04/18/2017 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS

            HB 33-ESTABLISH MAY 31 AS KATIE JOHN DAY                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
[Contains discussion of SB 15.]                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
8:07:52 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  FANSLER  announced that  the  first  order of  business                                                               
would be HOUSE  BILL NO. 33, "An Act establishing  May 31 of each                                                               
year as Katie John Day."                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:08:21 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE NEAL  FOSTER, Alaska  State Legislature,  as prime                                                               
sponsor,  presented  HB 33.    He  paraphrased from  the  sponsor                                                               
statement, which read as  follows [original punctuation provided,                                                               
with some formatting changes]:                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
     Athabascan  elder   Katie  John   was  known   for  her                                                                    
     determination and  success in fighting  for subsistence                                                                    
     rights  and  for   her  traditional  teachings,  humor,                                                                    
     gentle spirit  and loving  ways.   Katie John  died May                                                                    
     31, 2013. She was 97  years old and resided at Mentasta                                                                    
     Lake.  John was an Alaska  icon who devoted her life to                                                                    
     ensuring that  her people had the  opportunity to carry                                                                    
     on traditional  subsistence fishing in  their ancestral                                                                    
     homeland.   Katie  John was  raised in  the traditional                                                                    
     manner, living off  the land under the  tutelage of her                                                                    
     mother, grandmother and other  elders of her community.                                                                    
     A consummate teacher, John was  always willing to share                                                                    
     her  ancestral traditions,  culture and  history.   She                                                                    
     was known  and respected  throughout Alaska  and around                                                                    
     the  world.   Ahtna President  Michelle Anderson  said,                                                                    
     "She  taught us  stories  of our  culture and  history.                                                                    
     She  was a  big part  of our  lives.   Now her  history                                                                    
     belongs  to the  public,  to the  people.    Passionate                                                                    
     about  preserving  Athabascan   culture  and  language,                                                                    
     Katie John  has been involved with  teaching her Native                                                                    
     Language since 1974 and helped  create the alphabet for                                                                    
     the Ahtna dialect.  She  received an honorary doctor of                                                                    
     laws degree from the University  of Alaska Fairbanks in                                                                    
     2011.  John and her  husband, Chief Fred John, who died                                                                    
     in  2000,  raised 14  children  and  6 foster  children                                                                    
     together.     She   leaves  behind   approximately  250                                                                    
     grandchildren,  great-grandchildren   and  great  great                                                                    
     grandchildren.   Due  to the  great  importance of  her                                                                    
     role in shaping Alaska, HB  33 would establish the date                                                                    
     of  May 31st,  as  Katie  John Day  in  her memory  and                                                                    
     honor.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
8:11:14 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER  asked Representative  Foster if  he could                                                               
state which of  the two categories for which Katie  John is known                                                               
was most important:  traditional values or subsistence rights.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  FOSTER  chose  Katie John's  traditional  values,                                                               
because  he  said  he  thinks they  encompass  subsistence.    He                                                               
acknowledged that  the depth of the  subsistence issue throughout                                                               
Alaska,  and  he  said  HB  33 would  honor  someone  who  fought                                                               
courageously  for her  beliefs.   He mentioned  a trip  by former                                                               
Governor Tony  Knowles to visit Katie  John, and he said  a court                                                               
case made  it all the way  to the [Alaska] Supreme  Court but was                                                               
dropped.   He  said  he  thinks her  life  work  has emphasis  on                                                               
Alaskans and  is part of  the vein of  Alaskans who built  up the                                                               
state; therefore, he puts emphasis on her traditional values.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  SADDLER said  one  of the  ways  that Katie  John                                                               
fought  for her  beliefs  was  by defying  state  law to  support                                                               
Native rights.  He asked the bill sponsor what Native and non-                                                                  
Native Alaskans  should take from  her example about  the state's                                                               
fish and game laws.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  FOSTER said  Katie  John did  not practice  civil                                                               
disobedience in  a way that was  violent or aggressive, but  in a                                                               
