Contributed Photo Senate President Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage) has remained a steadfast supporter of Alaska resource development industries, including mining.
mechanism like that used by many large endow- ments, should be divided between the PFD and funding state government. Under a formula set in 1982 used to calcu- late the PFD — which would result in a $3,000 PFD for 2019 — the annual dividend would rise over the years, crowding out the share of earn- ings used to support the budget. Many legislators wanted to alter the PFD calculation formula so that it still provided for an ample dividend but left more money for traditional pubic services. Governor Dunleavy and many legislators sup- port continuing the current formula, but oth- er legislators opposed it, fearing the PFD would PaPY_`LWWd`YOP]XTYP_SP^_L_Pɪ^ʭ^NLW^_]`N_`]P It was not an easy debate, and it will no doubt continue. Tim Bradner has been Alaska’s most respected business journalist for more than 40 years and publishes Bradner’s Alaska Legislative Digest. He is a regular contributor to The Alaska Miner. Tim Bradner has been Alaska’s most respected busi- ness journalist for more than 40 years and publishes Bradner’s Alaska Legislative Digest. He is a regular contributor to The Alaska Miner.
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Alaska is unique in having a mechanism that shares part of the state’s oil wealth directly with its citizens. No other state, or even nation, of the world does this. 0^_LMWT^SPOTY $# WL]RPWd_S]Z`RS_SPPʬZ]_^ of then-Gov. Jay Hammond, the original idea behind the PFD was to provide a safeguard for the state’s Permanent Fund itself, the savings account of oil income. With citizens receiving a direct payment and that based on the Fund’s ʭYLYNTLW [P]QZ]XLYNP NT_TePY^ bZ`WO NWZ^PWd scrutinize any proposal by politicians to use the Fund unwisely for investments. Hammond’s strategy has worked well over the dPL]^ M`_ T_ SL^ YZb NZXP TY_Z NZYʮTN_ bT_S L basic change the Legislature made in 2018 in us- ing a portion of the Fund’s earnings, which are ample, to help fund the state budget. That was needed because state oil revenues are now lower and Alaska needs to diversify its sources of rev- enue. The question legislators confronted is how the annual payment from the Fund’s earnings, de- termined through a percent-of-market-value
The Alaska Miner
July 2019
12
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