Alaskans who want an extra $1,000 are being invited to talk to the Legislature this weekend.
So are those who want to reduce government spending.
On Saturday, the Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee will hear public testimony on Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 2, measures that would reverse Gov. Bill Walker’s veto of half the 2016 Permanent Fund Dividend.
The committee meets at 10 a.m., and Dunleavy said Tuesday that he’s planning to take public testimony as soon as two invited speakers finish their talk.
Interested Alaskans can testify through their Legislative Information Office or by coming to room 205 in the Capitol.
The bills, proposed by Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla, are supported by Democrats as well as Republicans in the Senate.
Dunleavy is chairman of the Senate State Affairs committee, and the bill is scheduled to head to the Senate Finance Committee after passing from the state affairs committee.
SB 1 and SB 2 — which function as a pair — call for the state to pay a special Permanent Fund Dividend using $666,350,000 from the fund’s earnings reserve.
That earnings reserve, which includes money earned by investing the main body of the Permanent Fund, has been the subject of intense debates this year and the past few years, as lawmakers consider spending a portion of it to fund state services and partially erase a $3.1 billion annual deficit.
The earnings reserve can be spent with just a simple majority vote in the Legislature, but it has traditionally been left alone, untouched except by the annual dividend distribution.
