate budget writers say Parnell threatened to veto some capital projects if they failed to act on his proposed oil-tax restructuring plan that would have cut billions of dollars in state revenue by reducing taxes on BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and other oil producers. The House passed the bill but it stalled in the Senate, where lawmakers want more time to study it.

The standoff forced the regular session of the Legislature to a close on April 17, called to a halt by Parnell who then immediately asked for a special session to deal with several budget bills and a few other measures. Most of those were quickly dealt with and the last two and a half weeks have largely been spent with House and Senate leaders, including finance committee co-chairs, meeting to craft a compromise. The House refuses to allow the contingency language to stay in the capital budget; the Senate refuses to take it out without guarantees by Parnell that he won't cut energy projects.

Parnell, who also left town earlier this week for a day or two to meet with oil company executives in Houston, has been talking more with Senate leaders, who said Tuesday they are hopeful a solution is finally in the works.

Still, Chenault's departure this week hasn't helped, Senate leaders say.

"It's hard to negotiate when he's on a golfing tour," said Sen. Bert Stedman, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee and the chief capital budget writer. "He's the one that calls the shots in the House."

Stedman said the Senate didn’t even know Chenault was taking off. He is one who believes a round of golf is on the agenda. The Speaker presided over the House on Monday, but on Tuesday it was Majority Leader Alan Austerman on the dais.