HB0201a -1- HB 201
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
34-LS0591\I
HOUSE BILL NO. 201
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
BY REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER
Introduced: 4/22/25
Referred: State Affairs, Judiciary
A BILL
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
"An Act relating to certain reports required by the Alaska Public Offices Commission; 1
and relating to the use of campaign contributions held by a candidate or group." 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 3
* Section 1. AS 15.13.112(a) is amended to read: 4
(a) Except as otherwise provided, campaign contributions held by a candidate 5
or group may be used only to pay 6
(1) civil penalties assessed against the candidate or group under
7
this chapter; and 8
(2) the expenses of the candidate or group, and the campaign expenses 9
incurred by the candidate or group, that reasonably relate to election campaign 10
activities, and in those cases only as authorized by this chapter. 11
* Sec. 2. AS 15.13.112 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 12
(d) Notwithstanding (a)(1) of this section, the commission may prohibit a 13
candidate or group from using campaign contributions held by the candidate or group 14 34-LS0591\I
HB 201 -2- HB0201a
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
to pay a civil penalty assessed under this chapter if a court determines that the 1
candidate, campaign treasurer, or deputy campaign treasurer intentionally caused or 2
participated in the violation for which the civil penalty is imposed. 3
* Sec. 3. AS 15.13.116(a) is amended to read: 4
(a) A candidate who, after the date of the general, special, municipal, or 5
municipal runoff election or after the date the candidate withdraws as a candidate, 6
whichever comes first, holds unused campaign contributions shall distribute the 7
amount held on February 1 for a general election or within 90 days after a special 8
election. The distribution may only be made to 9
(1) pay bills incurred for expenditures reasonably related to the 10
campaign and the winding up of the affairs of the campaign, including a victory or 11
thank you party, thank you advertisements, and thank you gifts to campaign 12
employees and volunteers, and to pay expenditures associated with post-election fund 13
raising that may be needed to raise funds to pay off campaign debts; 14
(2) make donations, without condition, to 15
(A) a political party; 16
(B) the state's general fund; 17
(C) a municipality of the state; or 18
(D) the federal government; 19
(3) make donations, without condition, to organizations qualified as 20
charitable organizations under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) if the organization is not controlled 21
by the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family; 22
(4) repay loans from the candidate to the candidate's own campaign 23
under AS 15.13.078(b); 24
(5) repay contributions to contributors, but only if repayment of the 25
contribution is made pro rata in approximate proportion to the contributions made 26
using one of the following, as the candidate determines: 27
(A) to all contributors; 28
(B) to contributors who have contributed most recently; or 29
(C) to contributors who have made larger contributions; 30
(6) establish a fund for, and from that fund to pay, attorney fees or 31 34-LS0591\I
HB0201a -3- HB 201
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
costs incurred in the prosecution or defense of an administrative or civil judicial action 1
that directly concerns a challenge to the victory or defeat of the candidate in the 2
election; 3
(7) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to an 4
account for a future election campaign; a transfer under this paragraph is limited to 5
(A) $50,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for governor 6
or lieutenant governor; 7
(B) $10,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 8
senate; 9
(C) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 10
house of representatives; and 11
(D) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for an office 12
not described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph; 13
(8) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 14
public office expense term account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the 15
following: 16
(A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 17
elected to the state legislature; 18
(B) the public office expense term account established under 19
this paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 20
serving as a member of the legislature; 21
(C) all amounts expended from the public office expense term 22
account shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); 23
(D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000 24
multiplied by the number of years in the term to which the candidate is elected 25
plus any accumulated interest; and 26
(E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 27
paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 28
at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 29
the contributions were received; [AND] 30
(9) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 31 34-LS0591\I
HB 201 -4- HB0201a
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
municipal office account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the following: 1
