HB 201: "An Act relating to certain reports required by the Alaska Public Offices Commission; and relating to the use of campaign contributions held by a candidate or group."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 201 01 "An Act relating to certain reports required by the Alaska Public Offices Commission; 02 and relating to the use of campaign contributions held by a candidate or group." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 15.13.112(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) Except as otherwise provided, campaign contributions held by a candidate 06 or group may be used only to pay 07 (1) civil penalties assessed against the candidate or group under 08 this chapter; and 09 (2) the expenses of the candidate or group, and the campaign expenses 10 incurred by the candidate or group, that reasonably relate to election campaign 11 activities, and in those cases only as authorized by this chapter. 12 * Sec. 2. AS 15.13.112 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 13 (d) Notwithstanding (a)(1) of this section, the commission may prohibit a 14 candidate or group from using campaign contributions held by the candidate or group
01 to pay a civil penalty assessed under this chapter if a court determines that the 02 candidate, campaign treasurer, or deputy campaign treasurer intentionally caused or 03 participated in the violation for which the civil penalty is imposed. 04 * Sec. 3. 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; 15 (2) make donations, without condition, to 16 (A) a political party; 17 (B) the state's general fund; 18 (C) a municipality of the state; or 19 (D) the federal government; 20 (3) make donations, without condition, to organizations qualified as 21 charitable organizations under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) if the organization is not controlled 22 by the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family; 23 (4) repay loans from the candidate to the candidate's own campaign 24 under AS 15.13.078(b); 25 (5) repay contributions to contributors, but only if repayment of the 26 contribution is made pro rata in approximate proportion to the contributions made 27 using one of the following, as the candidate determines: 28 (A) to all contributors; 29 (B) to contributors who have contributed most recently; or 30 (C) to contributors who have made larger contributions; 31 (6) establish a fund for, and from that fund to pay, attorney fees or
01 costs incurred in the prosecution or defense of an administrative or civil judicial action 02 that directly concerns a challenge to the victory or defeat of the candidate in the 03 election; 04 (7) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to an 05 account for a future election campaign; a transfer under this paragraph is limited to 06 (A) $50,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for governor 07 or lieutenant governor; 08 (B) $10,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 09 senate; 10 (C) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for the state 11 house of representatives; and 12 (D) $5,000, if the transfer is made by a candidate for an office 13 not described in (A) - (C) of this paragraph; 14 (8) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a 15 public office expense term account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the 16 following: 17 (A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 18 elected to the state legislature; 19 (B) the public office expense term account established under 20 this paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 21 serving as a member of the legislature; 22 (C) all amounts expended from the public office expense term 23 account shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); 24 (D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000 25 multiplied by the number of years in the term to which the candidate is elected 26 plus any accumulated interest; and 27 (E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 28 paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 29 at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 30 the contributions were received; [AND] 31 (9) transfer all or a portion of the unused campaign contributions to a
01 municipal office account; a transfer under this paragraph is subject to the following: 02 (A) the authority to transfer is limited to candidates who are 03 elected to municipal office, including a municipal school board; 04 (B) the municipal office account established under this 05 paragraph may be used only for expenses associated with the candidate's 06 serving as mayor or as a member of the assembly, city council, or school 07 board; 08 (C) all amounts expended from the municipal office account 09 shall be annually accounted for under AS 15.13.110(a)(4); 10 (D) a transfer under this paragraph is limited to $5,000; and 11 (E) unused campaign contributions transferred under this 12 paragraph must be disposed of as provided in (2), (3), or (5) of this subsection 13 at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which 14 the contributions were received; and 15 (10) unless prohibited by AS 15.13.112(d), pay civil penalties that 16 relate to the campaign assessed against the candidate under this chapter. 17 * Sec. 4. AS 15.13.380(a) is amended to read: 18 (a) Promptly after the final date for filing statements and reports under this 19 chapter, the commission shall notify all persons who have become delinquent in filing 20 them, including contributors who failed to file a statement in accordance with 21 AS 15.13.040, and shall make available a list of those delinquent filers for public 22 inspection. The list must include persons who have not filed reports and persons 23 who filed incomplete reports, and must distinguish persons who have not filed 24 reports from persons who timely filed incomplete reports under AS 15.13.390(g). 25 An incomplete report filed under AS 15.13.390(g) must be open to public 26 inspection, but the commission shall identify the report as incomplete until all 27 required information is submitted. The commission shall also report to the attorney 28 general the names of all candidates in an election whose campaign treasurers have 29 failed to file the reports required by this chapter. 30 * Sec. 5. AS 15.13.390(a) is amended to read: 31 (a) Except as provided in (g) of this section, a [A] person who
01 (1) fails to register when required by AS 15.13.050(a) or who fails to 02 file a properly completed and certified report within the time required by 03 AS 15.13.040, 15.13.060(b) - (d), 15.13.110(a)(1), (3), or (4), (e), or (f) is subject to a 04 civil penalty of not more than $50 a day for each day the delinquency continues as 05 determined by the commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court. A 06 person who fails to file a properly completed and certified report within the time 07 required by AS 15.13.110(a)(2) or 15.13.110(b) is subject to a civil penalty of not 08 more than $500 a day for each day the delinquency continues as determined by the 09 commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 10 (2) whether as a contributor or intermediary, delays in reporting a 11 contribution as required by AS 15.13.040(r) is subject to a civil penalty of not more 12 than $1,000 a day for each day the delinquency continues as determined by the 13 commission subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 14 (3) whether as a contributor or intermediary, misreports or fails to 15 disclose the true source of a contribution in violation of AS 15.13.040(r) or 16 15.13.074(b) is subject to a civil penalty of not more than the amount of the 17 contribution that is the subject of the misreporting or failure to disclose; upon a 18 showing that the violation was intentional, a civil penalty of not more than three times 19 the amount of the contribution in violation may be imposed; these penalties as 20 determined by the commission are subject to right of appeal to the superior court; 21 (4) violates a provision of this chapter, except as otherwise specified in 22 this section, is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50 a day for each day the 23 violation continues as determined by the commission, subject to right of appeal to the 24 superior court; and 25 (5) is assessed a civil penalty may submit to the commission an 26 affidavit stating facts in mitigation; however, the imposition of the penalties 27 prescribed in this section or in AS 15.13.380 does not excuse that person from 28 registering or filing reports required by this chapter. 29 * Sec. 6. AS 15.13.390 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 30 (g) Notwithstanding AS 15.13.040, 15.13.050(a), 15.13.060, 15.13.074(g), 31 15.13.100, and 15.13.110, a person may file a report required under this chapter
01 without including all information relating to contributions, contributors, or campaign 02 expenditures that is required in the report if the person attests, under penalty of 03 perjury, that the information is not being provided because the person does not have it, 04 and that the person will file the information with the commission within 30 days or 05 another period determined by the commission. If a person fails to file the missing 06 information within 30 days, or another period determined by the commission, the 07 person is subject to civil penalties as determined under (a) of this section from the date 08 the original report was due. The commission shall adopt regulations necessary to 09 implement this subsection. 10 * Sec. 7. AS 15.13.112(b)(6) is repealed.