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After the budget and the tiny PFD, each lawmaker gets $8,700 for special session

Suzanne Downing
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After the budget and the tiny PFD, each lawmaker gets $8,700 for special session

Immediately after the Senate passed a budget that is partly unfunded, and a Permanent Fund dividend that is arguably the smallest in Alaska history, the Legislative Council met Wednesday to circumvent a state law preventing lawmakers from receiving per diem until the budget it passed, if not passed during the regular session.

In a Capitol building that the public has been locked out of for more than a year, Legislative Council locked the public out further by going into executive session, with no witnesses, to decide that the legislators will be awarded per diem retroactive to May 20, the first day of special session.

That means legislators will get up to $8,790 for the 30 days they will have spent in special session.

“I move that Legislative Council authorize special session per diem payments retroactive to May 20, 2021, for the first special session of the 32nd Alaska State Legislature,” Speaker Louise Stutes read to the council.

In 2019, Megan Wallace, director of Legal Services, explained that Alaska Statute says legislators are not entitled to per diem payments after the 121st day until the first day that the Legislature passes a fully funded operating budget.

However, there is a loophole. “That law does not prevent this body from taking action to provide retroactive payments. The language says it is not to be paid until after the budget is passed,” Wallace told legislators then.

Sen. Lora Reinbold offered an amendment to say that the per diem would be awarded to those legislators physically present in Juneau.

But Sen. Bert Stedman said that was unfair to the legislators whose presence wasn’t needed in Juneau if they didn’t have a committee assignment, and many members are not able to seek other employment, if they are expected to drop their work and return to Juneau for a vote or other matters.

Speaker Stutes agreed with Stedman and said that when members return to their districts, they are often still working on legislative business.

Sen. Gary Stevens said that with Covid, people are working more remotely, and that “we have a good honor system, it has worked well in the past, people put down the per diem they think they deserve, and it’s reviewed by staff and the public has a chance to look at it and see if there is any misuse of it.”

Reinbold said the public will be disappointed because of the reduction of the Permanent Fund dividend decision and the budget. “I think we’re on very thin ice with the ethics law.”

The Reinbold amendment failed, 9-1. Reinbold was also the only legislator on the council to vote against the per diem.

Read The math: The $525 PFD is only worth $195 in 1984 dollars

Read: Protest vote Senate votes for $525 PFD, rejecting conference committee strong-arm tactic

The math: The Legislature’s $525 dividend is worth only $195 in 1984 dollars

Suzanne Downing
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The math: The Legislature’s $525 dividend is worth only $195 in 1984 dollars

The third year that the Permanent Fund dividend was issued, 1984, it was the lowest in history at $331.29.

If this year’s dividend was to match that smallest dividend in history, factoring in inflation, it would be $872 today.

The $525 dividend that is in the 2022 budget for eligible Alaskans is only worth $195 in 1983 dollars, also because of the effect of inflation.

That makes it by far the smallest dividend in the history of the fund, at a time when the fund is nearing $82 billion, the largest balance in history, an account that is far greater than the gross domestic product of Luxembourg ($72 billion).

It amounts to $1.43 a day for each eligible Alaskan, not enough to be helpful to private sector workers who have been bludgeoned by the pandemic policies of 2020-2021.

The reason the $525 was established for this year’s dividend check is because the rest of the dividend was used as a hostage against the Legislature’s fiscal hawks to force them to vote for budget items they disagree with, or lose more than half of the possible $1,100 dividend.

It was a carrot and stick approach to get them to vote for something less than what is guaranteed by Alaska Statute.

According to Alaska Statute, the lawful calculation of the dividend is based on a five-year average of the Permanent Fund’s performance. It varies depending on the stock market and other factors. Alaska Statute mandates that the dividend is calculated through this method:

  1. Add fund statutory net income from the current plus the previous four fiscal years.
  2. Multiply by 21%
  3. Divide by 2
  4. Subtract prior year obligations, expenses, and PFD program operations
  5. Divide by the number of eligible applicants

If that formula was followed, this year’s dividend would be over $3,000. But since the Gov. Bill Walker era, Alaska Statute has been ignored, and now it’s the “leftover dividend.”

