In December, the governor put $3,643 in the budget for your dividend. By the time legislators were done spending it only $1,702 was left.
In total, $1,941 of the 2024 Statutory PFD was spent by legislators this year, reflecting 53.3% of this year’s dividend.
Legislators voted to increase this year’s budget by more than $2 billion over last year’s budget.
To offset that increase, legislators voted to cut this year’s PFD by 53.28% (or $1.2 billion).
Only four legislators voted consistently against cutting the dividend this year.
They are:
Sen. Mike Shower (Wasilla)
Sen. Shelley Hughes (Palmer)
Sen. Rob Myers (North Pole)
Rep. David Eastman (Wasilla)
The remaining fifty-six legislators below voted one or more times to replace the state operating budget (HB268) with a version of the budget that included a lesser amount for the 2024 PFD.
The fifty-six legislators who voted YES to this are:
Senators (17): Bishop, Bjorkman, Claman, Dunbar, Giessel, Gray-Jackson, Hoffman, Kaufman, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Merrick, Olson, Stedman, Stevens, Tobin, Wielechowski, Wilson.
(See voting board)
Representatives (39): Allard, Armstrong, Baker, Carpenter, Carrick, Coulombe, Cronk, Dibert, Edgmon, Fields, Foster, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, C.Johnson, D.Johnson, Josephson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Schrage, Shaw, Stapp, Story, Stutes, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance, Wright
(See voting board)
(Note: We will continue to add to the details below as additional information become available and/or requested.)
The following is the path taken by the 2024 PFD through this year’s budget process and the names of the legislators who voted to cut it at each stop on its journey from $3,643 to its final resting place at $1,702.
The journey begins on December 15th 2022, the date that the governor is required, by law, to send to the legislature his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The appropriation for the 2024 PFD is listed on line 31 of page 56 in Governor Dunleavy’s proposed state operating budget (House Bill 268). Rather than set an arbitrary amount for the PFD, the governor proposed following state law (Alaska Statute 37.13.145(b)) and appropriating to the Dividend Fund the amount necessary to distribute a full 2024 PFD. Because that amount is based on market returns throughout 2024 he was only able to estimate what that amount would be on December 15, 2023, when he submitted his proposed budget to the legislature. He estimated, at that time, that the amount necessary to distribute a full statutory dividend in 2024 would be $2,303,700,000 (or $3,643 per Alaskan).
On January 16th, House Bill 268 was referred to the House Finance Committee.
On January 19th, 2023, the Alaska House of Representatives voted to place this committee effectively under Democrat control by assigning Bryce Edgmon and Neil Foster as two of the committee’s three co-chairs and assigning a majority of the seats on the committee to non-Republican legislators (see page 11 for committee assignments). This vote was significant because these legislators had voted to cut the PFD previously and would be expected to do so again. The vote was 39-1. The only legislator who voted against giving control of the committee to these legislators was Rep. Eastman (see page 12). (See voting board)
As expected, on 4/8/24 the leadership of the House Finance Committee recommended cutting the amount of the dividend, among other changes to the bill. When the bill was brought forward for a vote there was no objection from the other members of the committee to sending the bill to the full house for a vote. The leadership of the committee (Rep. DeLena Johnson, Rep. Bryce Edgmon, and Rep. Neil Foster) recommended that the house pass the bill as-is. The other members of the finance committee either made no recommendation (Tomaszewski, Cronk) or recommended that the bill be amended by the full house (Ortiz, Coulombe, Josephson, Hannan, Galvin).
The House Finance Committee recommended cutting the PFD from $3,654 to not more than $2,430 (and less if the price of oil didn’t meet certain benchmarks). Accordingly, the committee recommended appropriating only $1,100,000,000 for the PFD instead of the governor’s recommended amount of $2,303,700,000. This represented a cut of 52.25% from the amount recommended by the governor. This change appears on line 19, page 74 of the bill.
On 4/8/24, the house voted to replace the governor’s version of the bill with the version recommended by the House Finance Committee. The vote was 39-1 and reflected the 52.25% cut recommended by the committee. However, due to counting a portion of the money that had been withheld from the dividend the year prior, the new announced dividend amount was $2,430. The only legislator to vote against this was Rep. David Eastman. This vote exactly paralleled the vote that took place one year prior on 4/3/2023 when the Alaska House of Representatives voted to replace the governor’s budget, which included a full dividend, with the House Finance Committee version, which did not. That vote also was 39-1. (See voting board)
(See “PFD Surrender: The Alaska State House Just Voted 39-1 to Slash the PFD by More than $1,000” for a contemporary account of what took place)
House Bill 268 itself was amended on the house floor, though the amount of the PFD remained unchanged.
