HB 333: "An Act relating to public office expense term accounts and public office expense term account reserves."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 333 01 "An Act relating to public office expense term accounts and public office expense term 02 account reserves." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 15.13.116(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) A candidate who, after the date of the general, special, municipal, or 06 municipal runoff election or after the date the candidate withdraws as a candidate, 07 whichever comes first, holds unused campaign contributions shall distribute the 08 amount held on February 1 for a general election or within 90 days after a special 09 election. The distribution may only be made to 10 (1) pay bills incurred for expenditures reasonably related to the 11 campaign and the winding up of the affairs of the campaign, including a victory or 12 thank you party, thank you advertisements, and thank you gifts to campaign 13 employees and volunteers, and to pay expenditures associated with post-election fund 14 raising that may be needed to raise funds to pay off campaign debts;
01 (2) make donations, without condition, to 02 (A) a political party; 03 (B) the state's general fund; 04 (C) a municipality of the state; or 05 (D) the federal government; 06 (3) make donations, without condition, to organizations qualified as 07 charitable organizations under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) if the organization is not controlled 08 by the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family; 09 (4) repay loans from the candidate to the candidate's own campaign 10 under AS 15.13.078(b); 11 (5) repay contributions to contributors, but only if repayment of the 12 contribution is made pro rata in approximate proportion to the contributions made 13 using one of the following, as the candidate determines: 14 (A) to all contributors; 15 (B) to contributors who have contributed most recently; or 16 (C) to contributors who have made larger contributions; 17 (6) establish a fund for, and from that fund to pay, attorney fees or 18 costs incurred in the prosecution or defense of an administrative or civil judicial action 19 that directly concerns a challenge to the victory or defeat of the candidate in the 20 election; 21 (7) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to an 22 account for a future election campaign; a transfer under this paragraph is limited to 23 (A) $50,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for governor 24 or lieutenant governor; 25 (B) $10,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 26 senate; 27 (C) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 28 house of representatives; and 29 (D) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for an office 30 not described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph; 31 (8) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a
01 public office expense term account [OR TO A PUBLIC OFFICE EXPENSE TERM 02 ACCOUNT RESERVE IN ACCORDANCE WITH (d) OF THIS SECTION]; a 03 transfer under this paragraph is subject to the following: 04 (A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 05 elected to the state legislature; 06 (B) the public office expense term account established under 07 this paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 08 serving as a member of the legislature; 09 (C) all amounts expended from the public office expense term 10 account shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); [AND] 11 (D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000 12 multiplied by the number of years in the term to which the candidate is elected 13 plus any accumulated interest; and 14 (E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 15 paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this 16 subsection by the end of the term of office immediately following the 17 campaign for which the contributions were received; and 18 (9) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 19 municipal office account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the following: 20 (A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 21 elected to municipal office, including a municipal school board; 22 (B) the municipal office account established under this 23 paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 24 serving as mayor or as a member of the assembly, city council, or school 25 board; 26 (C) all amounts expended from the municipal office account 27 shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); and 28 (D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000. 29 * Sec. 2. AS 15.13.116(d) is repealed. 30 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 31 read:
01 TRANSITIONAL PROVISION. A candidate for the state legislature who was elected 02 to the state legislature before the effective date of this Act and who holds funds in a public 03 office expense term account reserve shall transfer those funds to a public office expense term 04 account before January 1, 2013.