$5,500 Stimulus Check and Energy Relief Check Approved in the Senate for Alaskans

5 500 stimulus check energy check energy relief stimulus check cost of grocery items cost of gas prices House Speaker Louise Stutes Alaskan Senate Alaska Alaskan House Alaskan residents Permanent Fund Dividend Georgia Department of Revenue Gov. Brian Kemp Gov. David Ige Hawaii Gov. Phil Murphy New Jersey

By Lili Scott , Parent Herald May 14, 07:28 pm

Photo: (Photo : Lance King/Getty Images)

A stimulus check payment amounting to $5,500 could soon be distributed to residents of Alaska after the state Senate approved a new spending package.

According to Newsweek, the stimulus check covers $4,200 in dividend payments that can help families with purchasing much-needed basic goods, amid the rising cost of grocery items. The remaining $1,300, on the other hand, counts as an energy relief payment due to the astronomical cost of gas prices.

The Senate voted on the resolution to release the new stimulus package by 15 to 5 on Tuesday, May 10. It has been transmitted to the House for their votation as well. In case the House doesn't agree with the Senate's votes, both chambers will have to come up with a compromise before May 18.

Why Alaskan House Could Reject the New Stimulus Package

Alaska will use the funds to distribute the stimulus check and energy check from its Statutory Budget Reserve if the state revenue is not enough, Value Walk reported. Alaska has been forecasted to spend over $8.3 billion in the new financial year while the chambers have agreed to appropriate almost $9.3 billion. This means that there will be an excess of one billion.

But the state House Speaker, Louise Stutes, anticipated that the excess in the state budget will be entered into a savings account because she believes that Alaska needs to save its money. However, the Senate apparently shut down this proposal.

The House Speaker and the other critics of the new stimulus package believe that releasing $5,500 per taxpayer could bear fiscal consequences for the state's budget. Meanwhile, the House has voted and approved an earlier version of the state budget that has a lower stimulus check proposal of $1,250 per taxpayer. The energy check proposal remains the same at $1,300.

Since 1976, Alaskan residents receive dividend payments once a year under its Permanent Fund Dividend program, which is funded by the state's oil revenues. In the past few years, residents typically got $1,600.

Stimulus Checks Coming for These States, Too

Meanwhile, the Georgia Department of Revenue said that taxpayers who filed in the last two tax seasons are eligible to receive either $250 (single filer), $350 (head of household), or $500 (joint filer) in tax rebates. Gov. Brian Kemp has already approved the budget for this stimulus package.

Hawaii residents, on the other hand, may expect $300 per family member if they earned less than $100,000 and $100 per family member if they earned more than $100,000 in the previous tax season. According to Hawaii News Now, funding for this package will come from the state's $2 billion budget surplus. Gov. David Ige, however, has not yet signed this bill into law.

In 2021, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey approved a $500 stimulus payment for taxpayers. Recently, the governor amended the package to include non-citizens or immigrants still waiting on their citizenships, as well as their spouses and dependents, to receive the stimulus payment as well.

This May until the summer, Indiana residents will receive their $150 or $250 one-time stimulus payment.