00HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 24                                                                                      
01 Supporting the governor's decision to authorize a suit against the United States                                        
02 government for violating the Alaska Statehood Act.                                                                      
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS, when the Territory of Alaska became a state, its citizens ratified a                                          
05 compact with the federal government known as the Alaska Statehood Compact, which is                                     
06 embodied in the Alaska Statehood Act that was passed by the Congress; and                                               
07  WHEREAS compacts such as the Alaska Statehood Act are properly viewed as                                               
08 contracts between sovereigns that may not be unilaterally altered by either party; and                                  
09  WHEREAS the principle that the controlling terms of statehood acts may not be                                          
10 altered unilaterally has been consistently upheld by the United States Supreme Court in                                 
11 Cooper v. Roberts, 59 U.S. (18 How.) 173 (1855); Beecher v. Wetherby, 95 U.S. (5 Otto) 517                              
12 (1877); and Stearns v. Minnesota ex. rel. Marr, 179 U.S. 223 (1900); and                                                
13  WHEREAS there are sufficient grounds for believing that the federal government has                                     
14 violated this principle by unilaterally altering or attempting to alter important terms of the                          

01 Alaska Statehood Act;                                                                                                   
02  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature strongly supports the decision                                        
03 of the governor to authorize suit against the United States government for violating the Alaska                         
04 Statehood Act.