Alaska permanent fund divided this year's $900 payment breaks decline.

• Author: Malone, Michael
• Position: ALASKA TRENDS

Alaska Trends an outline of significant statewide statistics, is provided by the University Of Alaska Center for Economic Development.

In September, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) announced that approximately 640,000 Alaskans would begin receiving a nine hundred dollar dividend payment in October. The Alaska Permanent Fund was established in 1976 through a constitutional amendment to the Alaska State Constitution under Governor Jay Hammond. It was designed to be an investment where at least 25 percent of oil revenues to the state treasury would be put into a dedicated fund for future generations who would no longer have oil as a resource.

The Alaska Department of Revenue Treasury Division managed the fund until 1980, when the Alaska Legislature created the APFC. With oversight by the state Legislature, APFC manages the Fund by investing in preferred and common stocks, real estate, and marketable debt securities. By law, the Fund's principal cannot be spent and dividends can only be paid from Fund earnings. If the Fund's earnings reserve is zero or negative on June 30, no money can be paid out that year.

Dividend amounts are formulated by state law and calculated based on a five-year average of the Fund's income. There are strict residency...