The highest dividend awarded was $2,072 in 2015.

Then-Gov. Bill Walker vetoed half of the 2016 dividend and allowed $1,022 to be remitted to Alaskans for their share of the oil wealth.

Once the statutory calculation was abandoned, all bets were off as the dividend became not a calculation, but a calculated way to leverage other budget items through the legislative process.

Read: Senate protest vote shows conference committee failed in using $525 PFD as threat

Congress adds a holiday for federal employees: Juneteenth

Suzanne Downing
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20
Congress adds a holiday for federal employees: Juneteenth

Don’t try calling any federal office on June 19. It’s going to be a paid holiday.

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, a bill that celebrates the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African-Americans after the Civil War passed the Senate by unanimously on Tuesday night, then passed the House quickly on Wednesday, 415-14. The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army rode into Galveston, Texas, to inform still-enslaved African-Americans that the Civil War had ended and that they had been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation.

President Abraham Lincoln signed the proclamation two years earlier, ending slavery in states that had seceded, as Texas had done in 1861. The official end to slavery in the entire country came on Dec. 6, 1865, with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. June 19th has long been a regional and cultural day of celebration that has gained more notoriety in the post-George Floyd months of civil unrest.

The bill was sprung on the Senate by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and he fast-tracked it on Tuesday. There was no discussion of a fiscal note for adding more days off for federal employees, but last year when a similar bill was in play the cost was estimated to be $600 million per year. Those with concerns about the fiscal impact or policy had given up, seeing that the votes to pass were overwhelming.

In the U.S. House, Congressman Don Young voted in favor of the bill. The 14 who voted against it were Republicans.

In Florida, a Juneteenth state holiday was passed this year by the Legislature, and the fiscal note said the state would “incur additional costs of approximately $2.5 million as a result of the special compensatory leave accrued each state holiday. Overall, state government will lose the value of a work day for all state employees. This lost value is estimated to be in excess of $14.5 million.”

Juneteenth is also a paid state worker holiday in Texas, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and most recently, Illinois.

In Alaska, Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson introduced SB 5, to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for State of Alaska workers, with co-sponsors Scott Kawasaki, Tom Begich, and Lyman Hoffman. The bill is in the State Affairs Committee, its only referral. There is no fiscal note attached yet.

Alaska State employees already have 11 days off as paid holidays each year, in addition to their accrued vacation days. Gray-Jackson would add a 12th paid holiday to the schedule that now includes:

  • New Year’s Day (January 1)
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Day (3rd Monday in January)
  • President’s Day (3rd Monday in February)
  • Seward’s Day (Last Monday in March)
  • Memorial Day (Las Monday in May)
  • Independence Day (July 4)
  • Labor Day (1st Monday in September)
  • Alaska Day (October 18)
  • Veterans Day (November 11)
  • Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday in November)
  • Christmas Day (December 25)

For the two million federal workers, Juneteenth will be the 11th paid holiday, in addition to their two or more weeks of paid leave. That is an increase of over 10 percent of their existing days off. Other paid holidays are:

  • New Year’s Day
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday
  • Washington’s Birthday
  • Memorial Day
  • Independence Day (July 4)
  • Labor Day
  • “Columbus Day” (also as Indigenous Peoples Day)
  • Veterans Day
  • Thanksgiving
  • Christmas

Murkowski, women VIP lawmakers hosted by VP Kamala Harris for annual lunch

Suzanne Downing
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21
Murkowski, women VIP lawmakers hosted by VP Kamala Harris for annual lunch

A bipartisan luncheon for women serving in the U.S. Senate was hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the most powerful people in the Senate, was seated just to the vice president’s left at Number One Observatory Circle, the official residence of the Vice President of the United States. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington State, was seated at Vice President Harris’ right.

“Continuing our tradition of having a bipartisan, women Senators’ dinner. Thanks to the Vice President for hosting tonight,” Murkowski posted on Twitter.

Harris invited all 24 women senators — 16 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

The senators were served a summer garden tower salad with hearts of palm, paired with a Simple Life Rose wine; roasted mahi-mahi, grilled vegetables and basmati rice, paired with a Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc; and for dessert, strawberry rhubarb croustades, and vanilla ice cream, according to the menu that was posted on Twitter by Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska.

