By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins says protecting the Permanent Fund for future generations will be one of his goals for the upcoming legislative session.
“The biggest priority I have with any questions relating to the Permanent Fund and the Permanent Fund Dividend, is that both will be around – bigger, better and stronger – for my grandchildren,” the Sitka legislator said in an interview.
“It’s a 50- to 100-year approach,” Kreiss-Tomkins said of his Permanent Fund Plan. “I can’t stand anything that’s short-sighted or effectively taxing our future for short-term political benefit.”
Both Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat, and Sen. Bert Stedman, the Republican who represents Sitka in the Senate, are members of a working group on the Permanent Fund, and both of them have expressed concerns about Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s pledges for a “full Permanent Fund dividend.”
“Full Permanent Fund Dividend,” as it is used by Dunleavy, is a PFD calculation that has not been used for years. The Sitka lawmakers say it’s not possible to go back to that formula if the state is to meet its spending obligations and also prevent the Permanent Fund from being overdrawn.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
“To some extent we’re up against the mathematical fantasy created by this governor around the Permanent Fund Dividend, which is the agenda and platform he ran on,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “The numbers don’t work. It’s been difficult because there’s a cadre of legislators – they’re in the minority but they’re still there – who have been in lockstep with the governor.”
He said both he and Stedman have talked about the “percent-of-market-value” approach, which is the system the City and Borough of Sitka uses in managing its own municipal permanent fund.
Kreiss-Tomkins said he’s also prepared in the next session to put his efforts into “protecting Coastal Alaska” and keeping an eye on any proposals to revise the foundation formula for funding K-12 education.
“The ferry system got meat-cleavered last year, and the management of the Alaska Marine Highway System didn’t help,” he said. “I’m going to be working to secure the previous levels of funding we saw previous to this governor.”
Kreiss-Tomkins remains supportive of creating a public corporation to run the ferry system, an idea that has been a topic of conversation at the Southeast Conference.
With regard to education, he is wary of the governor’s public statements about “his intention to make K-12 education a big focus.”
“What that actually means is unclear,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “But it could mean he’s going to open up the formula. I doubt that will happen but it could end up consuming a lot of time.”
He and other legislators won the court fight over forward funding of education last year, and they plan to try the forward funding process again this year. The concept is to approve education funding one year in advance so school boards will have a solid figure for state support when they create their own budgets. Without the advance notice, school boards have often had to adopt their budgets before the Legislature set an amount for the coming school year.
“The governor can always veto forward funding – there’s no question he’s able to do it,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
But the Sitka representative says he’s expecting a more even-handed discourse between the Legislature and the governor this year.
“Last year, the state was on fire,” he said. “Everything relating to the budget, things being zeroed out and suffocating uncertainty. This year things could be more of the same, or not. I’m not sure anyone fully knows what to expect.”
He added that the recall campaign against the governor should keep some things in check.
“As long as the recall is around the governor is going to be on better behavior,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
Kreiss-Tomkins also expressed optimism about the working relationship between the two houses of the Legislature.
“The House and the Senate are working incredibly well together, going on eight years, which I think it a real positive,” he said.
Kreiss-Tomkins, 30, is serving his fourth two-year term in the Legislature representing House District 35. He is a member of the majority coalition in the House, which will convene Jan. 21 for the second session of the 31st Legislature. He is co-chair of the State Affairs Committee and sits on the committees for fisheries and Community and Regional Affairs.
