CSHB 368(FIN): "An Act amending the Legislative Ethics Act to modify the limitation on political fund raising by legislators and legislative employees during legislative sessions, to allow legislators and legislative employees to accept certain gifts from lobbyists, to clarify the Legislative Ethics Act as it relates to legislative volunteers and educational trainees, to reduce the frequency of publication of summaries by the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, and to revise procedures and fines related to the late filing of disclosures required by the Legislative Ethics Act."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 368(FIN) 01 "An Act amending the Legislative Ethics Act to modify the limitation on political fund 02 raising by legislators and legislative employees during legislative sessions, to allow 03 legislators and legislative employees to accept certain gifts from lobbyists, to clarify the 04 Legislative Ethics Act as it relates to legislative volunteers and educational trainees, to 05 reduce the frequency of publication of summaries by the Select Committee on 06 Legislative Ethics, and to revise procedures and fines related to the late filing of 07 disclosures required by the Legislative Ethics Act." 08 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 09 * Section 1. AS 24.60.031(a) is amended to read: 10 (a) A legislator or legislative employee may not 11 (1) on a day when either house of the legislature is in regular or special 12 session, solicit or accept a contribution or a promise or pledge to make a contribution 13 for a campaign for the state legislature; however, a legislator or legislative employee
01 may, except in the municipality in which the legislative session is convened 02 [CAPITAL CITY], solicit or accept a contribution, promise, or pledge for a campaign 03 for the state legislature that occurs during the 90 days immediately preceding an 04 election; 05 (2) accept money from an event held on a day when either house of the 06 legislature is in regular or special session if a substantial purpose of the event is to 07 raise money on behalf of the member or legislative employee for state legislative 08 political purposes; however, this paragraph does not prohibit a legislator or legislative 09 employee from accepting money from an event held in a place other than the 10 municipality in which the legislative session is convened, [CAPITAL CITY] during 11 the 90 days immediately preceding an election; or 12 (3) in a campaign for the state legislature, expend money that was 13 raised on a day when either house of the legislature was in a legislative session by or 14 on behalf of a legislator under a declaration of candidacy or a general letter of intent to 15 become a candidate for public office; however, this paragraph does not apply to 16 money raised in a place other than the municipality in which the legislative session 17 is convened, [CAPITAL CITY] during the 90 days immediately preceding an 18 election. 19 * Sec. 2. AS 24.60.031 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 20 (c) This section does not prohibit a legislator from soliciting or accepting a 21 contribution or making campaign expenditures during a special session held during the 22 90 days immediately preceding an election if the district for which the legislator has 23 filed for office is in the municipality where the special session occurs. 24 * Sec. 3. AS 24.60.080(a) is amended to read: 25 (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a legislator or legislative 26 employee may not 27 (1) solicit, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, a gift worth $250 28 or more, whether in the form of money, services, a loan, travel, entertainment, 29 hospitality, promise, or other form, or gifts from the same person worth less than $250 30 that in a calendar year aggregate to $250 or more in value; 31 (2) solicit, accept, or receive a gift with any monetary value from a
