The U.S. Senate just had an idea so good that even Lisa Murkowski voted for it. They unanimously approved resolution SR 526 to suspend senators’ pay during a future government shutdown. In future shutdowns, they won’t be paid, just like every other federal worker. Of course, they aren’t really serious about this idea; this resolution won’t accomplish anything, but maybe we can use it to change the behavior of legislators here in Alaska?

First, we need to acknowledge that the Senate’s action was merely performative. The Senate only acted because they are receiving heat for the so-called government shutdown that has left some federal employees unpaid since March. The Senate knows this is a bad look for them, so they passed the resolution to show solidarity with the unpaid workers.

However, their resolution means nothing for a couple of reasons. First, it doesn’t apply to the current shutdown, only future ones. Second, it is a phony attempt at solidarity because of the difference in how Senators and regular federal workers are compensated. While government employees lose their salaries in a shutdown, Senators wouldn’t be seriously impacted because of their lavish expense accounts.

I bet it would make for some interesting emails and phone conversations with constituents if they voted to take our PFD while protecting their own salary.

Senators have an expense account, known as the SOPEA, which, for some senators, runs over $3 million per year. This expense account can be used to pay for costs such as meals, travel, and lodging as long as they are related to the official duties of a senator. They can use their expense account to pay for their daily expenses as long as some “official business” can be tied to it.

Here is how this works from an Alaska perspective: Do you remember earlier this year when President Trump was threatening to take over Greenland, and our Princess Senator took a vacation in Denmark to show solidarity with the Danes? She did that using her Senate expense account and didn’t have to pay a dime for the trip. Senators are in no danger of starving to death in a future government shutdown, salary or no salary.

However, while their phony resolution was never intended to accomplish anything, perhaps we can put the idea to real use here in Alaska for our own State Legislature. They have failed to balance the state budget for 10 years, dating back to 2016, and have resorted to taking part of the annual PFD from each citizen to pay for state government. I propose that the salary for every legislator be paid at the same percentage as the PFD we receive. If the public gets a full PFD, the legislators get their full salary. If the legislature needs to keep part of our PFD, we take the same percentage of their salary.

The charts show how this would work every year, going back to 2016. Looking at the data for this year, the statutory PFD is $3,800, and while the budget isn’t final yet, the Senate proposes paying Alaskans a PFD of $1,150, which is about 30% of what Alaskans are entitled to by statute.

I suggest they be paid ~30% of their statutory salary, which works out to an adjusted legislative salary of $25,421. This is possible using the same argument they use to keep a portion of the PFD. They tell us the PFD is a statute; it isn’t in the Alaska Constitution. Well, Legislative salaries are not in the state constitution either. They are decided by statute. Alaska Statute (AS) 34.10.100 to be precise. We don’t have to pay legislators a guaranteed salary, and if they can take part of the PFD, they should be held accountable for doing so.

Of course, since Democrats and Vichy Republicans control the current Legislature, they would never willingly pass a budget containing this language. However, in this election year, we have a unique opportunity to make this a campaign issue and get some traction out of the idea.

If one of the candidates in this year’s crowded race for governor wanted to separate themselves from the pack, this would be the perfect campaign pledge to make. They could propose, if elected, to introduce legislation tying legislative salaries to PFD payout, and introduce it as a bill into both the House and Senate. The legislature would be reluctant to take it up, but a determined new governor, with the political capital just earned by a victory in the fall election, could introduce the bill and then refuse to consider any other legislation until both the House and Senate have an up or down vote on the matter.

It might not pass, but it would put each legislator on record on the matter. We would have a chance to see how our local Representatives and Senators would vote. I bet it would make for some interesting emails and phone conversations with constituents if they voted to take our PFD while protecting their own salary.

The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.

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