HJR 3: Urging the President of the United States to seek and the United States Congress to approve adequate funding for land conveyance activities for the State of Alaska, Alaska Native corporations, and Alaska Natives under the Alaska Statehood Act, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Native Allotment Act of 1906, the Alaska Native Veterans Allotment Act of 1998, and the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3 01 Urging the President of the United States to seek and the United States Congress to 02 approve adequate funding for land conveyance activities for the State of Alaska, Alaska 03 Native corporations, and Alaska Natives under the Alaska Statehood Act, the Alaska 04 Native Claims Settlement Act, the Native Allotment Act of 1906, the Alaska Native 05 Veterans Allotment Act of 1998, and the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act. 06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 07 WHEREAS Alaska entered into a statehood compact with the federal government 08 through the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on July 7, 1958; and 09 WHEREAS, under the Alaska Statehood Act, the state and the federal government 10 agreed that the state would receive 102,550,000 acres, plus 800,000 additional acres for 11 community and municipal expansion, and that the state was entitled to select the land within 12 25 years after Statehood; and 13 WHEREAS the purposes of land grants under the Alaska Statehood Act include 14 serving the state's economic and social well-being through responsible development of the 15 state's vast natural resources and recreational opportunities; and
01 WHEREAS the attorney general, in a 1969 legal opinion, stated that, by virtue of the 02 grant, the state became at once vested with the right of property in selected lands; and 03 WHEREAS, in 1971, Alaska Natives were granted 45,700,000 acres to satisfy their 04 aboriginal land claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; and 05 WHEREAS Alaska was admitted to the Union 53 years ago on January 3, 1959, and 06 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed 41 years ago on December 18, 1971; and 07 WHEREAS the state and the Alaska Native corporations have received only 95 08 percent of the land promised, and only 65 percent of the land has been conveyed by land 09 patent; and 10 WHEREAS, in a summary of conveyance activities dated October 18, 2012, the 11 United States Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Region, stated that, of the 104,525,001.24 12 acres that the state was promised, the state had received 61,978,633 acres by patent, 59.3 13 percent of the total, and had received tentative approval for an additional 37,419,988 acres, 14 35.79 percent of the total, for a total of 95.09 percent of the land promised; fifty-three years 15 after Statehood, the state is still owed final patent to 42,546,368.24 acres and tentative 16 approval for 5,135,380.04 acres; and 17 WHEREAS, in a summary of conveyance activities dated October 18, 2012, the 18 United States Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Region, stated that, of the 45,708,463.47 19 acres promised to the state's 12 Native regional corporations created under the Alaska Native 20 Claims Settlement Act, the Native corporations have received 32,390,390 acres by patent, 21 70.86 percent of the total, and have received tentative approval for 11,393,119 acres, 24.93 22 percent of the total, for a total of 95.79 percent of the land promised; under the Alaska Native 23 Claims Settlement Act, Alaska Native corporations are still owed final patent to 24 13,318,073.47 acres and tentative approval for 1,979,315.61 acres; and 25 WHEREAS individual Alaska Natives continue to wait for final processing of federal 26 land granted under the Native Allotments Act of 1906, the August 2, 1956, amendment to the 27 Native Allotments Act, and the Alaska Native Veterans Allotment Act of 1998; and 28 WHEREAS, of the 19,171 parcels for which Native Alaskans filed for under the 29 Native Allotments Act and the Alaska Native Veterans Allotment Act, 390 parcels are still 30 pending conveyance, 358 under the Native Allotments Act and 32 under the Alaska Native 31 Veterans Allotment Act, as amended; and
01 WHEREAS, in 2004, the United States Congress, upset by the slow pace of 02 completion of the land conveyances to Alaska entities, approved the Alaska Land Transfer 03 Acceleration Act for the purpose of completing the transfer of all conveyances, five years 04 after passage of the Act by the 50th anniversary of Statehood; and 05 WHEREAS, at the time of passage of the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act, the 06 state had received final patented conveyance to only 15,000,000 acres, leaving 89,000,000 07 still to be conveyed by patent; at the pace of conveyance then in effect, the state would not 08 receive the last patented land titles promised under the Alaska Statehood Act for 30 to 300 09 years; and 10 WHEREAS, after passage of the Alaska Land Transfer Acceleration Act, federal 11 funding for conveyance activities initially increased, and the pace of conveyances also 12 increased; and 13 WHEREAS, recently, the level of funding has markedly decreased; for federal fiscal 14 year 2013, the Administration requested $16,741,000, a cut of $12,320,000 from the final 15 appropriation for federal fiscal year 2012; and 16 WHEREAS, at the current appropriation level, the United States Bureau of Land 17 Management would take 40 to 50 years to complete all land conveyances, 100 years after 18 Statehood; and 19 WHEREAS the extreme and extraordinary delays in conveying land to the state, the 20 Alaska Native corporations, and individual Alaska Natives are completely unacceptable; and 21 WHEREAS the state, the Alaska Native corporations, and individual Alaska Natives 22 need access to the natural resources on the land selections now more than ever to build the 23 state's economy and to fund essential government services, including education, 24 transportation, and public safety; 25 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the President of the 26 United States to seek and the United States Congress to approve adequate funding for land 27 conveyance activities so that the United States Bureau of Land Management can transfer, as 28 quickly as possible, all the land due to the state, Alaska Native corporations, and individual 29 Alaska Natives. 30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 31 the United States; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the Interior; the
01 Honorable Mike Pool, Acting Director, Bureau of Land Management, United States 02 Department of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark 03 Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the 04 Alaska delegation in Congress.