Alaska House panel OKs dividends for Peace Corps volunteers



Alaska House panel OKs dividends for Peace Corps volunteers

House panel OKs dividends for Peace Corps volunteers

Thursday, March 3, 2005 - by Bill McAllister

Juneau, Alaska - A legislative committee decided today that people in the Peace Corps deserve to get a Permanent Fund dividend, even though they may be living outside Alaska. However, Alaskans serving as diplomats in the foreign service are out of luck.

To get a Permanent Fund dividend, applicants must prove they are Alaska residents, except for people with specific circumstances that the law exempts. Thursday, a House committee looked favorably on adding one exemption but decided against another.

When dividends first went out to Alaskans in 1982, Peace Corps volunteers were among those who did not have to meet the residency requirements. That changed in 1998, when the Legislature rewrote the dividend eligibility law.

"It's unclear. There isn't a lot of record about why it was taken out," said Rep. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage. "It was done without public testimony. It was done in sort of the dark of the night. It’s something that’s always troubled me."

Rep. McGuire's bill to reinstate the residency exemption for Peace Corps volunteers got a favorable hearing Thursday in the House State Affairs Committee. McGuire says that's a recognition of the nobility of their work.

"Peace Corps volunteers from Alaska come back and teach in our schools," she said. "They often teach the foreign language programs in schools. They work in our community as public health officials. And, frankly, many of them even die on the front line."

McGuire also sought to provide an exemption for Alaskans who go into the foreign service. Former KTUU-TV reporter Mark Wenig, who has been working for the state department since 1994, says that he should not be treated differently than Alaskans in the military, who receive PFDs.

"We want to have our work valued by the people of Alaska and I think not have people think that we're living some kind of privileged life," Wenig said. "I can assure people that we live in very, very difficult places."

But it looks like Wenig will head to his new posting in Germany this summer without restoration of his dividend eligibility. The State Affairs Committee removed diplomats from the bill today.

"If you or I went to Mali as Peace Corps workers, we could expect to get maybe $40 or $50 a month," said Rep. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage. "If we went with the foreign service, we could be making $50,000 a year."

So far, the committee seems to be saying that it wants to reward Alaskans for doing good, not necessarily for doing well.

The committee is scheduled to take up McGuire's bill again Saturday. Another part of the bill would make it easier for the Department of Revenue to collect fines for attempted PFD fraud.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

---

---

March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

---

February 26, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Folk-Singer Steve Schuch releases "Trees of Life" 26 Feb Christopher Bartlett maintains Marine Protected Area 25 Feb Joseph Frey uses amputation experience to help others 25 Feb James McCann concerned by maize in Ethiopia 25 Feb Sen. Obama says PC can help improve diplomacy 24 Feb PCVs help remove batteries in Belize 24 Feb Jimmy Carter praises mother's PC service 24 Feb Craig D. Wandke's lunar passion began in Honduras 23 Feb Char Andrews discusses her experience with cancer 23 Feb Beverly Seckinger tells stories through film 23 Feb J. Tyler Dickovick: As Togo goes, so may go Africa 23 Feb Andres Hernandez searches for PCV for 40 years 23 Feb Bulgaria is now like second home to Aaron Wills 22 Feb Bernadette Roberts to serve as diplomat in Albania 22 Feb USA Freedom Corps downgraded at White House 22 Feb Tom Skeldon seeks to control pit bull trade 21 Feb Gabriela Lena Frank writes music on Dad's PCV service 21 Feb

---

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey.

Read the stories and leave your comments.