SJR 28: Requesting the federal government to conduct an audit of the Alaska Native regional corporations to determine their compliance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and to review the accountability of the corporations to their shareholders.
00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 28 01 Requesting the federal government to conduct an audit of the Alaska Native 02 regional corporations to determine their compliance with the Alaska Native Claims 03 Settlement Act and to review the accountability of the corporations to their 04 shareholders. 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 WHEREAS the 92nd Congress of the United States adopted the Alaska Native Claims 07 Settlement Act (ANCSA) on December 18, 1971; and 08 WHEREAS the Congress intended the regional corporations created by ANCSA to be 09 the economic foundation that would allow Alaska Natives to build upon the settlement and 10 preserve the benefits of the settlement for future generations of Alaska Natives; and 11 WHEREAS the Native regional corporations created by ANCSA have never been 12 audited by the State; and 13 WHEREAS Governor Knowles has stated that the State should not and will not audit 14 Native regional corporations; and
01 WHEREAS the open dialogue between the Native regional corporations, their 02 shareholders, and the state that the Congress intended to promote by exempting the Alaska 03 Native regional corporations from many of the security laws have instead lessened the Native 04 regional corporations' accountability to their shareholders; and 05 WHEREAS the State and federal governments have substantial investments, over 06 $1,000,000,000 and 44,000,000 acres of land, in the Alaska Native regional corporations to 07 settle claims by Native people of Alaska; and 08 WHEREAS a call from the Alaska State Senate floor was made for an audit of the 09 Native regional corporations to find where this money went, why the people did not receive 10 lands and benefits promised, and why Native people want to return to a failed federal system 11 in order to get those promises fulfilled; and 12 WHEREAS officers of some of the regional corporations make substantial income 13 while over one-third of their shareholders live at or below the poverty level; and 14 WHEREAS ANCSA has apparently failed the Native people of Alaska, and one of 15 the results of this failure is an outcry by Native people of Alaska for sovereignty; and 16 WHEREAS many Alaska Natives feel intentionally disenfranchised by, and 17 uninformed about, the actions of the regional corporations; and 18 WHEREAS Alaska Natives deserve accountability and responsiveness from the 19 regional corporations that were established by the Congress to assist them in their bid for self- 20 determination; 21 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 22 President and the United States Congress to conduct a multi-year audit of the Alaska Native 23 regional corporations to determine their compliance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 24 Act and to review their accountability to their shareholders for the over $1,000,000,000 and 25 the promises of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; and be it 26 FURTHER RESOLVED that the results of the audit should be provided to the 27 Governor and Legislature of the State of Alaska. 28 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President; the 29 Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom 30 Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Trent Lott, Majority 31 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Thomas Daschle, Minority Leader of the U.S.
01 Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the 02 Honorable Dick Armey, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable 03 Richard A. Gephardt, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; and the 04 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the 05 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.