CSHB 75(STA): "An Act relating to national criminal history record checks for certain employees of the Department of Revenue; relating to allowable absences for eligibility for a permanent fund dividend; relating to the confidentiality of certain information provided on a permanent fund dividend application; relating to electronic notice of debt collection executed on a permanent fund dividend; and providing for an effective date."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 75(STA) 01 "An Act relating to national criminal history record checks for certain employees of the 02 Department of Revenue; relating to allowable absences for eligibility for a permanent 03 fund dividend; relating to the confidentiality of certain information provided on a 04 permanent fund dividend application; relating to electronic notice of debt collection 05 executed on a permanent fund dividend; and providing for an effective date." 06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 * Section 1. AS 12.62.400(c) is amended to read: 08 (c) To obtain a national criminal history record check for determining a 09 current or prospective employee's qualifications under AS 39.90.210, a current or 10 prospective employee's qualifications and suitability to administer the permanent 11 fund dividend program under AS 43.23, or a contractor's qualifications under 12 AS 36.30.960, the agency or the procurement officer shall submit the current or 13 prospective employee's or contractor's fingerprints to the department with the fee
01 established by AS 12.62.160. The department shall submit the fingerprints to the 02 Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain a national criminal history record check of 03 the current or prospective employee or contractor for the purpose of evaluating a 04 person's qualifications under AS 36.30.960, [AND] AS 39.90.210, or AS 43.23, as 05 applicable. In this subsection, unless the context otherwise requires, 06 (1) "agency" has the meaning given in AS 39.90.290; 07 (2) "contractor" has the meaning given in AS 36.30.960; 08 (3) "employee" has the meaning given in AS 39.90.290. 09 * Sec. 2. AS 43.23.008(a) is amended to read: 10 (a) Subject to (b) and (d) of this section, an otherwise eligible individual who 11 is absent from the state during the qualifying year remains eligible for a current year 12 permanent fund dividend if the individual was absent 13 (1) receiving secondary or postsecondary education on a full-time 14 basis; on a break or holiday from a secondary or postsecondary educational 15 institution during an academic year, not including summer break, if the 16 individual is enrolled in and attends the educational institution on a full-time 17 basis before and after the break or holiday; or in an orientation program 18 required as a condition of the secondary or postsecondary education and the 19 individual immediately begins the education on a full-time basis after the 20 completion of the orientation; 21 (2) receiving vocational, professional, or other specific education on a 22 full-time basis for which, as determined by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary 23 Education, a comparable program is not reasonably available in the state; on a break 24 or holiday from the vocational, professional, or other specific training, not 25 including summer break, if the individual is enrolled in and attends the training 26 on a full-time basis before and after the break or holiday; or in an orientation 27 program required as a condition of the vocational, professional, or other specific 28 training and the individual immediately begins the training on a full-time basis 29 after the completion of the orientation; 30 (3) serving on active duty as a member of the uniformed services 31 [ARMED FORCES] of the United States or accompanying, as that individual's
01 spouse, minor dependent, or disabled dependent, an individual who is 02 (A) serving on active duty as a member of the uniformed 03 services [ARMED FORCES] of the United States; and 04 (B) eligible for a current year dividend; 05 (4) serving under foreign or coastal articles of employment aboard an 06 oceangoing vessel of the United States merchant marine or attending a vocational 07 program that 08 (A) trains students for a career in the United States 09 merchant marine; 10 (B) provides seagoing service that meets the requirements 11 of the United States Coast Guard for United States merchant marine 12 credentialing; and 13 (C) is approved by the United States Coast Guard; 14 (5) receiving continuous medical treatment recommended by a 15 licensed physician or convalescing as recommended by the physician who treated the 16 illness if the treatment or convalescence is not based on a need for climatic change; 17 (6) providing care