Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that the 2019 Permanent Fund Dividend will be $1,606, Friday morning.
Those who filed for a direct deposit will receive payments on Oct. 3, according to the Department of Revenue which oversees the dividend. Applications filed online must be declared “eligible” by Sept. 26, 2019.
Applicants who filed for a paper check will be eligible for payment on Oct. 24. Paper applications must be deemed eligible by Oct. 11, according to the state.
Checks will go out to an estimated 631,000 Alaskans, according to a press release from the Department of Revenue. The total distribution of this year’s dividend is approximately $1,013,000,000, the release said.
Eligible Alaskans can use the state’s MyPFD website to check the status of their dividend.
This year’s dividend comes after an extremely contentious legislative session, much of which focused on the amount of the PFD.
The Alaska Legislature went into special session over its inability to agree on a capital budget and the amount for this year’s dividend.
The majority of the Legislature wanted to use money from the Permanent Fund to fill some of the gaps left in the state’s budget by the governor’s $444 million in cuts.
But a minority of Republican lawmakers stood fast on allocating the PFD using a formula stated in a 1982 law. The press release from DOR says that Dunleavy’s proposal for the PFD would have used that formula and this year’s dividend “should be $2,9100.”
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at 523-2228 or psegall@juneauempire.com.
