Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sarah Palin is preparing to drop her proposal to offer $100-a-month energy debit cards to all Alaskans. But she's looking at replacing it by asking the Legislature to just directly send everyone money instead.

Palin plans to offer a new version of her energy cost-relief plan on Friday, and it appears the debit cards won't be part of it.

"I think that's the call that's been made, yeah" said Joe Balash, the governor's special assistant on energy issues. "We're going to have a meeting on it this afternoon, but that's the general direction we were headed."

Balash said today that Palin's team still thinks the cards could have worked.

"But lawmakers made it pretty clear they were not interested in the debit cards" he said.

Balash said the governor's team is planning to replace the proposed cards with a "direct benefit" to Alaskans. He said the idea of sending money directly to Alaskans is "definitely on the table." But Balash said he couldn't answer questions such as how big the payments would be.

"There are a couple of policy calls on different things here and there that the governor is yet to make," Balash said. "I can't get into specific details of what is going to be rolled out (on Friday) because the final decisions on that haven't been made."

The plan announced last month would distribute $100-a-month debit cards to Alaskans eligible to receive this fall's Permanent Fund dividend. The cards were supposed to be coded so they could only go to energy costs. The program would last a year and also include $475 million in subsidies to Alaska electric companies so that they could lower rates to their customers. The Legislature would need to approve the program, and Palin wants lawmakers to do so this summer.

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call 257-4344.

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