HB 363: "An Act relating to mergers and consolidations of municipalities."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 363 01 "An Act relating to mergers and consolidations of municipalities." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 29.06.100(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) Residents of two or more municipalities may file a merger or consolidation 05 petition with the department. The petition must be signed during a period that does 06 not exceed 365 consecutive days by a number of voters of each existing municipality 07 equal to at least 25 percent of the number of votes cast in each municipality's last 08 regular election. 09 * Sec. 2. AS 29.06.100 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 10 (c) A petition for the merger or consolidation of a borough and one or more of 11 the cities within that borough must specify whether, if the proposal is approved by a 12 majority of the votes in the borough area outside of the cities proposed to be merged 13 or consolidated but is not approved by a majority of the votes in each of the cities, 14 (1) the entire proposal is defeated; or 15 (2) the proposal is partially approved and the borough is merged or
01 consolidated with the cities in which the proposal has been approved. 02 * Sec. 3. AS 29.06.140(a) is amended to read: 03 (a) The Local Boundary Commission shall immediately notify the director of 04 elections of its acceptance of a merger or consolidation petition. Within 30 days after 05 notification, the director of elections shall order an election in the area to be included 06 in the new municipality to determine whether the voters desire merger or 07 consolidation. The election shall be held not less than 30 or more than 90 days after 08 the election order. A voter who is a resident of the area to be included in the proposed 09 municipality may vote. Unless the proposal includes the merger or consolidation 10 of a borough and one or more of the cities within that borough, if a majority of 11 the votes in each of the municipalities proposed to be merged or consolidated 12 favors the merger or consolidation, the proposal is approved. Votes on a 13 proposal that includes the merger or consolidation of a borough and one or more 14 of the cities within that borough shall be separately tabulated as follows: (1) in 15 the area of the borough that is outside of a city; (2) in each of the cities in the 16 borough; and (3) if one or more municipalities outside of the borough are also 17 included within the proposal, in each of those other municipalities. The entire 18 proposal is defeated if it is not separately approved in the area of the borough 19 proposed to be merged or consolidated that is outside of a city and, if 20 municipalities outside of the borough are included in the proposal, in each of 21 those other municipalities. If the proposal is not approved in one or more of the 22 cities within the borough that is proposed to be merged or consolidated but is 23 otherwise approved in each of the areas separately tabulated, the proposal is 24 either entirely defeated or partially approved as specified in the petition under 25 AS 29.06.100(c). This subsection is intended to be consistent with the voting 26 requirements for annexation specified in AS 29.06.040(c)(1). 27 * Sec. 4. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 28 read: 29 APPLICABILITY. The amendments to AS 29.06.100 in secs. 1 and 2 of this Act do 30 not apply to a merger or consolidation petition filed with the Department of Community and 31 Economic Development before the effective date of this Act. The amendment to
01 AS 29.06.140(a) in sec. 3 of this Act does not apply to an election held as a result of a petition 02 filed with the Department of Community and Economic Development before the effective 03 date of this Act, and AS 29.06.140(a) as it read before the effective date of this Act applies to 04 that election.