In 1982, age discrimination in employment was legal, there was no Americans With Disability Act, and gay marriage and retail marijuana sales were illegal. Laws (statutes) change to suit the times.
In 1982 the Alaska Legislature enacted a law that set the amount of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend to 50% of Fund earnings. The state was flush with cash and the earnings were not needed to fund public services.
Times change. Oil prices crashed in 2014 and earnings were needed for services. Gov. Walker reduced the dividend in 2016 by veto, and that became the legal dividend. In 2017 and 2018, the Legislature set the amount of the dividend to a different legal amount.
It is perplexing to hear Gov. Dunleavy talk about the old dividend as the “statutory dividend.” It is not. By definition, the statutory dividend is what the Legislature says it is in a given year. It is no secret that the governor’s unfortunate budget vetoes are needed to pay the dividend under the old statute. In terms of suitability for the times, he might as well have throttled down the maximum speed limit to 55 mph — which, by the way, was the law in 1982.
Roger Marks
Anchorage
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