HB 157: "An Act requiring the disclosure of the identity of certain persons, groups, and nongroup entities that expend money in support of or in opposition to an application filed for a state referendum or recall election; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 157 01 "An Act requiring the disclosure of the identity of certain persons, groups, and 02 nongroup entities that expend money in support of or in opposition to an application 03 filed for a state referendum or recall election; and providing for an effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 15.13.010(b) is amended to read: 06 (b) Except as otherwise provided, this chapter applies to contributions, 07 expenditures, and communications made to influence the nomination or election of 08 a candidate or for the purpose of 09 (1) influencing the outcome of a ballot proposition or question; or 10 (2) supporting or opposing 11 (A) an initiative proposal application filed under 12 AS 15.45.020; 13 (B) a referendum application filed under AS 15.45.260; or 14 (C) a recall application filed under AS 15.45.480 [AS WELL
01 AS THOSE MADE TO INFLUENCE THE NOMINATION OR ELECTION 02 OF A CANDIDATE]. 03 * Sec. 2. AS 15.13.050(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) Before making an expenditure in support of or in opposition to a candidate 05 or before making an expenditure in support of or in opposition to a ballot proposition 06 or question or to an initiative proposal application filed [WITH THE LIEUTENANT 07 GOVERNOR] under AS 15.45.020, a referendum application filed under 08 AS 15.45.260, or a recall application filed under AS 15.45.480, each person other 09 than an individual shall register, on forms provided by the commission, with the 10 commission. 11 * Sec. 3. AS 15.13.065(c) is amended to read: 12 (c) Except for reports required by AS 15.13.040 and 15.13.110 and except for 13 the requirements of AS 15.13.050, 15.13.060, and 15.13.112 - 15.13.114, the 14 provisions of AS 15.13.010 - 15.13.116 do not apply to limit the authority of a person 15 to make contributions to influence the outcome of a ballot proposition. In this 16 subsection, in addition to its meaning in AS 15.80.010, "proposition" includes 17 (1) an issue placed on a ballot to determine whether 18 (A) a constitutional convention shall be called; 19 (B) a debt shall be contracted; 20 (C) an advisory question shall be approved or rejected; or 21 (D) a municipality shall be incorporated; 22 (2) an initiative proposal application filed [WITH THE LIEUTENANT 23 GOVERNOR] under AS 15.45.020; 24 (3) a referendum application filed under AS 15.45.260; and 25 (4) a recall application filed under AS 15.45.480. 26 * Sec. 4. AS 15.13.110(e) is amended to read: 27 (e) A referendum committee, person, group, or nongroup entity receiving 28 contributions exceeding $500 or making expenditures exceeding $500 in a 29 calendar year in support of or in opposition to a referendum on the ballot in a 30 statewide election or a referendum application filed with the lieutenant governor 31 under AS 15.45.260 shall file a [GROUP FORMED TO SPONSOR A
01 REFERENDUM OR A RECALL SHALL REPORT 30 DAYS AFTER ITS FIRST 02 FILING WITH THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR. THEREAFTER, EACH GROUP 03 SHALL] report within 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter on the 04 contributions received and expenditures made during the preceding calendar quarter 05 until reports are due under (a) and (b) of this section. If the report is a first report, it 06 must cover the period beginning the day a referendum application is filed under 07 AS 15.45.260 and ending three days before the due date of the report. 08 * Sec. 5. AS 15.13.110 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 09 (k) A recall committee, person, group, or nongroup entity receiving 10 contributions exceeding $500 or making expenditures exceeding $500 in a calendar 11 year in support of or in opposition to the recall of a public official in a statewide 12 election or a recall application filed with the lieutenant governor under AS 15.45.480 13 shall file a report within 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter on the 14 contributions received and expenditures made during the preceding calendar quarter 15 until reports are due under (a) and (b) of this section. If the report is a first report, it 16 must cover the period beginning the day a recall application is filed under 17 AS 15.45.480 and ending three days before the due date of the report. 18 * Sec. 6. AS 15.13.400(4) is amended to read: 19 (4) "contribution" 20 (A) means a purchase, payment, promise or obligation to pay, 21 loan or loan guarantee, deposit or gift of money, goods, or services for which 22 charge is ordinarily made, and includes the payment by a person other than a 23 candidate or political party or other group, or compensation for the personal 24 services of another person, that is rendered to the candidate or political party 25 or other group [,] and that is made for the purpose of 26 (i) influencing the nomination or election of a 27 candidate; 28 (ii) influencing a ballot proposition or question; or 29 (iii) supporting or opposing an initiative proposal 30 application filed [WITH THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR] under 31 AS 15.45.020, a referendum application filed under AS 15.45.260,
