The Supreme People's Court (SPC) is considering issuing a judicial interpretation to address discrepencies between rural and urban hukou holders in death compensation awards, according to comments made by March 14 by SPC President Xiao Yang and carried in a March 14 Xinhua post.
In 2006, Chinese media reported multiple cases in which long-term migrants living in Chinese urban areas (but still holding rural hukou registration) who were killed in traffic accidents received significantly less compensation than corresponding urban hukou holders killed in similar (or the same) accident. See these posts (1, 2, 3) on the website of the Congressional-Executive Commission of China. The discrepency is a result of a 2003 SPC interpretation which links death awards to urban and rural hukou status, regardless of how long the deceased has actually been living in a given urban area.
It is unclear if or when the SPC will issue a judicial interpretation on the subject, or what the content might be. Xiao Yang noted that experts consulted by SPC officials during the fall of 2006 regarding possible revisions were of different minds of how to address the subject. But he asserted that the SPC has already reached preliminary consensus on the content.
If a judicial interpretation does issue, my best guess is that it will equalize death compensation treatment for between residents holding urban hukou and a specific set of long-term migrants to urban areas (but who still have rural hukou registration). Conditions will include: residence in an urban area for a designated number of years, property ownership, or professional employment in urban areas. These conditions are present in recent hukou reforms across China, (see the topic paper of the Congressional-Executive Commission in China), and I would expect them to be replicated here.