Opinion ID: 1232173
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Are the State's Purposes in Enacting AS 43.23.005(d) Legitimate?

Text: Since an individual's interest in a dividend is reviewed at the low end of the sliding scale, the state is required to show only that its objectives [in enacting AS 43.23.005(d)] were legitimate. See Alaska Pacific, 687 P.2d at 269. The explicit purpose of the statute is to obtain funds for the crime victim compensation fund, which is provided for in AS 18.67.162. Ch. 54, § 5, SLA 1988. We find this section indicative of legislative intent despite the fact that article IX, section 7 of the Alaska Constitution prohibits the dedication of proceeds of any public revenue to a particular purpose. [4] State v. Alex, 646 P.2d 203, 210 (Alaska 1982). The state budget for fiscal year 1990 allocated an amount equal to almost half of the $1.5 million the state anticipated obtaining through application of AS 43.23.005(d) to compensation of crime victims. An amount equal to the remainder of anticipated revenue was allocated to sex offender treatment programs and gate money for inmates. The state asserts that another purpose of AS 43.23.005(d) is to compensate the state partially for the cost of incarcerating felons. No party disputed this alleged purpose at trial in either case. Appellee Smith, however, argues in his brief that the court should consider only the one stated purpose of the legislation  to compensate crime victims. Since we do not find any explicit indication in the legislative history that the purpose of AS 43.23.005(d) is to help pay for the costs of incarceration, we do not address this purpose. Even if we chose to address this second purpose, our decision in this case would remain unchanged. None of the appellees argue that either compensating crime victims or compensating the state for the costs of incarceration is illegitimate. Instead, the inmates argue that the distinctions the statute draws are not sufficiently related to the state's goals to meet the requirements of the equal protection clause of the Alaska Constitution.