Alaska 2025-2026 Regular Session

Alaska House Bill HB201 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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2	2	HB0201a -1- HB 201
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5	5	34-LS0591\I
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11	11	HOUSE BILL NO. 201
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13	13	IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
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15	15	THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
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17	17	BY REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER
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19	19	Introduced: 4/22/25
20	20	Referred: State Affairs, Judiciary
21	21
22	22
23	23	A BILL
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25	25	FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
26	26
27	27	"An Act relating to certain reports required by the Alaska Public Offices Commission; 1
28	28	and relating to the use of campaign contributions held by a candidate or group." 2
29	29	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 3
30	30	* Section 1. AS 15.13.112(a) is amended to read: 4
31	31	(a) Except as otherwise provided, campaign contributions held by a candidate 5
32	32	or group may be used only to pay 6
33	33	(1) civil penalties assessed against the candidate or group under
34	34	7
35	35	this chapter; and 8
36	36	(2) the expenses of the candidate or group, and the campaign expenses 9
37	37	incurred by the candidate or group, that reasonably relate to election campaign 10
38	38	activities, and in those cases only as authorized by this chapter. 11
39	39	* Sec. 2. AS 15.13.112 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 12
40	40	(d) Notwithstanding (a)(1) of this section, the commission may prohibit a 13
41	41	candidate or group from using campaign contributions held by the candidate or group 14 34-LS0591\I
42	42	HB 201 -2- HB0201a
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45	45	to pay a civil penalty assessed under this chapter if a court determines that the 1
46	46	candidate, campaign treasurer, or deputy campaign treasurer intentionally caused or 2
47	47	participated in the violation for which the civil penalty is imposed. 3
48	48	* Sec. 3. AS 15.13.116(a) is amended to read: 4
49	49	(a) A candidate who, after the date of the general, special, municipal, or 5
50	50	municipal runoff election or after the date the candidate withdraws as a candidate, 6
51	51	whichever comes first, holds unused campaign contributions shall distribute the 7
52	52	amount held on February 1 for a general election or within 90 days after a special 8
53	53	election. The distribution may only be made to 9
54	54	(1) pay bills incurred for expenditures reasonably related to the 10
55	55	campaign and the winding up of the affairs of the campaign, including a victory or 11
56	56	thank you party, thank you advertisements, and thank you gifts to campaign 12
57	57	employees and volunteers, and to pay expenditures associated with post-election fund 13
58	58	raising that may be needed to raise funds to pay off campaign debts; 14
59	59	(2) make donations, without condition, to 15
60	60	(A) a political party; 16
61	61	(B) the state's general fund; 17
62	62	(C) a municipality of the state; or 18
63	63	(D) the federal government; 19
64	64	(3) make donations, without condition, to organizations qualified as 20
65	65	charitable organizations under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) if the organization is not controlled 21
66	66	by the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family; 22
67	67	(4) repay loans from the candidate to the candidate's own campaign 23
68	68	under AS 15.13.078(b); 24
69	69	(5) repay contributions to contributors, but only if repayment of the 25
70	70	contribution is made pro rata in approximate proportion to the contributions made 26
71	71	using one of the following, as the candidate determines: 27
72	72	(A) to all contributors; 28
73	73	(B) to contributors who have contributed most recently; or 29
74	74	(C) to contributors who have made larger contributions; 30
75	75	(6) establish a fund for, and from that fund to pay, attorney fees or 31 34-LS0591\I
76	76	HB0201a -3- HB 201
77	77	New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
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79	79	costs incurred in the prosecution or defense of an administrative or civil judicial action 1
80	80	that directly concerns a challenge to the victory or defeat of the candidate in the 2
81	81	election; 3
82	82	(7) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to an 4
83	83	account for a future election campaign; a transfer under this paragraph is limited to 5
84	84	(A) $50,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for governor 6
85	85	or lieutenant governor; 7
86	86	(B) $10,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 8
87	87	senate; 9
88	88	(C) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 10
89	89	house of representatives; and 11
90	90	(D) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for an office 12
91	91	not described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph; 13
92	92	(8) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 14
93	93	public office expense term account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the 15
94	94	following: 16
95	95	(A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 17
96	96	elected to the state legislature; 18
97	97	(B) the public office expense term account established under 19
98	98	this paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 20
99	99	serving as a member of the legislature; 21
100	100	(C) all amounts expended from the public office expense term 22
101	101	account shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); 23
102	102	(D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000 24
103	103	multiplied by the number of years in the term to which the candidate is elected 25
104	104	plus any accumulated interest; and 26
105	105	(E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 27
106	106	paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 28
107	107	at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 29
108	108	the contributions were received; [AND] 30
