A vote pending on the last day of the Alaska Legislature’s regular session could end up canceling a long-planned ballot measure that would restrict financial donations to political candidates in the state.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A vote pending on the last day of the Alaska Legislature ’s regular session could end up cancelingThat action sends the bill to the House for a simple up-or-down concurrence vote.
Success would send it to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for enactment or veto. HB 16 is substantially similar to a ballot measure scheduled for a vote during the August primary election. Under the Alaska Constitution, if lawmakers enact a substantially similar law to a ballot measure scheduled for a vote, the ballot measure vote is canceled.
Both methods would change state law, but there’s one key difference: A ballot measure cannot be repealed for two years after voters approve it. A law may be repealed the following year if legislators and the governor approve. In 2018, a scheduled ballot measure dealing with legislators’ conflicts of interest was removed from the ballot after legislators passed a substantially similar law. In 2019, Sen.
Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, arranged Tuesday night’s vote on HB 16. He has previously sought to impose campaign finance limits.
“I think is going to pass overwhelmingly, and this would save a little bit of money,” he said of the decision to advance HB 16. State law requires ballot measure information to be published in a pamphlet that is sent to voters.
In addition, the Division of Elections is required to hold in-person presentations at locations across the state to explain each ballot measure. Late Tuesday, he said he was surprised by the Senate’s action and was not informed until shortly before it took place.
“To see them pass it relatively unchanged was quite surprising, and a pleasant surprise,” he said, noting that he and his colleagues have been seeking new campaign finance limits in Alaska for five years. , Dunleavy said, “You know me: I’m the guy that wants people to be able to drive four wheelers on the road. I’m a freedom guy,” he said.
“My tendency is to just let people do what they want in campaign finance law, as long as it’s disclosed and it’s accurate. ” As a result, the state’s 2022, 2024 and 2026 elections have operated with no restrictions on the amount of money a person can give to a candidate.
“We took it up last year, and there just wasn’t the support to do it at that time,” Wielechowski said. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, people just — honestly, it just kind of got buried in everything else, and just going through bills, we saw it was there, and we said, ‘Well, I have a chance to maybe take it off the ballot and pass it.
’” Neither Wielechowski or Schrage have talked to Dunleavy about whether he would veto the measure or allow it to become law. If HB 16 becomes law, or if the proposed ballot measure is adopted by voters, new limits would be in place for the 2028 election. The new individual limits would be $2,000 in donations per candidate in each two-year election cycle.
For the governor’s race, where a lieutenant governor candidate and governor candidate run together on a single ticket, the limit would be $4,000. The limit for donations from one person to a political party or group would be $5,000. Those limits would be adjusted for inflation every 10 years.
“It is very widely popular, and so — one way or another, I just want to see this taken and taken up and put back into law,” he said. Man killed in officer-involved shooting in east Anchorage19-year-old Anchorage man shot five times in road rage incident released from hospital Wasilla men sentenced in illegal guide operation out of Kodiak, face prison, fines and worldwide hunting bansLawmakers vote to put LNG plan ‘on pause’ after Dunleavy says he will call a special sessionDunleavy vetoes state employee pension bill after LNG debate stall
Alaska Senate House Bill 16 Mike Dunleavy Bill Wielechowski Calvin Schrage Alaska Department Of Law Alaska House HB16
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Alaska House weighs negotiated compromise cutting taxes for Alaska LNG projectLawmakers are considering whether to insert the tax relief legislation as an amendment to what had been, until Monday, a three-sentence bill.
Read more »
Spring 2026 on track for one of the wettest springs on recordToday's Alaska weather forecast from Alaska's Weather Source.
Read more »
COAST-X Arctic research | Talk of AlaskaUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks scientists traveled nearly 2,000 miles by snowmachine this spring to hear from remote communities about how they’re working to adapt to a changing climate.
Read more »
Opinion: The microplastic waves that are dousing AlaskaHB 25 would help cut the kind of waste that breaks down into microplastics and threatens marine ecosystems.
Read more »