Anchorage Daily News

JUNEAU -- A proposed law to pay every Alaska resident $500 this year as a way to offset high energy costs nearly flamed out Wednesday in a volatile debate among lawmakers.

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Besides the fireworks, the hearing of the House Finance Committee produced a tantalizing side note: This year's Permanent Fund dividend could reach $2,000, which would top the record of $1,964 in 2000 and far exceed last year's $1,654.

Committee members debated the question of whether the state has any business handing out $500 energy relief checks to people who might or might not need it, even though the state is flush with billions of dollars in surplus oil revenue.

In the end, committee chairman Rep. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, held House Bill 396 without a vote.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, sponsored the bill because he said his friends and constituents in rural Southeast Alaska are suffering with high fuel costs.

Meyer said afterward he held the bill because Thomas didn't have the minimum six votes he needed to move it out of committee.

"It wasn't going to pass," Meyer said.

The committee could take up the bill again next week, when an ailing committee member, Rep. Richard Foster, D-Nome, is scheduled to return. He could make the difference in moving the bill, Meyer said.

But Meyer conceded it looks as though the $500 payment will have a difficult time passing the full Legislature this year.

Debate over the so-called energy rebate ran hot Wednesday with committee members sometimes exchanging tough words.

Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, said he was OK with giving working-class and poor people the money, but not rich people living on the affluent Anchorage Hillside or retirees spending winters out of state.

"Are you opposed to helping the seniors, Rep. Gara?" a smiling Meyer asked him.

"You know, I'm not a rich trial lawyer that lives in downtown Anchorage," Meyer continued. "I need help on my high fuel costs, to tell you the truth, just like most middle-class people and low-income people and even the higher-income people."

"Let me get out of the crossfire here real quick," threw in Chugiak Republican Rep. Bill Stoltze, who sits between Meyer and Gara on the committee.

Gara came back at Meyer.

"I just want you on notice, frankly, that every time you take a personal shot, I'm going to take one back from now on," Gara said.

"So I don't need to distribute how much money you made last year from Conoco because that would be wrong. I'm not going to do that. And I don't really need to correct you on something you know is true, which is I don't actually practice law anymore."

Meyer has a job with Conoco Phillips, the state's top oil producer.

The total cost to give each Alaska resident $500 -- it would be done by tacking that amount onto Permanent Fund dividend checks -- would be $305 million, according to the state Department of Revenue.

The money would come from the state's oil-fed general fund, rather than Permanent Fund profits as Thomas previously proposed.

Rep. Harry Crawford, D-Anchorage, said Wednesday he'd rather see the state invest in alternative energy sources such as wind and hydro to wean Alaska communities off expensive heating oil and diesel. That would be better than sending checks -- a handout Alaskans would expect again next year, he said.

Crawford added that speaking against the energy rebate felt like "political suicide" during this election year.

"There's nothing out there better to get votes than to hand people checks," he said.

"I resent the fact that people think I'm doing this to get votes," Thomas responded. "I've done a damn good job for my district. ... Mr. Chairman, when I hear people crying about their energy costs, I have to respond."

Crawford later apologized to Thomas.

Jerry Burnett, of the Revenue department, told the committee this year's Permanent Fund dividend is on track to increase substantially, regardless of whether lawmakers add an extra $500 as an energy rebate.

The dividend is shaping up at around $2,000, though Burnett said calculations on Permanent Fund investment returns available for dividends won't be completed until September.

After several committee members including Crawford, Gara, Anchorage Republican Rep. Mike Hawker and Fairbanks Republican Rep. Mike Kelly signaled they likely would vote against HB 396, Meyer announced he was holding the bill for another day.

Meyer said he'd like to see the bill make it to the House floor for a debate. Record oil prices are enriching the state but hurting Alaskans with high fuel prices, he said.

Find Wesley Loy online at adn.com/contact/wloy or call him in Juneau at 1-907-586-1531.

ENERGY REBATE:

Amount of payment: $500 per qualified resident

How often: This year only

Distribution method: Payments would be tacked onto Permanent Fund dividend checks

Total cost to state: $305 million

Funding source: State general fund, made up mainly of oil revenue

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