00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 39                                                                     
01 Supporting federal legislation to provide for the completion of land grants to the                                      
02 University of Alaska.                                                                                                   
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the University of Alaska plays a vital role in educating students from the                              
05 state and around the world and conducts invaluable research as America's Arctic university;                             
06 and                                                                                                                     
07       WHEREAS the university received none of the federal land granted to other states for                            
08 higher education under the 1862 Morrill Act and only a fraction of the reserved land allocated                          
09 under the 1915 Wickersham land grant statute; and                                                                       
10       WHEREAS the 1958 Alaska Statehood Act repealed the 1915 Wickersham land grant                                   
11 statute and removed Alaska from eligibility for Morrill Act land when the Act granted a                                 
12 103,000,000-acre entitlement to the new state; and                                                                      
13       WHEREAS the United States Congress intended for the state to provide the                                        
14 university with a land endowment from Statehood Act land; and                                                           
15       WHEREAS various interpretations of the state's obligations to transfer land to the                              
16 university resulted in an extended period during which the university struggled to get its                              

01 remaining land grant while many of the lands originally reserved for the university were                                
02 transferred to other entities; and                                                                                      
03       WHEREAS the Twenty-First Alaska State Legislature passed SB 7, and the Twenty-                                  
04 Fourth Alaska State Legislature passed HB 130, ultimately granting approximately 250,000                                
05 acres of state land to the university to remedy the university's land grant deficit; and                                
06 WHEREAS the Alaska Supreme Court, in SEACC v. State of Alaska, 202 P.3d 1162                                          
07 (Alaska 2009), ruled the transfer of land under HB 130 violated the prohibition on dedicated                            
08 funds in Art. IX, sec. 7, of the Constitution of the State of Alaska and ordered the land to be                         
09 conveyed from the university back to the state; and                                                                     
10 WHEREAS the university's land grant deficit remains unremedied, with the                                              
11 university having, with the exception of Delaware, received the smallest amount of land from                            
12 the federal government among states that received grants of land for higher education; and                              
13 WHEREAS fulfilling the intent of the 63rd United States Congress in 1915, the 85th                                    
14 United States Congress in 1958, the Twentieth Alaska State Legislature in 2000, and the                                 
15 Twenty-Fourth Alaska State Legislature in 2005 to provide a permanent land endowment for                                
16 the university will require a joint federal-state effort to make a land grant "by the federal                           
17 government for state participation" as required under Art. IX, sec. 7, of the Constitution of the                       
18 State of Alaska;                                                                                                        
19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges Alaska's                                          
20 congressional delegation, the United States Department of the Interior, and the Governor to                             
21 work together to create a joint federal-state structure that will facilitate the creation of a                          
22 permanent land endowment for the University of Alaska that conforms to state constitutional                             
23 requirements and that will remedy the university's longstanding land grant deficit.                                     
24 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President                                   
25 of the United States; the Honorable Michael R. Pence, Vice President of the United States and                           
26 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ryan Zinke, U.S. Secretary of the Interior; the                             
27 Honorable Joe Balash, Assistant Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Paul D. Ryan,                                  
28 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Kevin McCarthy, Majority                                    
29 Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of                             
30 the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Orrin Hatch, President pro tempore of the                              
31 U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the                                     

01 Honorable Charles E. Schumer, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa                                    
02 Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                   
03 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and the Honorable James                              
04 Johnsen, President of the University of Alaska.