Video: Dunleavy testifies about Permanent Fund to legislative committee

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Gov. Michael Dunleavy made an unusual appearance at the Bicameral Working Group, an appointed body of the Legislature  deliberating the past, present, and future of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend.

Dunleavy emphasized that whatever happens to the structure of the Permanent Fund dividend, the people of Alaska deserve to have a say. His administration has advocating allowing Alaskans to vote on whether the dividend should be enshrined in the Alaska Constitution.

The group meets again on Friday, June 28, at 10 a.m.

17 COMMENTS

  1. It should be enshrined in GOLD and placed on a huge monument next to the State Administration Building with an inscription: :THE PFD DIVIDEND SUPERCEDES ALL STATE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES AS A PRODUCT RESERVED FOR ALASKA’S STAKEHOLDERS, WHO ARE THE PEOPLE OF THIS GREAT STATE OF ALASKA

    • Maybe he will go down as one of rhe best Governors Alaska has had. But there must be results, not just demands.

      And what happens if Governor Dunleavy chops a big hunk of the appropriation moving $9.4B from the Earnings Reserve Account (where it can be spent by a simple majority of the legislature), and moving those funds into the Permanent Fund corpus where it cannot be touched by the polticians?

      Give the legislature credit, they are trying to boost the Permanent Fund,. Putting more money into the trust means larger PFD’s down the trail.

      What if Governor Dunleavy cuts the move to save more in the Permanent Fund?

  2. Why NO discussion of $ SB 21?
    SB 21 did to the budget what SB 91 did to the crime wave in AK…
    Alaska is giving its oil away for peanuts and multinational corporations like ConocoPhillips have this administration and legislature in their pockets.
    Norway a country that started it’s permanent fund way after AK has over $1 Trillion in reserve?
    Why?
    Bloated inefficiency throughout Alaska’s government.
    Cut per diem for Legislators, cut government salaries 10 percent and then cut subsidies to oil producers back to what they were under Palin…budget crisis solved!

    • Tax those bastard oil companies lots more, right Steve? Your complaint is 40 years old, and yet we still can’t figure out how much to discharge to the residents (PFD) from $70 billion in savings. Not to mention all of the state’s 40 years worth of infrustructuralized growth, economic prosperity, wages paid, etc… due to the puny amount of royalties paid by the oil companies. And please factor in the risks of investment, exploration, development, transport, and delivery. It sounds like the extent of your business knowledge is Socialism 101. Keep after those glaciers, Steve, before they all disappear. Then you will really have something to complain about.

      • Johnnie,
        First of all my photo is from Hatcher’s Pass and those are not “glaciers” around me but just average “snow covered” mountains….
        I am not against the exporting of oil from Alaska, just that it seems unfair that we give it away to multinational corporations at a fraction of what the same “big 3” pay to other countries where they drill for oil.
        Norway is the best example of how well a nation can do if they receive their fair share….hell, even Saudi and the UAE make more $ per barrel than AK does.
        This system was working a lot better under S. Palin’s “fair tax schedule” to producers.
        It seems even with the factors you listed above that 2018 was a banner year for producers?
        For ConocoPhillips:
        “Full-year 2018 earnings were $6.3 billion, or $5.32 per share, compared with a full-year 2017 net loss of $0.9 billion, or ($0.70) per share.
        BP full-year profit beats expectations on strong oil and gas output. The British oil giant said its underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, came in at $12.7 billion in 2018.
        Exxon Mobil Corporation today announced estimated 2018 earningsof $20.8 billion, or $4.88 per share assuming dilution, compared with $19.7 billion a year earlier.”
        (Google)

    • Johnnie, you forget “refining” costs as an element of production risks. Without refining costs, guys like Steve wouldn’t be able to fly in or drive close to the glaciers. Of course, in a few more years Steve won’t have any more glaciers to go visit due to the burning of refined fossil fuels. Hopefully Steve is saving big so he can help colonize the moon.

    • Steve, I agree with. I’d like to go one further step and end all subsides, just not oil. And to really put a dent into the budget crisis, Alaska seriously needs to cut the number of Administrators in nearly every department, starting with schools. Don’t cut the teachers and others who actually do the work, but those listed as “Administrator”. I’m more concerned about the pension crisis we have, and hiring more and more state employs is making it worse.

      • S.Evans,
        Good points.
        With the Governor focused on the PFD, we take discussion away from other key areas of debate like the $6.7 Billion dollar Pension Debt that Alaska carries year after year on our books…
        I also agree that the school districts are Imbalanced with too many administrators leaching off the system…
        No other organization can give raises to the top when budgets are in deficit mode.
        To further toss a slap in the face of residents, legislators refuse ethics bills and hand themselves big checks for per diem at the end of the “session”…

  3. Divided up now, you would get about $62,956.13. Would that get you out of Alaska, Sean? Surfboard and a flat on a Mexican beach with a nice housekeeper to make you breakfast burritos and shine the booties?

  4. The Governor is in a great position….He was elected because of the “big statement on the permanent dividend, knowing the opposition of the legislatsor. Now it’s presented to the public and legislature again. So, as he has the power of the purse on his side, I suggest calling again to Wasilla for the next session. Any legislator who doesn’t show up doesn’t need his/her per diem or pay. It’s not a choice any longer and the governor is helping to create the anxiety. It’s a “will he or won’t he buckle.”

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