Sponsor Statement for SJR 21

Public Facilities Capital Fund

Senate Joint Resolution 21 would establish, within the state constitution, a Public Facilities Capital Fund, to serve as a permanent revolving account for funding most of Alaska's public works projects.

Funding for eligible projects within the PFCF would be available for design, acquisition, construction, and major maintenance, and be limited to public buildings, roads, highways, airports, harbors, ports, schools, water/sewer, and correctional facilities. The facility would have to be wholly owned by the state, a municipality, a school district, or the University of Alaska. There would be a matching funds requirement for municipalities and school districts.

The PFCF would be capitalized with an initial appropriation from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, and its investment and administrative functions performed by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. The Public Facilities Capital Fund would be a separate and distinct account within the APFC with no effect on the Permanent Fund investment, earnings, or dividend check policies.

The PFCF would fundamentally be a revolving bond fund with some annual cash appropriations. Investment income from the fund, not principal, would automatically be used each year to pay debt-service on voter-approved bond issues. Any bond package must be authorized by the Legislature and the Governor as is now currently done, and submitted to the public for approval at each general election. Interest earning funds in excess of debt-service would be available each year for legislative appropriation.

The Public Facilities Capital Fund, as created in SJR 21, would address several of the Legislative Majority's elements of its COMMITMENT TO ALASKA, would respond to the expressed concerns of the Governor in his STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS, and help solve one of the state's most elusive and continuing problems, to find a financially responsible way to invest more than the ongoing $100 million a year in Alaska's infrastructure.