This is a strange legislative session. Most legislators are concentrating on the State's significant budget problems. I, personally, am concerned about this but am spending most of my time on co-chairing the Health, Education, and Social Services Committee. In addition, I am working on some legislation in the following areas: charter schools, bounty hunters, Municipal zoning enforcement, adult education, school behavior standards, high school diploma warranties, and at least one economic development bill. I would appreciate input from any and all of you on these and other subjects.

As I try to deal with the State's very real budget problems I am asking myself and others some fundamental questions:

How should a free society pay for the level of government it wants?

In the ideal situation, we should tax ourselves with direct taxes to pay for government. This would give us direct control of our government and, because we would be writing a check to directly pay for government, we would take a lot of interest in how our government conducts its business. I am uneasy about any government that has a reserved place at the money trough, which is the case when a government has its own money supply. In this scenario, the citizens have little control and no seat at the table.

Frontier realities.

The founding fathers of our country foresaw that the frontier areas would have difficulty paying for infrastructure and government services. However, they made provision for these territories to be able to sell or trade natural resources for needed roads, schools, railroads, canals, law enforcement, and land management. Using these tools, land and minerals were traded for needed structures and services. These provisions allowed the development of the west. In Alaska, the problems are multiplied by topography and climate. We have used our oil wealth to support government for a score of years and now that wealth is greatly diminished. What do we do?

The Permanent Fund was designed to help our budget problem out sometime. Governor Hammond and forward-thinking legislators foresaw that our oil wealth would taper off and, thus, set up the Permanent Fund to allow for some of our oil wealth to be set aside and invested in order to provide a future funding source for some state government costs. They then set up the dividend program, in part, to enlist us all to guard the Fund. They were successful beyond anyone's expectations.

What to do now?

The state's budget problems are real and we must ask the question, "Is now the time to start using the excess earning of the Permanent Fund for its intended role, to support part of the cost of some State services?" Do we want to get some control of our government by controlling its income through our taxes?

We will continue to cut government spending, but it won't be enough. Some revenue will be needed soon, if not now. Alaska is a frontier state and we are somewhere between being completely dependent on trading off our natural resources and being able to support government with our taxes. Exactly where we are in this process is not clear to me and I welcome your input.

We are eager to be of assistance to people in our area in dealing with state agencies. If you are having trouble or need help I can be reached by phone, (800) 342-2199 or (907) 465-2199; by mail, Alaska State Capitol, Juneau, AK 99801; or via the Internet, Representative_Fred_Dyson@legis.state.ak.us. You can also send us information via the Public Opinion Messages (POMs) by calling the Legislative Information Office at 258-8111 (TTY 258-8173).

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