Lawmakers spent what would have been the first day of a third special session of the Alaska State Legislature taking public testimony from Alaskans in Juneau and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
A special session was initially scheduled to convene on Monday, but lawmakers asked for a delay to allow a bipartisan, bicameral working group to discuss policy solutions to the state’s financial woes, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy pushed back the start of the session by two weeks. The group has so far spent most of its time on informational hearings, but Sen. Jesse Kiehl said Monday the group is ready to discuss proposals for resolving the state’s fiscal deficit.<\/p>\n
“It’s time to have those conversations out in public,” said Kiehl, a Juneau Democrat. “We’re pretty determined to get something out ahead of the special session.”<\/p>\n
While giving testimony, Alaskans urged lawmakers to alternately cut the state government down in favor of larger Permanent Fund Dividends and to ensure that critical programs continue to be funded. In Anchorage, students from the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho program at the University of Washington School of Medicine asked lawmakers to continue funding the program as it is Alaska’s only doctor training program. In Wasilla, one woman said she was frustrated smaller PFDs were being distributed despite the Alaska Permanent Fund’s record earnings.<\/p>\n
“When I hear government say we can’t possibly cut government, it falls flat for me,” said Jennifer Graham. “It’s actually really frustrating, and I feel like government is kind of looking at the private sector and saying you don’t matter to us.”<\/p>\n
Several state residents suggested that by not following the previously used statutory formula lawmakers were stealing Alaskan’s PFD money. One person said if he were governor he would have lawmakers jailed.<\/p>\n
“There’s a number of myths about Alaska’s fiscal system, in particular the PFD,” said Cliff Groh, a lawyer and one of the legislative staff members who helped draft the original legislation creating the PFD.<\/p>\n