On Wednesday morning, the Permanent Fund working group held its first gathering, with the eventual goal of finding an agreeable future for Permanent Fund earnings and the dividend.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
There wasn’t much to see in the first meeting, but the co-chairs of the group outlined what they’ll be doing in the next few weeks. The working group, which includes four senators and four representatives, will come up with recommendations for the Alaska Legislature about everything relating to the Permanent Fund — how to allocate money within the fund long-term, how much the dividend will be worth this year and whether they need to change the formula for calculating the dividend.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
[With no PFD attached, Legislature’s budget heads to governor’s desk<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The group — chaired by Sen. Click Bishop and Rep. Jennifer Johnston — will meet regularly and Bishop told reporters Wednesday that he hopes to have recommendations for the Legislature in 21 days (which would be July 2). Johnston, an Anchorage Republican, said everything is on the table, and both chairs said they’re looking to take a civil and open approach to the meetings.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “My hope, just like Sen. Bishop, is that we can have a conversation that is more about the need to develop some kind of policy without emotion,” Johnston told reporters Wednesday. “A lot of times, and this has been going on for quite some time, this has been an emotional debate. Sometimes emotional debates are good, but sometimes they end up with parties yelling at each other.”<\/p>\n Co-Chairs Rep. Jennifer Johnston, R-Anchorage, left, and Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, talk about the work to be done during the first meeting of a joint committee to work on the future of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend at the Capitol on Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t The debate over the dividend<\/a> has dominated this year’s session and special session. Lawmakers are deeply divided on the issue, as shown by recent votes in both houses. In the Senate, both the Minority and Majority caucuses are split on the amount of the dividend, with some proposing as high as $3,000 and some proposing as low as $900 per person.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Gov. Mike Dunleavy also plays a role in this, as he’s stated that he would veto<\/a> anything but a full $3,000 dividend. He reiterated that Wednesday, tweeting “the Legislature’s job is not over until it passes a full statutory PFD for Alaskans.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t I said it before and I\u2019ll say it again, the Legislature\u2019s job is not over until it passes a full statutory PFD for Alaskans. (3\/3) #akleg<\/a> #akgov<\/a><\/p>— Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) June 12, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>\n![\"Co-Chairs](\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/17260889_web1_IMG-0187.jpg\")
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