Senate protest vote: $525 dividend shows conference committee failed in its negotiations on the budget

Suzanne Downing
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61
Senate protest vote: $525 dividend shows conference committee failed in its negotiations on the budget

Sen. Natasha von Imhof, in an impassioned but brief speech on the Senate floor today, implored her colleagues to vote in favor of the operating budget. Eventually they did, but not before a reconsideration vote, and even then, the budget didn’t succeed in getting fully funded. The game is not over, although the Friday deadline approaches.

Von Imhof, who represents south Anchorage, said that her father Ed Rasmuson is home dying from cancer and “I’m here listening to the biggest crock of crap I’ve ever heard. I’m so sick of it. Get a grip, people! Vote for this budget!” she yelled.

“The greed and the entitlement is astounding to me,” von Imhof said to the Senate, describing the people of Alaska who support the statutory formula for the Permanent Fund dividend of over $3,000, or those who support the 50-50 dividend, of over $2,300.

Must Read Alaska’s montage of Senate floor debate captures key moments.

On the first round of voting, the operating budget failed by one vote, cast by Sen. Lyman Hoffman, who then asked for reconsideration. The Senate then took a break.

On reconsideration, the budget passed the Senate, along with the effective date, which would keep government running after July 1.

But the Senate did not have enough votes to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve fund to pay for some programs, some capital budget items, and some of the Permanent Fund dividend. That vote was 12-5, with Sens. Donny Olson, Mike Shower, and Bill Wielechowski excused.

That leaves a $525 Permanent Fund dividend and a lot of programs and capital projects in the Mat-Su Valley crossed off the list. The vote for the $525 dividend was largely a protest vote against the strong-arm tactics of the conference committee.

It was important that the effective date clause was passed by the Senate. But it still is not enough: Without an effective date clause from the House, the budget doesn’t go into effect until 90 days after the governor signs it, which could lead to a government shutdown.

However, in the past, some attorneys general have said that if the governor “intends to sign” the budget, the effective date clause doesn’t have to stop the government from continuing to function. It’s a gray area, but the Constitution makes it clear that the effective date clause on a bill is 90 days unless it is changed purposefully with a vote. It could be subject to litigation.

It’s unknown if Gov. Mike Dunleavy will sign the budget or veto it in whole, or in part. The new fiscal year begins July 1, and pink slips could go out after Thursday.

The House hasn’t gaveled out yet, so the members could go back and rescind their vote, and pass an effective date clause in line with the Senate. It’s doubtful they have the votes to change the outcome, however, as Rep. Sara Rasmussen left town on Tuesday and Rep. Neal Foster, co-chair of House Finance and co-chair of the conference committee, has also left, which leaves a big mess for Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Zaletel recall moving forward

Suzanne Downing
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16
Zaletel recall moving forward

Undaunted by the failed attempt to recall Anchorage Assemblyman Felix Rivera, Anchorage resident Russell Biggs is moving ahead with a recall petition to remove Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel.

The grounds for removal are the same as for Rivera — she disobeyed the mayor’s emergency orders regarding gatherings last July — orders everyone else in the city had to adhere to during the pandemic shutdown.

The incident in question occurred when the Assembly prohibited the public from entering the Assembly Chambers, but then allowed certain people to come in for invited testimony, exceeding the limits placed by the mayor.

It was seen by many as governing by fiat and the Assembly’s actions led to protests at every Assembly meeting set summer and fall.

Biggs filed a petition to recall Rivera and a second one to recall Zaletel. The Rivera recall was fought by the assemblyman, who lost in court. The Zaletel recall petition was fought by Zaletel and she finally lost in court in May.

Biggs thought it over for a couple of weeks, while Zaletel filed an appeal in the Alaska Supreme Court. That was what prompted him to go ahead. The recall case will be heard in August, and Biggs said it’s time to get this settled at the Supreme Court — can citizens recall their governing officials or not? He’s eager for that court date.

“It’s important they don’t do it again. They obstructed for nearly a year. This may be expensive, but will settle the precedent and slow them down from doing this again,” Biggs said.

Meanwhile, he has received the first petitions from the Municipal Clerk’s office, who he says has also slow-rolled him and has levied excessive fees.

