Six members of the Alaska House majority have sent a letter to Speaker Mike Chenault expressing serious concerns with the potential use of the Permanent Fund earnings reserve to help balance the state budget.
This could create a new wrinkle in efforts to pass a funded budget.
Use of the earnings reserve has been seen as a possible alternative if agreement cannot be reached with minority Democrats to tap the constitutional budget reserve fund. There has been no apparent movement toward such an agreement in recent weeks.
The letter was signed by Reps. Bryce Edgmon, Louise Stutes, Neal Foster, Gabrielle LeDoux, Jim Colver and Paul Seaton. They said they would not intend to vote for use of the earnings reserve.
The letter was first reported by the Alaska Dispatch News.
