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Alaska Statutes.

Title 24. Legislature

Chapter 60. Standards of Conduct

Section 80. Gifts.

AS 24.60.080. Gifts.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a legislator or legislative employee may not solicit, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, a gift worth $250 or more, whether in the form of money, services, a loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, promise, or other form, or gifts from the same person worth less than $250 that in a calendar year aggregate to $250 or more in value. Except for food or beverage for immediate consumption, a legislator or legislative employee may not solicit, accept, or receive during a legislative session a gift with any monetary value from a lobbyist or a person acting on behalf of a lobbyist.

(b) [Repealed, Sec. 42 ch 127 SLA 1992].

(c) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, it is not a violation of this section for a legislator or legislative employee to accept

(1) hospitality, other than hospitality described in (4) of this subsection,

(A) with incidental transportation at the residence of a person; however, a vacation home located outside the state is not considered a residence for the purposes of this subparagraph; or

(B) at a social event or meal;

(2) discounts that are available

(A) generally to the public or to a large class of persons to which the person belongs; or

(B) when on official state business, but only if receipt of the discount benefits the state;

(3) food or foodstuffs indigenous to the state that are shared generally as a cultural or social norm;

(4) travel and hospitality primarily for the purpose of obtaining information on matters of legislative concern;

(5) gifts from the immediate family of the person;

(6) gifts that are not connected with the recipient's legislative status;

(7) a discount for all or part of a legislative session, including time immediately preceding or following the session, or other gift to welcome a legislator or legislative employee who is employed on the personal staff of a legislator or by a standing or special committee to the capital city or in recognition of the beginning of a legislative session if the gift or discount is available generally to all legislators and the personal staff of legislators and staff of standing and special committees; this paragraph does not apply to legislative employees who are employed by the Legislative Affairs Agency, the office of the chief clerk, the office of the senate secretary, the legislative budget and audit committee, or the office of the ombudsman;

(8) a gift of legal services in a matter of legislative concern and a gift of other services related to the provision of legal services in a matter of legislative concern;

(9) a gift of transportation from a legislator to a legislator if the transportation takes place in the state on or in an aircraft, boat, motor vehicle, or other means of transport owned or under the control of the donor; this paragraph does not apply to travel described in (4) of this subsection or travel for political campaign purposes; or

(10) tickets from a lobbyist for a charity event at any time, including during a legislative session, except that tickets to or gifts received at a charity event under this paragraph are subject to the calendar year limit on the value of gifts received by a legislator or legislative employee in (a) of this section; in this paragraph, "charity event" means an event the proceeds of which go to a charitable organization with tax-free status under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) and that the Alaska Legislative Council has approved in advance; the tickets may entitle the bearer to admission to the event, to entertainment, to food or beverages, or to other gifts or services involved in the charity event.

(d) A legislator or legislative employee who accepts a gift under (c)(4) of this section that has a value of $250 or more shall disclose to the committee, within 30 days after receipt of the gift, the name and occupation of the donor and the approximate value of the gift. A legislator or legislative employee who accepts a gift under (c)(8) of this section that the recipient expects will have a value of $250 or more in the calendar year shall disclose to the committee, within 30 days after receipt of the gift, the name and occupation of the donor, a general description of the matter of legislative concern with respect to which the gift is made, and the approximate value of the gift. The committee shall maintain a public record of the disclosures it receives relating to gifts under (c)(4) and (8) of this section and shall forward the disclosures to the appropriate house for inclusion in the journal. The committee shall forward to the Alaska Public Offices Commission copies of the disclosures concerning gifts under (c)(4) and (8) of this section that it receives from legislators and legislative directors. A legislator or legislative employee who accepts a gift under (c)(6) of this section that has a value of $250 or more shall disclose to the committee annually on or before March 15 the name and occupation of the donor and a description of the gift. The committee shall maintain disclosures relating to gifts under (c)(6) of this section as confidential records and may only use, or permit a committee employee or contractor to use, a disclosure under (c)(6) of this section in the investigation of a possible violation of this section or in a proceeding under AS 24.60.170 . If the disclosure under (c)(6) of this section becomes part of the record of a proceeding under AS 24.60.170, the confidentiality provisions of that section apply to the disclosure.

(e) A political contribution is not a gift under this section if it is reported under AS 15.13.040 or is exempt from the reporting requirement under AS 15.13.040 (g). The use of a bulk mailing permit owned by a legislator's campaign committee or used in a legislator's election campaign is not a gift to that legislator under this section.

(f) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, a legislator or legislative employee may accept a gift of property worth $250 or more, other than money, from another government or from an official of another government if the person accepts the gift on behalf of the legislature. The person shall, within 60 days after receiving the gift, deliver the gift to the legislative council, which shall determine the appropriate disposition of the gift. In this subsection, "another government" means a foreign government or the government of the United States, another state, a municipality, or another jurisdiction.

(g) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, a legislator or legislative employee may solicit, accept, or receive a gift on behalf of a recognized, nonpolitical charitable organization.

(h) A legislator, a legislative committee other than the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, or a legislative agency may accept a gift of (1) volunteer services for legislative purposes so long as the person making the gift of services is not receiving compensation from another source for the services, or (2) the services of a trainee who is participating in an educational program approved by the committee if the services are used for legislative purposes. The committee shall approve training under a program of the University of Alaska and training under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998). A legislative volunteer or educational trainee shall be considered to be a legislative employee for purposes of compliance with this section, AS 24.60.030 - 24.60.039, 24.60.060, 24.60.085, 24.60.158 - 24.60.170, 24.60.176, and 24.60.178. If a person believes that a legislative volunteer or educational trainee has violated the provisions of one of those sections, the person may file a complaint under AS 24.60.170 . The provisions of AS 24.60.170 apply to the proceeding.

(i) A legislator or legislative employee who knows or reasonably should know that a family member has received a gift because of the family member's connection with the legislator or legislative employee shall report the receipt of the gift by the family member to the committee if the gift would have to be reported under this section if it had been received by the legislator or legislative employee or if receipt of the gift by a legislator or legislative employee would be prohibited under this section.

(j) In this section, the value of a gift shall be determined by the fair market value of the gift to the extent that the fair market value can be determined.

(k) In this section, "immediate family" or "family member" means

(1) the spouse of the person;

(2) the person's domestic partner;

(3) a child, including a stepchild and an adoptive child, of the person or of the person's domestic partner;

(4) a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, or uncle of the person;

(5) a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, or uncle of the person's spouse or the person's domestic partner; and

(6) a stepparent, stepsister, stepbrother, step-grandparent, step-aunt, or step-uncle of the person, the person's spouse, or the person's domestic partner.

Note to HTML Version:

This version of the Alaska Statutes is current through December, 2004. The Alaska Statutes were automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy, but this can not be guaranteed. If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Statutes be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. For statutes adopted after the effective date of these statutes, see, Alaska State Legislature If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful.

Last modified 9/3/2005