00                             HOUSE BILL NO. 76                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to the creation of a civil legal services fund."                                                       
02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
03    * Section 1.  AS 37.05.146(c) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read:                                        
04                 (82)  civil legal services fund under AS 37.05.590.                                                     
05    * Sec. 2.  AS 37.05 is amended by adding a new section to article 6 to read:                                       
06            Sec. 37.05.590.  Civil legal services fund.  The civil legal services fund is                              
07       established as a special account in the general fund.  The fund consists of                                       
08       appropriations to it.  Annually, the legislature may appropriate to the fund the amount                           
09       deposited into the general fund of the state under AS 09.17.020(j), less the costs of                             
10       collection, if any, incurred by the state.  The legislature may make appropriations from                          
11       the fund to organizations that provide civil legal services to low-income individuals.                            
12       Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund.  In this section, "low-income                                   
13       individual" means an individual with an income equal to or less than 125 percent of                               
14       the most recent federal poverty guidelines for Alaska set by the United States                                    
15       Department of Health and Human Services.