Tomorrow the Senate Finance Committee will take public testimony from the Kenai area about two bills that propose using earnings from Alaska’s Permanent Fund to finance the state’s operations.
During a hearing in February, public testimony was largely opposed to Senate Bill 124, the governor’s proposal to change the way the Permanent Fund works.
“First off don’t touch the permanent fund, it is permanent and it was set up in the correct manner.
“It is not well thought out at all.”
“If I own stock in a corporation I don’t expect a large dividend when the company is losing money. At the same time, as a shareholder in the owner state I should be able to share in the prosperity of the fund in times of plenty without restriction.”
“I’m here testifying opposing to Senate Bill 128.”
Governor Walker has previously defended the proposal as a key piece of the solution to Alaska’s current fiscal crisis, saying if nothing is changed, future legislatures will be forced to spend the entire amount.
Walker’s proposal would only draw off of the fund’s principal to fund state operations.It would change how the annual PFD checks to Alaskans are calculated, which currently is formulated off of the five-year average of the fund’s investment revenues.
Also up for public comment, Senator Lesil McGuire’s Senate Bill 114. She insists that Governor Jay Hammond, one of the architects of the original Fund proposal, didn’t intend to create the annual checks which have become part of the Alaskan way of life.
Sen. McGuire(R-Anc): “I would say if Hammond leaned anywhere at that time, he would say against the notion of paying out dividend checks. He was more on the side of saying – of course there was nothing to hand out then, this was 1976 and discussions – but I would say he was more on the side of creating an enduring source of revenue that converted non-renewable resources into renewable resources and that that wealth would be shared across future generations.”
Public testimony from the Kenai, Kodiak, and Dillingham Legislative Information Offices will be taken from 11:30 am – 12:15 pm on Thursday, March 24.
Written comments can be emailed to finance.committee@akleg.gov.