01 or a recall application filed under AS 15.45.480; 02 (B) does not include 03 (i) services provided without compensation by 04 individuals volunteering a portion or all of their time on behalf of a 05 political party, candidate, or ballot proposition or question; 06 (ii) ordinary hospitality in a home; 07 (iii) two or fewer mass mailings before each election by 08 each political party describing members of the party running as 09 candidates for public office in that election, which may include 10 photographs, biographies, and information about the candidates; 11 (iv) the results of a poll limited to issues and not 12 mentioning any candidate, unless the poll was requested by or designed 13 primarily to benefit the candidate; 14 (v) any communication in the form of a newsletter from 15 a legislator to the legislator's constituents, except a communication 16 expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate or a 17 newsletter or material in a newsletter that is clearly only for the private 18 benefit of a legislator or a legislative employee; 19 (vi) a fundraising list provided without compensation 20 by one candidate or political party to a candidate or political party; or 21 (vii) an opportunity to participate in a candidate forum 22 provided to a candidate without compensation to the candidate by 23 another person and for which a candidate is not ordinarily charged; 24 * Sec. 7. AS 15.13.400(7) is amended to read: 25 (7) "expenditure" 26 (A) means a purchase or a transfer of money or anything of 27 value, or promise or agreement to purchase or transfer money or anything of 28 value, incurred or made for the purpose of 29 (i) influencing the nomination or election of a candidate 30 or of any individual who files for nomination at a later date and 31 becomes a candidate;
01 (ii) use by a political party; 02 (iii) the payment by a person other than a candidate or 03 political party of compensation for the personal services of another 04 person that are rendered to a candidate or political party; 05 (iv) influencing the outcome of a ballot proposition or 06 question; or 07 (v) supporting or opposing an initiative proposal 08 application filed [WITH THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR] under 09 AS 15.45.020, a referendum application filed under AS 15.45.260, 10 or a recall application filed under AS 15.45.480; 11 (B) does not include a candidate's filing fee or the cost of 12 preparing reports and statements required by this chapter; 13 (C) includes an express communication and an electioneering 14 communication, but does not include an issues communication; 15 * Sec. 8. AS 15.13.400(9) is amended to read: 16 (9) "group" means 17 (A) every state and regional executive committee of a political 18 party; 19 (B) any combination of two or more individuals acting jointly 20 who organize for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of one or 21 more elections and who take action the major purpose of which is to influence 22 the outcome of an election; a group that makes expenditures or receives 23 contributions with the authorization or consent, express or implied, or under 24 the control, direct or indirect, of a candidate shall be considered to be 25 controlled by that candidate; a group whose major purpose is to further the 26 nomination, election, or candidacy of only one individual, or intends to expend 27 more than 50 percent of its money on a single candidate, shall be considered to 28 be controlled by that candidate and its actions done with the candidate's 29 knowledge and consent unless, within 10 days from the date the candidate 30 learns of the existence of the group the candidate files with the commission, on 31 a form provided by the commission, an affidavit that the group is operating
01 without the candidate's control; a group organized for more than one year 02 preceding an election and endorsing candidates for more than one office or 03 more than one political party is presumed not to be controlled by a candidate; 04 however, a group that contributes more than 50 percent of its money to or on 05 behalf of one candidate shall be considered to support only one candidate for 06 purposes of AS 15.13.070, whether or not control of the group has been 07 disclaimed by the candidate; and 08 (C) any combination of two or more individuals acting jointly 09 who organize for the principal purpose of filing 10 (i) an initiative proposal application under 11 AS 15.45.020 or who file an initiative proposal application under 12 AS 15.45.020; 13 (ii) a referendum application under AS 15.45.260 or 14 who file a referendum application under AS 15.45.260; or 15 (iii) a recall application under AS 15.45.480 or who 16 file a recall application under AS 15.45.480; 17 * Sec. 9. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 18 read: 19 APPLICABILITY. This Act applies only to a referendum or recall for which the 20 application is filed with the lieutenant governor under AS 15.45.260 or 15.45.480, 21 respectively, on or after the effective date of this Act. 22 * Sec. 10. This Act takes effect January 1, 2022.