00                   HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 14                                                                   
01 Relating to the sovereignty of the State of Alaska and the sovereign right of the State of                              
02 Alaska to manage the natural resources of Alaska.                                                                       
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the State of Alaska is a sovereign state within the United States of                                    
05 America, having entered the United States under the Alaska Statehood Act, which provides                                
06 that Alaska is a sovereign state of the United States on an equal footing with all other states;                        
07 and                                                                                                                     
08       WHEREAS the Alaska statehood compact guarantees that Alaska has the exclusive                                   
09 authority to manage its fish and wildlife resources and that all submerged lands and fish are                           
10 the exclusive property of the State of Alaska; and                                                                      
11       WHEREAS art. I, sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska, declares that "all                                 
12 persons are equal and entitled to equal rights, opportunities, and protection under the law";                           
13 and                                                                                                                     
14       WHEREAS art. VIII, sec. 3, Constitution of the State of Alaska, provides that the fish                          
15 and wildlife resources in Alaska are reserved to the people for common use; and                                         
16       WHEREAS art. VIII, sec. 3, Constitution of the State of Alaska, incorporates the                                

01 public trust principles that require that all Alaskans, as beneficiaries of the public trust, be                        
02 treated impartially and without preference with regard to the use of assets of the public trust;                        
03 and                                                                                                                     
04       WHEREAS it is in the best interest of all Alaskans that the replenishable resources of                          
05 the state be biologically managed by the State of Alaska for abundance; and                                             
06       WHEREAS the Constitution of the State of Alaska prohibits special privileges and                                
07 preferential allocations of natural resources based on race, color, creed, sex, national origin, or                     
08 residency; and                                                                                                          
09       WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court in New York v. United States, 505 U.S.                                  
10 144 (1992), ruled that the task of ascertaining the constitutional line between federal and state                       
11 power has given rise to many of the court's most celebrated cases and that, in those cases, the                         
12 division of authority between the federal government and the state requires specific inquiry                            
13 into whether a power exercised by the Congress has been given to the Congress in the                                    
14 Constitution of the United States or whether the power is one that the Tenth Amendment to                               
15 the Constitution of the United States expressly reserves for the states; stated if a power is an                        
16 attribute of state sovereignty reserved by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the                               
17 United States, it is necessarily a power that the Constitution of the United States did not                             
18 confer upon the Congress; and, specifically, found that "The question is not what power the                             
19 Federal Government ought to have, but what powers in fact have been given by the people";                               
20 and                                                                                                                     
21       WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Alaska, 521 U.S. 1                                  
22 (1997), stated that the Alaska Statehood Act expressly provides that the Submerged Lands                                
23 Act applies to Alaska and that Alaska is entitled to ownership of submerged lands under the                             
24 equal footing doctrine and the Submerged Lands Act; and                                                                 
25       WHEREAS ownership of submerged lands carries with it the power to control fishing                               
26 and other public uses of submerged lands and the superjacent waters, which is an essential                              
27 attribute of state sovereignty; and                                                                                     
28       WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court in Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898                                
29 (1997), ruled that the Constitution of the United States established a system of dual                                   
30 sovereignty that bestows only discrete enumerated powers on the Congress, that all other                                
31 powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States are                             

01 reserved to the states or to the people, and that the Constitution of the United States does not                        
02 confer upon the Congress the power to regulate state governments, the power to require a                                
03 state to legislate in accordance with the direction of the Congress, or the power to compel a                           
04 state to implement administrative action; and                                                                           
05       WHEREAS the supremacy clause makes the "law of the land" only those laws of the                                 
06 United States that are made under and in conformity with the Constitution of the United                                 
07 States; and                                                                                                             
08       WHEREAS a legitimate dispute exists between the State of Alaska and the Congress                                
09 as to whether the Congress may require the State of Alaska to violate its own constitution; as                          
10 to whether the Congress of the United States has the authority to enact legislation that                                
11 authorizes federal agencies to manage or allocate submerged lands, fish, and wildlife in the                            
12 state by providing discriminatory allocation of the state's resources; and as to whether the                            
13 provisions of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act violate the sovereignty of                            
14 the State of Alaska and the Constitution of the United States;                                                          
15       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that a legitimate dispute                                
16 exists between the State of Alaska and the United States Congress as to whether the United                              
17 States Congress may interfere with state management and allocation of the state's resources                             
18 by mandating that the State of Alaska provide for discriminatory allocation of the state's fish                         
19 and wildlife resources, and as to whether the Congress may empower agencies of the federal                              
20 government to manage the resources of the sovereign State of Alaska and authorize the                                   
21 discriminatory allocation of those resources; and be it                                                                 
22       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature declares that it is the duty                                 
23 of the Alaska State Legislature, the Governor of the State of Alaska, and each elected official                         
24 to uphold and defend the Constitution of the State of Alaska and the sovereignty of the State                           
25 of Alaska; and be it                                                                                                    
26       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that it is necessary to                                
27 defend the sovereignty of the State of Alaska by taking this dispute between the State of                               
28 Alaska and the Congress directly to the United States Supreme Court for final resolution; and                           
29 be it                                                                                                                   
30       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests                                        
31 Governor Sarah Palin, on behalf of the State of Alaska, to take all measures necessary to                               

01 achieve final resolution of this dispute.