Juneau -- Good morning. This is Speaker of the House Brian Porter.

Over the past weekend the republican-led house majority caucus unveiled the healthy Alaska plan, a proposal to address the state's critical fiscal position and to put us back on solid financial ground.

This plan has evolved into its present form ... most notably from the "All-Alaskan" plan, which my predecessor as Speaker, Representative Gail Phillips, and Juneau Representative Bill Hudson both had a large hand in developing. I want to thank them, and everyone else who worked long and hard to come up with the All-Alaskan plan proposal.

The question has been asked: why do we need to take this action? The answer is simple: because we must; doing nothing is simply not an option. Virtually every economic projection we have seen has shown that, if we fail to act, the state will drain its revenues and savings accounts over the next few years. When that happens we will have no other choice than to either slash government services - by that, I mean essential services, such as road maintenance , public safety, and education - or start tapping the principal of the permanent fund, itself. The dividend? By then, it and the financial security that it represents for our children and grandchildren would be gone.

The Healthy Alaska plan places the revenues from all the state's savings accounts into one account, to be called the Alaska Income Account. These funds, properly invested, will earn an average of 8.25-percent annually. After inflation-proofing with 3-percent of that 8.25, the balance, 5.25-percent, will create the Alaska Income Account. 42-percent of that money will be used for dividends. The remainder goes to pay our bills. In effect, we have endowed the permanent fund dividend, keeping it safe for ourselves and for future generations of Alaskans.

The Healthy Alaska plan achieves several essential goals:

• It closes the fiscal gap, which is currently over $1 billion;
• It preserves, protects, and increases the value of the permanent fund and our other principle savings accounts;
• It protects the dividend program for today and future generations by endowing the dividend;
• It limits the growth of government but provides for a sustainable budget;
• It requires no new statewide taxes;
• It sustains a healthy statewide economy and a stable business environment;
• It demonstrates our continued commitment to the permanent fund.

I urge you to become familiar with the Healthy Alaska Plan, what it does and does not do. Our future prudence now, we believe, will pay big dividends, both literally and figuratively, in the future.

This is Speaker of the House Brian Porter. Thanks for listening.