Alaska’s new Attorney General Stephen Cox is urging the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to require Chugach Electric Association to redesign its new “Cents of Community” program, which automatically enrolls its 90,000 members across Anchorage, Kenai, Mat-Su and Whittier.
Once customers are enrolled, Chugach Electric then automatically rounds their monthly bill to the nearest dollar and sets aside the money for various causes and charities that the company deems worthy.
“This is a compelled-subsidy problem,” Cox said in a Sept. 10 statement. “Because Chugach’s members are captive customers, the automatic round-up requires them to fund speech with which they may not agree. That raises serious First Amendment concerns. Alaskans should not be put in the position of supporting organizations or advocacy they disagree with just to keep the lights on.”
Management of the “Cents of Community” funds is entrusted to the newly created Chugach Electric Association Charitable Foundation.
“Protecting Alaskans’ First Amendment rights is central here,” Cox emphasized. “Voluntary generosity is commendable, but giving should be a matter of choice.”
As Cox points out, Chugach has not disclosed the identities of the trustees who will oversee distribution of the funds. Members, therefore, have no information about who will decide which nonprofits receive their money, what the various groups stand for or what criteria will guide decisions. This uncertainty means members could end up subsidizing causes they are opposed to.
The filing cites key U.S. Supreme Court precedents, including Janus v. AFSCME, which makes clear that compelled subsidies of private speech are inconsistent with the First Amendment and that opt-out policies do not cure the problem.
“Protecting Alaskans’ First Amendment rights is central here,” Cox emphasized. “Voluntary generosity is commendable, but giving should be a matter of choice. Opt-in programs like Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility’s ‘Coins Can Count’ show that member donations can be encouraged without compromising individual rights.”
The Attorney General’s comments emphasize that fewer than ten percent of Chugach’s members voted to authorize the new program, yet all members would still be automatically enrolled and forced to take additional steps to withdraw. That design is not a constitutional substitute for each member’s affirmative choice.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Chugach still has the opportunity to correct course by redesigning its program as opt-in, which would address the concerns identified in the Attorney General’s filing. If it does not, the Attorney General has asked the RCA to require that safeguard.
Chief Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Waller who leads LAW’s Regulatory Affairs & Public Advocacy Section said RAPA has historically opposed default enrollment or “opt-out” programs by utilities. For Chugach, leaving the round-up program as opt-out could bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars from Alaskans that would be doled out to nonprofits.
4 Comments
It was probably going to float back to the IBEW’s liberal political campaign fund.
Sounds like theft “for the greater good”. Perhaps looking into the political and sexual leanings of the “board members” would be a start on where the forced donations would heading to. If members want to donate, let them do so on their own time and dime, not extort it through your utility bill.
This is outright theft. Chugach Electric Association ought to pay back all its customers for their rounding up. With interest.
Kudos to Cox.
This is a consumer problem with the electric company. I called and chewed them out over their bait and switch tactics with customers and did use the number to return my account to its original state. I told the representative that when I want to donate money to charity it goes as a deduction on y taxes and not someone else’s tax information. Chugach Electric is a bad company to have to do business. Send in your written complaint to the law department here in Anchorage for consumer complaints.