01 lobbyist, an immediate family member of a lobbyist, or a person acting on behalf of a 02 lobbyist, except 03 (A) food or beverage for immediate consumption; [OR] 04 (B) a contribution to a charity event from any person at any 05 time, and tickets for a charity event at any time, except that tickets to or gifts 06 received at a charity event under this subparagraph are subject to the calendar 07 year limit on the value of gifts received by a legislator or legislative employee 08 in (1) of this subsection; in this subparagraph, "charity event" means an event 09 the proceeds of which go to a charitable organization with tax-free status under 10 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) and that the Alaska Legislative Council has approved in 11 advance; the tickets may entitle the bearer to admission to the event, to 12 entertainment, to food or beverages, or to other gifts or services involved in the 13 charity event; 14 (C) a gift that is unconnected with the recipient's legislative 15 status and is from a member of the legislator's or legislative employee's 16 immediate family; 17 (D) a gift delivered on the premises of a state facility and 18 accepted on behalf of a recognized nonpolitical charitable organization; or 19 (E) a compassionate gift under AS 24.60.075. 20 * Sec. 4. AS 24.60.080(h) is amended to read: 21 (h) A legislator, a legislative committee other than the Select Committee on 22 Legislative Ethics, or a legislative agency may accept a gift of (1) volunteer services 23 for legislative purposes so long as the person making the gift of services is not 24 receiving compensation from another source for the services, or (2) the services of a 25 trainee who is participating in an educational program approved by the committee if 26 the services are used for legislative purposes. The committee shall approve training 27 under a program of the University of Alaska and training under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 28 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998). [A LEGISLATIVE VOLUNTEER OR 29 EDUCATIONAL TRAINEE SHALL BE CONSIDERED TO BE A LEGISLATIVE 30 EMPLOYEE FOR PURPOSES OF COMPLIANCE WITH THIS SECTION, 31 AS 24.60.030 - 24.60.039, 24.60.060, 24.60.085, 24.60.158 - 24.60.170, 24.60.176,
01 AND 24.60.178. IF A PERSON BELIEVES THAT A LEGISLATIVE VOLUNTEER 02 OR EDUCATIONAL TRAINEE HAS VIOLATED THE PROVISIONS OF ONE OF 03 THOSE SECTIONS, THE PERSON MAY FILE A COMPLAINT UNDER 04 AS 24.60.170. THE PROVISIONS OF AS 24.60.170 APPLY TO THE 05 PROCEEDING.] 06 * Sec. 5. AS 24.60.080 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 07 (l) A legislative volunteer or educational trainee shall be considered to be a 08 legislative employee for purposes of compliance with this section, AS 24.60.030 - 09 24.60.039, 24.60.060, 24.60.085, 24.60.158 - 24.60.170, 24.60.176, and 24.60.178. If 10 a person believes that a legislative volunteer or educational trainee has violated the 11 provisions of one of those sections, the person may file a complaint under 12 AS 24.60.170. The provisions of AS 24.60.170 apply to the proceeding. 13 * Sec. 6. AS 24.60.150(a) is amended to read: 14 (a) The committee shall 15 (1) adopt procedures to facilitate the receipt of inquiries and prompt 16 rendition of its opinions; 17 (2) publish annual [SEMI-ANNUAL] summaries of decisions and 18 advisory opinions with sufficient deletions in the summaries to prevent disclosing the 19 identity of the persons involved in the decisions or opinions that have remained 20 confidential; 21 (3) publish legislative ethics materials, including an annually updated 22 handbook on standards of ethical conduct and a bimonthly legislative newsletter, to 23 help educate legislators, legislative employees, and public members of the committee 24 on the subject of legislative ethics; 25 (4) within 10 days of the first day of each regular session of the 26 legislature and at other times determined by the committee, administer two types of 27 legislative ethics courses that teach means of compliance with this chapter and are 28 designed to give an understanding of this chapter's purpose under AS 24.60.010; one 29 course, for returning legislators, legislative employees, or public members of the 30 committee, shall refresh knowledge and review compliance issues; a separate course 31 shall be designed to give first-time legislators, legislative employees, or public
01 members of the committee a fundamental understanding of this chapter and how to 02 comply with it. 03 * Sec. 7. AS 24.60.260(c) is amended to read: 04 (c) The committee may impose a fine on a person who files a disclosure after 05 a deadline set by this chapter. The amount of the fine imposed under this subsection 06 may not exceed $2 for each day to a maximum of $100 for each [DISCLOSURE FOR 07 A] late filing unless the committee determines that the late filing was inadvertent 08 or willful. If [DISCLOSURE. HOWEVER, IF] the committee finds that a late filing 09 was inadvertent, the maximum fine the committee may impose under this subsection is 10 $25. If the committee determines that the late filing was willful, the amount of the 11 fine imposed under this subsection may be $100 for each day but may not exceed 12 a maximum of $2,500.