Public Funding of Campaigns Initiative Proceeds to Signature Phase

Press Release from the Lt. Governor’s Office

August 9, 2007, Anchorage, Alaska – Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell certified an initiative related to public funding of campaigns, allowing the initiative sponsors to proceed with gathering signatures required to place the measure on the ballot. The lieutenant governor certified that the initiative, known as 07CASE, and application, were in proper form.

This initiative was the sponsors’ second attempt at certification. An earlier initiative, known as 07COGA, was denied certification because it failed to pass the legal test requiring initiatives to contain only one subject. The initiative sponsors made revisions and filed this second initiative, known as 07CASE.

Lieutenant Governor Parnell’s decision to certify the second initiative (07CASE) as to form was supported by a number of Department of Law legal opinions. The Department of Law’s opinion dated August 8, 2007, concluded that the bill and application are in the proper form, and that the application complies with the constitutional and statutory provisions governing the use of the initiative.

Petition booklets will be prepared for the prime sponsors of the initiative by the Alaska Division of Elections. The sponsors will need to collect at least 23,831 valid signatures from qualified voters in 30 election districts in order for the proposed bill to be placed on a ballot.

The Department of Law’s legal opinions are available online at
http://ltgov.state.ak.us/PDFs/07CASEopinion.pdf

http://ltgov.state.ak.us/PDFs/07CASEopinion2.pdf

The lieutenant governor’s letter to the initiative’s sponsors is available at http://ltgov.state.ak.us/PDFs/07CASEletter.pdf

The Division of Elections memorandum is available online at http://ltgov.state.ak.us/PDFs/07CASEelections.pdf