00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8                                                                     
01 Urging the Alaska delegation in Congress, the United States Department of the Interior,                                 
02 and the Governor to facilitate the completion of a land grant endowment to the                                          
03 University of Alaska.                                                                                                   
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS the University of Alaska plays a vital role in educating students from the                              
06 state and around the world and conducts invaluable research; and                                                        
07       WHEREAS the University of Alaska did not receive any of the federal land granted                                
08 to states for higher education under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862 and received                            
09 only a fraction of the reserved land allocated under the 1915 Wickersham land grant; and                                
10       WHEREAS the Alaska Statehood Act repealed the 1915 Wickersham land grant and                                    
11 removed the state's eligibility for land under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862,                              
12 instead granting a 103,000,000-acre entitlement to the new State of Alaska; and                                         
13       WHEREAS the United States Congress intended for the Alaska State Legislature to                                 
14 provide the University of Alaska with a land endowment from Alaska Statehood Act land;                                  
15 and                                                                                                                     

01 WHEREAS various interpretations of the state's obligation to transfer land to the                                     
02 University of Alaska resulted in an extended period during which the university struggled to                            
03 get its remaining land grant, while much of the land originally reserved for the university has                         
04 been transferred to other entities; and                                                                                 
05 WHEREAS the Twenty-First Alaska State Legislature passed Senate Bill No. 7 and                                        
06 the Twenty-Fourth Alaska State Legislature passed House Bill No. 130, granting                                          
07 approximately 250,000 acres of state land to the University of Alaska to remedy the                                     
08 university's land grant deficit; and                                                                                    
09 WHEREAS the Alaska Supreme Court, in Southeast Alaska Conservation Council v.                                         
10 State, 202 P.3d 1162 (Alaska 2009), ruled that the transfer of land under those enactments                              
11 violated the prohibition on dedicated funds in art. IX, sec. 7, Constitution of the State of                            
12 Alaska, and ordered the land to be conveyed from the University of Alaska back to the state;                            
13 and                                                                                                                     
14 WHEREAS, among the states that received grants of land for higher education, with                                     
15 the exception of Delaware, the University of Alaska received the smallest amount of land                                
16 from the federal government, and the land grant deficit remains unremedied; and                                         
17 WHEREAS fulfilling the intent of the Sixty-Third United States Congress in 1915,                                      
18 the Eighty-Fifth United States Congress in 1958, the Twenty-First Alaska State Legislature in                           
19 2000, and the Twenty-Fourth Alaska State Legislature in 2005 to provide a permanent land                                
20 endowment for the University of Alaska will require a joint effort by the federal and state                             
21 governments to establish a land grant that is "required by the federal government for state                             
22 participation in federal programs," as specified under art. IX, sec. 7, Constitution of the State                       
23 of Alaska; and                                                                                                          
24 WHEREAS, in September 2020, the Alaska delegation in Congress introduced, with                                        
25 the support of Governor Dunleavy, S. 4696 and H.R. 8398, the University of Alaska Fiscal                                
26 Foundation Act, to establish a federal program under which lands selected by, but not yet                               
27 conveyed to, the state could be conveyed from the federal government to the Board of                                    
28 Regents of the University of Alaska to be held in trust for the university, subject to a federally                      
29 imposed trust obligation;                                                                                               
30 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully urges the Alaska                                        
31 delegation in Congress, the United States Department of the Interior, and the Governor to                               

01 cooperate in bringing about an ultimate resolution that will facilitate the creation of a                               
02 permanent land endowment for the University of Alaska, conforms to state constitutional                                 
03 requirements, and will remedy the university's longstanding land grant deficit.                                         
04 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Scott de la Vega, Acting                                     
05 United States Secretary of the Interior; the Honorable Mike Dunleavy, Governor of Alaska;                               
06 and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the                                 
07 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.