109	109	(9) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 31 34-LS0591\I
110	110	HB 201 -4- HB0201a
111	111	New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
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113	113	municipal office account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the following: 1
114	114	(A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 2
115	115	elected to municipal office, including a municipal school board; 3
116	116	(B) the municipal office account established under this 4
117	117	paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 5
118	118	serving as mayor or as a member of the assembly, city council, or school 6
119	119	board; 7
120	120	(C) all amounts expended from the municipal office account 8
121	121	shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); 9
122	122	(D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000; and 10
123	123	(E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 11
124	124	paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 12
125	125	at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 13
126	126	the contributions were received; and 14
127	127	(10) unless prohibited by AS 15.13.112(d), pay civil penalties that 15
128	128	relate to the campaign assessed against the candidate under this chapter. 16
129	129	* Sec. 4. AS 15.13.380(a) is amended to read: 17
130	130	(a) Promptly after the final date for filing statements and reports under this 18
131	131	chapter, the commission shall notify all persons who have become delinquent in filing 19
132	132	them, including contributors who failed to file a statement in accordance with 20
133	133	AS 15.13.040, and shall make available a list of those delinquent filers for public 21
134	134	inspection. The list must include persons who have not filed reports and persons 22
135	135	who filed incomplete reports, and must distinguish persons who have not filed 23
136	136	reports from persons who timely filed incomplete reports under AS 15.13.390(g). 24
137	137	An incomplete report filed under AS 15.13.390(g) must be open to public 25
138	138	inspection, but the commission shall identify the report as incomplete until all 26
139	139	required information is submitted. The commission shall also report to the attorney 27
140	140	general the names of all candidates in an election whose campaign treasurers have 28
141	141	failed to file the reports required by this chapter. 29
142	142	* Sec. 5. AS 15.13.390(a) is amended to read: 30
143	143	(a) Except as provided in (g) of this section, a [A] person who 31 34-LS0591\I
144	144	HB0201a -5- HB 201
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147	147	(1) fails to register when required by AS 15.13.050(a) or who fails to 1
148	148	file a properly completed and certified report within the time required by 2
149	149	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
150	150	civil penalty of not more than $50 a day for each day the delinquency continues as 4
151	151	determined by the commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court. A 5
152	152	person who fails to file a properly completed and certified report within the time 6
153	153	required by AS 15.13.110(a)(2) or 15.13.110(b) is subject to a civil penalty of not 7
154	154	more than $500 a day for each day the delinquency continues as determined by the 8
155	155	commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 9
156	156	(2) whether as a contributor or intermediary, delays in reporting a 10
157	157	contribution as required by AS 15.13.040(r) is subject to a civil penalty of not more 11
158	158	than $1,000 a day for each day the delinquency continues as determined by the 12
159	159	commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 13
160	160	(3) whether as a contributor or intermediary, misreports or fails to 14
161	161	disclose the true source of a contribution in violation of AS 15.13.040(r) or 15
162	162	15.13.074(b) is subject to a civil penalty of not more than the amount of the 16
163	163	contribution that is the subject of the misreporting or failure to disclose; upon a 17
164	164	showing that the violation was intentional, a civil penalty of not more than three times 18
165	165	the amount of the contribution in violation may be imposed; these penalties as 19
166	166	determined by the commission are subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 20
167	167	(4) violates a provision of this chapter, except as otherwise specified in 21
168	168	this section, is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50 a day for each day the 22
169	169	violation continues as determined by the commission, subject to right of appeal to the 23
170	170	superior court; and 24
171	171	(5) is assessed a civil penalty may submit to the commission an 25
172	172	affidavit stating facts in mitigation; however, the imposition of the penalties 26
173	173	prescribed in this section or in AS 15.13.380 does not excuse that person from 27
174	174	registering or filing reports required by this chapter. 28
175	175	* Sec. 6. AS 15.13.390 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 29
176	176	(g) Notwithstanding AS 15.13.040, 15.13.050(a), 15.13.060, 15.13.074(g), 30
177	177	15.13.100, and 15.13.110, a person may file a report required u
178	178	nder this chapter 31 34-LS0591\I
179	179	HB 201 -6- HB0201a
180	180	New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]
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182	182	without including all information relating to contributions, contributors, or campaign 1
183	183	expenditures that is required in the report if the person attests, under penalty of 2
184	184	perjury, that the information is not being provided because the person does not have it, 3
185	185	and that the person will file the information with the commission within 30 days or 4
186	186	another period determined by the commission. If a person fails to file the missing 5
187	187	information within 30 days, or another period determined by the commission, the 6
188	188	person is subject to civil penalties as determined under (a) of this section from the date 7
189	189	the original report was due. The commission shall adopt regulations necessary to 8
190	190	implement this subsection. 9
191	191	* Sec. 7. AS 15.13.112(b)(6) is repealed. 10