New House Permanent Fund bill: 80% for government

By
Suzanne Downing
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49
369

Reps. Chuck Kopp and Jennifer Johnston today introduced House Bill 306, their suggestion for how to pay for government and give some kind of a Permanent Fund dividend to Alaskans.

The bill would give 80 percent of available revenue from the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve to government, while 20 percent would be used for the annual dividends to Alaskans.

“House Bill 306 provides stability for our economy and communities and puts an end to the structural deficit built into the state budget,” explained the news release from the House Majority press office.

“Private sector and community leaders have been pleading that the state prioritize stability and certainty in our fiscal planning,” said Kopp, an Anchorage Republican, in the news release.

“HB 306 makes clear that we view it to be more important to preserve the health of our economy and communities than allow the dividend to continue to dictate our budget structure.” – Rep. Chuck Kopp

The bill, should it be signed into law, would halve the size of last year’s dividend, which was $1,600. The bill has been referred to just one committee, Finance, co-chaired by Rep. Johnston, the bill’s cosponsor.

HB 306 is a statutory change, which may mean nothing in practical terms, since there is already a statutory formula that the Legislature has ignored for three years.

Four years ago, Gov. Bill Walker took half of the dividend, but did not use it for government. He just left the money in the Earnings Reserve Account. Three years ago, the Legislature started following the governor’s lead, using half of the dividend for government.

Now, the recommendation is 80 percent for government.

A separate bill from Rep. Adam Wool recommends that only 15 percent of the available funds from the Earnings Reserve Account be used for dividends, with the remaining 85 percent used for government.

New bill from Fairbanks Democrat Adam Wool leaves crumbs for Alaskans’ PFDs

49 COMMENTS

  1. They will not stop ever…. not with all the PFD, the balance in the account, income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, value added taxes, all the oil and mineral taxes, then breathing taxes or all the money everywhere. They are addicts and like junkies will never be satiated even when they get it all. Just tell them NO!

  2. When and where is it that the people don’t have a say in a process that is for the people that was created by the governor to be for the Alaskan people not the legislature or government how can you take it away from them

  3. It’s the typical knee-jerk reaction to money by the government; grab it, steal it, hog it and under all circumstances spend it!

  4. In a “Constitutional Republic” all the “Resource Wealth” from the unsettled lands would be equally shared between all of the Sovereign people and the settled land would be transferred to “We The People” with all the “Resource Wealth” included and then the Government created Corporations would be taxed to provide the money to operate a Constitutional Government and then these Government created Corporations would add this tax on to their prices of their Goods and Services to be paid indirectly by “We The People”. What a miraculous change!! Now absolutely none of the property of “We The People” could be seized for lack of paying an Unconstitutional tax. That is what is called in Common Law, “Allodial Ownership, Free and Absolute. Not subject to Feudal duties and rents”. Seymour Marvin Mills Jr. sui juris

  5. Too much talk about for government when there is no transparency or accountability where the money is…spent..used? Now it’s 80%….Don’t we have a say in this?

    • Then you get nothing of your precious socialist handout. He doesn’t have the power of line item increase.

      • It’s a shareholder check. I don’t get any of the mineral wealth beneath the land that I own- everywhere else in the US I do. Because the state seizes that property, the constitution insures we all receive a percentage of that wealth. Just because you want to take it to spend on things you want, doesn’t make the rights of Alaskans to receive the full divided disappear. Not to mention, it’s the most regressive of taxes there is. A family of 6? Living off 50k a year? You are taking 20% of their income. Nice.
        Government needs to be made smaller, and other income sources incorporated, mineral development incentivized, and THEN, if we are still short, THEN you come to the people with a plan on how to incorporate a portion of the PFD To help bear the cost. Relatively none of that has been done. What little has been done, has caused the leftists and special interests, the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, to revolt because they feel they are entitled to your dividend. You can give them yours, if you like, but you have no right to offer up your neighbors.

  7. Wow, Chuck Kopp, a man who evidently was ashamed of his fathers surname so he changed it. His father was an icon who founded, built, and was administrator of Cook Inlet Academy in Soldotna for 30 years. Mr. C, as his students called him, was a no-nonsense, common sense man. Charles Eugene Crapuchettes.

