SJR 1: Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to the Alaska permanent fund, establishing the earnings reserve account, relating to the permanent fund dividend, and requiring the permanent fund dividend be at least equal to the amount that would be calculated under current law.
00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 1 01 Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to the Alaska 02 permanent fund, establishing the earnings reserve account, relating to the permanent 03 fund dividend, and requiring the permanent fund dividend be at least equal to the 04 amount that would be calculated under current law. 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. Article IX, sec. 15, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read: 07 Section 15. Alaska Permanent Fund. (a) At least twenty-five percent of all 08 mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing 09 payments and bonuses received by the State shall be placed in a permanent fund, the 10 principal of which shall be used only for those income-producing investments 11 specifically designated by law as eligible for permanent fund investments. The 12 earnings reserve account is established as a separate account in the fund. Income 13 from the fund shall be deposited into the earnings reserve account as soon as it is 14 received and may be invested as authorized for investments of the principal. 15 Money in the earnings reserve account may be appropriated only as provided in
01 (b) of this section [ALL INCOME FROM THE PERMANENT FUND SHALL BE 02 DEPOSITED IN THE GENERAL FUND UNLESS OTHERWISE PROVIDED BY 03 LAW]. 04 * Sec. 2. Article IX, sec. 15, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended by adding new 05 subsections to read: 06 (b) Net income of the permanent fund shall be computed annually as of the 07 last day of the fiscal year in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, 08 excluding any unrealized gains or losses. Income available for distribution under this 09 subsection equals twenty-one percent of the net income of the fund for the last five 10 fiscal years, including the fiscal year just ended, but may not exceed net income of the 11 fund for the fiscal year just ended plus the balance in the earning reserve account. On 12 the last day of each fiscal year, fifty percent of the income available for distribution, 13 calculated under this subsection, or the balance in the account, whichever is less, shall 14 be transferred from the earnings reserve account for use in a program of dividend 15 payments to State residents as provided in (c) of this section. Money remaining in the 16 earnings reserve account after the transfer may be deposited in the general fund unless 17 otherwise provided by law. 18 (c) The dividend shall be calculated in the same manner as it was under 19 Alaska law in calendar year 2013. The legislature may provide for a larger dividend. 20 The amount of the dividend shall be calculated each year by determining the total 21 amount available for dividends and dividing it by the number of recipients eligible for 22 a dividend payment for the current year as designated by law. The total amount 23 available for dividends equals the amount of income of the Alaska permanent fund 24 transferred to the earnings reserve account as provided by law, plus the unexpended 25 and unobligated balances of prior appropriations that lapse into the earnings reserve 26 account, less the amount necessary to pay prior year dividends from the earnings 27 reserve account in the current year, less the amount necessary to pay individuals who 28 filed for a previous year's dividend by the filing deadline but were not included in the 29 previous year's dividend computation, and less appropriations from the earnings 30 reserve account in the current year, including administrative costs. 31 * Sec. 3. Article XV, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended by adding a new
01 section to read: 02 Section 30. Permanent Fund Amendments: Transition. The earnings 03 reserve account established in the 2016 amendments to the Alaska permanent fund 04 (art. IX, sec. 15) replaces the existing earnings reserve account established by law. 05 Money in the existing earnings reserve account on the effective date of the 2016 06 amendments to the Alaska permanent fund (art. IX, sec. 15) shall be deposited into the 07 earnings reserve account established by those amendments. 08 * Sec. 4. The amendments proposed by this resolution shall be placed before the voters of 09 the state at the next general election in conformity with art. XIII, sec. 1, Constitution of the 10 State of Alaska, and the election laws of the State.