The AFL-CIO of Alaska has sent a strong message to lawmakers in the Alaska House to not concur with the Senate version of the budget, which uses the statutory and legal formula for the calculating the Permanent Fund dividend. The current dividend and energy aid check totals about $5,500 for every qualifying Alaskan.
In a message to lawmakers, the AFL-CIO, which represents many government workers in Alaska, poured shame on any lawmaker who dared to vote for a full PFD. The union has an interest in protecting the state’s workforce.
“…close, but no cigar,” wrote Joelle Hall, president of Alaska AFL-CIO, urging a no vote to the PFD. “Shame on every legislator who has stood in the way of good policy to save a penny, only to throw it all away on an irresponsible dividend.” The AFL-CIO said elected officials have tainted and “tainted an otherwise responsible budget by voting for an unsustainable mega-PFD.”
The union bosses said the full PFD would set an unrealistic expectations for what future dividends would be.
The Alaska House is considering a budget from the Senate that, for the first time since 2016, would follow the statutory formula for the dividend. With oil at over $111 a barrel and with an election on the horizon for almost all legislators, there seems to be a greater sense of urgency to follow the law and not cut the dividend in half as it has been done in recent years.
If the House doesn’t pass the Senate budget, the matter is resolved in a conference committee made up of a handful of majority lawmakers.
