From Sean Cockerham in Juneau –

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich is asking the Legislature to back his attempts to curtail the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited money in elections.

In the meantime, Alaska campaign finance regulators are waiting for lawmakers to tell them what to do.

Heres’s what Begich, a Democrat, is proposing:

-- Banning corporations that are more than 20 percent foreign owned from spending money on campaigns.

-- Requiring approval from shareholders before corporations can spend money for political purposes.

-- Requiring the top official in a corporation (CEO, CFO, etc.) to personally appear in the political advertising.

Begich wants the Alaska Legislature to support Congress in putting such limits on the ruling, and to change state law to require corporations to disclose their spending in Alaska elections.

Under the Supreme Court ruling, corporations and unions can't give directly to candidates. But they will be able to spend unlimited amounts on advertisements for, or against, those on the ballot.

Alaska's ban on corporate contributions has been challenged by the Wasilla-based Conservative Patriots Group in the wake of the ruling. It asked the Alaska Public Offices Commission to rewrite the regulations by Feb. 15 so the group can support candidates for Anchorage Assembly in the April municipal election.

APOC director Holly Hill told me yesterday that her agency can’t change its regulations in a way that conflicts with Alaska law – and the law still technically is that corporations and unions can’t spend on campaigns, even though the Legislature’s lawyers say that law now appears void.

“We have been advising the public that before they take any action to financially support certain candidates to review the laws and regulations carefully and to ask for a formal advisory opinion under AS 15.13.374 if they would like clarity about a specific action they are about to undertake.” Hill told me in an email.

The attorney general’s office, which is in charge of enforcing Alaska election law, meanwhile is still reviewing the Supreme Court ruling and what it means for state elections.