for a parent, spouse, sibling, child, or stepchild with 18 a critical life-threatening illness whose treatment plan, as recommended by the 19 attending physician, requires travel outside the state for treatment at a medical 20 specialty complex; 21 (7) providing care for the individual's terminally ill family member; 22 (8) settling the estate of the individual's deceased parent, spouse, 23 sibling, child, or stepchild, provided the absence does not exceed 220 cumulative days; 24 (9) serving as a member of the United States Congress; 25 (10) serving on the staff of a member from this state of the United 26 States Congress; 27 (11) serving as an employee of the state in a field office or other 28 location; 29 (12) accompanying a minor who is absent under (5) of this subsection; 30 (13) accompanying another eligible resident who is absent for a reason 31 permitted under (1), (2), (5) - (12), (16), or (17) of this subsection as the spouse, minor
01 dependent, or disabled dependent of the eligible resident; 02 (14) serving as a volunteer in the federal peace corps program; 03 (15) because of training or competing as a member of the United States 04 Olympic Team or a United States national team for an Olympic sport; 05 (16) participating for educational purposes in a student fellowship 06 sponsored by the United States Department of Education or by the United States 07 Department of State; 08 (17) for any reason consistent with the individual's intent to remain a 09 state resident, provided the absence or cumulative absences do not exceed 10 (A) 180 days in addition to any absence or cumulative absences 11 claimed 12 (i) under (3) of this subsection if the individual is not 13 claiming an absence under (1), (2), or (4) - (16) of this subsection; or 14 (ii) under (5) of this subsection if the individual is 15 not claiming an absence under (1) - (4) or (6) - (16) of this 16 subsection; 17 (B) 120 days in addition to any absence or cumulative absences 18 claimed under (1) - (3) of this subsection if the individual is not claiming an 19 absence under (4) - (16) of this subsection but is claiming an absence under (1) 20 or (2) of this subsection; or 21 (C) 45 days in addition to any absence or cumulative absences 22 claimed under (1) - (16) of this subsection if the individual is claiming an 23 absence under (4) - (16) of this subsection. 24 * Sec. 3. AS 43.23.008(f) is amended to read: 25 (f) In [FOR PURPOSES OF (a)(7) OF] this section, 26 (1) "family member" means a person who is 27 (A) [(1)] legally related to the individual through marriage or 28 guardianship; or 29 (B) [(2)] the individual's sibling, parent, grandparent, son, 30 daughter, grandson, granddaughter, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or first cousin; 31 (2) "uniformed service" means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine
01 Corps, Coast Guard, Space Force, and the Commissioned Corps of the National 02 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Public Health Services. 03 * Sec. 4. AS 43.23.055 is amended to read: 04 Sec. 43.23.055. Duties of the department. The department shall 05 (1) annually pay permanent fund dividends from the dividend fund; 06 (2) subject to AS 43.23.011 and (8) of this section, adopt regulations 07 under AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) that establish procedures and time 08 limits for claiming a permanent fund dividend; the department shall determine the 09 number of eligible applicants by October 1 of the year for which the dividend is 10 declared and pay the dividends by December 31 of that year; 11 (3) adopt regulations under AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) 12 that establish procedures and time limits for an individual upon emancipation or upon 13 reaching majority to apply for permanent fund dividends not received during minority 14 because the parent, guardian, or other authorized representative did not apply on 15 behalf of the individual; 16 (4) assist residents of the state, particularly in rural areas, who, because 17 of language, disability, or inaccessibility to public transportation, need assistance to 18 establish eligibility and to apply for permanent fund dividends; 19 (5) use a list of individuals ineligible for a dividend under 20 AS 43.23.005(d) provided annually by the Department of Corrections and the 21 Department of Public Safety to determine the number and identity of those 22 individuals; 23 (6) adopt regulations that are necessary to implement AS 43.23.005(d) 24 and 43.23.048; 25 (7) adopt regulations that establish procedures for the parent, guardian, 26 or other authorized representative of a disabled individual to apply for prior year 27 permanent fund dividends not received by the disabled individual because no 28 application was submitted on behalf of the individual; 29 (8) adopt regulations that establish procedures for an individual to 30 apply to have a dividend disbursement under AS 37.25.050(a)(2) reissued if it is not 31 collected within two years after the date of its issuance; however, the department may
