JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on the extended Alaska legislative session (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
House and Senate negotiators have unveiled a proposal to limit draws from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings. But the measure would leave the fight over the size of future dividends from the oil-wealth fund to future Legislatures.
Lawmakers plan to discuss the conference committee proposal in their respective caucuses.
Lawmakers plan to use fund earnings for the first time to help fill the state’s budget deficit. Fund earnings are also used to pay annual dividends to residents.
The size of this year’s dividend is generally considered settled at $1,600. That’s about $1,000 less than Alaskans would have received if the statutory formula for calculating dividends was followed.
That formula has been ignored the past two years. Critics of a full-pay dividend this year say it would be fiscally reckless.
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11:40 a.m.
Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon says there’s been good cooperation among lawmakers as they try to close the extended legislative session.
He says lawmakers have been trying to resolve technical challenges with two major bills.
One allows for issuance of bonds to pay Alaska’s oil and gas tax credit obligations. The other involves limits on draws from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings. Legislators plan to use earnings to help fill the budget deficit.
The House has been working on Gov. Bill Walker’s bonding bill. If it passes, it would go to the Senate.
House and Senate negotiators plan to meet Wednesday on the permanent fund bill.
State budgets also remain unresolved.
Lawmakers worked past the 90-day, voter-approved session limit in April. The constitutional session limit would be hit in two weeks.
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