00 CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 26(WTR) 01 Urging the United States Congress to uphold Alaska's right to 90 percent of the 02 royalties from oil, gas, and coal leasing on state land as provided by the 03 Statehood Compact adopted by a vote of the people of Alaska on April 24, 1956. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the Congress of the United States, by the Alaska Statehood Act approved 06 on July 7, 1958, accepted, ratified, and confirmed the state constitution that had been adopted 07 by a vote of the people of Alaska in the election held on April 24, 1956; and 08 WHEREAS the Alaska Statehood Act provided for the admission of the State of 09 Alaska into the Union on an equal footing with the other states of the Union, upon compliance 10 with certain procedural requirements specified in that Act; and 11 WHEREAS the Alaska Statehood Act contains a binding contract between the people 12 of Alaska and the federal government that the state will receive 90 percent of all oil, gas, and 13 coal leasing royalties from federal land in Alaska; and 14 WHEREAS the State of Alaska had 35 years from the date of admission into the 01 Union to select public land that was vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved in order to 02 establish communities and recreational areas and promote economic development; and 03 WHEREAS the federal government has both a moral and legal duty to honor the 04 obligations set out in the several acts admitting Alaska into the Union; and 05 WHEREAS the people of the State of Alaska relied on that royalty-sharing provision 06 in ratifying the Alaska Statehood Act on April 24, 1956; and 07 WHEREAS the United States Congress included the 90-10 royalty-sharing formula 08 in the compact because Alaska, unlike all other public land states, was not covered by the 09 federal Reclamation Act and did not derive benefits from that Act; and 10 WHEREAS the Congress intended the 90-10 royalty-sharing provision to pay for the 11 costs of providing the services of state government; and 12 WHEREAS the Congress also intended in the Alaska Statehood Act to compensate 13 Alaska for the large federal land reservations that stifle economic development; and 14 WHEREAS any reduction in the royalty-sharing percentage will infringe on Alaska's 15 constitutional rights; and 16 WHEREAS Alaska opposes any unilateral reductions in royalty revenue from federal 17 land exploration and development; 18 BE IT RESOLVED that any attempts by the United States Congress or the President 19 of the United States to coerce the State of Alaska into accepting less than what was promised 20 at statehood penalizes the people of Alaska; and be it 21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Congress join with the state in 22 upholding the Alaska Statehood Compact. 23 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 24 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 25 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of 26 Representatives; the Honorable Bob Dole, Senate Majority Leader; the Honorable Bruce 27 Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Frank Murkowski, Chair of the Senate 28 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; the Honorable Don Young, Chair of the House 29 Committee on Public Lands and Resources; the Honorable Ted Stevens, U.S. Senator, member 30 of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and to the governors of the states and to the presiding 31 officers of the houses of the state legislatures.