With lawmakers' help, Alaska political donation limits could come before 2026 election
Four years after a federal appeals court eliminated Alaska's limits on political campaign contributions, the Alaska House of Representatives has taken a step toward reimposing them.
On Monday, the House voted 22-18 to approve House Bill 16, which mirrors the language of a ballot measure slated to go before voters in 2026.
Alaskans are expected to approve the upcoming measure by a wide margin, based on historical trends, but that approval would bring new limits into effect for the 2028 elections at the earliest.
If the Legislature approves a substantially similar bill, it would allow limits for the 2026 election and remove the upcoming initiative from the ballot.
'This is something that Alaskans very clearly want,' said Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage and the sponsor of HB 16. Schrage is also a co-sponsor of the ballot measure.
HB 16 proposes to limit Alaskans to $2,000 in donations per candidate in each 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.
If a group wants to donate to a candidate, the limit is $4,000, or $8,000 for the governor's race.
Those limits would be adjusted for inflation every 10 years.
Alaska's politicians have been able to collect unlimited amounts of campaign contributions since a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that found the state's prior limits were unconstitutional.
In 2021, a three-judge panel of the court ruled that a $500 annual limit — amounting to $1,000 over a two-year cycle — was too low. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a $1,075 limit set by Missouri in 1998 for a two-year cycle was constitutional; adjusted for inflation, that would be roughly $2,100 today.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration declined to appeal the 2021 decision, and the Alaska Public Offices Commission implemented it starting with the 2022 election.
'This bill would allow us to reinstate those limits and again provide that protection to Alaskans — and frankly to us as elected officials — in helping to ensure that there is some faith and confidence among Alaskans in their elected officials, acting with integrity and not having undue influence on them by outsized donations,' Schrage said.
Each time ballot measures have proposed new limits for political donations, Alaskans have approved them by large margins. Public polling has shown continued large support for new restrictions.
Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, has been elected to the House four times and spoke in support of the bill.
'I can tell you that, to me, putting these contribution limits in place will help us do what we should be doing, and that is spending more time discussing and hearing from our constituents, learning about the needs and concerns of the voters that we will hopefully represent, and not thinking about the biggest check writers,' he said.
Voting against the bill were 18 members of the House's Republican minority caucus. The only member of the caucus to vote in favor of it was Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna.
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, spoke against the bill and urged lawmakers to reject it.
'I believe in Alaskans' right to free speech, and the courts have ruled that political contributions are free speech,' she said.
'We've gone through an entire election cycle without any limits, and I have not once heard on record any specific Alaskan contributions that have given the appearance or showed proof of corruption,' Vance said.
That matters because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that limits on campaign donations are legal only if they are needed to avoid quid-pro-quo corruption or the appearance of corruption.
Schrage responded to Vance's point by observing that the Alaska Department of Law has already reviewed the similar campaign-limits ballot measure for constitutionality and found no problems.
'It does not get certified unless the limits herein are viewed by our own administration as being constitutional,' he said.
Schrage said that it's clear by state history and opinion polling that Alaskans want to restrict campaign contributions, and that legislators should advance HB 16 to the governor's desk.
'I would just encourage my colleagues here to vote yes on the bill,' he said, 'and listen to their constituents who want to see us do something concrete to improve the trust in their elected officials and in their government.'
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