The Alaska House voted against allowing voters the right to establish in the Alaska Constitution a requirement that legislators and the governor follow a set formula — any legal formula in statute — when establishing each year’s Permanent Fund dividend amount.
The Legislature could change the formula in statute, according to House Joint Resolution 7, but would have to then follow the law or change the law again. The key in the resolution is that the Legislature must follow the laws it writes.
Although the majority of mainly Republicans voted in favor of the resolution, it required a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate in order to go before voters. It only had 22 votes in the House, with 18 voting against it, including House Minority Leader Rep. Cal Schrage of Anchorage, who was on the Fiscal Policy Working Group that last year recommended a constitutionally sound Permanent Fund dividend.
“The FPWG unanimously recommends restructuring the Permanent Fund to be a single, constitutionally-protected account with draws limited by the percent of the Permanent Fund’s market value (POMV). Consistent with current year rolling average to calculate the POMV,” the working group wrote in its final report, which was then supported by Schrage.
Read the Fiscal Policy Working Group Final Report here.
Since 2016, when Gov. Bill Walker broke the trust with Alaskans and vetoed half of their annual dividend, the Legislature has essentially determined each year how little they can get away with as a dividend amount. On election years, the amount seems to go up.
Rep. Ben Carpenter and Rep. Kevin McCabe were also part of the Fiscal Policy Working Group. They voted in favor of House Joint Resolution 7, which was sponsored by Carpenter, a Republican from Nikiski.
Without constitutional protection, the Legislature is caught every year arguing vehemently over the amount the dividend will be. The matter eclipses all other topics in the Legislature and dominates each legislative session and with this vote, it appears the fight over the dividend will continue to dominate every year going forward, a gift from Gov. Walker that keeps on giving.
