Working toward a balanced budget and growing the Permanent Fund are the main goals of the Alaska Senate this session, according to members of the Senate leadership who spoke at the Southeast Conference Mid-Session Summit Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, Senate Finance Committee chairs Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Natasha Von Imhof, R-Anchorage and Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, spoke to the crowd at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, discussing mainly the budget and the Alaska Marine Highway System.<\/p>\n
“The governor’s budget included a full $3,000 Permanent Fund Dividend,” Von Imhof said, referring to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021<\/a>. “(That) will cost the state $2 billion.” <\/p>\n Von Imhof said she wanted to re-frame that expenditure as a $2 billion distribution, which could be going to funding programs and capital improvement projects.<\/p>\n She told the crowd she wanted them to send her written or verbal testimony saying they would accept a lower dividend in order to support state services, which drew a brief round of applause.<\/p>\n Several times the senators made reference to “oversized” or “unsustainable” PFDs which drew too much from the state’s savings.<\/p>\n State programs like school debt bond reimbursement and funding the Alaska Marine Highway System are more important than a full PFD, Von Imhof said.<\/p>\n Asked about the future of the Marine Highway, Stedman, who was recently named by Giessel to be the Senate’s representative on a newly created reshaping committee formed by the governor, said the eliminating the system was not an option.<\/p>\n