Treadwell, 112614 AKAGO, AGO JU2014200708

• Case Date: November 26, 2014
• Court: Alaska

The Honorable Mead Treadwell AGO JU2014200708 A.G. No. JU2014200708 Alaska Attorney General Opinions November 26, 2014          The Honorable Mead Treadwell          Lieutenant Governor          P.O. Box 110015          Juneau, Alaska 99811-0015          Re: Review of Initiative Application for "An Act creating criminal penalties for public officials who regulate or legislate competitive advantages for, or direct appropriations to their business partners, their clients, their contributors, and other defined close associates and creating criminal penalties for those who succeed in profiting by inducing public officials to violate this act.'"          Dear Lieutenant Governor Treadwell:          You asked us to review an application for an initiative entitled: "An Act creating criminal penalties for public officials who regulate or legislate competitive advantages for, or direct appropriations to their business partners, their clients, their contributors, and other defined close associates and creating criminal penalties for those who succeed in profiting by inducing public officials to violate this act" (hereafter, "14CP02"). 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 repeal and reenact AS 11.56.130 in Title 11 of the Alaska Statutes (Criminal Law).^[1] The proposed new AS 11.56.130 would be titled "Presumptive political bribery" and consist of four sub-sections as follows:

• 11.56.130 (a) would make it "a class A felony for public officials to regulate or legislate competitive advantages for, or direct appropriations to themselves, their business partners, their clients, immediate family, past present, or sought-after employers or contributors, including contributors to independent expenditure campaigns intended to increase the probability of their election."

• 11.56.130 (b) would make it "a class A felony to receive an appropriation, or secure a competitive advantage over competition for profit through regulation or statute by inducing public officials to violate (a) of this section."

• 11.56.130 (c) provides that "[presumptive political bribery shall be narrowly construed. Actions affecting legislation and/or regulations which similarly impact a broad spectrum of population, and have relatively minor fiscal impacts incidental only to implementation, are exempt. Members of deliberative bodies may absolve themselves of potential conflict by entering their conflict into the record and refraining from voting."

• 11.56.130 (d) provides that "[f]or purposes of applying AS 12.10 governing limitations of actions, in a prosecution under AS 11.56.130, the statute of limitations begins to run with the violation and continues to run for ten years."

         II. Analysis.          Under AS 15.45.070...