00                    HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 5                                                                    
01 Establishing a task force to make recommendations regarding a new design for the                                        
02 official seal of the State of Alaska.                                                                                   
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the official seal of the state was designed in 1910 by federal and                                      
05 territorial officials long before Alaska became a state, and it emphasizes primarily the natural                        
06 beauty of the state and its abundance of natural resources; and                                                         
07       WHEREAS the seal should reflect the place and people who now call it home; and                                  
08       WHEREAS the seal should ideally depict not only the diversity of its natural                                    
09 resources but also the diversity of its human resources; and                                                            
10       WHEREAS the seal should include recognition of the many Native cultures of                                      
11 Alaska, as recommended recently by the Governor's Commission on Tolerance; and                                          
12       WHEREAS, in order to ensure that the official seal represents modern Alaska and its                             
13 diverse peoples, the seal should be redesigned through a process that involves many different                           
14 segments of the population, including school children; and                                                              
15       WHEREAS the Department of Education and Early Development administers the                                       
16 public school system and the state's historical library, and the Alaska State Council on the                            
01 Arts operates within that department; and                                                                               
02       WHEREAS the Alaska Historical Commission in the Department of Natural                                           
03 Resources includes members who have backgrounds in history, architecture, and archeology                                
04 and are very familiar with both the natural and cultural heritage of the state; and                                     
05       WHEREAS the mission of the Alaska Humanities Forum, which is a nonprofit                                        
06 organization directed by a board reflective of the state's diverse cultural and geographic                              
07 regions, includes encouragement of Alaskans' search for a sense of identity and a sense of                              
08 place through history, tradition, and new ideas by stimulating community-based discussion of                            
09 the humanities throughout Alaska; and                                                                                   
10       WHEREAS the Alaska Native Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization that is                                   
11 headed by a board of directors drawn from Alaska Native corporations and civic and business                             
12 groups who are guided by a 30-member academy composed of Native elders and tradition                                    
13 bearers from diverse Native peoples, including Athabaskan, Yup'ik and Cup'ik Eskimo,                                    
14 Inupiaq, Aleut, Alutiiq, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian;                                                           
15       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature establishes in the legislative                                 
16 branch the Task Force on the State Seal whose mission is to gather input from the citizens of                           
17 Alaska about what the official state seal should look like and to make recommendations to the                           
18 legislature about a proposed new design for a new official seal for the state; and be it                                
19       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is respectfully requested to appoint to the                                  
20 task force                                                                                                              
21            (1)  two representatives of the Department of Education and Early                                            
22 Development; and                                                                                                        
23            (2)  two representatives of the Alaska Historical Commission in the                                          
24 Department of Natural Resources; and be it                                                                              
25       FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature respectfully requests the board of                                        
26 directors of the Alaska Humanities Forum to appoint two members to the task force; and be it                            
27       FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature respectfully requests the board of                                        
28 directors of the Alaska Native Heritage Center to appoint two members to the task force; and                            
29 be it                                                                                                                   
30       FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force may begin its work immediately upon                                        
31 appointment of four of the eight members specified in this resolution, may select a chair from                          
01 among its members, may meet between sessions of the legislature, may solicit ideas for the                              
02 state seal in a manner considered appropriate by the task force, and shall report its                                   
03 recommendations as to a proposed new official state seal to the legislature by the first day of                         
04 the Second Regular Session of the Twenty-Third Alaska State Legislature; and be it                                      
05       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Council shall provide reasonably                                          
06 necessary administrative services to the task force upon request of the task force; and be it                           
07       FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the task force are entitled to                                             
08 reimbursement of travel costs associated with attending meetings of the task force; and be it                           
09       FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force established under this resolution is                                       
10 terminated on the last day of the Second Regular Session of the Twenty-Third Alaska State                               
11 Legislature.