00                 CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17(RES)                                                               
01 Opposing the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.                                                                  
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, H.R. 3283, 108th                                          
04 United States Congress, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives and                                
05 would have authorized the United States Forest Service, the United States Bureau of Land                                
06 Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the                             
07 United States Bureau of Reclamation to charge visitor fees for recreation on publicly owned                             
08 land; and                                                                                                               
09       WHEREAS the 108th United States Congress enacted H.R. 4818, and the Federal                                     
10 Lands Recreation Enhancement Act is now codified as 16 U.S.C. 6801 - 6814; and                                          
11       WHEREAS the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act includes criminal                                          
12 penalties and is substantive legislation that fundamentally changes the way public land in the                          
13 state is funded and managed; and                                                                                        
14       WHEREAS the concept of paying fees to use public land is contrary to the idea that                              
15 public land belongs to the people of the state and is land where every person is granted access                         
16 and is welcome, a concept that has been and should remain in place; and                                                 
01       WHEREAS recreational fees constitute double taxation and bear no relationship to                                
02 the actual costs associated with recreational use such as hiking, picnicking, observing wildlife,                       
03 or scenic driving on state roads and public rights-of-way; and                                                          
04       WHEREAS the fees imposed by the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act are                                    
05 a regressive tax that places an undue burden on the people living in rural areas adjacent to or                         
06 surrounded by large areas of federal land and discriminates against lower-income and                                    
07 working Alaskans by placing financial obstacles in the way of their enjoyment of public land;                           
08 and                                                                                                                     
09       WHEREAS the public land access fees in the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement                                 
10 Act are highly controversial and are opposed by hundreds of organizations, several state                                
11 legislatures, and millions of rural Americans; and                                                                      
12       WHEREAS the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act establishes an                                             
13 interagency pass that may be used to cover entrance fees and recreational amenity fees for                              
14 federal public land and water, disregarding the substantially different ways in which national                          
15 parks and other federal public land are managed and funded; and                                                         
16       WHEREAS the limited means of expressing opposition to and the lack of public                                    
17 debate in the implementation of the fee program raises the concern that some citizens may be                            
18 deterred from visiting and enjoying public land in the state and throughout the United States;                          
19 and                                                                                                                     
20       WHEREAS tourism is an important industry to the state, and the imposition of                                    
21 recreational use fees will have a negative effect on state and local economies;                                         
22       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on the United States                                     
23 Congress to repeal the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which was enacted on                                   
24 December 8, 2004, and to ensure that no recreational fees be imposed to use federal public                              
25 land in the state.                                                                                                      
26       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President                              
27 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States                              
28 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Gale Norton, United States Secretary of the                             
29 Interior; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                            
30 Honorable Bill Frist, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Harry Reid, Minority                            
31 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Tom DeLay, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of                                
01 Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of                                       
02 Representatives; the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S.                                       
03 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                       
04 delegation in Congress; and, by electronic transmission, all other members of the 109th                                 
05 United States Congress.