Alaska has passed a number of troubling milestones in the past decade as lawmakers have continually punted on fixing Alaska’s structural fiscal problems. But none was more sobering than the one that came July 1, when Gov. Mike Dunleavy authorized a $1 billion transfer from the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve to its constitutionally protected principal – and less than 60% of that money was actually in the account to be transferred. As the Earnings Reserve becomes a funding source of greater and greater importance, we should recognize how precarious its status has become.