peaceful way, and she ended up working through the court system.                                                                
                                                                                                                                
8:14:32 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER opened public testimony on HB 33.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:14:57 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MICHELLE   ANDERSON,  President,   Ahtna,  Incorporated;   Travel                                                               
Member, Gulkana Village Council, stated  that she grew up knowing                                                               
who Katie  John was; her  grandmother and Ms. John  were friends,                                                               
and  she  was  welcomed  by  Ms.  John as  if  she  was  her  own                                                               
granddaughter.  Ms. Anderson continued as follows:                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
     I came  to know Katie  for her cultural  knowledge, her                                                                    
     spirit,  her passion,  and  her  generosity, and,  most                                                                    
     importantly, for  standing up  for the right  of Alaska                                                                    
     Native people for our subsistence foods.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
     Katie grew up  in the harshest of  living conditions in                                                                    
     Interior Alaska.   She and her husband Fred  had a very                                                                    
     large family; they raised their  children and those she                                                                    
     took  in on  the food  she learned  to hunt,  fish, and                                                                    
     gather.   This  is a  family that  truly lived  off the                                                                    
     land.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
     Katie grew up  in Alaska before statehood.   Being told                                                                    
     she couldn't fish her  traditional fishing grounds made                                                                    
     no sense to her, and  that started the long, courageous                                                                    
     battle that we're  all familiar with.   Very few people                                                                    
     in this  state are  known by their  name alone.   Katie                                                                    
     John was  one of those  special people.  The  fact that                                                                    
     she  was a  beloved Athabascan  woman who  courageously                                                                    
     stood  up for  all  of us  with  regard to  traditional                                                                    
     fishing rights  makes her a  hero in  my eyes.   She is                                                                    
     still talked  of today as  an example  of perseverance,                                                                    
     strength, and  dignity.   She's a  beloved hero  to the                                                                    
     Ahtna people and  all Alaska Native people  and, as was                                                                    
     mentioned earlier, she is known round the world.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MS. ANDERSON  expressed her hope  that those  who did not  have a                                                               
chance to get  to know Katie John in person  would find out about                                                               
her  by reading  the  testimony  about this  special  lady.   Ms.                                                               
Anderson  talked about  the sparkle  in Ms.  John's eyes  and her                                                               
constant smile, as well as the  strength it took to stand up "for                                                               
all  of us"  and how  Ms. John  did so  with grace,  dignity, and                                                               
respect.  Ms.  Anderson noted that Katie John passed  away on May                                                               
31, which  was significant to  her, because  that is the  day the                                                               
fish wheels  are turned on, and  she said she viewed  that timing                                                               
as spiritual.  She stated that  there are not many days in Alaska                                                               
"named  after our  leaders,"  and  she opined  that  it would  be                                                               
incredible to name May 31 "Katie John Day."                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
8:18:29 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
KATHRYN  MARTIN  testified  that  she  is  one  of  Katie  John's                                                               
granddaughters  - "one  of the  many 250  grandchildren that  she                                                               
has."   She expressed appreciation  to the committee  for hearing                                                               
HB 33  and to Representative  Foster for sponsoring  the proposed                                                               
bill.  Ms. Martin stated that in  May it will be four years since                                                               
Katie John died.  She noted that  this is the third year that the                                                               
bill is before the legislature.   She said many have testified in                                                               
support of the legislation in the  past.  On behalf of Ms. John's                                                               
family, she  asked that HB  33 be moved on  to the floor  and not                                                               
get stuck in committees like it has in the last two years.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
8:19:43 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR FANSLER, after  ascertaining that there was  no one else                                                               
who wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 33.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
8:20:18 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  PARISH moved  to report  HB  33 out  of committee  with                                                               
individual  recommendations and  the  accompanying fiscal  notes.                                                               
There being  no objection, HB  33 was  reported out of  the House                                                               
Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee.