(a) The Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs shall pay, upon application, a death gratuity in the amount of $750 to the surviving spouse of a qualified veteran who was a resident of the state at the time of death. If the veteran has no surviving spouse, the gratuity shall be paid to the personal representative of the veteran. A veteran is qualified under this subsection if the veteran's
(1) burial occurred in the state on or after May 13, 1984; or
(2) death occurred on or after September 19, 1990.
(b) A death gratuity may be paid for a veteran otherwise eligible under (a) of this section even if the veteran died while temporarily absent from the state.
(c) The Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs may not pay a death gratuity unless the veteran for whom payment is made received an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions.
(d) In this section,
(1) “personal representative” includes administrator, executor, special administrator, successor personal representative, and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status;
(2) “veteran” means
(A) a person who served in a branch of the armed services of the United States
(i) who at the time of entry into the service was a resident of the territory or state, who had been a resident for not less than one year immediately before entry into the service, and who returned to the territory or state within one year after discharge as a resident with the intention of remaining in the territory or state; or
(ii) who was a resident of the state for not less than one year immediately preceding the time of death; or
(B) a person who served in the Alaska Territorial Guard, the Alaska Army National Guard, the Alaska Air National Guard, or the Alaska Naval Militia, or who served in a reserve unit of the United States armed forces in Alaska if the reserve unit required a minimum of one weekend of duty each month and 15 consecutive days of active duty training each year for not less than three years.