Alaska Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Governor Bill Walker On PFD Disbursements

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday, August 25th, that the State of Alaska is well within it’s rights to dictate the amount of the PFD annually distributed to Alaskans.

Alaska state senator Bill Wielechowski joined with two former state legislators – Rick Halford and Clem Tillion –  to sue the State of Alaska over the 2016 reduction in the amount of the Permanent Fund Dividends driven by Governor Bill Walker.

The legislators sought for a court ruling that the dividend program statutes contain a constitutionally permissible revenue dedication “automatically” transferring prescribed revenues from the earnings reserve to the dividend fund without need for legislative appropriation and not subject to the governor’s veto.

The court disagreed with the legislators, a move Wielechowski feels Alaskans will feel an immediate effect from should the Governor call the legislature back in session in October.

Bill Wielechowski

Senator Bill Wielechowski (D D-H): “The Legislature can do whatever they want.  The governor can set the PFD at whatever level he wants.  He can eliminate it. The Legislature can eliminate it. They can do whatever they want. It’s a very dangerous precedent.”

In an interview with KSRM, Wielechowski said that the Plaintiff’s aren’t taking this decision sitting down.  He had just spoken to Halford and Tillion, and they felt the decision would galvanize Alaskans around the PFD.

Former Senator Clem Tillion: “It’s a disappointment to me, but that just means we are going to have to gather signatures and put it on the ballot.”

Wielechowski says that he didn’t think arbitrary  PFD disbursements were  intended by the legislature that created the PFD program,  and that it was time to take the matter to a vote of the people.

In it’s ruling the court noted that the permanent fund was proposed by then-Governor Jay Hammond to save for future generations a percentage of revenue generated from nonrenewable resources, and Hammond also sought to curb wasteful government spending of expected increased revenues.

Story as aired on KSRM News:

www.radiokenai.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Dorene-on-Alaska-Supreme-Court-rules-in-favor-of-governor-bill-walker-on-pfd-disbursements.mp3