00Enrolled HB 123                                                                                                         
01 Providing for state recognition of federally recognized tribes; and providing for an effective                          
02 date.                                                                                                                   
03                           _______________                                                                               
04    * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section                            
05 to read:                                                                                                                
06 LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. (a) The history of tribes in the state                                                 
07 predates the United States and predates territorial claims to land in the state by both the                             
08 United States and Imperial Russia. Indigenous people have inhabited land in the state for                               
09 multiple millennia, since time immemorial or before mankind marked the passage of time.                                 
10 (b)  It is the intent of the legislature to exercise the legislature's constitutional policy-                           
11 making authority and acknowledge through formal recognition the federally recognized tribes                             
12 in the state. Passage of this Act is nothing more or less than a recognition of tribes' unique                          
13 role in the state's past, present, and future.                                                                          
14    * Sec. 2. AS 01 is amended by adding a new chapter to read:                                                          

01                     Chapter 15. State-Tribal Relations.                                                                 
02 Sec. 01.15.100. Recognition of tribes. The state recognizes the special and                                             
03 unique relationship between the United States government and federally recognized                                       
04 tribes in the state. The state recognizes all tribes in the state that are federally                                    
05 recognized under 25 U.S.C. 5130 and 5131. Nothing in this section diminishes the                                        
06 United States government's trust responsibility or other obligations to federally                                       
07 recognized tribes in the state or creates a concurrent trust relationship between the                                   
08 state and federally recognized tribes. In this section, "federally recognized tribe" has                                
09       the meaning given in AS 23.20.520.                                                                                
10    * Sec. 3. AS 23.20.520(13) is amended to read:                                                                       
11                 (13)  "federally recognized tribe"                                                                      
12                      (A)  means a tribe that is recognized by the United States                                         
13            Secretary of the Interior to exist as an Indian tribe under 25 U.S.C. 5131 [25                             
14            U.S.C. 479A] (Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994);                                           
15                      (B)  includes any subdivision, subsidiary, or business enterprise                                  
16            wholly owned by a federally recognized tribe;                                                                
17    * Sec. 4. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).