00SENATE BILL NO. 227                                                                                                     
01 "An Act relating to an exemption to the unauthorized publication or use of                                              
02 communications and the prohibition against eavesdropping for certain law                                                
03 enforcement activities."                                                                                                
04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
05    * Section 1.  AS 42.20.320(a) is amended to read:                                                                    
06  (a)  The following activities are exempt from the provisions of AS 42.20.300                                          
07 and  42.20.310:                                                                                                         
08   (1)  listening to a radio or wireless communications of any sort where                                               
09 the same are publicly made;                                                                                             
10   (2)  hearing conversation when heard by employees of a common carrier                                                
11 by wire incidental to the normal course of their employment in the operation,                                           
12 maintenance, or repair of the equipment of the common carrier by wire, [;] provided                                 
13 the information obtained is not used or divulged in any manner by the hearer;                                           
14   (3)  a broadcast by radio or other means whether it is a live broadcast                                              

01 or recorded for the purpose of later broadcasts of any function where the public is in                                  
02 attendance and the conversations that are overheard are incidental to the main purpose                                  
03 for which the broadcast is then being made;                                                                             
04   (4)  recording or listening with the aid of any device to any emergency                                              
05 communication made in the normal course of operations by a federal, state, or local                                   
06 law enforcement agency or institutions dealing in emergency services, including [BUT                                    
07 NOT LIMITED TO] hospitals, clinics,  ambulance services, fire fighting agencies, a                                      
08 public utility emergency repair facility, civilian defense establishment, or military                                 
09 installations;                                                                                                          
10   (5)  inadvertent interception of telephone conversations over party lines;                                           
11   (6)  a peace officer, or a person acting at the direction of or request of                                           
12 a peace officer, engaging in conduct authorized by or under AS 12.37;                                                  
13   (7)  interception, listening, or recording of communications by a                                                    
14 peace officer, or a person acting under the direction or request of a peace officer,                                    
15 in an emergency where the communications are received from a device that                                                
16 intercepts the communications of a person                                                                               
17   (A)  barricaded and refusing to exit or surrender at the                                                            
18 direction or request of a peace officer;                                                                                
19   (B)  holding another person hostage; or                                                                             
20   (C)  threatening the imminent illegal use of an explosive.                                                         
21    * Sec. 2.  AS 42.20.320 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                               
22  (c)  In this section, "explosive" has the meaning given in AS 11.81.900.