Alaska Statutes 24.60.080 – Gifts

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a legislator or legislative employee may not

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Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 24.60.080

Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
Donor: The person who makes a gift.
Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
municipality: means a political subdivision incorporated under the laws of the state that is a home rule or general law city, a home rule or general law borough, or a unified municipality. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
property: includes real and personal property. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060

(1) 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;

(2) solicit, accept, or receive a gift with any monetary value from a lobbyist, an immediate family member of a lobbyist, or a person acting on behalf of a lobbyist, except

(A) food or nonalcoholic beverage for immediate consumption

(i) with a value of $15 or less; or

(ii) provided as part of an event that is open to all legislators or legislative employees;

(B) a contribution to a charity event, tickets to a charity event, and gifts to which the tickets may entitle the bearer; however, under this subparagraph a legislator or legislative employee may not solicit, accept, or receive from the same lobbyist, an immediate family member of the lobbyist, or a person acting on behalf of the lobbyist, tickets to a charity event, gifts to which the tickets may entitle the bearer, or both, that in a calendar year aggregate to $250 or more in value; in this subparagraph, “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 in connection with the charity event;

(C) a gift that is unconnected with the recipient’s legislative status and is from a member of the legislator’s or legislative employee’s immediate family;

(D) a gift delivered on the premises of a state facility and accepted on behalf of a recognized nonpolitical charitable organization; or

(E) a compassionate gift under Alaska Stat. § 24.60.075.

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

(c) Notwithstanding (a)(1) of this section, it is not a violation of this section for a person who is 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; in this paragraph, “immediate family” means

(A) the spouse of the person;

(B) the person’s domestic partner;

(C) a child, including a stepchild and an adopted child, of the person or of the person’s domestic partner;

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

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

(F) a stepparent, stepsister, stepbrother, step-grandparent, step-aunt, or step-uncle of the person, the person’s spouse, or the person’s domestic partner;

(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, the office of victims’ rights, 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 or a legislative employee to a legislator or a legislative employee 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) a contribution to a charity event, a ticket to a charity event, or a gift in connection with a charity event; in this paragraph, “charity event” has the meaning given in (a)(2)(B) of this section.

(d) A legislator or legislative employee who accepts a gift under (c)(4) of this section that has a value of $250 or more or a ticket to a charity event or gift in connection with a charity event under (c)(10) of this section that has a value of $250 or more shall disclose to the committee, within 60 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), (c)(8), (c)(10), and (i) 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), (c)(8), (c)(10), and (i) 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, within 30 days after receiving the gift, disclose to the committee 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 Alaska Stat. § 15.13.040 or is exempt from the reporting requirement under Alaska Stat. § 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 legislative intern 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).

(i) A legislator or legislative employee who knows or reasonably should know that an immediate family member has received a gift because of the family member’s connection with the legislator or legislative employee shall disclose for publication under (d) of this section the receipt of the gift by the family member to the committee if the gift would have to be disclosed under this section if it had been received by the legislator or legislative employee. If receipt of the gift by a person who is a legislator or legislative employee would be prohibited under this section, a member of the person’s immediate family may not receive the gift.

(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)[Repealed, Sec. 74 ch 47 SLA 2007].

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