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JUNEAU–Should state lawmakers be able to raise money for federal office during a legislative session?

Rep. Kevin Meyer, a Republican from Anchorage, says no.

“It seems to me like it’s just common sense,” he said Tuesday. “You don’t want somebody handing you a check the same time they’re asking for your support on a bill.”

Meyer is sponsoring a bill that would block the practice.

Lawmakers in the House State Affairs Committee debated the bill Tuesday and passed a modified version out of committee.

State law currently blocks lawmakers from raising funds to campaign for re-election to the Alaska Legislature during a legislative session. Meyer’s bill would expand the restriction to campaigns for any municipal, state, or federal office.

According to Meyer’s office, state law used to apply to all campaigns but was restricted to campaigns for the Alaska Legislature in 1998. Meyer’s bill would also apply to legislative staff members.

During the hearing, Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, proposed an amendment changing the bill so that lawmakers wouldn’t be allowed to raise funds for anyone else’s campaign either or for a ballot measure.

“When we’re in session, we should be concentrating on the business of the state and not advancing some political agenda,” he said.

Johnson said he didn’t think his amendment would apply to fundraising for a political party but said he wouldn’t mind if it did.

Meyer’s bill would allow lawmakers to raise money during a legislative session within 90 days of the election — as current law allows — as long as they did it away from the city where the Legislature is meeting.

The committee approved the amendment over objections from two members.

Rep. Andrea Doll, D-Juneau, said she didn’t want to get behind the bill until she had a better understanding of how it would affect lawmakers’ participation in party activities. She also questioned the wisdom of pushing the bill through the process rapidly and instead recommended sending the bill to the Judiciary Committee for additional review.

“It’s a significant bill and done in a politically charged climate,” she said.

The bill was referred only to the State Affairs Committee and now moves to the Rules Committee to be scheduled for a floor vote.

Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, questioned a provision in Johnson’s amendment that would make the bill effective immediately. Meyer’s original bill would have gone into effect 90 days after final approval by the Legislature and governor.

Coghill argued that making the bill effective immediately could be unfair to anyone who had already planned fundraising activities this year.

“People have taken the law as it stands now and proceeded,” he said. “Whether I would have done that or not, I think it would be unwise for us to set an immediate effective day when there may by those … that might have set things in motion.”

Meyer filed his bill before the start of the legislative session, but the issue came to a head last week when House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, publicly criticized Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Kodiak, for fundraising for her congressional campaign during the session. LeDoux is running to unseat a fellow Republican, U.S. Rep. Don Young.

Johnson said the current law may be “one of those things that may be legal but isn’t right” and argued the Legislature should never delay on ethics legislation.

Coghill withdrew his objection after committee members said it would likely be months before lawmakers approved the bill and the governor signed it, giving anyone who is campaigning now plenty of time to respond.

Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, is a co-sponsor of the bill, HB 305.