04/05/2000 03:20 PM Senate RES

           SCR  3-SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATE; RESOURCES                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR TAYLOR, sponsor of SCR 3, explained that SCR 3 addresses                                                                
where Alaska stands in regard to the federal mandate over fish and                                                              
game management on federal lands in Alaska.   At present, the                                                                   
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) is negotiating with                                                                   
federal agencies about fish and game management in rivers.  Senator                                                             
Taylor said he believes the ADFG negotiations completely violate                                                                
the Governor's comment that no Governor should ever barter away the                                                             
state's sovereign right to manage its lands, waters and resources.                                                              
The federal government is violating the Tenth Amendment and                                                                     
attempting to treat Alaskans as second class citizens.  It is also                                                              
violating the 14th Amendment and about 11 different provisions of                                                               
the Alaska Constitution according to two different court cases; the                                                             
Totemoff case and the McDowell case.  SCR 3 tells Congress it has                                                               
made a mistake and asks it to remove the federal mandate and to                                                                 
support the Governor's efforts to overturn the Katie John case.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
MR. DALE BONDURANT, representing himself, stated support for SCR 3.                                                             
He recounted a discussion between Senator Stevens and Mr. Mitchell                                                              
at a Congressional hearing in 1978 in which Senator Stevens said,                                                               
                                                                                                                                
     It's another thing to give the Secretary of Interior veto                                                                  
     rights and on the pretext of saying that subsistence                                                                       
     provisions in Alaska law are not adaptable to protect the                                                                  
     Alaska Natives and give them the right to give back to the                                                                 
     Department of Interior the overriding controls of fish and                                                                 
     game on federal lands in Alaska.  It violates the intent of                                                                
     the statute that would deny the states the [inaudible] and, in                                                             
     violation of what I consider to be inherent constitutional                                                                 
     rights, of the State to equality.  We are an equal partner in                                                              
     the Union and we are not to be treated that way.  Now, if we                                                               
     want to go into some cooperative management program where the                                                              
     federal government participates in it and if it appoints the                                                               
     joint board that's one thing, but to leave veto powers and the                                                             
     right to preempt the state is wrong.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
Mr. Mitchell responded,                                                                                                         
     The federal government has an interest out there.  They can                                                                
     enforce, and all we do with oversight provision - I can't                                                                  
     expect the Senator to respectfully disagree with me - is to                                                                
     force the Secretary of the Interior to do something positive                                                               
     for a change.  He's got that last right.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
Senator Stevens then said,                                                                                                      
     He does not have it today.  The [inaudible] Act does not give                                                              
     him the right.  He has the right to post an area for hunting                                                               
     but he does not have a right to take away from the state the                                                               
     right to manage hunting.  Now, under this bill, he would be                                                                
     entitled again, under the pretext that the state subsistence                                                               
     provision for Natives was not sufficient and to take over the                                                              
     entire management on federal lands, military posts, BLM, park                                                              
     lands, fish and wildlife lands, under the pretext of one                                                                   
     incident, he could take back the whole thing.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
MR. BONDURANT stated it is time for Alaska to stand up and say it                                                               
has a sovereign right like any other state.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
There being no one else wishing to testify on SCR 3, SENATOR TAYLOR                                                             
moved SCR 3 from committee with individual recommendations.  There                                                              
being no objection, the motion carried.