By Delcenia Cosman

Homer Independent Press

Out of 17 candidates running for governor, several have previously held political office, but independent candidate Bill Walker is the only former Alaska governor in the race.

A lifelong Alaskan and Republican-turned-independent, Walker served one term as governor, from 2014-2018, before being unseated by current Gov. Mike Dunleavy. He ran for office again, unsuccessfully, in 2018 and 2022.

Walker’s gubernatorial bid this time came just hours before the candidate filing period closed on June 1. He’s running alongside Randy Hoffbeck, his former revenue commissioner, as a candidate for lieutenant governor. Their platform is centered on establishing a long-term fiscal plan for Alaska.

Walker said in an interview with the Homer Independent Press during a campaign stop in Homer last week that he’s “haunted” by what could happen without a sustainable fiscal plan in place and by the opportunities he sees for Alaska.

“That’s really what gets me in this race, is the opportunities we have once we have a fiscal plan,” he said. “I say that Alaska is broken, not broke. But if we don’t fix what’s broken, we will be broke.”

Walker’s fix involves reforming taxes on existing resource production, particularly minerals and oil. In both cases, he proposes replacing the current tax, which relies on profit calculations, with a gross-value tax structure based on production instead of net profit. Alaska’s existing royalty system and other state and local taxes would remain. 

Walker said he wants to “get our revenues from resources correct first” before instituting a broad-based tax.

In another facet of their fiscal plan, the Walker-Hoffbeck team proposes a reform to the Permanent Fund Dividend. 

Walker proposed early on in his campaign to end the PFD after distributing one final, $10,000 payout to all eligible Alaskans. Last week in talking with the Homer Independent Press, he said he and Hoffbeck are no longer considering that idea because of negative public feedback.

“That wasn’t very popular at all, so that’s fine. It certainly got everybody’s attention and started the conversation, and what we wanted was a conversation,” he said. 

Now, following those conversations that highlighted residents’ desire for the PFD to both continue and be predictable, Walker said he’s proposing to change the PFD to what he called a “true resource dividend.”

Under this proposal, the Permanent Fund would be funded by taxes generated through resource development. Fifty percent of state production tax revenues would be deposited into a Dividend Fund and the remaining 50% would continue supporting the government and essential services.

“That way we could forward fund education. We could have multi-year budgets. The legislature doesn’t have to spend half the legislative session or more arguing over the dividend,” Walker said. 

As outlined on the Walker-Hoffbeck campaign page, constitutional royalty deposits would continue, preserving the fund for future generations. All revenue deposited into the Dividend Fund in the previous fiscal year would be distributed equally among eligible Alaskans.

Walker described setting a “floor,” or a guaranteed minimum dividend, at $1,000. Because the dividend would be tied to resource development, it could increase as resource development revenue increased or decline in tandem with production or commodity prices. Walker said the dividend would “never be less than $1,000.”

Further on resource development, Walker supports the proposed Alaska Liquid Natural Gas pipeline, a project his administration previously worked on, and called for transparency in the process. He said both aspects of the project — the pipeline and the export facility in Nikiski — are needed to provide gas for Alaskans and lower in-state energy costs.

But even if the project gets final approval, pipeline construction and gas production could be years in the making. Kenai Peninsula utilities are worried now about having enough natural gas supply to fuel demand this coming winter. 

Walker said “there’s no question” that Alaska will need to import natural gas in the immediate future, which would drive up energy costs. 

“That’s not good news at all for anybody, and that scares me to death,” he said.

He said if elected, he would address the problem by issuing a declaration of disaster on energy costs and look to accelerate development of renewable energy resources such as geothermal and hydroelectric.

“With (a declaration of disaster), you can expedite things that you couldn’t otherwise do. I would certainly get help from the president,” he said. “Some of the renewables I’m convinced could be significantly accelerated, so we absolutely should. We’re in a crisis … I say never waste a crisis.”

Learn more about the Walker-Hoffbeck platform on their campaign website.