00SENATE CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 22(RLS)                                                                      
01 Relating to the maritime boundary between Alaska and the former Union of                                                
02 Soviet Socialist Republics.                                                                                             
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                              
04  WHEREAS, on June 1, 1990, the United States negotiated and signed the United                                         
05 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement without the participation or consent of Alaska                            
06 in the negotiations or terms of the agreement; and                                                                      
07  WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement places on the U.S.S.R.                                      
08 side the following eight islands and their entire territorial seas and seabeds:  Wrangell, Herald,                      
09 Bennett, Henrietta, and Jeannette Islands in the Arctic, and Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock, and                          
10 Sea Otter Rock on the west end of the Aleutian Chain; and                                                               
11  WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement delimits the territorial                                    
12 sea and seabeds of Little Diomede Island at less than the normal 3-mile or 12-mile extent; and                          
13  WHEREAS Alaska may have sovereignty and potential or actual property interests in                                    
14 these islands and their territorial seas and seabeds; and                                                               

01  WHEREAS the Fifteenth Alaska State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Joint                                       
02 Resolution 12, which requested that a representative of Alaska be included in the United States                         
03 Department of State's negotiations on setting a maritime boundary between Alaska and the                                
04 Soviet Union; however, a reply was never received from the Department of State, and a                                   
05 representative of Alaska was never included in the negotiations; and                                                    
06  WHEREAS the views of 28 bipartisan members of the Alaska House of                                                    
07 Representatives and eight bipartisan members of the Alaska Senate were expressed on the                                 
08 Agreement in a letter dated May 17, 1991, to Senator Joseph Biden, Jr., of the United States                            
09 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, stating in part:                                                                 
10  "We firmly believe United States interests and Alaskan interests are at stake                                         
11 and in jeopardy in the proposed treaty. . . No Alaskan official has ever been                                           
12 invited to participate in the treaty negotiations, in spite of abiding Alaskan                                          
13 interests in fisheries, petroleum and other potential continental shelf resources                                       
14 and the considerations of navigation in the area.  In the entire history of the                                         
15 treaty negotiations, Alaska has had no official voice.  Alaska has not been fully                                       
16 consulted in the entire matter. . . It is our purpose to urgently recommend that                                        
17 the presently-proposed treaty not be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and that                                              
18 negotiations be continued to include appropriate Alaskan officials and current                                          
19 United States and Alaskan historic, territorial, and resource interests";                                               
20 and                                                                                                                     
21  WHEREAS the California Legislature unanimously passed in 1991 Senate Joint                                           
22 Resolution 20 supporting Alaska, and the resolution requested the President to withdraw the                             
23 proposed Agreement from consideration by the United States Senate and the California United                             
24 States Senators to decline to consider the proposed Agreement until Alaska has been able to                             
25 participate fully in negotiations and has been guaranteed that its consent will be required for                         
26 any agreement affecting its boundaries; and                                                                             
27  WHEREAS the U.S.S.R. dissolved itself without taking action to approve the                                           
28 Agreement, and the Agreement has not been put into force; and                                                           
29  WHEREAS, at the same time he signed the Agreement on June 1, 1990, Secretary of                                      
30 State James A. Baker III signed a side agreement with the U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister that                                
31 stated that, pending the entry into force of the Agreement, the two governments agreed to                               

01 abide by the terms of the Agreement as of June 15, 1990; and                                                            
02  WHEREAS the side agreement was not publicly revealed at the time or mentioned in                                     
03 the transmittal of the Agreement to the United States Congress, in the Department of State                              
04 testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in the committee                                  
05 report, or in the Senate floor debate; and                                                                              
06  WHEREAS the authority of the Secretary of State to establish on his own a maritime                                   
07 boundary that has implications for land territory, seabed jurisdiction, sovereignty, and Alaska                         
08 property raises questions of constitutionality;                                                                         
09  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that because the proposed United                                      
10 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement was not put into force before the dissolution                             
11 of the U.S.S.R., the agreement does not have legal force, and any agreement on a maritime                               
12 boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia must be negotiated anew with whatever new                                    
13 foreign government has sovereignty in the area at the time; and be it                                                   
14  FURTHER RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that for an agreement on a                                          
15 maritime boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia to be negotiated by the United States                               
16 government, Alaska must be formally represented in the negotiations and its consent obtained;                           
17 and be it                                                                                                               
18  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature considers null and void the                                       
19 side agreement requiring the two governments to abide by the Agreement pending its entry                                
20 into force and requests the United States Department of State to reveal any and all acts,                               
21 directives, and reports regarding implementation of the side agreement; and be it                                       
22  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Alaska delegation                                       
23 in the Congress to promote and aggressively pursue the views expressed in this resolution,                              
24 especially the need for state representation in any negotiations over setting a maritime                                
25 boundary between the state and eastern Russia; and be it                                                                
26  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that setting a                                              
27 maritime boundary between the state and eastern Russia is a states' rights issue and                                    
28 respectfully requests the Governor and the Attorney General of Alaska to actively pursue the                            
29 matters described in the previous resolves.                                                                             
30  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill J. Clinton, President of                               
31 the United States; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State; the                                    

01 Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States; the Honorable Jesse Helms,                                 
02 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Benjamin A.                                      
03 Gilman, Chair of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations; the Honorable Joseph                              
04 R. Biden, Jr., Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations;                               
05 the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton, Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. House Committee on                                   
06 International Relations; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank                                       
07 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
08 the Alaska delegation in Congress.