00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 29                                                                     
01 Urging the United States Congress to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and                                           
02 Communities Self-Determination Act of 2000.                                                                             
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04 WHEREAS, in 1908, the United States Congress enacted 16 U.S.C. 500 (National                                          
05 Forest Receipts Program), which required 25 percent of annual income earned from activities                             
06 on national forest land to be shared with states for distribution to cities and boroughs in which                       
07 the land is located for the benefit of education and roads; and                                                         
08       WHEREAS, in 1986, changes in the approach to managing our national forests                                      
09 seriously curtailed the ability of forest communities to harvest forest products and resulted in                        
10 steep declines in forest revenue paid to affected communities; and                                                      
11 WHEREAS, in the early 1990s, the United States Congress recognized that the                                         
12 decision to secure and retain land in federal ownership would deprive the communities in                                
13 which the land is located of revenue otherwise received if the land were in private ownership;                          
14 and                                                                                                                     
15       WHEREAS the enactment of P.L. 106-393, 16 U.S.C. 500 note (Secure Rural                                         
16 Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000), temporarily stabilized national                                  

01 forest revenue payments to forest communities and replaced much needed financial support                                
02 for education and roads; and                                                                                            
03       WHEREAS the National Forest Service controls approximately 22,000,000 acres of                                  
04 land in the state; and                                                                                                  
05       WHEREAS many of the state's rural communities are nestled in the Tongass National                               
06 Forest and the Chugach National Forest; and                                                                             
07       WHEREAS there continues to be little privately owned land in those forest                                       
08 communities on which to pursue economic development activities, and the communities                                     
09 therefore remain largely dependent on revenue generated from national forests; and                                      
10 WHEREAS the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of                                            
11 2000 expired on September 3, 2015, and has not been reauthorized; and                                                   
12 WHEREAS education is one of the critical services supported by the Secure Rural                                       
13 Schools and Community Self-Determination Act; and                                                                       
14 WHEREAS failure to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-                                           
15 Determination Act will have a devastating effect on many forest communities across America,                             
16 especially communities in this state, and will severely affect the public education of students                         
17 living in those forest communities;                                                                                     
18 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the                                       
19 United States Congress pass and the President sign into law a long-term reauthorization of the                          
20 Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000; and be it                                            
21 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature encourages the United                                              
22 States Congress to pass H.R. 2340 or S. 1027 to extend the Secure Rural Schools and                                     
23 Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.                                                                             
24 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President                                   
25 of the United States; the Honorable Betsy DeVos, United States Secretary of Education; the                              
26 Honorable Lisa Murkowski, Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of the                                    
27 U.S. Senate; the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senator, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                
28 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the                              
29 115th United States Congress.