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Bill to Protect the Permanent Fund Dividend Advances to Senate Judiciary Committee

 

March 08, 2017
Wednesday PM


(SitNews) Juneau, Alaska - Yesterday, a resolution that would allow the people of Alaska to decide if the PFD, with its current calculation, should be enshrined in the state Constitution passed the Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee and referred to the Judiciary Committee, its next committee of referral. The resolution, SJR1, would allow Alaskans a vote to safeguard the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) in the state’s constitution.

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The principal or “corpus” of the fund is already constitutionally protected and cannot be spent. However, the earnings of the fund can be appropriated by the legislature for any purpose. The bill, proposed by Sen. Wielechowski (D-Anchorage), would not preclude the use of the earnings reserve of the Permanent Fund by the legislature, but would require PFD checks to be paid first, utilizing the current formula and ensuring that the full dividend gets paid out every year.

“Alaskans have spoken, indicating that they wish the Permanent Fund Dividend program to survive any fiscal restructure that may happen in the legislature,” said Wielechowski. “But the truth is that the only way we can guarantee a Permanent Fund Dividend that can’t get voted away by a future legislature, or vetoed by a future governor is to put it in the Constitution.”

This was the third time that Sen. Wielechowski has proposed a bill to constitutionally protect the Permanent Fund Dividend. This time the bill is cosponsored by Senator Berta Gardner (D-Anchorage) and Senator Tom Begich (D-Anchorage).

If the legislation advances to a vote and passes both the House and the Senate with a 2/3 vote, the question of whether the PFD program should be constitutionally protected will be put to the people via referendum on a statewide ballot.

The Permanent Fund Dividend, established in 1982, has become a vital component of Alaska’s economy with much of the money spent in state. The Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska (ISER) has shown that reducing the PFD to generate income for state government is the most regressive option economically, and impacts average Alaskans’ pocketbooks more than any other alternative.

 

 

On the Web:

SJR 1 - CONST AM: GUARANTEE PERM FUND DIVIDEND
http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/detail/30?Root=SJR1

 

 

Editing by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

 

Source of News:

Office of Senator Bill Wielechowski
Senate Democrats
alaskasenatedems.com/wielechowski

 

 

Representations of fact and opinions in comments posted are solely those of the individual posters and do not represent the opinions of Sitnews.

 



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