02/25/2014 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS

                     SB 133-KATIE JOHN DAY                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
9:41:47 AM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DYSON announced that the committee will take up SB 133.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
9:42:00 AM                                                                                                                    
JOY  DEMMERT,  Staff, Senator  Olson,  Alaska  State  Legislature,                                                              
Juneau, Alaska, read a statement as follows:                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
     Katie  John is  an  Athabascan icon  to  Alaska, she  is                                                                   
     best  known   for  her  determination  and   success  in                                                                   
     fighting  for subsistence  rights.  Katie  John is  also                                                                   
     known  for traditional  teachings and  way of life,  she                                                                   
     lived  to be  97 years  old. Katie  John was  passionate                                                                   
     about  preserving the  Athabascan  culture and  language                                                                   
     and  she also  helped  to create  the  alphabet for  the                                                                   
     Ahtna  dialect.   In  2011,  Katie  John   received  the                                                                   
     honorary doctor  of laws degree  from the University  of                                                                   
     Alaska Fairbanks.  Katie John and her husband  raised 14                                                                   
     of their  own children and  6 foster children,  she left                                                                   
     behind  more  than  250  descendants.  When  considering                                                                   
     this  bill, one  might ask  is  it necessary  to pass  a                                                                   
     bill for Katie  John's legacy, my answer would  be "yes"                                                                   
     because by supporting  this piece of legislation  we are                                                                   
     sending  a message  to Alaska  and to  the entire  world                                                                   
     that  we love  and support  our  Alaska native  cultures                                                                   
     and the  people. Each  year on May  31 all Alaskans  can                                                                   
     reflect  on  the  cultures  and  values  of  Alaska  and                                                                   
     peoples'  connection with  the  land, be  it native  and                                                                   
     nonnative.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
MS.  DEMMERT thanked  the committee  for  hearing SB  133, a  bill                                                              
that honors the Athabascan icon of Alaska.                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI  asked about the  significance of May  31 for                                                              
Katie John Day.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
9:44:15 AM                                                                                                                    
DAVID  SCOTT,  Staff, Senator  Olson,  Alaska  State  Legislature,                                                              
Juneau,  Alaska, explained  that  May 31  is the  date that  Katie                                                              
John  passed away.  He noted  that there  was no  record of  Katie                                                              
John's actual birthday.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
9:44:44 AM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR  DYSON announced  that the  committee will  take a brief  at                                                              
ease.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
9:44:49 AM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DYSON  stated that he is confident  SB 133 is going  to pass                                                              
out of committee  and go directly to the Senate  Floor through the                                                              
Rules Committee. He  said the committee is very  respectful of the                                                              
testifiers  who  want to  praise  Katie  John  and her  impact  on                                                              
Alaska.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
9:46:32 AM                                                                                                                    
MAUDE  BLAIR,  Vice  President,   Alaska  Federation  of  Natives,                                                              
Anchorage,  Alaska,  read a  statement  in support  of  SB 133  as                                                              
follows:                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
     There  are about  120,000 Alaska  native  people in  the                                                                   
     state and  the vast majority  of them still  participate                                                                   
     in  hunting,  fishing,  and gathering  food  during  the                                                                   
     year. Subsistence  is a way of life for us  and has been                                                                   
     the basis  of our  cultures for  thousands of years.  As                                                                   
     the  state's  population  has  grown,  we  have  had  to                                                                   
     balance  the  interests  of the  different  user  groups                                                                   
     with  the  need  to sustain  the  resources  for  future                                                                   
     generations.  Katie John  grew up  living a  traditional                                                                   
     lifestyle  at Batzulnetas,  a traditional Ahtna  village                                                                   
     where her  family had a fish  camp. The state  of Alaska                                                                   
     closed  the  subsistence  fishery  there  shortly  after                                                                   
     statehood.   In  1980,   Congress   passed  the   Alaska                                                                   
     National  Interest   Lands  Conservation   Act  (ANILCA)                                                                   
     which provides  for a  subsistence priority for  hunting                                                                   
