00 SENATE CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 22(RLS) 01 Relating to the maritime boundary between Alaska and the former Union of 02 Soviet Socialist Republics. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS, on June 1, 1990, the United States negotiated and signed the United 05 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement without the participation or consent of Alaska 06 in the negotiations or terms of the agreement; and 07 WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement places on the U.S.S.R. 08 side the following eight islands and their entire territorial seas and seabeds: Wrangell, Herald, 09 Bennett, Henrietta, and Jeannette Islands in the Arctic, and Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock, and 10 Sea Otter Rock on the west end of the Aleutian Chain; and 11 WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement delimits the territorial 12 sea and seabeds of Little Diomede Island at less than the normal 3-mile or 12-mile extent; and 13 WHEREAS Alaska may have sovereignty and potential or actual property interests in 14 these islands and their territorial seas and seabeds; and 01 WHEREAS the Fifteenth Alaska State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Joint 02 Resolution 12, which requested that a representative of Alaska be included in the United States 03 Department of State's negotiations on setting a maritime boundary between Alaska and the 04 Soviet Union; however, a reply was never received from the Department of State, and a 05 representative of Alaska was never included in the negotiations; and 06 WHEREAS the views of 28 bipartisan members of the Alaska House of 07 Representatives and eight bipartisan members of the Alaska Senate were expressed on the 08 Agreement in a letter dated May 17, 1991, to Senator Joseph Biden, Jr., of the United States 09 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, stating in part: 10 "We firmly believe United States interests and Alaskan interests are at stake 11 and in jeopardy in the proposed treaty. . . No Alaskan official has ever been 12 invited to participate in the treaty negotiations, in spite of abiding Alaskan 13 interests in fisheries, petroleum and other potential continental shelf resources 14 and the considerations of navigation in the area. In the entire history of the 15 treaty negotiations, Alaska has had no official voice. Alaska has not been fully 16 consulted in the entire matter. . . It is our purpose to urgently recommend that 17 the presently-proposed treaty not be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and that 18 negotiations be continued to include appropriate Alaskan officials and current 19 United States and Alaskan historic, territorial, and resource interests"; 20 and 21 WHEREAS the California Legislature unanimously passed in 1991 Senate Joint 22 Resolution 20 supporting Alaska, and the resolution requested the President to withdraw the 23 proposed Agreement from consideration by the United States Senate and the California United 24 States Senators to decline to consider the proposed Agreement until Alaska has been able to 25 participate fully in negotiations and has been guaranteed that its consent will be required for 26 any agreement affecting its boundaries; and 27 WHEREAS the U.S.S.R. dissolved itself without taking action to approve the 28 Agreement, and the Agreement has not been put into force; and 29 WHEREAS, at the same time he signed the Agreement on June 1, 1990, Secretary of 30 State James A. Baker III signed a side agreement with the U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister that 31 stated that, pending the entry into force of the Agreement, the two governments agreed to 01 abide by the terms of the Agreement as of June 15, 1990; and 02 WHEREAS the side agreement was not publicly revealed at the time or mentioned in 03 the transmittal of the Agreement to the United States Congress, in the Department of State 04 testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in the committee 05 report, or in the Senate floor debate; and 06 WHEREAS the authority of the Secretary of State to establish on his own a maritime 07 boundary that has implications for land territory, seabed jurisdiction, sovereignty, and Alaska 08 property raises questions of constitutionality; 09 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that because the proposed United 10 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement was not put into force before the dissolution 11 of the U.S.S.R., the agreement does not have legal force, and any agreement on a maritime 12 boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia must be negotiated anew with whatever new 13 foreign government has sovereignty in the area at the time; and be it 14 FURTHER RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that for an agreement on a 15 maritime boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia to be negotiated by the United States 16 government, Alaska must be formally represented in the negotiations and its consent obtained; 17 and be it 18 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature considers null and void the 19 side agreement requiring the two governments to abide by the Agreement pending its entry 20 into force and requests the United States Department of State to reveal any and all acts, 21 directives, and reports regarding implementation of the side agreement; and be it 22 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Alaska delegation 23 in the Congress to promote and aggressively pursue the views expressed in this resolution, 24 especially the need for state representation in any negotiations over setting a maritime 25 boundary between the state and eastern Russia; and be it 26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that setting a 27 maritime boundary between the state and eastern Russia is a states' rights issue and 28 respectfully requests the Governor and the Attorney General of Alaska to actively pursue the 29 matters described in the previous resolves. 30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill J. Clinton, President of 31 the United States; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State; the 01 Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States; the Honorable Jesse Helms, 02 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Benjamin A. 03 Gilman, Chair of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations; the Honorable Joseph 04 R. Biden, Jr., Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; 05 the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton, Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. House Committee on 06 International Relations; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank 07 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 08 the Alaska delegation in Congress.