00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15                                                                    
01 Urging federal government employees to follow lawful Acts of the United States                                          
02 Congress; urging the federal government to terminate federal agency employees who fail                                  
03 to follow the law; and urging the United States Secretary of Agriculture to review the                                  
04 actions of and inaction by the United States Forest Service relating to unlawful                                        
05 management of the Tongass National Forest in ways that are damaging to citizens of                                      
06 Alaska.                                                                                                                 
07 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
08 WHEREAS, far too often, the rule of law has been neglected or undermined in ways                                    
09 that directly affect the state, including by actions of federal government officials in the                             
10 instances of                                                                                                            
11            (1)  the issuance by then Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole of a                                         
12 memorandum on "Guidance Regarding Marijuana Enforcement" (Cole Memorandum); and                                         
13            (2)  the opposition of the United States Forest Service to adopt and implement                               
14 a forest plan for the Tongass National Forest that would seek to meet the demand for timber                             

01 by industry; and                                                                                                        
02       WHEREAS, on August 29, 2013, then Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole                                         
03 drafted a document known as the Cole Memorandum that issued guidance to federal                                         
04 prosecutors concerning marijuana enforcement, despite federal marijuana prohibition; and                                
05       WHEREAS, during the Obama Administration, the Cole Memorandum had the full                                      
06 force and effect of law, and some states, seeking potentially lucrative marijuana revenue,                              
07 relied on the Cole Memorandum to avoid federal marijuana prohibition enforcement; and                                   
08       WHEREAS the Cole Memorandum was issued without action from the United States                                    
09 Congress to change federal marijuana laws and without changes to federal regulations, which                             
10 are subject to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act that provide for public                             
11 notice and a comment period; and                                                                                        
12 WHEREAS, on November 16, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a                                                
13 memorandum on "Prohibition on Improper Guidance Documents" that effectively revoked the                                 
14 Cole Memorandum and specifically stated that the "United States Department of Justice has                               
15 the duty to uphold the laws of the United States and to ensure the fair and impartial                                   
16 administration of justice"; and                                                                                         
17 WHEREAS Attorney General Sessions stated that the federal government "must                                            
18 abide by constitutional principles and follow the rules imposed by Congress and the                                     
19 President," which include "the fundamental requirement that agencies regulate only within the                           
20 authority delegated to them by Congress"; and                                                                           
21 WHEREAS the practice by unelected federal agency employees of drafting and                                            
22 issuing guidance documents that have not been subject to public process is not lawful because                           
23 the documents have been interpreted to have the same force and effect of law and effectively                            
24 bind private parties; and                                                                                               
25 WHEREAS, although the federal law is clear, the marijuana industry in the state has                                   
26 blossomed because of reliance on the Cole Memorandum by private parties, and the societal                               
27 effect of that reliance is still unknown; and                                                                           
28 WHEREAS the principle of restoring the rule of law also applies to the management                                     
29 of the Tongass National Forest in the state, where unelected federal agency employees must                              
30 follow a lawful process for meeting the demand for old growth timber; and                                               
31 WHEREAS the federal Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, 16 U.S.C. 528 -                                         

01 531, directed the United States Forest Service to manage the Tongass National Forest for                                
02 multiple uses, including the production of timber; and                                                                  
03 WHEREAS the National Forest Management Act of 1976, P.L. 94-588, requires the                                         
04 United States Secretary of Agriculture to assess forest land, develop a management program                              
05 based on multiple-use, sustained yield principles, and implement a resource management plan                             
06 for each unit of the National Forest System; and                                                                        
07 WHEREAS, in 1990, the United States Congress passed the Tongass Timber Reform                                         
08 Act, 16 U.S.C. 539d, which required the United States Forest Service to adopt and implement                             
09 a forest plan for the Tongass National Forest that would seek to meet the demand for timber;                            
10 and                                                                                                                     
11 WHEREAS, instead of meeting the annual or planning cycle demand for timber, the                                     
12 United States Forest Service has failed to provide a fraction of the demand, resulting in the                           
13 closing of mills and the loss of jobs in the state; and                                                                 
14 WHEREAS the United States Forest Service has adopted a management plan for the                                        
15 Tongass National Forest that does not provide for the long-term harvesting of old growth                                
16 timber, despite old growth timber being in highest demand for timber from the Tongass                                   
17 National Forest; and                                                                                                    
18 WHEREAS, in 1997, the United States Forest Service released the Tongass Land                                          
19 Management Plan, which reduced the harvest amount to 267,000,000 board feet a year; and                                 
20 WHEREAS timber sales were halted by an injunction by the Ninth Circuit Court of                                       
21 Appeals in 2005 because of the United States Forest Service's error in methodology for                                  
22 calculating timber volumes, which remained in effect until an amended forest plan was                                   
23 produced by the United States Forest Service in 2008 that also allowed for a harvest amount                             
24 of 267,000,000 board feet a year; and                                                                                   
25 WHEREAS the United States Forest Service settled litigation over the Roadless Area                                    
26 Conservation rule ("roadless rule"), 36 C.F.R. 294, in 2003 and agreed to provide a valid                               
27 temporary exemption to the "roadless rule" in the Tongass National Forest and to go through                             
28 permanent rulemaking, which has not been accomplished; and                                                              
29 WHEREAS the "roadless rule" generally prohibits road construction, reconstruction,                                    
30 and timber harvesting in designated areas; and                                                                          
31 WHEREAS the United States Congress has granted the state the immediate right to                                       

01 statutory easements on the Tongass National Forest, in sec. 4407 of the Safe, Accountable,                              
02 Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, in exchange for state land,                          
03 and clarified its intent to grant the easements in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation                          
04 Act of 2015; and                                                                                                        
05 WHEREAS the state has granted land to the United States Forest Service, but the                                       
06 United States Forest Service continues to oppose granting some of the statutory easements to                            
07 the state; and                                                                                                          
08 WHEREAS numerous federal regulatory actions of the United States Forest Service,                                      
09 including intentionally not meeting the demand for old growth timber and inaction in granting                           
10 statutory easements to the state, have prohibited or limited the use of Tongass National Forest                         
11 land to benefit the people and have contributed to the loss of thousands of timber jobs, which                          
12 were crucial in supporting families who wanted to continue to reside in the state; and                                  
13 WHEREAS the principle of the rule of law must be respected, and federal agencies                                      
14 should not develop plans or issue guidance memoranda that have the force and effect of law                              
15 without accounting for other federal rights granted to states or required by the United States                          
16 Congress; and                                                                                                           
17 WHEREAS federal agencies should not refuse to follow the law simply because some                                      
18 individuals in the agency disagree with the law;                                                                        
19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges federal agencies to                                            
20 terminate federal agency employees who are insubordinate with direction from leadership or                              
21 who fail to follow the law; and be it                                                                                   
22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                          
23 Secretary of Agriculture to review the actions of and inaction by federal agency employees in                           
24 the United States Forest Service and to take immediate steps to provide relief to the citizens of                       
25 the state, including those living on the Tongass National Forest; and be it                                             
26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the federal                                                  
27 government to discontinue taking or failing to take certain actions without regard for the law,                         
28 as these practices have resulted in damage to the citizens of the state.                                                
29 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                       
30 Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                
31 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.