     and fishing  on federal public  lands in Alaska  by rule                                                                   
     of  residence; it  allows  state management  on  federal                                                                   
     lands if the  state enacts a law that extends  the rural                                                                   
     priority for  subsistence uses to nonfederal  lands. The                                                                   
     state did enact  a rural preference on  nonfederal lands                                                                   
     following  the  passage  of ANILCA;  however  the  State                                                                   
     Board of  Fisheries denied a  request by Katie  John and                                                                   
     Doris Charles  to reopen the fishery at  Batzulnetas. In                                                                   
     1985,  Katie John and  Doris Charles  sued the state  of                                                                   
     Alaska   for  not  providing   a  subsistence   priority                                                                   
     required  under ANILCA.  What  we call  the "Katie  John                                                                   
     Cases"  was  actually  a series  of  different  lawsuits                                                                   
     that   involved  several  plaintiffs   that  had   wound                                                                   
     through  the  state  and federal  court  systems.  Katie                                                                   
     John was  the lead plaintiff  and very much a  leader in                                                                   
     the  push to  preserve the  subsistence  rights that  we                                                                   
     native people  have enjoyed for thousands of  years. The                                                                   
     Alaska  Supreme  Court ruled  in  1989 in  another  case                                                                   
     that  the  rural  residency  preference  the  state  had                                                                   
     adopted to comply  with ANILCA and manage  federal lands                                                                   
     had violated  the state's  constitution, so the  federal                                                                   
     government   took  over   management   of  the   federal                                                                   
     priority  on federal  lands, but refused  to extend  the                                                                   
     authority  over  any  fisheries. Katie  John  and  Doris                                                                   
     Charles  then sued the  United States  in federal  court                                                                   
     to  protect  their  fishing  rights  under  ANILCA.  The                                                                   
     Ninth Circuit  Court of Appeals  held in 1995  and again                                                                   
     in  2001, that  the  federal  priority for  rural  users                                                                   
     applied  to Batzulnetas  and all other  areas where  the                                                                   
     United  States  holds  reserved water  rights;  this  is                                                                   
     good news  because it  meant that  Katie John and  other                                                                   
     rural   residents  have  a   priority  for   subsistence                                                                   
     fishing  on  federal  lands,  which  make  up  about  60                                                                   
     percent of  the state. As  was mentioned already,  Katie                                                                   
     John  didn't get  to hear the  most recent  part of  the                                                                   
     case, it's still  going on and it has been  going on for                                                                   
     29 years;  she passed  away on  May 31.  May 31 is  also                                                                   
     significant because  it is the  day the state  of Alaska                                                                   
     allowed native  people to put  their fish-wheels  in the                                                                   
     water.  Each year at  our Alaska  Federation of  Natives                                                                   
     (AFN)  conventions, we  pass  resolutions of  importance                                                                   
     to  us and the  very first  one we  passed last  October                                                                   
     was asking  the state  of Alaska to  name May 31  "Katie                                                                   
     John Day."                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
9:50:16 AM                                                                                                                    
SUSETTNA KING, representative, Alaska Native Sisterhood-Camp 70,                                                                
Juneau, Alaska, read a statement in support of SB 133 as                                                                        
follows:                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
     I  am representing  the  Alaska Native  Sisterhood  Camp                                                                   
     70.  Our  mission  is  to better  the  lives  of  native                                                                   
     people  and their families,  to fight  for civil  rights                                                                   
     and the  rights of  all Alaska  native people, to  share                                                                   
     the cultural  knowledge, wisdom, and artistic  beauty of                                                                   
     native tribal  society, and to strive for  the spirit of                                                                   
     brotherhood  and   sisterhood  among  all   people.  Our                                                                   
     ancestors fought  for the betterment of  Alaska natives,                                                                   
     just as  our Athabascan sister,  Katie John.  Katie John                                                                   
     belonged  to the  Athabascan nation,  she was  important                                                                   
     and the key  of subsistence fight, and for  like many in                                                                   
     her  time it  was a  fight for  our way  of life.  Katie                                                                   
     John  worked  for Alaska  native  because it  was  right                                                                   
