By SUZANNE DOWNING
My 19, 2026 – After political brinkmanship and a Legislature deeply divided over just about everything, including the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend, Alaska lawmakers forged a compromise operating budget over the weekend that gives most Alaskans a combined $1,200 payment.
The $13.9 billion fiscal year 2026 operating budget was finalized by a House-Senate conference committee in a 4-2 vote on Sunday morning, with Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk and Rep. Will Stapp voting against the deal.
The compromise settles one of the biggest fights of every recent legislative session, at least temporarily, by setting the Permanent Fund dividend at $1,000 and adding a separate $200 energy relief payment for eligible Alaskans.
The final agreement lands roughly in the middle between the Senate’s more restrained spending plan and the House’s earlier push for a significantly larger dividend of about $1,500.
The compromise budget reflects the increasingly narrow path lawmakers had available this year. Oil revenue forecasts remain volatile, inflation continues to pressure state agencies and school districts, and the Legislature has simultaneously been pushing for education funding increases, public employee pension proposals, and the politically explosive Alaska LNG legislation, which got bogged down in the House on Monday.
For months, the PFD debate once again exposed the philosophical divide in Juneau between lawmakers who prioritize larger direct payments to Alaskans and those arguing for bigger government.
The addition of a standalone energy rebate appears designed to soften the political blow of the lower dividend amount. The statutory amount, which is the amount set by Alaska law in a formula established decades ago, would be over $3,800 this year.
16 thoughts on “Alaskans’ Permanent Fund dividend now set at $1,200 for 2026”
Ha-Ha!!! … The PFD was never meant for Alaskans and Alaska.
If you thought otherwise, you mistakenly got hood-winked!
SUCKA’s!!!
I must quibble with the characterization of the Senate’s spending plan as “more restrained”. In recent history, the Senate reduces spending in some areas only for the purpose of having more money to BLOW AND WASTE on political pork projects that do Alaskans no good. Alaskans should ask themselves: When did they see a Legislative pork project or grant provide any benefit to anyone that they know? Fact is that the beneficiaries of these appropriations – running into the billions over the years – are an extremely small group of people. Our Legislature, like those in many other states, is an embarrassment to democracy.
I believe all Alaskans should be able to claim a state tax for the last 10years of PFD theft. This year alone we’d get a $2800 per person tax break because of our incompetent legislators inability to actually manage their spending habits.
We will know we are healing as a state when these criminals are facing indictments and prison.
Just in the last five years they have stolen north of $30,000 of our dividend from my family. Grand larceny is a felony.
And we tolerate it. Why are we so weak that we allow ourselves to be preyed upon?
Statutory and lawful PFD means nothing to these ignorant bastards in the Legislature. Bill Walker is the father of the shrunk dividend. What else would you expect from a protector of a pedophile named Byron Mallot.
Where is old Bill Walker these days??. No one’s seen him. Not even the lifeguards on the Hawaiian beaches.
Wielechowski v. Walker clearly established, unfortunately, that the statutory formula was and is unconstitutional as a “dedicated fund”. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Legislature can’t appropriate funds for a full PFD, but the continued passionate statements about “theft” of the PFD and those of a similar vein simply ignores the rule of law as established in Alaska and the U.S. of A.
I don’t think much of Senator Wielechowski and his nascent efforts to lay groundwork for a higher office are troubling (he would be a disaster as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, or Governor), but I believe he had the right intent back in the 2016 timeframe when he sued to establish a dedicated source of funding the PFD. The Alaska Supremes disagreed and we now have the situation wherein the PFD is subject to the vagaries of the hot dog factory that is the Alaska Legislature’s budget process. The absence of fiscal conservatives in any numbers in either the House or the Senate is clearly having an unfortunate effect.
The AK Supreme Court has never found that the statutory formula was and is unconstitutional. In 2017 rhe AK Supreme Court found that “…the 1976 amendment did not exempt the legislature’s use of Permanent Fund income from the Constitution’s anti-dedication clause…The legislature’s use of Permanent Fund income is subject to normal appropriation and veto budgetary processes.” They didn’t rule the statute language of the PFD unconstitutional. They ruled that it was not exempt from the anti-dedication clause and thus subject to the normal budgetary process. There is also considerable reason to question whether the AK Supreme Court got that ruling correct since they had to essentially ignore the fact that the PFD was created as a dedicated fund to begin with.
Section 7 of Article IX of the AK Constitution says:
The proceeds of any state tax or license shall not be dedicated to any special purpose, except as provided in section 15 of this article or when required by the federal government for state participation in federal programs. This provision shall not prohibit the continuance of any dedication for special purposes existing upon the date of ratification of this section by the people of Alaska.
The PF Amendment added “except as provided in section 15 of this article or” to this section, meaning that it was clearly setup as an exemption to the anti-dedication clause.
Section 7 of Article IX was also added due to the PF Amendment and it states:
At least twenty-five per cent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, federal mineral revenue sharing payments and bonuses received by the State shall be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which shall be used only for those income-producing investments specifically designated by law as eligible for permanent fund investments. All income from the permanent fund shall be deposited in the general fund unless otherwise provided by law.
The last part of this section says “unless otherwise provided by law.” The statute language of the PFD is exactly what that is.
The Alaska Supreme Court had to ignore the definition of words and take part in all kinds of mental gymnastics to come up with a ruling that simply disregards the intent of the PF Amendment and what the AK Constitution actually says.
“……..The AK Supreme Court has never found that the statutory formula was and is unconstitutional……….,”
LOL! You never learn, do you, Steve? You are correct……….and irrelevant. The “statutory formula” has been rendered to a fantasy. An “advisory” amount. A beach ball to be bounced around. It has no effect on anything beyond a hill of sand for the dependent class to fight from, and it never will. The legislature and governor will dance around this “statutory formula” for the next 10-20 years while attempts to amend the constitution run their course, the “statutory” amount stagnates with slowly dwindling PF returns, and the entire struggle becomes moot. This is a repeat of “subsistence”, that other fight over resources “by the people”.
Enjoy your long, cold dependency on government trickling……………………..
It is a dividend you dunce- not a govt hand out.
Steve actually had a relevent and cogent post. You not so much.
Reggie,
No matter how much money you want government to spend the AK Supreme Court did not find the statuatory language of the PFD to be unconstitutional. Full stop end of discussion because it did not happen.
Now if you want to discuss the merits of government spending vs the spending of private individuals and who does a better job at spending then you are welcome to try and make your point that government does a better job than private individuals.
LOL…..Reggie Taylor is a government worker. Whaddya expect from a drone?
“inflation continues to pressure state agencies and school districts…..”. The average Alaskan is being decimated by those same inflation pressures and the best the legislature can do is give Alaskans a couple of tanks of gas? The lack of empathy for what’s left of the working class is stunning, but sadly not surprising from these clowns!
A $200.00 energy relief payment. LOL! What a joke! I just got a $2500.00 heating bill for the last 4 months.
I just cut down more trees and added more supposedly climate warming carbon back into the atmosphere, just trying to do my part to help keep us all a little bit warmer.
Maybe they can quit blowing smoke up our— and build a small refinery to handle our fuel costs,and quit building pipe Iines for companies that have been gouging us for years.They just want to export it to profit more.Fully fund the schools would save me over $12,000 a year,and you could keep my PFD.Only fund projects that benefit all Alaskans,not 10% who live here,wich means no freebees for votes!