Section 15.30.180. Federal legislative candidates; ballot access.

   (a) Subsections (b) and (c) of this section shall take effect only when twenty-four (24) states, not including this state, have enacted and have in simultaneous effect statutes, state constitutional provisions, ordinances and other enactments having the force and effect of law, the operative dates of which may be contingent upon the enactment of similar statutes, constitutional provisions, ordinances or other enactments in any number of other states, which limit either ballot access of persons seeking federal legislative office, or the number of terms or years of federal legislative office a person may hold, or both, based upon a person's length of service in federal legislative office; provided, however, that when subsections (b) and (c) of this section have once taken effect, the subsequent repeal, amendment, deletion by means of a sunset provision, or judicial determination of unconstitutionality or invalidity of another state's statute, state constitutional provision, ordinance other enactment ineffective or void, shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of subsections (b) and (c) of this section, which shall remain in full force and effect until repealed or otherwise rendered ineffective under the law of this state.
   (b) A person is not eligible to place or to have the person's name placed upon the ballot for election to the United States House of Representatives if, by the end of the then current term of office, the person will have served, or but for resignation would have served, as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing any portion or district of the State of Alaska during six or more of the previous twelve years.
   (c) A person is not eligible to place or to have the person's name placed upon the ballot for election to the United States Senate if, by the end of the then current term of office, the person will have served, or but for resignation would have served, as a member of the United States Senate representing any portion or district of the State of Alaska during twelve or more of the previous eighteen years.
   (d) The provisions of this section shall, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, be interpreted as having retrospective effect from and after the date of its enactment upon any member of the United States House of Representatives or United States Senate elected at the election held on November 8, 1994, or at any election held thereafter; provided, however, that years of service completed during a term of office which commenced prior to November 8, 1994 may not be included in determining previous years of service for the purposes of subsections (b) or (c) of this section.
   (e) Nothing in AS 15.30.100 - 15.30.190 shall be construed as preventing or prohibiting any qualified voter of this state from casting a ballot for any person by writing the name of that person on the ballot, or from having such a ballot counted or tabulated, nor shall any provision of AS 15.30.100 -15.30.190 be construed as preventing or prohibiting any person from standing or campaigning for any elective office by means of a write-in campaign.
   (f) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing or prohibiting the name of any person from appearing on the ballot at any direct primary or general election unless that person is specifically prohibited from doing so by the provisions of this section and to that end any such prohibiting provisions shall be strictly construed.
   (g) The members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate representing any district or portion of Alaska are instructed to use their best efforts to attain such a limitation on terms nationwide.
   (h) AS 15.30.150 - 15.30.190 shall take effect and be applicable to federal legislative candidates whose terms of office begin on or after January 1, 1995. Service prior to January 1, 1995 shall not be counted for the purpose of AS 15.30.150 -15.30.190. In the event of conflict with (a) of this section, the provisions under (a) shall govern.

Notes

History

(Sec. 4 1994 Ballot Measure No. 4)