HB 10: "An Act authorizing state agencies to pay private legal fees and costs incurred by persons exonerated of alleged violations of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act; allowing certain public officers and former public officers to accept state payments to offset private legal fees and costs related to defending against complaints under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act; and creating certain exceptions to limitations under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act on the use of state resources to provide or pay for transportation of spouses and children of the governor and the lieutenant governor."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 10 01 "An Act authorizing state agencies to pay private legal fees and costs incurred by 02 persons exonerated of alleged violations of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act; 03 allowing certain public officers and former public officers to accept state payments to 04 offset private legal fees and costs related to defending against complaints under the 05 Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act; and creating certain exceptions to limitations 06 under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act on the use of state resources to provide 07 or pay for transportation of spouses and children of the governor and the lieutenant 08 governor." 09 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 10 * Section 1. AS 39.52.120(b) is amended to read: 11 (b) A public officer may not 12 (1) seek other employment or contracts through the use or attempted
01 use of official position; 02 (2) accept, receive, or solicit compensation for the performance of 03 official duties or responsibilities from a person other than the state; 04 (3) use state time, property, equipment, or other facilities to benefit 05 personal or financial interests; 06 (4) take or withhold official action in order to affect a matter in which 07 the public officer has a personal or financial interest; 08 (5) attempt to benefit a personal or financial interest through coercion 09 of a subordinate or require another public officer to perform services for the private 10 benefit of the public officer at any time; or 11 (6) use or authorize the use of state funds, facilities, equipment, 12 services, or another government asset or resource for a partisan political purpose 13 [PURPOSES]; this paragraph does not prohibit use of the governor's residence for 14 meetings to discuss political strategy and does not prohibit use of state aircraft or the 15 communications equipment in the governor's residence so long as there is no charge to 16 the state for the use [; IN THIS PARAGRAPH, "FOR PARTISAN POLITICAL 17 PURPOSES" 18 (A) MEANS HAVING THE INTENT TO 19 DIFFERENTIALLY BENEFIT OR HARM A 20 (i) CANDIDATE OR POTENTIAL CANDIDATE 21 FOR ELECTIVE OFFICE; OR 22 (ii) POLITICAL PARTY OR GROUP; 23 (B) BUT DOES NOT INCLUDE HAVING THE INTENT TO 24 BENEFIT THE PUBLIC INTEREST AT LARGE THROUGH THE 25 NORMAL PERFORMANCE OF OFFICIAL DUTIES]. 26 * Sec. 2. AS 39.52.120(f) is amended to read: 27 (f) Use of state aircraft for a partisan political purpose [PURPOSES] is 28 permitted under (b) of this section only when the use is collateral or incidental to the 29 normal performance of official duties and does not exceed 10 percent of the total of 30 the use of the aircraft for official purposes and partisan political purposes, combined, 31 on a single trip. A public officer who authorizes or makes any partisan political use of
01 a state aircraft under (b) of this section shall disclose the authorization and use under 02 AS 39.52.210 or 39.52.220 for each trip, and the person who uses the aircraft shall 03 reimburse the state for the proportionate share of the actual cost of the use. 04 * Sec. 3. AS 39.52.120 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 05 (g) Notwithstanding (a) and (b)(1) - (5) of this section, state resources may be 06 used to transport or pay the cost of transporting a person who is the spouse or child of 07 the governor or lieutenant governor to an event. This subsection authorizes 08 transportation or payment of the cost of transportation of a person who is a child of the 09 governor or lieutenant governor if the person is a biological child, an adoptive child, 10 or a stepchild of the governor or lieutenant governor and is under 19 years of age or, 11 without regard to age, is dependent on the governor or lieutenant governor for care 12 because of a physical or mental disability. Under this subsection, use of state resources 13 is permitted if the event does not have a partisan political purpose and 14 (1) the person is transported with the governor or lieutenant governor 15 and the state is reimbursed for the actual cost or, if the actual cost is not reasonably 16 calculable, the fair market value of the person's transportation; or 17 (2) the person's attendance is a benefit to the state; under this 18 paragraph, a benefit to the state is presumed when 19 (A) the person's attendance at the event is required for official 20 action of the state; 21 (B) the event is state-sponsored and the person's attendance has 22 been customary at similar events; 23 (C) the person is attending as an officially designated 24 representative of the state; or 25 (D) the person is invited by the sponsor of the event before the 26 transportation occurs, the event is related to issues important to the state, the 27 governor or lieutenant governor attends, and 28 (i) the event is a family-oriented or youth-oriented event 29 at which the person's attendance is particularly appropriate; or 30 (ii) the invitation and the person's attendance have been 31 customary for similar events.
01 (h) In this section, "partisan political purpose" 02 (1) means a purpose intended differentially to benefit or harm a 03 (A) candidate or potential candidate for elective office; or 04 (B) political party or group; 05 (2) does not include a purpose intended to benefit the public interest at 06 large through the normal performance of official duties. 07 * Sec. 4. AS 39.52 is amended by adding a new section to article 5 to read: 08 Sec. 39.52.470. Legal fees and costs. (a) Notwithstanding AS 39.52.120, a 09 state agency may pay the fees and costs of private legal representation that are 10 incurred by a person who is a public officer or former public officer while defending 11 against a complaint initiated or filed under AS 39.52.310 concerning conduct by the 12 person during a period when the person was serving or employed as a public officer, if 13 the person has been exonerated. When a complaint has alleged more than one 14 violation against a public officer or former public officer, payments may be 15 apportioned by alleged violation. 16 (b) A payment made under this section must be from funds that have been 17 appropriated to a state agency and that may lawfully be used for the payment. 18 (c) Notwithstanding AS 39.52.120, a public officer or former public officer 19 who is the subject of a complaint may accept a payment under (a) of this section. 20 (d) A public officer may not act for the state in the matter of a payment under 21 this section if the payment is to the public officer or an immediate family member of 22 the public officer. 23 (e) In this section, 24 (1) "exonerated" means that an allegation of a violation of this chapter 25 has, without corrective action under AS 39.52.330, been 26 (A) dismissed under AS 39.52.310(d), 39.52.320, or 27 39.52.370(d); 28 (B) dismissed after an appeal under AS 39.52.370(f); or 29 (C) resolved solely with a recommendation for preventive 30 action under AS 39.52.330; 31 (2) "fees and costs of private legal representation" means reasonable
01 fees and related costs of legal representation that are necessarily incurred in defense 02 against the allegations in the complaint and may include fees for services customarily 03 performed by an attorney but delegated to and performed by a person working under 04 the supervision of an attorney licensed to practice in the state. 05 * Sec. 5. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 06 read: 07 APPLICABILITY. AS 39.52.470, enacted by sec. 4 of this Act, applies only to 08 complaints under AS 39.52.310 - 39.52.390 that are initiated or filed on or after the effective 09 date of this Act.