Outlook on Legislature: Gridlock likely continues
BY TIM BRADNER SPECIAL TO THE ALASKA MINER Is there any hope of breaking the gridlock that has paralyzed Alaska’s Legislature? Near-term prospects for it don’t look good. Legislators are now back in Juneau for the 2022 session of the Legislature, and the partisan splits that rankled the 2021 session are still there. 2021 saw a four-month regular session and two 30-day special ses- sions as well as a near-government shutdown in late June when lawmak- ers couldn’t agree on a state budget (they finally did). Like in Congress, there are deep partisan divisions in Alaska’s Legisla- ture. But the argument in our state is mainly over the size of the annual Per-
manent Fund Dividend, or PFD, a check sent to all Alaskans paid by earnings of the state’s $80-billion-plus Perma- nent Fund. Here’s why this is important. Be - cause the Legislature gets locked up fighting over the PFD, usually near the end of the session, not much else gets done. Important bills on education, public safety and natural resources in- cluding oil and gas regulatory reforms, get sidetracked because legislators’ attention is diverted to the dividend squabble. There’s a lot connected to the PFD argument, of course. First is whether there should be a revised formula that sets the dividend each year (a current formula is consid- ered unworkable), and whether citi - zens should pay state taxes to help pay for a higher PFD if there is one, and to
help support traditional public services like state troopers, schools, or wild- life management if the larger dividend cuts into ordinary revenues at support those. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has proposed a one-time extra draw on Permanent Fund earnings, beyond what the Fund now provides for state budget support, but this got a strong pushback from legislators. There is also the question of state taxes, and whether Alaskans should pay any. “Most people don’t realize that Alaska is the only state where there are no state taxes paid by citizens,” although people do pay local proper- ty and sales taxes, said House Speaker Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, in a talk to a business group in December. Senate President Peter Micciche,
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The Alaska Miner
Winter 2022
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