    Too bad Kopp didn’t follow his fathers ethics.

    • Regularguy. Cook Inlet Academy is an outstanding private school where students excel. I am sorely disgusted with Chuck Kopp.

    • What’s holding the Juneau politicrats back? Why not take it all. Wait a minute–take 150% of the PFD!

    • Did you really need to put this information out about Mr. Kopp? What business is it of yours about Mr. Kopp’s family situation. You must have a deep need to get some obscure point of your own making into the discussion. I question how much you know about Mr. Kopp’s or Mr. Crapuchettes’s ethics.

  8. Absolutely No!!! We the people keep telling them hands off!!! It’s time to slap lawsuits on these people.

    • It was taken to court, and the legislature won. The only remedy, since none of the legislators or the governor are going to stop it, is for us to launch a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to enshrine the PFD and the payout ratios. Other than doing that, or voting the nitwits out, which clearly isn’t going to happen, there’s nothing we can do.

  9. They feel protected hidden in isolated Juneau, we have only one way to reach them and that is to vote in their replacements!

  10. It would be absolutely wrong to assume that leaving spending at status quo is good for “the health of our economy”.

    To appropriate funds from the PFD at this juncture would be to avoid responsible budgeting. All of the lard needs to be cut from government spending first. Alaska’s gov’t spending budget is on the verge of becoming a carcass and propping it up w/ money appropriated from the populace isn’t a solution. Fixing what you’ve caused is the only option.

    I personally don’t like the PFD but I like less the thought of casting pearls before swine which is exactly what these two propose.

  11. NO, no, and a hundred times NO. Stop taking our money, Democrats !~!! Be wary, come re-election time – we will be voting you ALL out.

    • There are a group of Republicans involved in the theft, as well. Giesel is the leader of it, in the Senate, but she’s not alone.

    • No ‘we’ are not voting them out because there are too many on the take already. The extremely powerful coalition between the public unions and the rest on the take will assure reelection of their minions while the rest of us spend our lives making ends meet.

        • Not hopeless, but WE fund the opposition which attempts to extort more money from us! A never ending battle, any moment our guard is let down they advance taking just a little bit more, trying to overwhelm us with special elections (at our expense) so they can take more of our money and freedom. The time and effort to defend against them is overwhelming and never ending while our money pays for them to pilfer us. That’s the opposition and the beast will never be satiated, but we must never give up. How about a bill outlawing lobbying by ANY organization accepting public funds? How about a bill outlawing political donations by any publicly funded group?

  12. Some people claimed that this day would never happen, a 50/50 split with the people and government was fair they said. That 50/50 split hasn’t lasted a fist full of years and now they want a 20/80 split or even a 15/85 split, anybody think that next 15 or 20% won’t be asked for in less than 3 years?
    .
    They are coming for the money that was set aside so big government folks wouldn’t spend the wealth of the the people of this community resource state. They want it all and they are making plays for it.
    .
    If we the people allow them to move the bar from 50/50 to 20/80 or 15/85 we might as well give it all to them and then start writing checks for an income tax and every other kind of tax they can come up with.
    .
    Write your legislator, write all of the legislators!

  13. Big government keeps rearing it’s ugly head. When a full dividend is paid, the people are empowered. When the PFD is not paid out in full, the government is empowered. This is what the Democrats and Lefties want. Government power. The solution: vote the bastards out of office this year. As for Adam Wool, here is a nutty Lefty who made his living keeping his constituents, drunk, stoned, and stupid for 20 years. Take him to the woodshed.

  15. The Socialists won’t be happy till they get 90% of our money and all that we own, and all the power over us all as they ease us into bread lines.

  16. Time to Repeal and Replace some Legislatures. Anything less than 50/50 is a crime and it violates our constitutionally shared resources from statehood if the government got what it wanted, it would be more like 99/1, just like the amount of land that is privatized. Hmm so we need to push back now.

  17. Can someone point me to where I can find this house bill? I was unable to find it. The house bill 306 I was able to find dealt with State and teachers retirement.

