HB 75-PERM FUND; EMPLOYMENT; ELIGIBILITY    3:49:53 PM CHAIR CARRICK announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 75, "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." CHAIR CARRICK after ascertaining that there were no questions or comments on HB 75, entertained amendments. 3:50:46 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY moved to adopt the Amendment [Amendment 1] to HB 75, labeled 34-LS0475\N.2, Nauman, 2/25/25, which read as follows: Page 2, line 30: Delete "armed forces" Insert "uniformed services [ARMED FORCES]" Page 3, line 2: Delete "armed forces" Insert "uniformed services [ARMED FORCES]" Page 4, following line 23: Insert a new bill section to read: "* Sec. 3. AS 43.23.008(f) is amended to read: (f) In [FOR PURPOSES OF (a)(7) OF] this section, (1) "family member" means a person who is (A) [(1)] legally related to the individual through marriage or guardianship; or (B) [(2)] the individual's sibling, parent, grandparent, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, or first cousin; (2) "uniformed service" means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Space Force, and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Public Health Services." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. 3:50:52 PM CHAIR CARRICK objected for the purpose of discussion. 3:51:02 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY noted that Amendment N.2 was drafted because of an experience from a constituent who was denied an appeal for the permanent fund dividend (PFD) because uniform service members were not included in the allowable absence statute. She specified that this included uniformed service members associated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps and the United States Public Health Service Officer Corps. She said that only those affiliated with the armed forces were currently allowed for PFD qualification. She said that this constituent was on a NOAA boat doing research for several months, and when she went to the PFD office, she was denied a PFD. She said that these positions are uniformed, qualify for the Veterans Affairs (VA), can enroll in higher education using the Government Issue (GI) bill, and have other privileges like the armed services. She said that when looking at the amendment, it changes "armed forces" to "uniformed services", and she clarified that armed forces were included with uniformed services. 3:53:34 PM CHAIR CARRICK asked if Peace Corps volunteers were already included for PFD eligibility. REPRESENTATIVE STORY responded that there are 16 subsections in statute regarding eligibility and the Peace Corps are eligible. 3:54:01 PM REPRESENTATIVE HOLLAND asked if the definition was changed just for a section related to training or provides guidance for the PFD program in general. REPRESENTATIVE STORY responded that it has to do with Alaska Statute (AS) 43.23.008. REPRESENTATIVE HOLLAND asked for clarification, and if AS 43.23.008 was specifically related to training exemptions or a statute that provides broader definitions as it relates to the PFD. REPRESENTATIVE STORY said that her understanding is that looking at the amendment, it would change uniform service definitions. REPRESENTATIVE HOLLAND said that he was surprised how important the United States Public Health Service Officer Corps was in Alaska. He asked if Representative Story could summarize where these individuals are found in Alaska. REPRESENTATIVE STORY responded that many of them are in rural locations and serve the communities and many go overseas to provide medical support during times of need. 3:57:25 PM REPRESENTATIVE MOORE said that she had a question about the definitions. She asked whether armed service members get coverage for anyone in their family. She said she was confused about the qualifications regarding exemptions. REPRESENTATIVE STORY clarified that these provisions already existed in statute and the amendment would add only the bold, [underlined] language of [paragraph] 2. CHAIR CARRICK said that the statute currently says that one of the allowable exemptions is providing care for terminally ill family members and settling the estate of a family member. She said that adding the uniformed service members would add to this section. 3:59:14 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY said that she spoke with the prime sponsor of HB 75, Representative Bynum, she offered her understanding that he was supportive of the Amendment [1]. 3:59:36 PM TREVOR SHAW, Staff, Representative Jeremy Bynum, Alaska State Legislature, said that they had a good conversation with both Representative Story and district constituents. He said that the amendment was presented well, and Representative Bynum supported it. 4:00:00 PM CHAIR CARRICK removed her objection. There being no further objection, [Amendment 1] was adopted. 4:00:38 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY moved to report HB 75, as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes and to authorize Legislative Legal Services to make any necessary technical or conforming changes. There being no objection, CSHB 75(STA) was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee. 4:01:10 PM The committee took an at-ease from 4:01 p.m. to 4:03 p.m. 4:03:49 PM CHAIR CARRICK discussed upcoming committee scheduling and agenda.