00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 39                                                                                           
01 Urging the United States Congress to enact legislation that prohibits the President                                     
02 of the United States from extending or establishing national monuments without                                          
03 the express authorization of the Congress.                                                                              
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05  WHEREAS the Antiquities Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. 431 - 433) grants authority to the                                      
06 President of the United States to establish national monuments; and                                                     
07  WHEREAS the Antiquities Act was intended to preserve only historic landmarks,                                          
08 historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest; and                          
09  WHEREAS the Antiquities Act has been misused repeatedly to set aside enormous                                          
10 parcels of real property; and                                                                                           
11  WHEREAS the establishment in 1996 of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National                                            
12 Monument in southern Utah set aside 1,700,000 acres of land, despite the objections of public                           
13 officials in the State of Utah, making it the largest national monument in the continental                              
14 United States; and                                                                                                      
01  WHEREAS this designation clearly violates the spirit and letter of the Antiquities Act                                 
02 that requires monument lands to "be confined to the smallest area" necessary to preserve and                            
03 protect historical areas or objects; and                                                                                
04  WHEREAS the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has                                            
05 resulted in the loss of significant economic resources for the public schools and the taxpayers                         
06 of the State of Utah; and                                                                                               
07  WHEREAS the power to establish national monuments can be checked only in limited                                       
08 circumstances; and                                                                                                      
09  WHEREAS, in 1950, the State of Wyoming obtained statutory relief from the further                                      
10 establishment of national monuments without the express authorization of the Congress (16                               
11 U.S.C. 431a);                                                                                                           
12  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the                                        
13 United States Congress enact legislation prohibiting the President of the United States from                            
14 further extending or establishing national monuments without the express authorization of the                           
15 Congress; and be it                                                                                                     
16  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the Governor                                             
17 to take action to encourage the federal government to provide the state with statutory relief                           
18 from the establishment of national monuments in Alaska.                                                                 
19  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
20 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                            
21 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S.                                     
22 Senate; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas                              
23 Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the                                
24 U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Dick Armey, Majority Leader of the U.S. House                              
25 of Representatives; the Honorable Richard A. Gephardt, Minority Leader of the U.S. House                                
26 of Representatives; the Honorable Orin Hatch and the Honorable Robert Bennett, U.S.                                     
27 Senators of the Utah delegation; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank                               
28 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of                                  
29 the Alaska delegation in Congress.