CSHCR 13(RES): Relating to state management of lands and natural resources beneath navigable waters.
00CS FOR HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 13(RES) 01 Relating to state management of lands and natural resources beneath navigable 02 waters. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS, under sec. 8(c) of the Alaska Statehood Act, Alaska was admitted into 05 the Union on an equal footing with the other states in all respects upon the issuance of 06 Presidential Proclamation No. 3269 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 3, 1959; 07 and 08 WHEREAS sec. 6(e) of the Alaska Statehood Act provided for the transfer of 09 responsibility for the management of fish and wildlife from the federal government to the 10 State of Alaska with the same measure of administration and jurisdiction over fisheries and 11 wildlife as possessed by all other states; and 12 WHEREAS the Secretary of the Interior has certified to the United States Congress 13 that the Alaska State Legislature has made adequate provision for the administration, 14 management, and conservation of fish and wildlife; and
01 WHEREAS sec. 6(m) of the Alaska Statehood Act provides that the Submerged Lands 02 Act of 1953 shall apply to the State of Alaska and gives to the State of Alaska the same rights 03 that other states have under the Submerged Lands Act; and 04 WHEREAS Executive Order No. 10857 issued by President Eisenhower, entitled 05 "Termination of Federal Functions in Alaska and Transfer of Property Held by the United 06 States," quitclaims any interest owned or held by the federal government in fish and wildlife 07 in Alaska effective December 31, 1959; and 08 WHEREAS the Submerged Lands Act quitclaims federal ownership of submerged 09 lands to the State of Alaska, provides that the State of Alaska, like all other states, owns the 10 lands and natural resources beneath navigable waters, and also provides that management of 11 the natural resources beneath the navigable waters of Alaska are subject to state, not federal, 12 law; and 13 WHEREAS Justice Thurgood Marshall, writing for the United States Supreme Court 14 in Kleppe v. New Mexico (426 U.S. 529 (1976)), said, "Unquestionably, the States have broad 15 trustee and police powers over wild animals within their jurisdictions"; and 16 WHEREAS the United State Supreme Court in Missouri v. Holland (252 U.S. 416 17 (1920)), said, "No doubt it is true that as between a State and its inhabitants the State may 18 regulate the killing . . . of [wildlife] . . ."; and 19 WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court in Scott v. Sandford (60 U.S. 393 20 (1856)) said, "Scarcely anything more illogical or extravagant can be imagined than the 21 attempt to deduce from this provision in the Constitution [Property Clause] a power to destroy 22 or in any wise to impair the civil and political rights of the citizens of the United States, and 23 much more so the power to establish inequalities amongst those citizens by creating privileges 24 in one class of those citizens, and by the disenfranchisement of other portions or classes by 25 degrading them from the position they previously occupied"; and 26 WHEREAS Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing the opinion of the United States 27 Supreme Court in United States v. Alaska (___ U.S. ___ (1997)), said, "Ownership of 28 submerged lands -- which carries with it the power to control . . . fishing, and other public 29 uses of water -- is an essential attribute of sovereignty. . . . Under the doctrine of Lessee 30 of Pollard v. Hagan . . . , new States are admitted to the Union on an 'equal footing' with 31 the original 13 colonies and succeed to the United States' title to the beds of navigable waters
01 within their boundaries"; and 02 WHEREAS Justice William Rehnquist, writing in a separate opinion in Douglas v. 03 Seacoast Products, Inc. (431 U.S. 265 (1977)) described the Submerged Lands Act as "a 04 quitclaim of the entire interest held by the Government when the Act was enacted"; and 05 WHEREAS it is the position of the Alaska State Legislature that the Alaska National 06 Interest Lands Conservation Act did not specifically preempt state management, nor grant 07 specific authority to the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior to preempt 08 state management of navigable waters, resources therein, and submerged lands; 09 BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that 10 (1) title and ownership of lands beneath navigable waters and the natural 11 resources in those lands have been confirmed and established in the State of Alaska; and 12 (2) management, administration, leasing, development, and use of lands 13 beneath navigable waters and the natural resources within those lands are subject to the laws 14 of the State of Alaska; and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 16 United States Congress to promptly clarify that the Alaska National Interest Lands 17 Conservation Act did not preempt or diminish state sovereign authorities over its own lands, 18 waters, and resources; and be it 19 FURTHER RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Secretary of the 20 Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture do not have authority to manage submerged lands 21 and natural resources on those lands in Alaska because the authority to manage lands and 22 natural resources beneath navigable waters of Alaska was given to the State of Alaska through 23 the Submerged Lands Act and the Alaska Statehood Act. 24 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President 25 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, 26 President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. 27 House of Representatives; 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.