HJR 21: Relating to amendment of Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 21 01 Relating to amendment of Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands 02 Conservation Act. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS provisions of Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands 05 Conservation Act (ANILCA) (P.L. 96-487) unnecessarily encroach upon the ability of the 06 State of Alaska to effectively manage state resources; and 07 WHEREAS the provisions of Title VIII of ANILCA appear to contradict the intent 08 of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding powers reserved 09 to the various states and the people; and 10 WHEREAS the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture have relied 11 on provisions of Title VIII of ANILCA to preempt state authority over a portion of fish and 12 wildlife management on public land and water in Alaska; and 13 WHEREAS the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture require that 14 the state amend its constitution to conform to the provisions of Title VIII of ANILCA as a
01 precondition to the partial relinquishment of federal management of certain uses of fish and 02 wildlife on public land and water in Alaska back to the State of Alaska; and 03 WHEREAS the people of Alaska waged a long, hard fought battle to achieve 04 statehood and state management of fish and wildlife resources of Alaska; and 05 WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature has steadfastly resisted pressure from federal 06 agencies to amend the Constitution of the State of Alaska to extend provisions contained in 07 federal subsistence laws and regulations to state and private land and water in Alaska; and 08 WHEREAS the members of the Alaska State Legislature represent Alaska's citizens 09 and, therefore, a plurality consensus view supporting the Constitution of the State of Alaska 10 over the onerous intrusion of unwanted federal management of fish and wildlife; 11 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully and ardently 12 requests the Congress to revise Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 13 Act (ANILCA) to once again allow the State of Alaska to resolve its own resource 14 management conflicts and to manage the fish and wildlife resources of Alaska for the 15 beneficial use of Alaskans; and be it 16 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 17 Congress to make the following amendments to Title VIII of ANILCA to protect the interest 18 of the State of Alaska in the management of its fish and wildlife resources: 19 (1) amend the definition of "public lands" to exclude state and private land and 20 water; 21 (2) prohibit federal preemption of state fish and wildlife management on state 22 and private land and water unless expressly authorized by the Congress; 23 (3) expressly state that neither the navigational servitude nor the reserved water 24 doctrine authorizes federal management of fish or wildlife on state or private land and water 25 unless otherwise provided by the Congress; 26 (4) repeal 16 U.S.C. 3117 (sec. 807 of ANILCA) relating to federal court 27 oversight of state subsistence management programs; 28 (5) authorize the State of Alaska to define the terms "rural" and "customary 29 and traditional" for purposes of the definition of "subsistence uses" under 16 U.S.C. 3113; 30 (6) amend the subsistence preference established in ANILCA under 16 U.S.C. 31 3114 to provide a preference for a reasonable opportunity to take fish and wildlife for
01 subsistence uses; 02 (7) clarify that ANILCA neither affirms nor denies the existence of tribal 03 sovereignty and Indian country in Alaska; 04 (8) allow the State of Alaska to choose whether it will establish a regional 05 subsistence advisory council system in Alaska; 06 (9) provide that regional subsistence advisory councils are only advisory to 07 regulatory boards; and 08 (10) eliminate commercial use and sale of fish and wildlife taken for 09 subsistence uses. 10 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President 11 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker 12 of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority Leader of the U.S. 13 Senate; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, 14 and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in 15 Congress.