Defeat SB 58.

• Position: From the Publisher - A discussion of Senate Bills in Alaska - Editorial

In 18 years of publishing Alaska Business Monthly it has been our practice to refrain from writing about political matters, but occasionally we have taken up a standard against bad public policy. We are doing that here.

Sometimes the best of intentions make the worst public policy. Senate Bill No. 58 is such an example, and should be defeated as it is presently written.

In short, SB 58 will deny a person a Permanent Fund dividend because of two misdemeanor offenses in any of the four years preceding the qualifying year (the 12 months just prior to the year for which the dividend is issued). No matter that one may have turned over a new leaf two or three years prior and has lived at the foot of the cross ever since, been a good spouse and contributed to the community and to worthy causes. No matter that! No dividend, period.

We can accept, at least philosophically, dividend denial for committing two misdemeanors during the qualifying year. Perhaps one may need to be taught a lesson. Even though we do not sanction using Permanent Fund dividends to enforce social agendas, we can go along with such a punishment for the year of the dividend qualification. The Permanent Fund, after all, was established to share a part of Alaska's natural resource wealth with its citizens. It was not based upon whether you had been a good guy or not.

To enforce such legislation will require looking into every citizen's record for the past four or five years to determine eligibility. It chills the mind to think of what that can bring about or may lead to. The next step is to back-charge for those years in which one has failed to have automobile insurance or has committed a couple of misdemeanors even though one may have a shining record in the...