Your PFD check is your share of Alaska's oil wealth, not an entitlement program

I want to comment on House Bill 209 offered by Anchorage Rep. Zack Fields. If this bill were to pass it would be a game changer for our PFD. The overarching impact of the bill would be to transform the PFD - your annual share of Alaska's oil wealth - into an entitlement program. When the dividend program was envisioned by Gov. Jay Hammond, it was never intended to be any such thing.

This bill would restrict qualification for a PFD check only to individuals who don’t file federal taxes or make $50,000 or less in annual income. Additionally, the bill would cap the PFD at $1000 permanently, regardless of the performance of the permanent fund, and the PFD would not be inflation proofed.

The PFD check is not a handout. It is a dividend paid to you for your share of Alaska's resource wealth. If you own shares of stock in General Motors and your shares pay a dividend, does GM call you and say, 'sorry but your income disqualifies you from receiving your money'? Obviously not. Yet, HB 209 would have this be the 'new normal' for Alaskans.

Achieving a fiscal balance while confronting declining state revenue continues to be paramount. However, disenfranchising tens of thousands of Alaskans from a program established for all Alaskans is not the way to do it.