Senate committee advances bill letting Revenue file Permanent Fund Dividend claims to satisfy child-support arrears

The Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2025, reported out a committee substitute for Senate Bill 12, which would require the Department of Revenue to file a Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) application on behalf of an individual in arrears under a child-support order and change who may initiate those PFD claims.

The substitute, identified as work order 34 LS 0135/I, was described to the committee by Brianna Karrarik, staff to Chair Senator Clayman, who said the changes remove the custodial parent's ability to file PFD claims on another person’s behalf and shift that filing responsibility to the Department of Revenue. Karrarik summarized other changes as part of the “version A to version I” update.

Karrarik told the committee that the substitute requires the Department of Revenue to notify both the individual in arrears and the person owed child support that an application has been filed by the department and that either party may provide evidence of eligibility. It also removes language that would have required the department to assume previously eligible applicants remain eligible, removes a requirement that an individual owing child support provide proof of ineligibility, and requires the Child Support Enforcement Division to indicate which people in arrears are presumed eligible for the PFD. The substitute also adds a 7 percent administrative fee on applications distributed under the relevant subsection.

Sponsor Senator Dunbar said he appreciated committee feedback and agency cooperation, and called the bill’s intent straightforward: to provide custodial parents with money they are owed. “Most of us support the intent of this bill, which is to provide custodial parents with money that they are owed to take care of their kids,” Senator Dunbar said, adding that the changes aim to address technical challenges and produce “a functional system.” He also noted the bill removes the noncustodial parent's ability to file a PFD claim and that the department’s 7 percent administrative fee “was the number that they provided to us that made… sense.”

Senator Kiel moved to adopt the committee substitute as the committee’s working document and later moved that the committee report out the substitute with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. After the committee went through discussion on the substitute, Chair Senator Clayman removed his earlier objection and, “hearing and seeing no objections,” announced that the substitute for Senate Bill 12 moves from committee.

The committee meeting record shows no roll-call vote recorded; the substitute was reported out by the committee and staff were directed to complete signature paperwork after adjournment.

The committee noted this was the second hearing on Senate Bill 12 in the Judiciary Committee. The committee adjourned at 1:36 p.m. and scheduled a joint meeting with the Senate Education Committee for Friday, March 14, 2025, at 1:30 p.m.

What the substitute would do: it directs the Department of Revenue to file PFD applications for people who owe child support (arrears), requires notice to both parties with an opportunity to provide evidence, directs the Child Support Enforcement Division to flag presumed-eligible arrears cases, removes custodial-parent-initiated filings, eliminates certain eligibility-assumption language, eliminates a requirement for those who owe support to prove ineligibility, and adds a 7 percent administrative fee to cover departmental costs.

Next steps: The substitute was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with recommendations and attached fiscal notes; further consideration would occur in the Senate following committee processes.