01 not establish a time limit within which an application to have a disbursement reissued 02 must be filed; 03 (9) provide any information, upon request, contained in permanent 04 fund dividend records to the child support services agency created in AS 25.27.010, or 05 the child support enforcement agency of another state, for child support purposes 06 authorized under law; if the information is contained in an electronic data base, the 07 department shall provide the requesting agency with either 08 (A) access to the data base; or 09 (B) a copy of the information in the data base and a statement 10 certifying its contents; 11 (10) establish a fraud investigation unit for the purpose of assisting the 12 (A) Department of Law in the prosecution of individuals who 13 apply for or obtain a permanent fund dividend in violation of a provision in 14 AS 11, by detecting and investigating those crimes; and 15 (B) commissioner to detect and investigate the claiming or 16 paying of permanent fund dividends that should not have been claimed by or 17 paid to an individual and to impose the penalties and enforcement provisions 18 under AS 43.23.270; 19 (11) adopt regulations under AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) 20 so that contributions under AS 43.23.130 are given a priority over donations under 21 AS 43.23.230 if the total amount of contributions and donations elected by an 22 applicant exceeds the amount of the permanent fund dividend that the applicant is 23 entitled to receive; 24 (12) submit fingerprints and fees to the Department of Public 25 Safety for a national criminal history record check under AS 12.62.400 for the 26 purpose of determining a person's qualifications and suitability for administering 27 the permanent fund dividend program under this chapter. 28 * Sec. 5. AS 43.23.110(a) is amended to read: 29 (a) Except as provided in (c) of this section, information on each permanent 30 fund dividend application [, EXCEPT THE APPLICANT'S NAME,] is confidential. 31 The department may only release information that is confidential under this section
01 (1) to a local, state, or federal government agency; 02 (2) in compliance with a court order; 03 (3) to the individual who or agency that files an application on behalf 04 of another; 05 (4) to a banking institution to verify the direct deposit of a permanent 06 fund dividend or correct an error in that deposit; 07 (5) as directed to do so by the applicant; 08 (6) to a contractor who has a contract with a person entitled to obtain 09 the information under (1) - (5) of this section to receive, store, or manage the 10 information on that person's behalf; a contractor receiving data under this paragraph 11 may only use the data as directed by and for the purposes of the person entitled to 12 obtain the information; 13 (7) to the division of elections as required by AS 43.23.101. 14 * Sec. 6. AS 43.23.140(d) is amended to read: 15 (d) An assignment of or levy, execution, garnishment, attachment, or other 16 remedy for the collection of debt applied to a dividend for a year may not be accepted 17 by the department before April 1 of that same year. AS 09.38.080(c) and 09.38.085 do 18 not apply to a levy on a permanent fund dividend. Upon receipt of a writ of execution 19 under (a) of this section or another court order, the commissioner shall deliver to the 20 court that portion of the dividend executed on [UPON] along with the case name and 21 number. At the time payment is made to the court, the department shall send notice to 22 the court that issued the writ or order and to the individual at the address provided 23 in the individual's dividend application or the electronic mail address at which the 24 individual has consented to receive notices or documents in a verifiable manner, 25 as provided in regulations adopted by the department. The [AND TO THE 26 COURT THAT ISSUED THE WRIT OR ORDER A] notice must contain [THAT 27 CONTAINS] 28 (1) notification that all or part of the individual's dividend has been 29 seized under a writ of execution or court order; 30 (2) the name and address of the court that issued the writ or order; 31 (3) the case number for which the writ or order was issued;
01 (4) the amount seized under the writ or order; and 02 (5) notification that the individual has 30 days from the date the notice 03 is mailed in which to file with the court an objection to the seizure if a mistake has 04 been made. 05 * Sec. 7. This Act takes effect January 1, 2026.