00 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 37                                                                                          
01 Urging the United States Congress to give an affirmative expression of approval                                         
02 to a policy authorizing the state to regulate, restrict, or prohibit the export of                                      
03 unprocessed logs harvested from its land and from the land of its political                                             
04 subdivisions and the University of Alaska.                                                                              
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06  WHEREAS Alaska had, by regulation, imposed a primary manufacturing requirement                                         
07 applicable to timber harvested from state-owned land that is destined for export from the state;                        
08 and                                                                                                                     
09  WHEREAS that regulation was permissive, allowing the director of the division of                                       
10 land to require that primary manufacture of forest products be accomplished within the state;                           
11 and                                                                                                                     
12  WHEREAS, considering the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, in                                         
13 Southcentral Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke, 467 U.S. 82, 81 L.Ed.2d 71, 104 S.Ct.                                
14 2237 (1984), the United States Supreme Court determined that the state's regulation could not                           
01 be given effect; while the court found evidence of a clearly defined federal policy imposing                            
02 primary manufacture requirements as to timber taken from federal land in Alaska, it                                     
03 determined that the existing Congressional sanction reached only to activities on federal land                          
04 and concluded that the state's assertion of Congressional authorization by silence to allow a                           
05 state to regulate similar activities on nonfederal land could not be inferred; and                                      
06  WHEREAS since the Wunnicke decision, Congress has, in the Forest Resources                                             
07 Conservation and Shortage Relief Act of 1990, extended an existing ban on unprocessed log                               
08 exports from federal land in the 11 contiguous Western states to cover timber harvested from                            
09 nonfederal sources in those states; the extension of the ban on unprocessed log exports in                              
10 those states collectively does not affect Alaska; and                                                                   
11  WHEREAS the principal purposes, stated or assumed, in the 1990 Congressional Act                                       
12 for extending the ban on unprocessed log exports in the contiguous Western states -- the                                
13 efficient use and effective conservation of forests and forest resources, the avoidance of a                            
14 shortfall in unprocessed timber in the marketplace, and concern for development of a rational                           
15 log export policy as a national matter -- are equally valid with respect to the significant timber                      
16 resources held by this state, its political subdivisions, and its public university; and                                
17  WHEREAS the state cannot act to regulate, restrict, or prohibit the export of                                          
18 unprocessed logs harvested from land of the state, its political subdivisions, and the University                       
19 of Alaska without a legislative expression demonstrating Congressional intent that is                                   
20 unmistakably clear;                                                                                                     
21  BE IT RESOLVED that the legislature of the State of Alaska urges the United States                                     
22 Congress to give an affirmative expression of approval to a policy authorizing the state to                             
23 regulate, restrict, or prohibit the export of unprocessed logs harvested from its land and from                         
24 the land of its political subdivisions and the University of Alaska.                                                    
25  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President                                  
26 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bob Dole, Majority                                 
27 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Tom Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate;                               
28 the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable                                
29 Dick Armey, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Richard                                 
30 Gephardt, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; to the Honorable Ted                                    
31 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                  
01 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.