newsminer.com

The Palin administration plan to give $1,200 to every Alaskan contains a new definition of state residency, saying that those who are here for six months would qualify for the handout.

State officials say because this is a temporary program, they don’t think it would mean a legal challenge to the current PFD eligibility standard of a year or longer.

I think that instead of creating a new bureaucratic process, the Legislature should simply say that anyone who qualified for the 2008 Permanent Fund Dividend should receive a separate check.

But the Palin administration wants to create a new program, one that would extend not only to dividend recipients, but also to an additional 30,000 to 40,000 people who have not been here long enough to qualify or don’t apply for dividends.

I think it would be better to limit eligibility to dividend recipients, in part because it would reduce the level of fraud.

Under the Palin plan, the extra checks would automatically go to everyone declared eligible for a dividend in 2008. About 620,000 Alaskans are eligible this year.

But the checks would also go to those who are “voluntarily and physically present” on the day they apply and everyone who is “voluntarily and physically present in the state for the period from April 1, 2008 through October 1, 2008” and “intends to maintain a home in the state.”

What does it mean to intend to maintain a home in the state? Someone who intends to maintain a home in the state for 60 days would appear to qualify unless the state puts a time limit in the law.

Does the applicant have to be here for the entire six months? Or is possible for someone to be gone for a month or two? These questions and others are going to come up with this hastily drafted measure.

The applicants who did not get a PFD have to show one of seven items such as a utility bill, a rental agreement, a voter card, a paycheck stub or a letter from the state that may not be more than six months old to show that they were here for six months. But a paycheck stub from August won’t prove that someone was here in April.

The applicant would also have to get signatures from two state residents “unrelated to the applicant” who can verify that the individual has been here since April.

I think this program is going to be wide open to seasonal workers who show up in the summer and cobble together the paperwork needed to collect the $1,200, signing for each other.

A rent receipt from the middle of summer and a couple of signatures from others who show up in the middle of summer would seem to be enough to do the trick.

As far as the "pain of perjury" goes, I would guess that the state won't have much manpower or time to track down violators.

Better to stick with what we've got and send a second check. Since the dividend is based on the previous year’s residency, make those who arrived here in April stick around for another year before collecting any dough.