The Honorable Byron Mallott
AGO JU2017200579
No. JU2017200579
Alaska Attorney General Opinions
October 6, 2017
The
Honorable Byron Mallott
Lieutenant
Governor
P.O.
Box 110015
Juneau,
Alaska 99811-0015
Re:
17AKGA Ballot Measure Application Review
Dear
Lieutenant Governor Mallott:
You
asked us to review an application for an initiative entitled
"An Act relating to government accountability to the
People of the State of Alaska; and providing for an effective
date" (17AKGA). Because the application complies with
the specific constitutional and statutory provisions
governing the initiative process, we recommend that you
certify the application.
I.
The proposed initiative bill.
The
bill proposed by this initiative would amend several
provisions of Title 24 of the Alaska Statutes relating to
legislative conflicts of interest and payments to
legislators. The bill would also add a provision to Title 15
related to campaign finance. The bill is eleven sections
long, and generally provides as follows:
Section
1 would add to the uncodified law a statement of
findings and intent. The statement provides that the people
of the State of Alaska find that government must be
accountable to the people. According to this statement, the
government fails to be accountable when it endangers
Alaska's economy and state functions by failing to pass a
timely annual budget, uses taxpayer dollars to pay for
foreign travel that does not benefit Alaskans, allows foreign
corporate interests to spend "unlimited amounts of money
to influence" Alaska's elections, fails to address
many of legislators' financial conflicts of interest, and
permits lobbyists to "give unlimited food and drink to
legislators."
Sections
2, 3, and 4 would amend existing provisions of AS
24.60.030 (entitled "Prohibited conduct and conflicts of
interest"). The amendments would prohibit a legislator
from directly or indirectly taking or withholding official
action or exerting official influence that could
substantially benefit or harm the financial interests of
certain people. Those people include any member of the
legislator's immediate family, any employer of the
legislator or of a member of the legislator's immediate
family, anyone with whom the legislator is negotiating for
employment, and anyone from whom the legislator or a member
of the legislator's immediate family received more than
$10,000 of income in the preceding twelve months. The
amendments would further require that a legislator declare
conflicts of interest before voting in committee, and ask to
be excused from voting in a house of the legislature, if the
legislator or a member of the legislator's immediate
family has a substantial financial interest that the action
to be voted on would affect to a greater extent than it
affects the general public. A legislator would still be able
to participate in public debate and vote on budget bills
under these restrictions. Finally, the amendments would add
new definitions of "financial interest" and
"substantially benefit or harm."
Sections
5 and 6 would amend existing provisions of AS
24.45.121 ("Prohibitions") governing the conduct of
lobbyists, and AS 24.60.080 ("Gifts"), governing
gifts to legislators and legislative employees. The
amendments would specify that allowable gifts of food and
beverages from a lobbyist to a legislator or legislative
employee for immediate consumption are limited to de minimis
food and nonalcoholic beverages.
Section
7 would amend existing AS 24.10.130 ("Moving
expenses and per diem allowance"). The amendments would
provide that no legislator is entitled to a per diem
allowance after the 121st day of a regular legislative
session until the first day after the legislature passes an
appropriations bill fully...
