SCS CSHB 489(STA): "An Act relating to the treatment of charity events by the Alaska Public Offices Commission and under the law governing legislative ethics; relating to a legislative employee's soliciting, accepting, or receiving a gift on behalf of a charitable organization; and providing for an effective date."
00 SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 489(STA) 01 "An Act relating to the treatment of charity events by the Alaska Public Offices 02 Commission and under the law governing legislative ethics; relating to a legislative 03 employee's soliciting, accepting, or receiving a gift on behalf of a charitable 04 organization; and providing for an effective date." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. AS 24.45.121(a) is amended to read: 07 (a) A lobbyist may not 08 (1) engage in any activity as a lobbyist before registering under 09 AS 24.45.041; 10 (2) do anything with the intent of placing a public official under 11 personal obligation to the lobbyist or to the lobbyist's employer; 12 (3) intentionally deceive or attempt to deceive any public official with 13 regard to any material fact pertinent to pending or proposed legislative or 14 administrative action;
01 (4) cause or influence the introduction of a legislative measure solely 02 for the purpose of thereafter being employed to secure its passage or its defeat; 03 (5) cause a communication to be sent to a public official in the name of 04 any fictitious person or in the name of any real person, except with the consent of that 05 person; 06 (6) accept or agree to accept any payment in any way contingent upon 07 the defeat, enactment, or outcome of any proposed legislative or administrative action; 08 (7) serve as a member of a state board or commission, if the lobbyist's 09 employer may receive direct economic benefit from a decision of that board or 10 commission; 11 (8) serve as a campaign manager or director, serve as a campaign 12 treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer on a finance or fund-raising committee, host a 13 fund-raising event, directly or indirectly collect contributions for, or deliver 14 contributions to, a candidate, or otherwise engage in the fund-raising activity of a 15 legislative campaign or campaign for governor or lieutenant governor if the lobbyist 16 has registered, or is required to register, as a lobbyist under this chapter, during the 17 calendar year; this paragraph does not apply to a representational lobbyist as defined 18 in the regulations of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, and does not prohibit a 19 lobbyist from making personal contributions to a candidate as authorized by AS 15.13 20 or personally advocating on behalf of a candidate; 21 (9) offer, solicit, initiate, facilitate, or provide to or on behalf of a 22 person covered by AS 24.60, during a legislative session, a gift, other than food or 23 beverage for immediate consumption; however, this paragraph does not prohibit a 24 lobbyist from providing, during a legislative session or at any other time of the 25 year, [EXCEPT FOR] tickets to a charity event described in AS 24.60.080(c)(10), or 26 a contribution to a charity event under AS 24.60.080(c)(11); 27 (10) make or offer a gift or a campaign contribution whose acceptance 28 by the person to whom it is offered would violate AS 24.60. 29 * Sec. 2. AS 24.60.030(a) is amended to read: 30 (a) A legislator or legislative employee may not 31 (1) solicit, agree to accept, or accept a benefit other than official
01 compensation for the performance of public duties; this paragraph may not be 02 construed to prohibit lawful solicitation for and acceptance of campaign contributions, 03 solicitation or acceptance of contributions for a charity event, as defined in 04 AS 24.60.080(c)(10), or the acceptance of a lawful gratuity under AS 24.60.080; 05 (2) use public funds, facilities, equipment, services, or another 06 government asset or resource for a nonlegislative purpose, for involvement in or 07 support of or opposition to partisan political activity, or for the private benefit of either 08 the legislator, legislative employee, or another person; this paragraph does not prohibit 09 (A) limited use of state property and resources for personal 10 purposes if the use does not interfere with the performance of public duties and 11 either the cost or value related to the use is nominal or the legislator or 12 legislative employee reimburses the state for the cost of the use; 13 (B) the use of mailing lists, computer data, or other information 14 lawfully obtained from a government agency and available to the general 15 public for nonlegislative purposes; 16 (C) telephone or facsimile use that does not carry a special 17 charge; 18 (D) the legislative council, notwithstanding AS 24.05.190, 19 from designating a public facility for use by legislators and legislative 20 employees for health or fitness purposes; when the council designates a facility 21 to be used by legislators and legislative employees for health or fitness 22 purposes, it shall adopt guidelines governing access to and use of the facility; 23 the guidelines may establish times in which use of the facility is limited to 24 specific groups; 25 (E) a legislator from using the legislator's private office in the 26 capital city during a legislative session, and for the 10 days immediately before 27 and the 10 days immediately after a legislative session, for nonlegislative 28 purposes if the use does not interfere with the performance of public duties and 29 if there is no cost to the state for the use of the space and equipment, other than 30 utility costs and minimal wear and tear, or the legislator promptly reimburses 31 the state for the cost; an office is considered a legislator's private office under
