00                CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 40(RES)                                                               
01 Commending the governor and the administration for aggressively working to protect                                      
02 the interests of the state in rights-of-way under R.S. 2477; urging the governor and the                                
03 attorney general to develop a working alliance with the governors, attorneys general,                                   
04 and legislatures in other western states to protect and enforce the states' interests in                                
05 ensuring access using rights-of-way authorized by R.S. 2477; urging the governor and                                    
06 the attorney general to support the interests of the State of Utah and southern counties                                
07 of Utah in R.S. 2477 rights-of-way by actively seeking confirmation of R.S. 2477 rights-                                
08 of-way through various means, including initiating litigation in this state; urging the                                 
09 governor and the attorney general to develop a strategy for resolving the dispute over                                  
10 the right to continued access using R.S. 2477 rights-of-way in the state, including the                                 
11 possibility of bringing lawsuits against the federal government to preserve the state's                                 
12 interest in rights-of-way; urging the governor to further strengthen the resources of the                               
13 state for protecting the state's rights by continuing to focus the efforts of the Department                            

01 of Law, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Fish and Game, and                                       
02 other departments on defending the state's rights and powers with regard to access and                                  
03 federalism issues; and urging the United States Congress to enact legislation requiring                                 
04 federal agencies with land management authority to establish a process to recognize                                     
05 valid R.S. 2477 rights-of-way claims expeditiously after a notice of intent to claim an                                 
06 R.S. 2477 right-of-way has been filed without the need to dispute those claims in court                                 
07 and to participate in good faith in the process.                                                                        
08 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
09       WHEREAS, in 1866, R.S. 2477 granted rights-of-way across unappropriated federal                                 
10 land to encourage the development of western land; and                                                                  
11       WHEREAS R.S. 2477 rights-of-way were perfected by simple use or development;                                    
12 and                                                                                                                     
13       WHEREAS R.S. 2477 rights-of-way were established in the state through use or                                    
14 development until virtually all federal land in the state was withdrawn in 1969; and                                    
15       WHEREAS, when R.S. 2477 was repealed in 1976 under the Federal Land Policy                                      
16 Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1701), valid existing rights under R.S. 2477 were expressly                                   
17 protected; and                                                                                                          
18       WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature has recognized 602 rights-of-way in statute,                               
19 and the Department of Natural Resources has identified at least 67 additional valid R.S. 2477                           
20 rights-of-way; and                                                                                                      
21       WHEREAS historic R.S. 2477 rights-of-way represent a key component of the                                       
22 mandate in art. VIII, sec. 1, of the Constitution of the State of Alaska to encourage the                               
23 settlement of the state's land and the development of the state's land and resources; and                               
24       WHEREAS the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Forest                               
25 Service refuse to recognize an R.S. 2477 right-of-way unless adjudicated and validated in a                             
26 decision by a court of competent jurisdiction; and                                                                      
27       WHEREAS unilateral resistance by the federal government to the existence of the                                 
28 state's rights-of-way causes great harm to the ability of the state to execute its duty to manage                       

01 state resources by making them accessible and available for maximum use consistent with the                             
02 public interest, as required in art. VIII, sec. 1, of the Constitution of the State of Alaska; and                      
03       WHEREAS the State of Utah recently filed notices of intent to sue to enforce its                                
04 interests in more than 18,000 R.S. 2477 rights-of-way in that state; and                                                
05       WHEREAS the State of Alaska and the State of Utah share similar objections to the                               
06 large withdrawals of Federal Conservation Units that are managed by the United States                                   
07 Department of the Interior and the United States Forest Service, agencies that both                                     
08 unilaterally deny the existence of valid state easements; and                                                           
09       WHEREAS virtually all of the state's natural resource development projects are                                  
10 unnecessarily burdened by numerous federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the                              
11 Clean Water Act, and myriad arbitrary federal regulators and policies implementing and                                  
12 enforcing those and other federal laws;                                                                                 
13       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature commends the governor and the                                  
14 administration for aggressively working to protect the interests of the state in rights-of-way                          
15 under R.S. 2477 and urges the governor and the attorney general to develop a working                                    
16 alliance with the governors, attorneys general, and legislatures in other western states to                             
17 protect and enforce the states' interests in ensuring access using rights-of-way authorized by                          
18 R.S. 2477; and be it                                                                                                    
19       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor and the                                   
20 attorney general to support the interests of the State of Utah and southern counties of Utah in                         
21 R.S. 2477 rights-of-way by actively seeking confirmation of R.S. 2477 rights-of-way through                             
22 various means, including initiating litigation in this state; and be it                                                 
23       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor and the                                   
24 attorney general to develop a strategy for resolving the dispute over the right to continued                            
25 access using R.S. 2477 rights-of-way in the state, including the possibility of bringing                                
26 lawsuits against the federal government to preserve the state's interest in rights-of-way; and be                       
27 it                                                                                                                      
28       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor further                                   
29 to strengthen the resources of the state for protecting the state's rights by continuing to focus                       
30 the efforts of the Department of Law, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department                               
31 of Fish and Game, and other departments on defending the state's rights and powers with                                 

01 regard to access and federalism issues; and be it                                                                       
02       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                      
03 Congress to enact legislation requiring federal agencies with land management authority to                              
04 establish a process to recognize valid R.S. 2477 rights-of-way claims expeditiously after a                             
05 notice of intent to claim an R.S. 2477 right-of-way has been filed without the need to dispute                          
06 those claims in court and to participate in good faith in the process.                                                  
07       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
08 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
09 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the                                 
10 Interior; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                 
11 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                       
12 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell,                                
13 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Energy and                                
14 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Gary R. Herbert, Governor                                 
15 of Utah; Kathy Davis, Assistant Attorney General, State of Utah, Office of the Attorney                                 
16 General, Division of Public Lands; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark                                  
17 Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the                                 
18 Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 112th United States Congress.