The state Senate already has signed off on the idea and now the proposal is in the House.
Sen. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, said he proposed Senate Bill 171 after hearing from a few constituents upset about being denied.
Families and estates already can collect dividends for someone who dies during the Jan. 1-March 31 application period and who otherwise would qualify.
Meyer's bill creates a new category -- a new right, says Anchorage Democratic Rep. Mike Doogan -- covering people who died in the preceding year.
As long as they are alive at least half the year and are otherwise eligible for a PFD, there's no reason their families shouldn't be able to collect even if the person wasn't alive when the application period began, Meyer said.
Mary "Katy" Neher of Anchorage testified recently to the House Finance Committee about her family's situation. Her 16-year-old daughter, Melissa, was killed in a car crash in 1999. The family will never be able to collect a PFD for Melissa, but Neher said she wants to repair for others what she sees as a wrong.
"For 10 years, I've been coming to Juneau to have this inequity changed," Neher testified by phone Friday to the committee. "It's the last thing I have to do for Melissa."
As an example of the inequity, Neher said, the family of someone who died at 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Eve would not be eligible under current law but relatives of someone who died two minutes later would be.
About 3,500 Alaskans die every year and the families of roughly half could be eligible for a dividend if Meyer's bill passes the House.
Meyer said many families need the dividend for funeral expenses and other costs associated with death.
"It's a one-time thing," he said.
Debbie Bitney, director of the state Permanent Fund Dividend Division, said the effect on everyone else's PFD would be minuscule, though she hadn't done a precise calculation.
Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.