Legislation that could boost state funding to assist more low-income Alaskans needing help with civil law issues has advanced through its second state Senate committee and is waiting for a vote by the full chamber.

The measure would more than double a source of state funding that could be directed each year to the Alaska Legal Services Corp., a 56-year-old nonprofit legal aid organization that helps several thousand Alaskans a year with domestic violence, family law, housing, elder advocacy and other cases.

“They provide absolutely critical legal services,” the bill’s sponsor, Anchorage freshm...