Enrolled HB 368: Relating to allowing legislators and legislative employees to accept certain gifts from lobbyists, to clarifying the Legislative Ethics Act as it relates to legislative volunteers and educational trainees, to reducing the frequency of publication of summaries by the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, and to revising procedures and fines related to the late filing of disclosures required by the Legislative Ethics Act; amending prohibitions in the Regulation of Lobbying Act on gifts to a legislator or legislative employee.
00Enrolled HB 368 01 Relating to allowing legislators and legislative employees to accept certain gifts from 02 lobbyists, to clarifying the Legislative Ethics Act as it relates to legislative volunteers and 03 educational trainees, to reducing the frequency of publication of summaries by the Select 04 Committee on Legislative Ethics, and to revising procedures and fines related to the late filing 05 of disclosures required by the Legislative Ethics Act; amending prohibitions in the Regulation 06 of Lobbying Act on gifts to a legislator or legislative employee. 07 _______________ 08 * Section 1. AS 24.45.121(a) is amended to read: 09 (a) A lobbyist may not 10 (1) engage in any activity as a lobbyist before registering under 11 AS 24.45.041; 12 (2) do anything with the intent of placing a public official under
01 personal obligation to the lobbyist or to the lobbyist's employer; 02 (3) intentionally deceive or attempt to deceive any public official with 03 regard to any material fact pertinent to pending or proposed legislative or 04 administrative action; 05 (4) cause or influence the introduction of a legislative measure solely 06 for the purpose of thereafter being employed to secure its passage or its defeat; 07 (5) cause a communication to be sent to a public official in the name of 08 any fictitious person or in the name of any real person, except with the consent of that 09 person; 10 (6) accept or agree to accept any payment in any way contingent upon 11 the defeat, enactment, or outcome of any proposed legislative or administrative action; 12 (7) serve as a member of a state board or commission, if the lobbyist's 13 employer may receive direct economic benefit from a decision of that board or 14 commission; 15 (8) serve as a campaign manager or director, serve as a campaign 16 treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer on a finance or fund-raising committee, host a 17 fund-raising event, directly or indirectly collect contributions for, or deliver 18 contributions to, a candidate, or otherwise engage in the fund-raising activity of a 19 legislative campaign or campaign for governor or lieutenant governor if the lobbyist 20 has registered, or is required to register, as a lobbyist under this chapter, during the 21 calendar year; this paragraph does not apply to a representational lobbyist as defined 22 in the regulations of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, and does not prohibit a 23 lobbyist from making personal contributions to a candidate as authorized by AS 15.13 24 or personally advocating on behalf of a candidate; 25 (9) offer, solicit, initiate, facilitate, or provide to or on behalf of a 26 person covered by AS 24.60 a gift, other than food or beverage for immediate 27 consumption or a compassionate gift under AS 24.60.075; however, this paragraph 28 does not prohibit a lobbyist from providing 29 (A) a gift to a legislator or legislative employee who is a 30 member of the lobbyist's immediate family as defined in AS 24.60.990(a), 31 if the gift is unconnected to the recipient's legislative status;
01 (B) tickets to a charity event described in 02 AS 24.60.080(a)(2)(B); [,] or 03 (C) a contribution to a charity event under 04 AS 24.60.080(c)(10); 05 (10) make or offer a gift or a campaign contribution whose acceptance 06 by the person to whom it is offered would violate AS 24.60 or AS 39.52. 07 * Sec. 2. AS 24.60.080(a) is amended to read: 08 (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a legislator or legislative 09 employee may not 10 (1) solicit, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, a gift worth $250 11 or more, whether in the form of money, services, a loan, travel, entertainment, 12 hospitality, promise, or other form, or gifts from the same person worth less than $250 13 that in a calendar year aggregate to $250 or more in value; 14 (2) solicit, accept, or receive a gift with any monetary value from a 15 lobbyist, an immediate family member of a lobbyist, or a person acting on behalf of a 16 lobbyist, except 17 (A) food or beverage for immediate consumption; [OR] 18 (B) a contribution to a charity event from any person at any 19 time, and tickets for a charity event at any time, except that tickets to or gifts 20 received at a charity event under this subparagraph are subject to