Two weeks ago, Biggs said, his attorney was told by the Clerk’s office that they were going to release the petition booklets. Biggs was waiting outside City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, waiting for them. He said the Clerk Barbara Jones would not return his phone calls and advised him she would only speak through the city’s lawyer.

Finally, he received a partial printing of the petitions booklets — about one third of what he’ll need to start collecting signatures.

Zaletel represents District 4 Seat F in Alaska. That seat will be on the April 2022 ballot.

Biggs posted his reasoning on the Reclaiming Midtown Facebook page on Tuesday evening:

“Ten months after it was submitted, the Municipal Clerk was forced by the Court to release the recall petition of Meg Zaletel today, almost a month after the ruling was made on May 20, 2021.

“That means that assembly member Meg Zaletel will face a recall petition for violation of the 2020-2021 COVID emergency mandates and that the evidence supporting this recall was found to be legally sufficient by the Alaska Superior Court.

“Why is this important? Meg Zaletel and the Anchorage Assembly improperly closed the assembly chambers to the public in July 2020, limiting the public debate on the diversion of millions of dollars of CARES act funds being used for private property purchases.

“The mis-use of thosefunds are now being audited by the U.S. Department of Treasury due to the high number of citizen complaints.

“This recall petition submitted nearly a year ago was one of several improperly blocked by the Municipality despite settled Alaska law, and we successfully sued (and won) in order hold her accountable.

“Meg Zaletel joined the municipal lawsuit in an attempt to further block the recall petition, and despite video evidence of the violation, has appealed this issue to the Supreme Court of Alaska, where she and the Muni legal team will lose again.

“It is critical that this petition be successful in signature gathering, because if not, the Muni will undoubtedly move to dismiss this case and set the stage for the same legal obstruction and delay tactics for any future citizen-led initiative, as it did in this one.

“The Recall process is incredibly difficult, expensive, and time consuming. It should not be made harder by highly partisan meddling of the Anchorage legal team. It should not take a court case costing tens of thousands of dollars to utilize the mechanism in code that allows citizens to hold their legislators accountable for clear violations of law. I hope you understand the importance of this because if you have forgotten all the reasons why the assembly deserves to be recalled, you’ll probably be reminded of it again in the next 15 months.

” If you have any doubt about this reality- look no further than our state Capitol. It’s still closed to the public despite literally every other institution in Alaska being open,” Biggs wrote.

Budget fails in House

Suzanne Downing
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31
Budget fails in House

In a session that lasted late into the night and involved several key votes, the Alaska House of Representatives on Tuesday night debated and voted on the budget compromise for HB 69.

Although polite and respectful to each other, legislators had deep disagreement over the Permanent Fund dividend, which was the sticking point.

The overall result was failure for the budget and its associated legislative mechanisms to pass in a way that would allow government to continue past July 1. No one was surprised by the vote, as all members had already signaled their intentions during various caucuses throughout the day.

Several Democrats and Republican Rep. Bart LeBon spoke in favor of the budget proposal negotiated by the conference committee, while most other Republicans were generally appalled at the use of the Permanent Fund dividend as a form of political blackmail against them.

The budget itself passed but the effective date clause did not pass, which means the budget would go into effect 90 days after being signed into law … or sometime in September. That would lead to a government shutdown July 1.

Also failing was the measure to allow the Legislature to borrow funds from the Constitutional Budget Reserve.

Conservatives in the House had many objections to the bills, including the way the Permanent Fund dividend was structured from fund sources that did not reflect the intent of the dividend being an actual oil royalty, but made it into a bargaining chip; the use of capital budget items as a tactic to bully the Valley members into voting for the budget; and some Republicans expressed disappointment that the conference committee had removed language the House had voted on that prohibits public money from being used to pay for elective abortions.

Some Republicans also said it was a travesty that the committee removed language that would have opened the Capitol back up to the public.

The House Republican caucus is not a binding group, meaning all were able to vote their conscience.

The only House member who didn’t show up for the budget vote was Rep. Sara Rasmussen, who boarded a plane in the afternoon and left Juneau, without explanation.

