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Knowles signs Permanent Fund advisory vote bill; campaign is on Not all lawmakers are behind the idea. Rep. Scott Ogan, R-Wasilla, is considering forming a group that would encourage Alaskans to vote `No’ in September Jim Clarke Associated Press Writer
It surely didn’t feel that way during May’s special session, but the easy part of fixing the state’s budget problems may have ended June 10 for Gov. Tony Knowles and state lawmakers.
Knowles signed September’s advisory vote on using Permanent Fund earnings to fill a yawning budget gap. Now backers have to convince voters to use some of the fund’s earnings to pay for state government. It’s money that otherwise would end up in the annual dividend checks most Alaskans receive.
Knowles was flanked by lawmakers from both political parties as well as business leaders when he signed the bill authorizing the Sept. 14 advisory vote.
He also signed a Senate resolution that lays out the details of the budget deal.
“Those of us who are leaders, I believe, rose above our partisan differences” in crafting the budget agreement, Knowles said.
That agreement came in late May after a 6-day special session whose sole purpose was to figure out a way to permanently close the gap between what the state government collects every year and what it spends.
This year the budget gap is about $1.2 billion, and it will be covered using a budget reserve fund that will have $2.8 billion left in it after all the bills are paid for the fiscal year ending June 30.
Dividend amounts will be lower If voters say yes, dividends for the next two years would be about $1,740. But then part of the $24 billion fund’s earnings would be used to pay for state government, and dividends would be cut to about $1,340 in 2001.
Not all lawmakers are behind the idea. Rep. Scott Ogan, R-Wasilla, said he is considering forming a group that would encourage Alaskans to vote `No’ in September.
“I can’t support any plan until we have downsized and reprioritized the size and the scope of government first,” Ogan said.
Legislators who joined Knowles at the University of Alaska Anchorage for the bill signing described the budget deal as the best that could be gotten given how sensitive Alaskans are about the Permanent Fund.
Two associations formed to fight it “The plan is not perfect by any means,” said House Majority leader Joe Green, R-Anchorage. “But it was a working of the public process.”
Two groups already have registered with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, one encouraging voters to support the deal, the other to oppose it.
Vote Yes Protect Alaska’s Future Committee was formed by Alaska business and labor groups who generally oppose other options for filling in the budget gap, such as an income or sales tax.
Bill Parrish, a Kenai auto mechanic, has formed Save Your Dividend. Parrish acknowledged that the business groups probably would outspend his group during the campaign. He is hoping that a big voter turnout by Alaskans who covet their annual checks will help defeat the proposal.
Dittman predicts close vote Dave Dittman, an Anchorage pollster, said he suspects the vote will be close. For the proposal to succeed, backers need to persuade voters that the permanent fund was created in 1976 to help pay for government once oil production began to dip.
“It’s easy to campaign against it. That can be reduced to a bumper sticker,” Dittman said. “Making the case for the other side is going to be harder.”
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