Nearing 90-day deadline, Alaska lawmakers advance bills on health care, campaign fundraising and crime

JUNEAU — Alaska lawmakers, nearing their 90-day adjournment deadline, advanced a sheaf of bills Friday, including measures to restrict political fundraising, roll back some of last year's criminal justice reforms and require more price transparency in the state's health care system.

The state Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 5, from Anchorage Republican Kevin Meyer, which would shut down a fundraising political action committee run by Anchorage Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, one of three Republican members in the largely Democratic House majority.

Alaska law bars lawmakers from accepting donations from lobbyists who live outside their own districts. But LeDoux, a member of House leadership, last year created a political committee distinct from her own campaign — and quickly raised thousands of dollars from lobbyists that she redistributed to allied lawmakers and candidates.

"We just passed the LeDon't bill," Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman joked after Friday's vote.

[LeDoux's new fundraising committee targets lobbyists, bar owners]

Meyer's Republican-led Senate majority rejected several amendments to SB 5 from the Democratic minority.

One would have barred lawmakers from asking lobbyists for money for political parties, which would sharply reduce donations at the annual fundraisers held by lawmakers the night before the legislative session begins. Another amendment would have restricted donations by lobbyists' immediate family members.

LeDoux responded to SB 5's passage by pointing to House Bill 44, sponsored by Anchorage independent Rep. Jason Grenn, to enhance the Legislature's conflict of interest rules — a measure that some members of the House GOP minority have suggested is targeted at oil company employees. Meyer and Soldotna Republican Peter Micciche, the Senate majority leader, both work for ConocoPhillips outside the legislative session.

"I hope the Senate is as concerned about conflicts and as concerned about propriety when Jason Grenn's conflict of interest bill comes over," LeDoux said in an interview.

A sentencing measure, Senate Bill 54, meanwhile, passed the Senate 19-1 Friday, with Hoffman the only member opposed.

The legislation, sponsored by North Pole Republican Sen. John Coghill, would increase some sentences cut by lawmakers as part of last year's criminal justice reform package, which was also sponsored by Coghill.

Some of the changes were suggested by a nonpartisan criminal justice commission, though lawmakers went further than the commission recommended.

One goal of last year's legislation was saving money by reducing the state's prison population. The rollbacks in Friday's bill were projected to generate more than $4 million in increased corrections spending, though that forecast was subsequently changed to say the costs were uncertain.

Both SB 5 and SB 54 now go to the House.

Among several bills passed by the House on Friday was one sponsored by Anchorage Democratic Rep. Ivy Spohnholz to require doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers to disclose the charges of their most commonly performed services and procedures.

House Bill 123 passed 34-6, and now goes to the Senate.

[Lawmakers look to take the mystery out of Alaska's health care prices]

The six opposed are members of the all-Republican minority: Reps. David Eastman of Wasilla, Tammie Wilson of North Pole, DeLena Johnson of Palmer, George Rauscher of Sutton, Lora Reinbold of Eagle River and Cathy Tilton of Wasilla.