     thing  to do.  Written records  shown,  2001, her  fight                                                                   
     took her  to the Ninth  Circuit Court of Appeals  ruling                                                                   
     stating  that  subsistence fishery  protection  provided                                                                   
     under  Title   8  of  Alaska  National   Interest  Lands                                                                   
     Conservation Act  (ANILCA) did in fact to  all navigable                                                                   
     waters  in which  the  federal government  own  reserved                                                                   
     water rights,  effectively allowing subsistence  fishing                                                                   
     to  continue unrestricted  in  those  areas. The  Alaska                                                                   
     Native Sisterhood-Camp  70 stands with our  brothers and                                                                   
     sisters from  the northern part  of the state  of Alaska                                                                   
     in  honoring  Katie  John,  the  subsistence  fight  she                                                                   
     fought not  only benefited the  northern, but us  in the                                                                   
     Southeast  Panhandle.  We support  SB  133 to  establish                                                                   
     Katie John's  Day each  year on May  31. Katie  John was                                                                   
     an  Alaska native  woman  we all  strive  to live  like.                                                                   
     Katie  John was  celebrated  and honored  in the  Alaska                                                                   
     Federation  of Natives (AFN)  in 2003; we celebrate  her                                                                   
     by  gathering of  many.  The Alaska  Native  Sisterhood-                                                                   
     Camp  70 encourages  enacting  SB 133  and honoring  Dr.                                                                   
     Katie John.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  DYSON remarked  that  SB  133 will  pass  out of  committee                                                              
today. He stated  that testimony is  not needed to get  SB 133 out                                                              
of  committee.  He  encouraged testifiers,  if  possible,  not  to                                                              
repeat what was said by previous individuals.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
9:53:17 AM                                                                                                                    
KATHRYN MARTIN,  Senior Vice  President, Ahtna, Inc.,  Glennallen,                                                              
Alaska, thanked  Senator Olson and  Senator Ellis  for introducing                                                              
SB   133  for   consideration.   She  noted   that   she  is   the                                                              
granddaughter  of   Katie  John.  [She  provided   testimony  that                                                              
concurred  with previous  witnesses  in support  of  SB 133.]  She                                                              
summarized  that naming  May  31 as  Katie  John Day  would be  an                                                              
incredible honor and  a show of respect for a woman  who lived her                                                              
whole life taking care of others.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
9:56:09 AM                                                                                                                    
FRED JOHN, representing  himself, Delta Junction,  Alaska, said he                                                              
is the  son of Katie John.  [He provided testimony  that concurred                                                              
with previous witnesses  in support of SB 133.] He  set forth that                                                              
Katie John  taught her children  to profess that  native Alaskans'                                                              
ways are not a threat to the state of Alaska.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR DYSON  stated that the committee  is honored to move  SB 133                                                              
forward.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
9:58:15 AM                                                                                                                    
HAVEN  HARRIS, representing  himself, Anchorage,  Alaska, said  he                                                              
supports SB  133. He  asserted that  Katie John's contribution  to                                                              
all of Alaska  is something that  should be shared in  our history                                                              
books. He said  it would be a  tremendous honor for Katie  John to                                                              
be recognized every year on the day of her passing.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
9:58:55 AM                                                                                                                    
JULIE ROBERTS-HYSLOP,  Vice President,  Tanana Chiefs  Conference,                                                              
Tanana,  Alaska, said  she supports  the  passing of  SB 133  [and                                                              
provided testimony  that concurred  with previous witnesses.]  She                                                              
summarized that  the state of Alaska  has an opportunity  to honor                                                              
and acknowledge  a  woman of strength  and courage,  a woman  that                                                              
fought hard for a way of life that cannot be forgotten.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
10:00:35 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON  asked if there is  anyone in the committee  room that                                                              
wants  to testify  on SB  133. He  announced  seeing none,  public                                                              
testimony is closed.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
10:00:51 AM                                                                                                                   
SENATOR GIESSEL  moved SB 133, labeled 28-LS1288\A  from committee                                                              
with zero fiscal note and attached individual recommendations.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
10:01:06 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON  announced that  without objection,  SB 133  moved out                                                              
of the Senate State Affairs Standing Committee.