The following ran as a My Turn piece in both the online and print editions of the Juneau Empire under the headline “Time to complete Governor Hammond’s vision” (Tuesday, May 12, 2015), as a Community Perspective piece in both the online and print editions of the Fairbanks News-Miner under the same headline (Thursday, May 21, 2015), and as a Commentary in both the online (Friday, May 22, 2015) and print (Saturday, May 23, 2015) editions of the Alaska Dispatch News under the headline “It’s time to use Permanent Fund earnings for government services.”
Former Governor Jay Hammond said this when later describing the reasons he and others created the Permanent Fund: “I wanted to transform oil wells pumping oil for a finite period into money wells pumping money for infinity.” Once the money wells were pumping, “[e]ach year one-half of the account’s earnings would be dispersed among Alaska residents …. The other half of the earnings could be used for essential government services.”
The two-sentence constitutional provision establishing the Permanent Fund (Art. 9, Section 15) implements that vision. The first sentence locks away the “the principal” of the Permanent Fund, creating the “money wells pumping money for infinity.”
The second sentence provides the vehicle for using the resulting “production,” by directing that “[a]ll income from the permanent fund shall be deposited in the general fund unless otherwise provided by law.” Four years after voters established the Permanent Fund the legislature solidified the direction, providing that that the income stream is to be used for three purposes: to pay dividends, to protect the principal from inflation and to fund a reserve account, available when needed to pay for essential government services. Continue reading →
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Thoughts on Alaska Oil & Gas 
Time to complete Gov. Hammond’s vision
Former Governor Jay Hammond said this when later describing the reasons he and others created the Permanent Fund: “I wanted to transform oil wells pumping oil for a finite period into money wells pumping money for infinity.” Once the money wells were pumping, “[e]ach year one-half of the account’s earnings would be dispersed among Alaska residents …. The other half of the earnings could be used for essential government services.”
The two-sentence constitutional provision establishing the Permanent Fund (Art. 9, Section 15) implements that vision. The first sentence locks away the “the principal” of the Permanent Fund, creating the “money wells pumping money for infinity.”
The second sentence provides the vehicle for using the resulting “production,” by directing that “[a]ll income from the permanent fund shall be deposited in the general fund unless otherwise provided by law.” Four years after voters established the Permanent Fund the legislature solidified the direction, providing that that the income stream is to be used for three purposes: to pay dividends, to protect the principal from inflation and to fund a reserve account, available when needed to pay for essential government services. Continue reading →
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