Rep. Andy Josephson said the compromise budget is fair. “This is an opportunity. In politics, you take an opportunity,” he said. He said that the members should look past the “poison pill” in the budget, which was there to coerce members to vote for a funding source for the Permanent Fund dividend.

Rep. Cathy Tilton said the public will not understand how the Legislature can take $4 billion from the Earnings Reserve Account and place it into the corpus of the Permanent Fund, while not paying Alaskans their rightful dividends. She also said more relief should have gone to the private sector, which has suffered from the pandemic economy.

Rep. Ben Carpenter noted that funding was removed from the Alaska Gasline Development Agency, which demonstrates that the Legislature has no confidence in the project, a bad signal to send to investors.

Rep. Neal Foster objected to the use of the word “coerced,” for the budget votes.

With 21 yeahs and 18 nays, the basic budget bill, HB 69, passed. But when it came to the effective date clause, however, it failed, 23-16. The House needed 27 votes to change the effective date as established by the Alaska Constitution.

Then, for borrowing more from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, and what’s called the “reverse sweep,” which takes money back out of the CBR, the vote also failed.

The passage of this measure took 30 votes, but came up short by six.

Because House didn’t pass the “effective date clause” or agree on the Constitutional Budget Reserve access, it’s possible that there will be a government shutdown on July 1. It’s also possible Gov. Mike Dunleavy will call the Legislature back into another special session next week.

HB 71, the Mental Health Trust budget, passed easily, with only Rep. David Eastman and Rep. Chris Kurka voting against it.

Pollock wins over Scallops, King Crab, and Salmon in Division of Elections mock primary

Suzanne Downing
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Pollock wins over Scallops, King Crab, and Salmon in Division of Elections mock primary

The Alaska Division of Elections, running a mock election to help Alaskans understand their complicated new election methods created by Ballot Measure 2, has closed the voting in the Seafood Favorites primary, and the results are in:

Pollock won 27%, followed by Weathervane Scallops at 14%, King Crab at 12%, and King Salmon at 10%.

Read: Seafood favorites? Division of Elections helping people learn how to vote in new method

In the “open primary,” voters had a choice of 18 Alaska seafood choices — everything from geoduck to pink salmon.

To see for yourself how it works, click on this link.

Now that voters have whittled it down to the top four, on Wednesday, June 16 people will have chance to rank those top four from top favorite on down, and that will determine the winner as votes for second, third, and fourth are recalculated.

The seafood primary lasted two weeks. Early in voting, Halibut, King Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and King Crab were the top four, but at the end of the voting period, Pollock received 1,023 votes, Scallops took 532, King Crab had 453, and King Salmon came in fourth with 384 votes.

Must Read Alaska set a mock election up at this link to rank the most biased mainstream media in Alaska.

(So far, the Anchorage Daily News is far-and-away the winner for the most biased of the candidates. We call this a landslide.)

Breaking: Federal judge stops Biden from blocking Alaska oil and leases

Suzanne Downing
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11
Breaking: Federal judge stops Biden from blocking Alaska oil and leases

A federal judge put a stop to the Biden Administration’s unlawful moratorium placed on oil and gas leasing until the litigation is completed.

Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court in Monroe, Louisiana said Biden’s cancellation of oil and gas leases was illegal.

The judge said the states suing the federal government could prove immediate harm, as the moratorium prevents them from collecting fees from oil and gas exploration and production.

Alaska, along with Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia filed the lawsuit against Biden, who in his first week of his presidency suspended federal leases.

“This is excellent news for Alaska. As we have seen in less than five months, the threat of federal overreach on major economic projects within Alaska is very real,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy. “It is stunning that a federal judge has to tell the President of the United States to stop trying to illegally shut down environmentally sound oil and gas development and good paying jobs for Americans and Alaskans – which support the indigenous tribes and residents of Alaska’s North Slope – while the president works to promote carbon emitting Russian gas production overseas. Alaska is consistently a top producer of oil and gas in the U.S. and we are proud of our state’s responsible development and transportation of oil to meet American demand.”

The Interior Department said it would review the decision before responding.

Doughty wrote, “The omission of any rational explanation in cancelling the lease sales, and in enacting the Pause, results in this Court ruling that Plaintiff States also have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of this claim.”

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