SB 246: "An Act relating to a legal fund to pay attorney fees and costs in an election contest; and providing for an effective date."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 246 01 "An Act relating to a legal fund to pay attorney fees and costs in an election contest; and 02 providing for an effective date." 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) a legal fund established under AS 24.60.111 [ESTABLISH A 18 FUND FOR, AND FROM THAT FUND TO PAY, ATTORNEY FEES OR COSTS 19 INCURRED IN THE PROSECUTION OR DEFENSE OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE 20 OR CIVIL JUDICIAL ACTION THAT DIRECTLY CONCERNS A CHALLENGE 21 TO THE VICTORY OR DEFEAT OF THE CANDIDATE IN THE ELECTION]; 22 (7) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to an 23 account for a future election campaign; a transfer under this paragraph is limited to 24 (A) $50,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for governor 25 or lieutenant governor; 26 (B) $10,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 27 senate; 28 (C) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 29 house of representatives; and 30 (D) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for an office 31 not described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph;
01 (8) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 02 public office expense term account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the 03 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); 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 subsection 16 at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 17 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); 28 (D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000; and 29 (E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 30 paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 31 at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which
01 the contributions were received. 02 * Sec. 2. AS 24.60.080 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 03 (l) A contribution toward a legal fund under AS 24.60.111 controlled by a 04 legislator is not a gift to the legislator if reported under AS 24.60.111. 05 * Sec. 3. AS 24.60 is amended by adding a new section to read: 06 Sec. 24.60.111. Legal funds. (a) A legislator may establish a legal fund to pay 07 attorney fees and costs incurred in an election contest. 08 (b) Notwithstanding AS 15.13, a legislator may at any time solicit and accept 09 contributions to a legal fund established under this section. The Alaska Public Offices 10 Commission shall adopt regulations 11 (1) relating to establishing a fund under this section; 12 (2) identifying allowable uses of money in and the disposition of 13 surplus money from a fund under this section; and 14 (3) requiring disclosure of contributions to and expenditures from a 15 fund under this section. 16 (c) A contribution to a fund established under this section is not subject to the 17 restrictions under AS 24.60.031 or 24.60.080. 18 * Sec. 4. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).