(A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 2
elected to municipal office, including a municipal school board; 3
(B) the municipal office account established under this 4
paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 5
serving as mayor or as a member of the assembly, city council, or school 6
board; 7
(C) all amounts expended from the municipal office account 8
shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); 9
(D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000; and 10
(E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 11
paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 12
at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 13
the contributions were received; and 14
(10) unless prohibited by AS 15.13.112(d), pay civil penalties that 15
relate to the campaign assessed against the candidate under this chapter. 16
* Sec. 4. AS 15.13.380(a) is amended to read: 17
(a) Promptly after the final date for filing statements and reports under this 18
chapter, the commission shall notify all persons who have become delinquent in filing 19
them, including contributors who failed to file a statement in accordance with 20
AS 15.13.040, and shall make available a list of those delinquent filers for public 21
inspection. The list must include persons who have not filed reports and persons 22
who filed incomplete reports, and must distinguish persons who have not filed 23
reports from persons who timely filed incomplete reports under AS 15.13.390(g). 24
An incomplete report filed under AS 15.13.390(g) must be open to public 25
inspection, but the commission shall identify the report as incomplete until all 26
required information is submitted. The commission shall also report to the attorney 27
general the names of all candidates in an election whose campaign treasurers have 28
failed to file the reports required by this chapter. 29
* Sec. 5. AS 15.13.390(a) is amended to read: 30
(a) Except as provided in (g) of this section, a [A] person who 31 34-LS0591\I
HB0201a -5- HB 201
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
(1) fails to register when required by AS 15.13.050(a) or who fails to 1
file a properly completed and certified report within the time required by 2
AS 15.13.040, 15.13.060(b) - (d), 15.13.110(a)(1), (3), or (4), (e), or (f) is subject to a 3
civil penalty of not more than $50 a day for each day the delinquency continues as 4
determined by the commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court. A 5
person who fails to file a properly completed and certified report within the time 6
required by AS 15.13.110(a)(2) or 15.13.110(b) is subject to a civil penalty of not 7
more than $500 a day for each day the delinquency continues as determined by the 8
commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 9
(2) whether as a contributor or intermediary, delays in reporting a 10
contribution as required by AS 15.13.040(r) is subject to a civil penalty of not more 11
than $1,000 a day for each day the delinquency continues as determined by the 12
commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 13
(3) whether as a contributor or intermediary, misreports or fails to 14
disclose the true source of a contribution in violation of AS 15.13.040(r) or 15
15.13.074(b) is subject to a civil penalty of not more than the amount of the 16
contribution that is the subject of the misreporting or failure to disclose; upon a 17
showing that the violation was intentional, a civil penalty of not more than three times 18
the amount of the contribution in violation may be imposed; these penalties as 19
determined by the commission are subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 20
(4) violates a provision of this chapter, except as otherwise specified in 21
this section, is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50 a day for each day the 22
violation continues as determined by the commission, subject to right of appeal to the 23
superior court; and 24
(5) is assessed a civil penalty may submit to the commission an 25
affidavit stating facts in mitigation; however, the imposition of the penalties 26
prescribed in this section or in AS 15.13.380 does not excuse that person from 27
registering or filing reports required by this chapter. 28
* Sec. 6. AS 15.13.390 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 29
(g) Notwithstanding AS 15.13.040, 15.13.050(a), 15.13.060, 15.13.074(g), 30
15.13.100, and 15.13.110, a person may file a report required u
nder this chapter 31 34-LS0591\I
HB 201 -6- HB0201a
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
without including all information relating to contributions, contributors, or campaign 1
expenditures that is required in the report if the person attests, under penalty of 2
perjury, that the information is not being provided because the person does not have it, 3
and that the person will file the information with the commission within 30 days or 4
another period determined by the commission. If a person fails to file the missing 5
information within 30 days, or another period determined by the commission, the 6
person is subject to civil penalties as determined under (a) of this section from the date 7
the original report was due. The commission shall adopt regulations necessary to 8
implement this subsection. 9
* Sec. 7. AS 15.13.112(b)(6) is repealed. 10