00             SENATE CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 26(RES)                                                           
01 Urging the United States Congress to adequately fund land surveys in Alaska in order to                                 
02 issue patents to the State of Alaska and Alaska Native corporations.                                                    
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS, at Statehood, Alaska was granted a land entitlement from the federal                                   
05 government in excess of 103,000,000 acres; and                                                                          
06       WHEREAS Alaska Natives, through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, were                                   
07 granted a land entitlement from the federal government of more than 44,000,000 acres; and                               
08       WHEREAS, in 2004, the United States Congress passed the Alaska Land Transfer                                    
09 Acceleration Act with the intent of largely completing land entitlement conveyance under the                            
10 Alaska Statehood and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Acts by 2009, the 50th anniversary of                              
11 Statehood; and                                                                                                          
12       WHEREAS the United States Bureau of Land Management has aggressively and                                        
13 diligently worked to implement the Act; and                                                                             
14       WHEREAS, despite the efforts of the Bureau of Land Management, considerable                                   
15 land conveyance work remains to be accomplished, particularly in the area of land survey;                               
16 and                                                                                                                     

01       WHEREAS land surveys are necessary to issue patents to the state and Alaska Native                              
02 corporations and are essential to determining with certainty what lands are owned by the state                          
03 and Native corporations; and                                                                                            
04       WHEREAS that certainty is needed for long-term land use and development; and                                    
05       WHEREAS the United States Congress provided interim title by granting tentative                                 
06 approval to the state and interim conveyance to Native corporations, but with the                                       
07 understanding that the land would eventually be surveyed and patent issued; and                                         
08       WHEREAS, as of January 31, 2010, more than 57,000,000 acres of land still await                                 
09 patent, including more than 42,000,000 acres of land that has been tentatively approved to the                          
10 state, and 15,000,000 acres subject to interim conveyance to Alaska Native corporations, and                            
11 more than 7,000,000 additional acres await conveyance;                                                                  
12       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                        
13 Congress to appropriate sufficient funds to the United States Bureau of Land Management to                              
14 ensure the timely completion of land surveys in Alaska so that land promised to Alaska                                  
15 Natives and the State of Alaska can be patented.                                                                        
16       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
17 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
18 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the                                 
19 Interior; Ron Wenker, Acting Director, United States Bureau of Land Management; the                                     
20 Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Steny                               
21 Hoyer, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable John Boehner,                                
22 Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority                                
23 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S.                                   
24 Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and                                  
25 the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in                                       
26 Congress; and all other members of the 111th United States Congress.