JUNEAU — Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has invited all 60 lawmakers to a briefing Wednesday in Juneau on his legislation to restructure the $53 billion Permanent Fund to help pay for state government.
Walker's legislative director, Darwin Peterson, emailed legislators late Tuesday — the second extra day of the Legislature's scheduled 90-day session — to invite them to "hear from the administration and to ask questions" about substitute versions of Walker's bill introduced by the Republican-led House and Senate finance committee.
The email said the two-hour briefing at Juneau's Centennial Hall was coming at the request of the House Finance co-chairs, Republican Reps. Mark Neuman of Big Lake and Steve Thompson of Fairbanks. Neither Neuman nor Thompson answered a phone call late Tuesday.
Grace Jang, Walker's communications director, said the event was "purely by invitation."
"It's mostly to answer their questions," she said, referring to legislators. She said Walker would be there as well as other members of his administration.
Walker's Permanent Fund bills, House Bill 245 and Senate Bill 128, are the linchpin of his comprehensive plan to fix the state's $4 billion deficit — a plan that also includes a personal income tax and reforms to the state's oil tax regime.
As originally written, Walker's legislation would have pumped oil revenue into the Permanent Fund and generated $3.3 billion annually to help pay for state government, sharply reducing — but still preserving — residents' dividend checks.
The finance committees in the House and Senate both recently introduced replacements that made 5.25 percent of the fund's total value available for spending, which means the distribution would fluctuate with investment returns.
Some GOP legislative leaders have acknowledged that restructuring the fund will likely be necessary to close the state's budget deficit. But some Democratic and conservative Republican lawmakers have criticized the idea.