On 4/11/24, the Alaska House of Representatives voted twice to approve House Bill 268 on a vote of 23 to 17. The amount of the 2024 PFD was announced at the time as $2,430, though this amount is high because it includes the portion of the unpaid dividend amount in 2023 and was contingent on the price of oil remaining above certain benchmarks. The amount appropriated for the PFD remained on line 19, page 74 of the bill. (See voting board of final vote taken)
On 4/26/24, the Senate Finance Committee recommended that the amount of the 2024 PFD be cut by another $775 (from $2,430 to $1,655) and the amount appropriated for the PFD be reduced from $1,100,000,000 to $914,315,845 (an additional cut of 16.88% from the amount appropriated by the House). The amount appropriated for the PFD can be found on line 27, page 78. Most members of the finance committee recommended to the senate that the senate pass the bill as-is (Hoffman, Stedman, Olson, Kiehl, Merrick, Bishop). Sen. Wilson made no recommendation.
On 4/29/24, the Senate voted unanimously to replace the House version of the budget with the version recommended by the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Shower was not present on the day of the vote.
On 5/1/24, the Senate passed the Senate Finance Committee version of House Bill 268 by a vote of 17 to 3. The amount appropriated for the PFD remained unchanged (see line 27, page 78). The additional cut to the PFD left a significant budget surplus when the bill was sent back to the house.
On 5/8/24, the House passed a pork laden $3.5 billion capital budget (Senate Bill 187). The bill included gifts to the Iditarod (see line 25, page 5), a mountain bike club (line 5, page 42), a snow machine club (see line 7, page 6), a fraternity in Anchorage (see line 12, page 6), and a host of other pet projects. The House passed SB187 by a vote of 39-1. Rep. Eastman was the only legislator to propose cuts to the capital budget on the House floor, and was also the only legislator to vote NO on final passage of the bill. (See voting board of final vote taken)
On 5/10/24, the Senate passed the same pork laden $3.5 billion capital budget as the House had passed two days earlier. The vote was 17-2. The only senators voting NO were Senators Myers and Shower. Senator Hughes was not present the day of the vote.
*Passage of the $3.5 billion capital budget effectively sealed the fate of the 2024 PFD at $1,702 (which includes the PFD funds previously appropriated in 2023).*
On 5/3/24, the House rejected the Senate version of House Bill 268 (state operating budget). The vote was 36 to 0. (See voting board)
On 5/6/24, the Senate formally rejected the House version of House Bill 268. The vote was 17-3 with Senators Hughes, Myers and Shower voting to accept the House version.
On 5/15/24, the HB268 Conference Committee voted unanimously for the house to adopt its version of House Bill 268. The appropriation for the PFD appears on (line 28, page 99) and remained unchanged from the Senate version of the bill.
On 5/15/24, the Senate passed the Conference Committee version of the budget by a vote of 17-3, with every senator voting YES except Senators Hughes, Myers and Shower. (See voting board)
Those voting YES on final passage of the bill were: Bishop, Bjorkman, Claman, Dunbar, Giessel, Gray-Jackson, Hoffman, Kaufman, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Merrick, Olson, Stedman, Stevens, Tobin, Wielechowski, Wilson.
On 5/15/24, the House considered the Conference Committee version of the budget. During the debate on the bill, the Co-Chair of the House Finance Committee, Rep. DeLena Johnson, rose to express her regret that she had voted to recommend adoption of the Senate’s additional cut to the PFD, but that there was no more money available for the dividend after the House passed the capitol budget (watch her remarks @2:18:32).* Following debate, the House passed the Conference Committee of the budget by a vote of 22-18. (See voting board) (See full debate)
Those voting YES on final passage of the bill were: Allard, Baker, Coulombe, Cronk, Edgmon, Foster, Craig Johnson, DeLena Johnson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Shaw, Stapp, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance, Wright.
Those voting NO on final passage of the bill were: Armstrong, Carpenter, Carrick, Dibert, Eastman, Fields, Galvin, Gray, Groh, Hannan, Himschoot, Josephson, Mears, Mina, Ortiz, Schrage, Story, Stutes.
On 10/9/24, Governor Dunleavy sent a number of line-item vetoes to the legislature, but he did not veto the appropriation for the 2024 PFD. The appropriation for the PFD does not appear on the governor’s list of line-item vetoes.
Governor did however veto a number of items in the capital budget (SB187), including $420,000 for the Iditarod, money for the fraternity, money for the mountain bike club, and money for several other pet projects. His vetoes this year totaled $231 million.
In summary, fifty-six legislators voted to approve cuts to the 2024 PFD. The only four legislators who did not are Rep. Eastman and Senators Hughes, Myers and Shower.
Thirty-nine legislators voted to approve the final 2024 PFD amount of $1,403.83 + $298.17 of funds withheld from the 2023 PFD (which politicians call an “energy relief payment”), for a total 2024 PFD check of $1,702.
The thirty-nine legislators who voted YES to this are:
Senators Bishop, Bjorkman, Claman, Dunbar, Giessel, Gray-Jackson, Hoffman, Kaufman, Kawasaki, Kiehl, Merrick, Olson, Stedman, Stevens, Tobin, Wielechowski, Wilson. (see voting board below)
Representatives Allard, Baker, Coulombe, Cronk, Edgmon, Foster, Craig Johnson, DeLena Johnson, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, Prax, Rauscher, Ruffridge, Saddler, Shaw, Stapp, Sumner, Tilton, Tomaszewski, Vance, Wright. (see voting board below)
