LEGAL SERVICES
DIVISION OF LEGAL AND RESEARCH SERVICES
LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY STATE OF ALASKA

(907) 465-3867 or 465-2450
FAX (907) 465-2029 130 Seward Street, Suite 409
Mail Stop 3101 Juneau, Alaska 99801-2105

M E M O R A N D U M
December 23, 1996

SUBJECT: Charitable Gaming Broadcasting (Work Order No. 20-LS0288\A)

TO: Representative-Elect Mark Hodgins

FROM: Gerald P. Luckhaupt, Legislative Council

Enclosed is the bill draft you requested. As with any legislation that selects certain limited entities to perform an activity or to receive some benefit there is a potential that this bill draft violates Art. II, section 19 of the Alaska Constitution prohibiting local and special legislation. The test employed by the Alaska Supreme Court under Art. 11, section 19 is substantially the same as that applied to equal protection analysis. Upon examining the legislative goals and the means used to advance them, the court determines whether the legislation bears a fair and substantial relationship to a legitimate state purpose. State v. Lewis, 559 P.2d 630, 643 (Alaska 1977), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 901 (1977). To satisfy the fair and substantial relationship standard, the classification established by the legislation must be tailored to the purpose of the legislation. The classification must be neither overinclusive nor underinclusive. Isakson v. Rickey, 550 P.2d 350, 362 (Alaska 1976). If the "fair and substantial relationship" standard is met, the bill will not be invalidated because of incidental local or private advantages. Lewis, 559 P.2d at 643. In Lewis, the court agreed that an Act of statewide significance need not have an effect in all parts of the state; legislation does not become "local" merely because it operates only on a limited number of geographical areas rather than on a statewide geographical basis. The Lewis case involved the Cook Inlet land exchange and the court accepted the premise that the application, while only affecting land in Southcentral Alaska, required legislation to be accomplished and was of statewide significance. The court relied heavily on the record developed by the legislature in support of the need for the land exchange and the decision to resolve serious issues surrounding Native land selections under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act through legislation authorizing the Cook Inlet land exchange.

In a case where a violation of section 19 was found, the court said that legislation establishing the Eagle River Borough was special and peculiar to the locality where the borough was established. Since there was nothing in the nature of the Eagle River-Chugiak area that justified a departure from the general law scheme for the establishment of boroughs, the Act violated section 19. Abrams v. State, 534 P.2d 91 (Alaska 1975). It has consistently been my opinion that the limitation by the legislature of who can undertake charitable gaming classics to a single identified group or a couple of identified groups probably is local and special legislation violative of the constitution; the legislature, though has been limiting who can perform certain charitable gaming activities in this manner for many years now. This bill draft, by limiting who can utilize broadcasting to promote charitable gaming to those groups the legislature has previously singled out, also appears to implicate Art 11, section 19. If this limited authorization was challenged a court would have to accept the justification advance by Senator Torgerson during our conference call the other day. Failing that, this authorization could be found to be unconstitutional. But in any event I do not consider this bill draft any more violative than those previous enactments limiting the operation of certain classics to particular groups that have not as of yet been challenged by anyone as being unconstitutional.

Also, per your further request, this memorandum lists all of the charitable gaming events that have been specifically identified in statute and a concise explanation of what the bill draft does.

Legislatively identified classics.

Canned salmon classic - Petersburg Chamber of Commerce
Deep freeze classic - Delta Chamber of Commerce
Goose classic - Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Fairbanks Montessori Association or the Friends of Creamer's Field;
Ice classic - Nenana and Chena Ice Pools, Kuskokwim Ice Classic operated by Bethel Social Services, Inc., Kenai River Ice Classic operated by the Kenai and Soldotna Rotary Clubs, Yukon River Ice Classic operated by the City of Fort Yukon, Alaska-Soviet Ice Classic operated by CAMAI, Inc., and the City of Diomede, Big Lake Ice Classic operated by the Houston Junior-Senior High School Booster Club and the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce, and the McGrath Ice Classic operated by the Kuskokwim Public Broadcasting Company;
King salmon classic - Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce;
Mercury classic - Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce and the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau;
Mushing Sweepstakes - Iditarod Trail Committee;
Salmon classic - United Fisherman of Alaska.

Section 1 of the bill amends AS 05.15.640 by identifying certain charitable gaming events that may avail themselves of broadcasting to promote the charitable gaming activity.

Section 2 of the bill deals with the repeal of mushing sweepstakes which is scheduled to occur on January 1, 2000. See ch. 13, SLA 1995. Sections 1 and 2 allow mushing sweepstakes to utilize broadcasting until their repeal.

Section 3 provide that Section 2 takes effect January 1, 2000.

Section 4 provides an immediate effective date for all parts of the bill except for Section 2.

GPL:gle
96-562.glc