Campaign finance requirements in Alaska

in Alaska

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Campaign finance
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Alaska campaign finance requirements govern the following:

• how much money candidates may receive from individuals and organizations,
• how much and how often they must report those contributions, and
• how much individuals, organizations and political parties may contribute to campaigns.

In addition to direct campaign contributions, campaign finance laws also apply to third-party organizations and nonprofit organizations that seek to influence elections through independent expenditures or issue advocacy.

Background

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency responsible for administering and enforcing federal campaign election laws. The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits and prohibitions on contributions and the oversight of the public funding of presidential elections.^[1] According to the FEC, an individual becomes a federal candidate, and must begin to report their campaign finances, once he or she has either raised or spent $5,000 in pursuit of his or her campaign. Within fifteen days of this benchmark for status as a candidate, the candidate must register with the FEC and designate an official campaign committee, to be responsible for the funds and expenditures of the campaign. This committee must have an official treasurer, and cannot support any candidate but the one who registered the committee. Detailed financial reports are then made to the FEC every financial quarter after the individual is registered with the FEC. Reports are also made before primaries and before the general election.^[2]

The Supreme Court of the United States has issued a number of rulings pertaining to federal election campaign finance regulations. In the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court held that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited. The court's decision also overturned the ban on for-profit and not-for-profit corporations and unions broadcasting electioneering communications in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before a general election.^[3] In the SpeechNOW.org v. Federal Election Commission decision, the first application of the Citizens United decision, the court held that contribution limits on what individuals could give to independent expenditure-only groups, and the amount these organizations could receive, were unconstitutional. Contribution limits on donations directly to candidates, however, remain constitutional.^[4][5] In 2014's McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court overturned biennial aggregate campaign contribution limits, and held that individuals may now contribute to as many federal candidates as they want, but may only contribute up to the federal limit in each case.^[6]

While the FEC governs federal election campaigns and contribution limits, individual states require their own level of regulation and reporting. The amount of regulation required differs by state, as do the limits on campaign contributions and third-party activities to influence elections.

Contribution limits

The table below details contribution limits as they applied to various types of individuals and groups in Alaska as of May 2015. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient. A non-group entity is defined as follows:^[7]

Candidate requirements

See statutes: Title 15.13 of the Alaska Election Law

Each candidate must appoint a campaign treasurer who is responsible for receiving, holding, and disbursing all contributions and expenditures, and for filing all reports and statements required by law. A candidate may also serve as his or her own campaign treasurer.^[9][10]

Each candidate for state office must file the name and address of the campaign treasurer with the Alaska Public Offices Commission no later than 15 days after the date of filing the declaration of candidacy. Alongside the declaration of candidacy, the candidate must file a Financial Disclosure form with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. ^[9]

After registering his or her campaign, the candidate must follow a campaign finance reporting schedule in which campaign contributions and expenditures are documented and reported. These reports include the following information:

1. the date and amount of all expenditures made by the candidate
2. the total amount of all contributions, including all funds contributed by the candidate
3. the name, address, date, and amount contributed by each contributor
4. for contributions in excess of $50 in the aggregate during a calendar year, the principal occupation and employer of the contributor.

If a candidate does not intend to raise or expend more than $5,000 in seeking election to office, including both the primary and general elections, the candidate should submit an Exemption Statement. The candidate must still abide by campaign disclosure laws.^[11][12]

Reporting schedule

Each candidate must make a full campaign finance report for the period ending three days before the due date of the report and beginning on the last day covered by the most recent previous report. If the report is a first report, it must cover the period from the beginning of the campaign to the date three days before the due date of the report. If the report is a report due February 15, it must cover the period beginning on the last day covered by the most recent previous report or on the day that the campaign started, whichever is later, and ending on February 1 of that year.^[13]

Reports must be filed according to the following schedule:^[13]

1. after registering a campaign with the Alaska Public Offices Commission
2. 30 days before an election
3. one week before the election
4. 24-hour reports (for candidates who receive individual contributions that exceed $250 within nine days of an election)
5. February 15 for expenditures made and contributions received that were not reported previously

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Alaska state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Election and campaign ballot measures

See also: Elections and campaigns on the ballot and List of Alaska ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked 9 statewide ballot measures relating to elections and campaigns.

1. Alaska Ballot Measure 1, Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (August 2002)
2. Alaska Clean Elections, Measure 3 (August 2008)
3. Alaska Replacement of U.S. Senators Initiative, Measure 4 (2004)
4. Alaska Campaign Finance Reform Initiative, Measure 1 (August 2006)
5. Alaska Residence Requirement to Vote for President, SJR 1 (August 1966)
6. Alaska Votes on Constitutional Amendments, Amendment 1 (August 1974)
7. Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting and Campaign Finance Laws Initiative (2020)
8. Alaska Ballot Measure 2, Repeal Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (2024)
9. Alaska Campaign Contribution Limits Initiative (2026)

See also: Campaign finance agencies in Alaska and State election agencies

Candidates running for office may require some form of interaction with the following agencies:

• Alaska Division of Elections
  

Why: This agency distributes and processes nominating petitions and declaration of candidacy forms.

240 Main Street, 4th Floor

PO Box 110017

Juneau, AK 99801

Telephone: (907) 465-4611

Fax: (907) 465-3203

Website: http://www.elections.alaska.gov/

• Alaska Political Offices Commission (APOC)
  

Why: This agency distributes and processes financial disclosure forms.

2221 E Northern Lights Rm 128

Anchorage, Alaska 99508-4149

Telephone: (907) 276-4176

Toll-free: 1-800-478-4176

Fax: (907) 276-7018

Email: apoc@alaska.gov

Website: http://doa.alaska.gov/apoc/

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Alaska campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

• Campaign finance regulation
• Alaska

Footnotes

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