00SENATE BILL NO. 189                                                                                                     
01 "An Act relating to a ban on the export of unprocessed timber from state forest                                         
02 land."                                                                                                                  
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1.  PURPOSE.  It is the purpose of this Act to require the imposition of a                                 
05 primary manufacture requirement on timber harvested from state forest land before the timber                            
06 is exported from the state.  The requirement is imposed "to the extent consistent with law" in                          
07 recognition of paramount authority of the Congress to regulate interstate and foreign                                   
08 commerce and the decision in Southcentral Timber Development, Inc., v. Wunnicke, 467 U.S.                               
09 82, 81 L.Ed.2d 71, 104 S.Ct. 2237 (1984), wherein the United States Supreme Court, by                                   
10 plurality opinion, invalidated a comparable requirement imposed by state regulation.  The                               
11 legislature adopts this legislation in order to define a policy in the event the Congress                               
12 explicitly acts to authorize the state to set a policy, in the event the courts expand the market                       
13 participant doctrine in a way that would allow the state to regulate commerce in timber from                            
14 its land by requiring its processing, or if the courts reconsider the subject and determine that                        

01 the state's primary manufacture requirement is not an unreasonable burden on interstate and                             
02 foreign commerce.                                                                                                       
03    * Sec. 2.  AS 41.17 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                      
04  Sec. 41.17.105.  REQUIREMENT OF PRIMARY MANUFACTURE OF                                                                
05 TIMBER.  (a)  To the extent consistent with law, the commissioner shall require the                                     
06 primary manufacture of timber removed from state-owned forest land before the timber                                    
07 is exported from the state.                                                                                             
08  (b)  For the purpose of this section, timber that has been manufactured into a                                        
09 product for use without further processing is considered to have been primarily                                         
10 manufactured only if the commissioner determines that there is a market for the                                         
11 product.                                                                                                                
12  (c)  In this section, "primary manufacture" means manufacture that is first in                                        
13 order of time or development; the term                                                                                  
14   (1)  when used in relation to a sawmilling operation, means the                                                      
15 breakdown process in which logs are reduced in size to the extent that the residual                                     
16 cants, slabs, or planks do not exceed a nominal eight and three-quarters inches in                                      
17 thickness;                                                                                                              
18   (2)  when used in relation to a pulp operation, means the breakdown                                                  
19 process to the point at which wood fibers have been separated;                                                          
20   (3)  when used in relation to an operation for veneer for plywood                                                    
21 production, means the production of green veneer;                                                                       
22   (4)  when used in relation to poles or piling, whether treated or                                                    
23 untreated, means manufacture for the purpose of use as poles or piling; and                                             
24   (5)  when used in relation to timber processing wastes, means                                                        
25 manufacture into chips.                                                                                                 
26    * Sec. 3.  STATE REGULATIONS AUTHORIZING PRIMARY MANUFACTURE OF                                                      
27 TIMBER ANNULLED.  11 AAC 71.230 and 11 AAC 71.910(11) are annulled.