SJR 19: Requesting the Congress to amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to clarify that the term "public lands" means only federal land and water and that any extension of federal jurisdiction onto adjacent land and water is expressly prohibited.
00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 19 01 Requesting the Congress to amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 02 Act to clarify that the term "public lands" means only federal land and water 03 and that any extension of federal jurisdiction onto adjacent land and water is 04 expressly prohibited. 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 WHEREAS the State of Alaska entered into the Union on an equal footing with all other 07 states, and the Statehood Compact specifically granted authority over fish and wildlife to the 08 State of Alaska; and 09 WHEREAS the issue of fisheries management was one of the most prominent 10 justifications for statehood; and 11 WHEREAS the State of Alaska contends that the Statehood Compact cannot be legally 12 modified by either party without the consent of the other party; and 13 WHEREAS the Congress and the President of the United States are presently embarking 14 on a campaign to return rights and authority to the states; and
01 WHEREAS Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 02 (ANILCA; P.L. 96-487), enacted in 1980, grants a subsistence priority on federal public land 03 in Alaska; and 04 WHEREAS the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture have 05 threatened unilateral federal preemption of state fish and wildlife management on state and 06 private land and water in Alaska; and 07 WHEREAS the State of Alaska, the federal government, and other parties are attempting 08 to sort out the complexities of the federal law related to jurisdictional issues created by 09 ANILCA; and 10 WHEREAS the legal process for developing a final resolution to the jurisdictional 11 questions is extremely slow, and major social and economic disruption is imminent if the federal 12 government continues on a course to illegally and unconstitutionally preempt state management 13 of fish and wildlife; and 14 WHEREAS the Congress specifically declined to grant preemption authority to the 15 Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture in ANILCA; and 16 WHEREAS the Congress specifically reemphasized that the jurisdiction and authority 17 of the state were to be maintained; and 18 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature is confident that the Alaska delegation in the 19 Congress and the people of Alaska would never have agreed to the final compromise ANILCA 20 package had they been advised that ANILCA contained provisions to allow federal preemption 21 of all state fish and wildlife management in Alaska; and 22 WHEREAS the federal agencies and some parties are arguing in recent court cases 23 concerning state/federal jurisdiction that federal reserved water rights and the navigational 24 servitude provide legal basis for a claim of federal title to land and resources; and 25 WHEREAS this interpretation of federal laws related to federal reserved water rights and 26 the navigational servitude is contrary to all existing related laws and policies adopted by the 27 Congress and threatens to undermine existing reserved water rights and navigable waters policies 28 that are critical to all western states; 29 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully and urgently requests 30 the Congress to amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) to 31 clarify that the original intent of the Congress was not to violate the Statehood Compact or to
01 preempt state management of fish and wildlife in Alaska; and be it 02 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the 03 Congress amend ANILCA to clarify that the definition of "public lands" means only federal 04 public land and water; and be it 05 FURTHER RESOLVED that, while the federal courts are resolving the federal/state 06 conflicts created by Title VIII of ANILCA, the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that 07 the Congress amend ANILCA to expressly prohibit preemption of state jurisdiction on state and 08 private land and water unless specifically authorized by the Congress and the State of Alaska; 09 and be it 10 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 11 Congress to clarify that neither ANILCA nor another federal law provides authority for the 12 federal agencies to claim title to resources or land through federal reserved water rights or 13 through the navigational servitude. 14 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President 15 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker 16 of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro tempore 17 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Bob Dole, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and to the 18 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable 19 Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.