the calendar 21 year limit on the value of gifts received by a legislator or legislative employee 22 in (1) of this subsection; in this subparagraph, "charity event" means an event 23 the proceeds of which go to a charitable organization with tax-free status under 24 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) and that the Alaska Legislative Council has approved in 25 advance; the tickets may entitle the bearer to admission to the event, to 26 entertainment, to food or beverages, or to other gifts or services involved in the 27 charity event; 28 (C) a gift that is unconnected with the recipient's legislative 29 status and is from a member of the legislator's or legislative employee's 30 immediate family; 31 (D) a gift delivered on the premises of a state facility and
01 accepted on behalf of a recognized nonpolitical charitable organization; or 02 (E) a compassionate gift under AS 24.60.075. 03 * Sec. 3. AS 24.60.080(h) is amended to read: 04 (h) A legislator, a legislative committee other than the Select Committee on 05 Legislative Ethics, or a legislative agency may accept a gift of (1) volunteer services 06 for legislative purposes so long as the person making the gift of services is not 07 receiving compensation from another source for the services, or (2) the services of a 08 trainee who is participating in an educational program approved by the committee if 09 the services are used for legislative purposes. The committee shall approve training 10 under a program of the University of Alaska and training under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 11 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998). [A LEGISLATIVE VOLUNTEER OR 12 EDUCATIONAL TRAINEE SHALL BE CONSIDERED TO BE A LEGISLATIVE 13 EMPLOYEE FOR PURPOSES OF COMPLIANCE WITH THIS SECTION, 14 AS 24.60.030 - 24.60.039, 24.60.060, 24.60.085, 24.60.158 - 24.60.170, 24.60.176, 15 AND 24.60.178. IF A PERSON BELIEVES THAT A LEGISLATIVE VOLUNTEER 16 OR EDUCATIONAL TRAINEE HAS VIOLATED THE PROVISIONS OF ONE OF 17 THOSE SECTIONS, THE PERSON MAY FILE A COMPLAINT UNDER 18 AS 24.60.170. THE PROVISIONS OF AS 24.60.170 APPLY TO THE 19 PROCEEDING.] 20 * Sec. 4. AS 24.60.080 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 21 (l) A legislative volunteer or educational trainee shall be considered to be a 22 legislative employee for purposes of compliance with this section, AS 24.60.030 - 23 24.60.039, 24.60.060, 24.60.085, 24.60.158 - 24.60.170, 24.60.176, and 24.60.178. If 24 a person believes that a legislative volunteer or educational trainee has violated the 25 provisions of one of those sections, the person may file a complaint under 26 AS 24.60.170. The provisions of AS 24.60.170 apply to the proceeding. 27 * Sec. 5. AS 24.60.150(a) is amended to read: 28 (a) The committee shall 29 (1) adopt procedures to facilitate the receipt of inquiries and prompt 30 rendition of its opinions; 31 (2) publish annual [SEMI-ANNUAL] summaries of decisions and
01 advisory opinions with sufficient deletions in the summaries to prevent disclosing the 02 identity of the persons involved in the decisions or opinions that have remained 03 confidential; 04 (3) publish legislative ethics materials, including an annually updated 05 handbook on standards of ethical conduct and a bimonthly legislative newsletter, to 06 help educate legislators, legislative employees, and public members of the committee 07 on the subject of legislative ethics; 08 (4) within 10 days of the first day of each regular session of the 09 legislature and at other times determined by the committee, administer two types of 10 legislative ethics courses that teach means of compliance with this chapter and are 11 designed to give an understanding of this chapter's purpose under AS 24.60.010; one 12 course, for returning legislators, legislative employees, or public members of the 13 committee, shall refresh knowledge and review compliance issues; a separate course 14 shall be designed to give first-time legislators, legislative employees, or public 15 members of the committee a fundamental understanding of this chapter and how to 16 comply with it. 17 * Sec. 6. AS 24.60.260(c) is amended to read: 18 (c) The committee may impose a fine on a person who files a disclosure after 19 a deadline set by this chapter. The amount of the fine imposed under this subsection 20 may not exceed $2 for each day to a maximum of $100 for each [DISCLOSURE FOR 21 A] late filing unless the committee determines that the late filing was inadvertent 22 or wilful. If [DISCLOSURE. HOWEVER, IF] the committee finds that a late filing 23 was inadvertent, the maximum fine the committee may impose under this subsection is 24 $25. If the committee determines that the late filing was wilful, the amount of the 25 fine imposed under this subsection may be $100 for each day but may not exceed 26 a maximum of $2,500.