00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 48                                                                     
01 Relating to federal land withdrawals.                                                                                   
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS vast tracts of lands managed by federal agencies of the United States                                   
04 have been withdrawn from public entry; and                                                                              
05       WHEREAS, in many instances, the original purpose for the withdrawal has been                                    
06 accomplished or lapsed; and                                                                                             
07       WHEREAS, in the State of Alaska, many of these withdrawn lands have been                                        
08 selected by the state under the Alaska Statehood Act for transfer to become state-owned                                 
09 lands; and                                                                                                              
10       WHEREAS the withdrawn lands in the state have been selected because of their value                              
11 for recreation, mineral resources, and access corridors; and                                                            
12       WHEREAS the withdrawn lands cannot be transferred to the State of Alaska until and                              
13 unless the federal withdrawals are removed; and                                                                         
14       WHEREAS the land managing agencies of the United States are neither empowered                                   
15 nor motivated to terminate these so-called "temporary" withdrawals; and                                                 

01       WHEREAS the continuation of the withdrawn lands in a withdrawn status is not in                                 
02 the public interest;                                                                                                    
03       BE IT RESOLVED that the legislature of the State of Alaska hereby requests the                                  
04 Alaska Congressional delegation, as well as the Congressional delegations of the several                                
05 states, to introduce and adopt legislation that would amend the laws of the United States to                            
06 require that all land managing agencies identify (1) all withdrawn lands under their                                    
07 jurisdiction, (2) the statutory purpose for which the land withdrawal was made, (3) the status                          
08 of the land withdrawal, and (4) the documents creating each land withdrawal, and file with the                          
09 Congress a plan to terminate those withdrawals for which the statutory purpose has been                                 
10 accomplished or lapsed within one year from the passage of this legislation; and be it                                  
11       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Congress should adopt, and the President of the                                       
12 United States should sign into law, any amendment to the public land laws that is necessary to                          
13 terminate all land withdrawals not specifically incorporated into the statutory establishment of                        
14 parks, refuges, wilderness areas, or other federal set-asides within the later of 10 years after                        
15 the withdrawal or 10 years after the passage of the Act of Congress, and that the terminations                          
16 should be self-actuating without further statutory or administrative action; notwithstanding the                        
17 foregoing, the Act of Congress should provide the affected land-managing agency with                                    
18 authority to extend a specific withdrawal by providing the Congress with a detailed report                              
19 setting out the reasons for an extension, the specific acreage involved, and a date certain upon                        
20 which the withdrawal will terminate, which representation shall be binding on the agency.                               
21       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
22 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States                              
23 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas Daschle, Majority Leader of the U.S.                             
24 Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to                           
25 the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                     
26 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.