01 this subparagraph if it is the primary space in the capital city reserved for use 02 by the legislator, whether or not it is shared with others; 03 (F) a legislator from use of legislative employees to prepare 04 and send out seasonal greeting cards; 05 (G) a legislator from using state resources to transport 06 computers or other office equipment owned by the legislator but primarily used 07 for a state function; 08 (H) use by a legislator of photographs of that legislator; 09 (I) reasonable use of the Internet by a legislator or a legislative 10 employee except if the use is for election campaign purposes; 11 (J) a legislator or legislative employee from soliciting, 12 accepting, or receiving a gift on behalf of a recognized, nonpolitical charitable 13 organization in a state facility; [OR] 14 (K) a legislator from sending any communication in the form of 15 a newsletter to the legislator's constituents, except a communication expressly 16 advocating the election or defeat of a candidate or a newsletter or material in a 17 newsletter that is clearly only for the private benefit of a legislator or a 18 legislative employee; or 19 (L) full participation in a charity event approved in 20 advance by the Alaska Legislative Council; 21 (3) knowingly seek, accept, use, allocate, grant, or award public funds 22 for a purpose other than that approved by law, or make a false statement in connection 23 with a claim, request, or application for compensation, reimbursement, or travel 24 allowances from public funds; 25 (4) require a legislative employee to perform services for the private 26 benefit of the legislator or employee at any time, or allow a legislative employee to 27 perform services for the private benefit of a legislator or employee on government 28 time; it is not a violation of this paragraph if the services were performed in an 29 unusual or infrequent situation and the person's services were reasonably necessary to 30 permit the legislator or legislative employee to perform official duties; 31 (5) use or authorize the use of state funds, facilities, equipment,
01 services, or another government asset or resource for the purpose of political fund 02 raising or campaigning; this paragraph does not prohibit 03 (A) limited use of state property and resources for personal 04 purposes if the use does not interfere with the performance of public duties and 05 either the cost or value related to the use is nominal or the legislator or 06 legislative employee reimburses the state for the cost of the use; 07 (B) the use of mailing lists, computer data, or other information 08 lawfully obtained from a government agency and available to the general 09 public for nonlegislative purposes; 10 (C) telephone or facsimile use that does not carry a special 11 charge; 12 (D) storing or maintaining, consistent with (b) of this section, 13 election campaign records in a legislator's office; 14 (E) a legislator from using the legislator's private office in the 15 capital city during a legislative session, and for the 10 days immediately before 16 and the 10 days immediately after a legislative session, for nonlegislative 17 purposes if the use does not interfere with the performance of public duties and 18 if there is no cost to the state for the use of the space and equipment, other than 19 utility costs and minimal wear and tear, or the legislator promptly reimburses 20 the state for the cost; an office is considered a legislator's private office under 21 this subparagraph if it is the primary space in the capital city reserved for use 22 by the legislator, whether or not it is shared with others; or 23 (F) use by a legislator of photographs of that legislator. 24 * Sec. 3. AS 24.60.080(c) is amended to read: 25 (c) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, it is not a violation of this section for a 26 legislator or legislative employee to accept 27 (1) hospitality, other than hospitality described in (4) of this 28 subsection, 29 (A) with incidental transportation at the residence of a person; 30 however, a vacation home located outside the state is not considered a 31 residence for the purposes of this subparagraph; or
01 (B) at a social event or meal; 02 (2) discounts that are available 03 (A) generally to the public or to a large class of persons to 04 which the person belongs; or 05 (B) when on official state business, but only if receipt of the 06 discount benefits the state; 07 (3) food or foodstuffs indigenous to the state that are shared generally 08 as a cultural or social norm; 09 (4) travel and hospitality primarily for the purpose of obtaining 10 information on matters of legislative concern; 11 (5) gifts from the immediate family of the person; 12 (6) gifts that are not connected with the recipient's legislative status; 13 (7) a discount for all or part of a legislative session, including time 14 immediately preceding or following the session, or other gift to welcome a legislator 15 or legislative employee who is employed on the personal staff of a legislator or by a 16 standing or special committee to the capital city or in recognition of the beginning of a 17 legislative session if the gift or discount is available generally to all legislators and the 18 personal staff of legislators and staff of standing and special committees; this 19 paragraph does not apply to legislative employees who are employed by the 20 Legislative Affairs Agency, the office of the chief clerk, the office of the senate 21 secretary, the legislative budget and audit committee, or the office of the ombudsman; 22 (8) a gift of legal services in a matter of legislative concern and a gift 23 of other services related to the provision of legal services in a matter of legislative 24 concern; 25 (9) a gift of transportation from a legislator to a legislator if the 26 transportation takes place in the state on or in an aircraft, boat, motor vehicle, or other 27 means of transport owned or under the control of the donor; this paragraph does not 28 apply to travel described in (4) of this subsection or travel for political campaign 29 purposes; [OR] 30 (10) tickets from a lobbyist for a charity event at any time, including 31 during a legislative session, except that tickets to or gifts received at a charity event
01 under this paragraph are subject to the calendar year limit on the value of gifts 02 received by a legislator or legislative employee in (a) of this section; in this paragraph, 03 "charity event" means an event the proceeds of which go to a charitable organization 04 with tax-free status under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) and that the Alaska Legislative Council 05 has approved in advance; the tickets may entitle the bearer to admission to the event, 06 to entertainment, to food or beverages, or to other gifts or services involved in the 07 charity event; or 08 (11) a contribution to a charity event from any person at anytime; 09 in this paragraph, "charity event" has the meaning given in (10) of this 10 subsection. 11 * Sec. 4. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).