Spann sues state, governor and PFD director in Anchorage court

Stephen Spann sued the State of Alaska in Anchorage Superior Court on Sept. 21, naming the governor, the revenue commissioner and the director of the Permanent Fund Dividend Division in their official capacities. He is representing himself and has asked the court to waive the $250 filing fee.

The complaint has not been reviewed. The court docket lists it as seeking declaratory, injunctive, mandamus and equitable relief — the remedies used to have a court say what the law requires and order officials to follow it — but does not state what the complaint is about. The case is stalled until the fee is paid or the waiver is granted; no summons has issued and the state has not been served.

Separately, Spann is the creator of a petition demanding that Alaska pay the full statutory Permanent Fund Dividend. It has 37,858 verified signatures and is still collecting them. It was created Sept. 21, 2025 — one year before the lawsuit was filed.

Whether the lawsuit concerns the dividend is not established. The defendants include the officials who administer it, and the petition is addressed to the governor, but nothing on the docket connects the two.

The petition argues that the dividend formula the Legislature enacted in 1982 "remains the law of Alaska, yet since 2016 it has been ignored." A 2017 Alaska Supreme Court decision held that the dividend must be appropriated each year like other spending; the petition disputes that ruling by name.

Alaska News will follow up once we've received the complaint from the court.