  18. I look forward to the compromises and balanced budget proposals that other groups propose and lead the charge to implementing. The time to say we are going to cut the lard on the budget to save a full dividend and $1.5 billion in cuts is GONE. If others want to propose flat tax, or specific $1.5 billion in cuts, or similar budget fixes, great, but now is the time . We passed the time where we can say, I am not sure where but we need to cut. Propose specific cuts and fight to build a coalition of 51% to make it happen or admit we can not. I am not excited the time for this bill has come, but I do look forward to seeing a balanced budget. Even more exciting that we may see balanced budget proposals without it all coming from income tax and additional taxes on the oil industry. I look forward to seeing the better way. What is the bill number that proposes it and how many will support it?

  19. This door to the PFD was declared open since Jan 1, 1997 – Every one of us who approved of that move are now reaping the foreseen consequences. I said “foreseen consequences” because we were warned by many at the time. Slippery slope indeed.
    Only real cure is to revisit that earlier mistake, and undo it. Of course we won’t because that little episode is the “body” blocking the door open … the very same which we’ve been tripping over all these years. Precedent … beware of precedents … they’re a two-edged sword, cutting both ways.

    • ALASKA STATUTES AS 43.23.005 (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of (a) – (c) of this section, an individual is not eligible for a permanent fund dividend for a dividend year when (1) during the qualifying year, the individual was sentenced as a result of a conviction in this state of a felony; (2)during all or part of the qualifying year, the individual was incarcerated as a result of the conviction in this state of a (A) felony; or (B) misdemeanor if the individual has been convicted of (i) a prior felony as defined in AS 11.81.900; or (ii) two or more prior misdemeanors as defined in AS11.81.900.

      This didn’t add anything to our individual PFD, as the state took it, spending it on whatever slush funds are spent on.

    • This was enacted in the late 80’s, the misdemeanor section becoming effective Jan 1, 1997. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details at the time, so my memory is weak.

  20. NO!!!!!!!! Can you hear us, Legislature? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    You say there is no room to cut the budget? Here’s two freebies, since you’re apparently too thick to come up with them yourself.

    1) Bill Walker’s Medicaid Expansion. There are 50,000 young able bodied people of working age without children on the rolls and we are paying for their healthcare. Kick them off. ALL of them.

    2) Power Cost Equalization. There is no reason the people in the city should be subsidizing power costs for people in the bush. Put the $1 billion into the general fund and eliminate the deficit.

    See how easy that was? It just takes a spine to come up with answers.

  21. In my mind this shows the absolute incompetence of the elected, if you are un able to balance a checkbook you have no business in office. Term limits and a new group of officials that don’t share a brain. Vote them all out.

  23. I have not seen any state legislators mention the current coronavirus situation happening now, and what is happening to the global economy. Stocks are down, oil is down. Where will the rest of the money come from,let alone how will be able to afford the prices of goods from stores, as they will raise them to cover costs.

  24. It’s beginning to look like we haven’t seen anything with Alaska’s budget yet. That matters could
    get worse, could be an understatement. Epic, Biblical, comes to mind.
    Our legislators claim that they have slashed the budget to the bone already – maybe they should get out the soup-bone recipes?
    Looks probable that the really hard choices won’t be choices much longer. “All the king’s horses, and all the king’s men…”

  25. The Saudis aren’t saying it but I suspect the dropping of crude prices is an act of war against Iran. Be prepared for the fallout of a shooting war between them.

  26. Once again we enter that uniquely Alaskan season where people argue over free money, in a disagreement that will never, ever end.

    It is really pointless to comment further, as people’s minds are irrevocably made up on the issues, and everyone has dug in. So similar to the national political scene…

    Aren’t we all just plain weary of this endless conflict? You’ve heard my recommendations before, but for now I am tired of the whole thing. Good luck untying this Gordian knot…someday…maybe.

    But just one departing hint – less extremism, and more compromise.

  27. This is what Alaskans have been fighting since 1980, politicians telling us the only answer is raiding the PF. They cannot stand that Alaska has a supply of cash they cannot spend. Be careful who you vote for

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