ALASKA

Alaska House Bill (HB121) on Charitable Gift Annuities was passed by the Alaska Legislature on 6-20-01 and was signed by Governor on July 3, 2001.

The new law is a version of the NAIC Model Exemption Act. Charitable Gift Annuities are regulated by the uncodified law of the State of Alaska, Section 2: "AS 21.03.021" as amended and Section 3: "AS 21.03.070" is added as "Exemption for qualified charitable gift annuities."

Charities must QUALIFY FOR EXEMPTION from regulation as an insurance company by having been in continuous operation for at least 3 years and by having at least $300,000 in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents or publicly traded securities, not including the assets used to fund the annuity agreement, on the date it enters into a gift annuity agreement.

DISCLOSURE IN AGREEMENT: The Statute requires Disclosure Language wording to be placed in the agreement, in BOLD type in a separate paragraph, in a size no smaller than that found in the annuity agreement generally, as follows:

"This qualified charitable gift annuity is not an insurance policy in the State of Alaska, is not subject to regulation by the Insurance Division and is not protected by the Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association established under Alaska Statute AS 21.79.040 or any other association that guarantees payment under a policy of insurance. The state of Alaska does not in any way approve or endorse this annuity agreement."

STATE NOTIFICATION: The charity shall notify the Alaska Insurance Division within 90 days of the effective date of this law or within 90 days of writing its first qualified charitable annuity agreement. Such notice will be signed by an officer or director of the charitable organization, must provide the name and address of the charitable organization. The notification shall certify that the issuing organization is a "charitable organization", and that gift annuities issued by the charity are "qualified charitable gift annuities" as defined in the Alaska state law.

PENALTIES: Failure to comply with the terms of this law will allow the Insurance Division to impose a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for each qualified charitable gift annuity agreement, until the charity complies with the requirements of this law.

The full text of the Bill can be found on the Alaska State web site at...

http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill_text.asp?hsid=HB0121B&session=22

OR . . . go to: http://www.legis.state.ak.us and click on "Bill Action and Status Inquiry System" and type in "Bill Root Box" - "HB121".

This page last updated July 19, 2001.