00CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 198(STA) am S                                                                                     
01 "An Act relating to absences from the state for purposes of eligibility for                                             
02 permanent fund dividends to care for a terminally ill parent, spouse, sibling,                                          
03 child, or stepchild; to care for a parent, spouse, sibling, child, or stepchild with                                    
04 a critical life-threatening illness whose treatment plan, as recommended by the                                         
05 attending physician, requires travel outside the state for treatment at a medical                                       
06 specialty complex; and to settle the estate of a deceased parent, spouse, sibling,                                      
07 child, or stepchild; and providing for an effective date."                                                              
08 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
09    * Section 1.  FINDINGS AND INTENT.  The legislature finds that care of a terminally ill                              
10 individual by a member of that individual's immediate family is a socially beneficial and, in                           
11 this time of escalating health care costs, economically efficient measure.  It is the intent of the                     
12 legislature to provide support to the families in this state during times of bereavement and to                         
13 encourage residents to provide personal care for terminally ill family members.                                         
14    * Sec. 2.  AS 43.23.095(8) is amended to read:                                                                       

01   (8)  "state resident" means an individual who is physically present in the                                           
02 state with the intent to remain permanently in the state under the requirements of                                      
03 AS 01.10.055 or, if the individual is not physically present in the state, intends to                                   
04 return to the state and remain permanently in the state under the requirements of                                       
05 AS 01.10.055, and is absent only for any of the following reasons:                                                      
06   (A)  vocational, professional, or other specific education for                                                      
07 which a comparable program was not reasonably available in the state;                                                   
08   (B)  secondary or postsecondary education;                                                                          
09   (C)  military service;                                                                                              
10   (D)  medical treatment;                                                                                             
11   (E)  service in Congress;                                                                                           
12   (F)  other reasons which the commissioner may establish by                                                          
13 regulation; [OR]                                                                                                        
14   (G)  service in the Peace Corps;                                                                                    
15   (H)  to care for the individual's terminally ill parent, spouse,                                                   
16 sibling, child, or stepchild;                                                                                           
17   (I)  for up to 220 days to settle the estate of the individual's                                                    
18 deceased  parent, spouse, sibling, child, or stepchild; or                                                              
19   (J)  to care for a parent, spouse, sibling, child, or stepchild                                                     
20 with a critical life-threatening illness whose treatment plan, as                                                       
21 recommended by the attending physician, requires travel outside the state                                               
22 for treatment at a medical specialty complex;                                                                          
23    * Sec. 3.  This Act takes effect January 1, 1997.