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House Finance advances bill to restore PFDs for people wrongfully convicted, adopts two-year filing window
Summary
The House Finance Committee voted unanimously to advance SB 167, a bill to restore Permanent Fund Dividend eligibility to people whose convictions were overturned; the committee adopted an amendment extending the application window from one to two years and withdrew a separate amendment about expanded absence allowances for transportation workers.
The Alaska House Finance Committee on May 19 advanced Senate Bill 167, which would restore Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) eligibility to people whose convictions were overturned, and adopted an amendment extending the filing window for reimbursement from one year to two.
Senator Scott Kawasaki, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure is a form of wrongful-conviction compensation that would return to some people a benefit they lost when wrongfully incarcerated. "Basically this bill would reinstate a permanent fund dividend for the folks who may have been wrongfully convicted," Kawasaki said during his opening remarks.
The committee considered two amendments. Representative Allard moved Amendment #1 to extend the deadline for a wrongly convicted person to apply for reimbursement from one year to two, saying the change would "give them time." Members largely supported the change after questions about whether a longer window, such as three years suggested by an after-innocence program, would be more appropriate. Senator Kawasaki removed his earlier objection, and the committee adopted Amendment #1 by unanimous consent.
Representative Joe Bynum moved Amendment #2 to add an allowable-absence provision intended to preserve PFD eligibility for Alaskans employed full time in transportation-related industries — for example, airline pilots, flight crews, tugboat captains and long-haul truck drivers — who spend extended periods outside the state for work. Bynum said the amendment would recognize workers who maintain homes and families in Alaska but whose careers require extended travel.
The proposal drew significant pushback from several members, who said the change broadened the bill beyond its narrow wrongful-conviction focus and carried unknown fiscal consequences. Representative Hennen warned the amendment's language, as drafted, could be read to permit 210 days of allowable absence plus 45 days of medical absence, leaving only about 110 in-state days and potentially increasing the number of PFD-eligible recipients. Senator Kawasaki argued that the absence provision was "inappropriate for this bill" because it would amend general PFD absence rules rather than narrowly address wrongful-conviction relief.
After extended debate and questions about regulatory implementation and scope, Representative Bynum withdrew Amendment #2, saying he did not intend to harm the underlying bill and apologizing for not having conferred with the sponsor before bringing it forward.
Representative Froggy moved the committee report to report SB 167 (34-LS-0491) out of committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note, and the committee — "seeing no objection" — moved the bill out of House Finance as amended. The committee authorized legislative legal to make technical and conforming changes before the bill proceeds.
The committee recessed at 9:33 a.m.; Cochair Foster thanked committee staff and moderators for their work. The bill will continue through the legislative process as directed by the committee report.
