HJR 25: Requesting the United States Congress to amend the Alaska Statehood Act to recognize the State of Alaska's constitutional right to maintain ownership over all land, water, assets, resources, and activities within the state's boundaries; proclaiming the State of Alaska's constitutional ownership of all land, water, assets, resources, and activities within the state's boundaries; recognizing the federal government's jurisdiction over land, water, and airspace within the state's boundaries for certain purposes if those purposes are determined to be justified by the Alaska State Legislature; declaring that the State of Alaska retains all rights reserved to the individual states by the Constitution of the United States, including control over all activities and development wholly within the state's boundaries; finding that the federal government does not have constitutional authority to regulate certain private or business activities conducted wholly within the state's boundaries; requesting the federal government to enact policies, regulations, and legislation to mitigate the disparity of nationwide federal land jurisdiction and to recognize certain state rights; and petitioning the legislative bodies of other states to adopt similar resolutions.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 25 01 Requesting the United States Congress to amend the Alaska Statehood Act to recognize 02 the State of Alaska's constitutional right to maintain ownership over all land, water, 03 assets, resources, and activities within the state's boundaries; proclaiming the State of 04 Alaska's constitutional ownership of all land, water, assets, resources, and activities 05 within the state's boundaries; recognizing the federal government's jurisdiction over 06 land, water, and airspace within the state's boundaries for certain purposes if those 07 purposes are determined to be justified by the Alaska State Legislature; declaring that 08 the State of Alaska retains all rights reserved to the individual states by the Constitution 09 of the United States, including control over all activities and development wholly within 10 the state's boundaries; finding that the federal government does not have constitutional 11 authority to regulate certain private or business activities conducted wholly within the 12 state's boundaries; requesting the federal government to enact policies, regulations, and 13 legislation to mitigate the disparity of nationwide federal land jurisdiction and to
01 recognize certain state rights; and petitioning the legislative bodies of other states to 02 adopt similar resolutions. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the Constitution of the United States established a federalist system of 05 governance whereby the federal government and each individual state would exist as equal 06 and cooperative entities; and 07 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was 08 adopted to expand the federalist intent of the constitution by ensuring the shared balance of 09 powers between the federal government and the individual states; and 10 WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States mandates 11 that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to 12 the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people"; and 13 WHEREAS the federal government should maintain jurisdiction over, and manage, 14 only enough land necessary to perform its constitutional duties and powers, and to manage 15 land as granted by each of the individual states; and 16 WHEREAS the federal government claims jurisdiction over approximately 17 640,000,000 acres, or 28 percent, of the 2,270,000,000 acres of land in the United States; and 18 WHEREAS approximately 92 percent of all land jurisdiction claimed by the federal 19 government is concentrated in just 12 western states, including Alaska; and 20 WHEREAS the "concentration of federal lands in the west" and the "optimal extent of 21 federal land ownership" were listed as concerns for the United States Congress in the Federal 22 Land Ownership: Overview and Data report released by the Congressional Research Service 23 in December 2014; and 24 WHEREAS the individual states, municipalities, and communities of the United 25 States require land sources for the purpose of overall development; and 26 WHEREAS the excessive federal land jurisdiction in the western states has severely 27 limited the ability of those states to responsibly develop their extensive and abundant natural 28 resources, develop and sustain strong economies, and increase the quality of life for residents; 29 and 30 WHEREAS the disparity of federal land jurisdiction in the western states negatively
01 affects the United States, hindering the advancement of a diverse nationwide economy and 02 national energy independence; and 03 WHEREAS the restoration of the intended balance of federal and state powers, 04 including land holdings and jurisdiction, would result in a positive outcome for the federal 05 government and the individual states while also addressing the constitutional concerns of the 06 individual states; 07 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the United States 08 Congress amend the Alaska Statehood Act to recognize the constitutional right of the State of 09 Alaska to maintain ownership over all land, water, assets, resources, and activities within the 10 recognized contiguous boundary of the state, thereby fulfilling the constitutional duty to 11 ensure equal protection for individual states; and be it 12 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature, in accordance with the 13 Constitution of the United States and art. XII, sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska, and 14 with due consideration given to the previous resolve, proclaims the State of Alaska's 15 constitutional ownership of all land, water, assets, resources, and activities within the 16 recognized contiguous boundary of the State of Alaska, which specifically include and shall 17 be described as 18 (1) all land up to the borders of adjoining countries; 19 (2) all water adjacent to the shore of any land claimed by the state, up to the 20 limits of the territory claimed by the United States; 21 (3) all surfaces of all land, sea beds, lakebeds, and riverbeds within the state's 22 borders; 23 (4) all subsurface area of all land, sea beds, lakebeds, and riverbeds, without 24 regard to depth; 25 (5) all airspace above the surface of any land or water within the contiguous 26 boundaries of the state; and 27 (6) all known and yet to be known resources within the boundaries of the 28 state, including mineral deposits, oil reserves, gas reserves, coal reserves, vegetation, fish and 29 game, hydroelectric energy, geothermal heat, tidal power, water, hunting rights, recreational 30 opportunities, archaeological sites and findings, and other resources; and be it 31 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature, in accordance with the
01 Constitution of the United States, recognizes the federal government's jurisdiction over land, 02 water, and airspace within the recognized contiguous boundary of the state used for 03 performing the following powers granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the 04 United States: 05 (1) to provide for the common defense of the United States; 06 (2) to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and 07 with the Indian tribes; 08 (3) to establish post offices and post roads; 09 (4) to constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court; 10 (5) to raise and support armies; 11 (6) to provide and maintain a navy; 12 (7) to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, 13 suppress insurrections, and repel invasions; 14 (8) to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia; and 15 (9) to exercise authority over all places purchased by the consent of the 16 legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, 17 arsenals, dock yards, and other needful buildings; and be it 18 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature may recognize the federal 19 government's jurisdiction over other land, water, or airspace within the recognized contiguous 20 boundary of the state only if the land, water, or airspace is used for a justifiable purpose under 21 the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, as determined by the Alaska State 22 Legislature; and be it 23 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature declares that the State of 24 Alaska shall retain all rights reserved to the individual states by the Constitution of the United 25 States, including jurisdiction over all aspects of all regulations regarding all activities or 26 developments wholly within the boundaries of the state; and be it 27 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that the federal 28 government does not have constitutional authority to regulate private or business activities 29 that are conducted wholly within the boundaries of the state unless those activities are 30 evidenced to have caused damage to persons in other states or countries outside the 31 jurisdiction of the State of Alaska; and be it
01 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the state 02 government, as it considers necessary, to exercise all other rights granted by the Constitution 03 of the United States to the individual states; and be it 04 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that the federal 05 government enact policies, regulations, and legislation to mitigate the disparity of nationwide 06 federal land jurisdiction and to recognize the same basic rights as listed in this resolution, and 07 as granted and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, to all individual states; and 08 be it 09 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature petitions the legislative 10 bodies of the other 49 individual states to adopt resolutions in similar form to the provisions 11 listed in this resolution. 12 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President 13 of the United States; the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States and 14 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ryan Zinke, United States Secretary of the 15 Interior; the Honorable Paul D. Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 16 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 17 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Charles E. 18 Schumer, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, Chair of the 19 U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. 20 Senator, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 21 delegation in Congress; all other members of the 115th United States Congress; the governors 22 of each of the other 49 states; and the presiding officers of the legislatures of each of the other 23 49 states.