00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 279                                                                          
01 "An Act relating to commendation and recognition of individual veterans along certain                                   
02 veterans' memorial roads and on certain veterans' memorial bridges."                                                    
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1. AS 35.40.035 is amended by adding new subsections to read:                                              
05 (h)  The Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs shall accept nominations                                          
06 from veterans' organizations identified under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(19) (Internal Revenue                                    
07 Code) for commendation and for recognition of an individual veteran on a veterans'                                      
08 memorial as provided in this section. A veterans' organization shall submit to the                                      
09 Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs, with a nomination for an individual                                       
10 veteran under this subsection, a copy of the veteran's certificate of release or discharge                              
11 from active duty issued by the United States Department of Defense or a similar                                         
12 document issued by a state or federal agency. On the first day of each legislative                                      
13 session, the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs shall submit to the president                                 
14 of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives a list of nominations                                     

01 received under this subsection during the previous calendar year, including, for each                                   
02 nomination, the name of the veteran and the nominating veterans' organization. The                                      
03 Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs may not submit the name of a living                                        
04 veteran to the legislature unless the department receives approval from the veteran to                                  
05 do so. The legislature may commend one or more nominees submitted under this                                            
06 subsection in accordance with the provisions for adopting citations under the uniform                                   
07 rules of the legislature. The commendation must include a designated veterans'                                          
08 memorial where the individual veteran is to be recognized by a sign or marker. Within                                   
09 five years after an individual veteran's commendation by the legislature, the                                           
10 Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may not remove or replace the                                        
11 veteran's name on a sign or marker under this section unless the legislature has                                        
12 submitted instructions to the department for removing or replacing the veteran's name.                                  
13 The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall make arrangements for                                      
14 the design, posting, maintenance, and replacement of signs and other markers at or                                      
15       near a veterans' memorial under this subsection.                                                                  
16 (i)  The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may accept gifts,                                           
17 donations, and grants for the purpose of designing, posting, maintaining, and replacing                                 
18 signs or other markers under (h) of this section. A donor may request that a gift,                                      
19 donation, or grant be used for a specific veterans' memorial, and the Department of                                     
20 Transportation and Public Facilities shall accommodate the donor's request to the                                       
21       extent practicable. The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may not                                
22 (1)  design, post, maintain, or replace a sign or other marker unless                                                   
23 there is adequate funding through gifts, donations, or grants received under this                                       
24 subsection to cover the costs of designing, posting, maintaining, or replacing the sign                                 
25       or other marker; or                                                                                               
26 (2)  post a sign or marker if posting the sign or marker is inconsistent                                                
27 with the standards and guidance of the current edition of the Alaska Traffic Manual                                     
28 prepared by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities or the Manual on                                     
29 Uniform Traffic Control Devices as adopted by the American Association of State                                         
30       Highway Officials.                                                                                                
31 (j)  The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall establish the                                         

01 initial placement of a sign or other marker in the order of the most recent veteran                                     
02 commended by the legislature under (h) of this section, unless otherwise provided by                                    
03       law.                                                                                                              
04 (k)  Nothing in (h) - (j) of this section shall be construed to limit the authority                                     
05 of the state or a veterans' organization to perform an action otherwise permitted by                                    
06       law.                                                                                                              
07 (l)  In this section, "veteran" means a person who served in the uniformed                                              
08 services, the National Guard of the United States, the Alaska State Defense Force, the                                  
09 Alaska Territorial Guard, and the Alaska Naval Militia, and who received an                                             
10       honorable discharge.                                                                                              
11    * Sec. 2. AS 37.05.146(c) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read:                                              
12                 (80)  gifts, donations, and grants received by the Department of                                        
13       Transportation and Public Facilities for the purpose of designing, posting, maintaining,                          
14       and replacing signs under AS 35.40.035(i).