00                            SENATE BILL NO. 81                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to the University of Alaska building fund; and relating to contributions                               
02 to the University of Alaska building fund."                                                                             
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section                          
05 to read:                                                                                                                
06       LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. (a) The legislature finds that                                                   
07            (1)  an academically strong state university system is a cornerstone to the long-                            
08 term development of a stable population and to a healthy, diverse economy of the state;                                 
09            (2)  art. VII, sec. 2 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska provides that the                           
10 property of the University of Alaska shall be administered according to law;                                            
11            (3)  before statehood, the Acts of the United States Congress approved                                       
12 March 4, 1915, 38 Stat. 1214, as amended, and January 21, 1929, 45 Stat. 1091, intended to                              
13 set aside for the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines section 33 of each township                           
14 within a defined geographic area corresponding to the Tanana Valley and to dedicate the                                 

01 revenue from that land permanently to that purpose;                                                                     
02            (4)  in the Alaska Statehood Act, P.L. 85-508, Congress repealed the 1915 Act,                               
03 granting land it reserved to the newly created state "for the purposes for which they were                              
04 reserved," based in part on the assumption that the newly created state would make                                      
05 appropriate provisions for the university from its own land selections;                                                 
06            (5)  after statehood, the state initially treated those sections 33 that had been                            
07 surveyed, approximately 3.3 percent of the full reservation, as lands granted to the state for                          
08 general purposes and those sections 33 that had not been surveyed as lands available to the                             
09 state for selection for general purposes;                                                                               
10            (6)  although various legal disputes relating to the surveyed sections 33 were                               
11 resolved by litigation or settlement between the University of Alaska and the state, the                                
12 unsurveyed sections 33 were not addressed;                                                                              
13            (7)  had all the unsurveyed sections been surveyed before statehood, the                                     
14 University of Alaska would have received that land and the revenue from that land without                               
15 violation of the dedicated funds provision of art. IX, sec. 7 of the Constitution of the State of                       
16 Alaska because the dedication of the revenue from the land would have existed before the                                
17 date that the Constitution of the State of Alaska was ratified;                                                         
18            (8)  starting with an attempt in 1959 to grant 1,000,000 acres of state land to                              
19 the University of Alaska in a bill vetoed by the governor, and as recently as 2009 when state                           
20 laws enacted to create a permanent land endowment for the university were found by the                                  
21 Alaska Supreme Court to violate art. IX, sec. 7 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska, the                         
22 legislature has been unable to create a suitable substitute for the permanent land endowment                            
23 that the 1915 legislation was designed to create for the University of Alaska;                                          
24            (9)  in the intervening years, the University of Alaska has suffered from the                                
25 loss of revenue that could have been generated if the original 1915 land endowment                                      
26 legislation had been fulfilled;                                                                                         
27            (10)  it is incumbent on the legislature, while efforts to enact a constitutionally                          
28 permissible provision to create a land grant for the University of Alaska continue, to enact a                          
29 constitutionally permissible method to redress the loss of revenue;                                                     
30            (11)  through amendments to AS 37.05.555, governing the University of                                        
31 Alaska building fund, and to AS 14.40.491, defining university receipts, this legislature can                           

01 partially redress the revenue problem outlined in this section while retaining unfettered                               
02 discretion to appropriate university receipts, including receipts from the University of Alaska                         
03 building fund, as this legislature and future legislatures may see fit, without restrictions, on an                     
04 annual basis; it is in the best interest of the University of Alaska and the state to do so.                            
05       (b)  It is the intent of the legislature                                                                          
06            (1)  to enact legislation under which the University of Alaska may, subject to                               
07 legislative appropriation, receive revenue to redress, in part, the lack of revenue attributable to                     
08 the paucity of the University of Alaska's land grant;                                                                   
09            (2)  to enact legislation defining "university receipts," over which the                                     
10 legislature retains unrestricted appropriation authority, to include revenue from the University                        
11 of Alaska building fund;                                                                                                
12            (3)  to provide that, if a provision of this Act is found to be an unlawful                                  
13 dedication of funds in violation of art. IX, sec. 7 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska, or                      
14 otherwise unlawful, the remaining provisions of the Act be severed from those provisions to                             
15 the maximum extent possible; and                                                                                        
16            (4)  to have a stable University of Alaska system that provides a wide range of                              
17 curricular and extracurricular activities and maintains its national and international standing as                      
18 a premier institution of higher education, for which a robust University of Alaska building                             
19 fund is essential.                                                                                                      
20    * Sec. 2. AS 37.05.555(a) is amended to read:                                                                      
21            (a)  The University of Alaska building fund is created as a special account in                               
22       the general fund. The fund consists of                                                                            
23                 (1)  payments made to the University of Alaska by a public or private                                   
24       occupant of a covered building under an agreement with the University of Alaska for                               
25       costs of the occupant's use and occupancy of building space; [AND]                                                
26                 (2)  appropriations to the fund; and                                                                
27                 (3)  deposits made by the commissioner of revenue under                                             
28       AS 37.05.558.                                                                                                 
29    * Sec. 3. AS 37.05 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                     
30            Sec. 37.05.558. Contributions to the University of Alaska building fund.                                   
31       During each fiscal year, the commissioner of revenue shall transfer to the University                             

01       of Alaska building fund created under AS 37.05.555 a sum equal to one-half of one                                 
02       percent of the total receipts derived from the management of state land, including                                
03       amounts paid to the state as proceeds of sale or annual rent of surface rights, mineral                           
04       lease rentals, royalties, royalty sale proceeds, and federal mineral revenue sharing                              
05       payments or bonuses. Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund.                                            
06    * Sec. 4. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to                          
07 read:                                                                                                                   
08       APPLICABILITY. Section 4 of this Act applies only to receipts from leases, sales,                                 
09 contracts, or other agreements relating to the management of state land that are entered into,                          
10 renewed, or extended beyond their original term after January 1, 2016.