02/21/2017 04:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS

            SR 3-FEBRUARY 2017: BLACK HISTORY MONTH                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
4:31:47 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DUNLEAVY announced the consideration of SR 3.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
4:31:59 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  TOM BEGICH,  Alaska State  Legislature, Juneau,  Alaska,                                                               
resolution  sponsor, explained  that Senate  Resolution 3  (SR 3)                                                               
simply  proclaims  February  2017  as  Black  History  Month.  He                                                               
referenced his sponsor statement as follows:                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
     In  1926, Dr.  Carter  G. Woodson  established a  Negro                                                                    
     History Week to coincide with  the birth week shared by                                                                    
     President  Abraham  Lincoln   and  abolitionist  leader                                                                    
     Fredrick  Douglass. In  1976,  Senator  Gerald R.  Ford                                                                    
     expanded February  to Black History  Month in  honor of                                                                    
     the nation's bicentennial.  African Americans have made                                                                    
     a tremendous  contribution to  building this  State and                                                                    
     ensuring   it  thrives.   In   order   to  honor   that                                                                    
     contribution  and ensure  that the  history of  African                                                                    
     Americans   is  remembered   and  celebrated   in  this                                                                    
     country.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
     While the  State of Alaska has  never previously passed                                                                    
     a Resolution honoring Black  History Month, this allows                                                                    
     the  Legislature  to  highlight the  particular  impact                                                                    
     African  Americans have  had both  on  our history  and                                                                    
     will have on our future.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
     I   respectfully  request   your   support  of   Senate                                                                    
     Resolution 3.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
He set  forth that the  resolution is straight forward.  He noted                                                               
that there  are a series  of "whereas" clauses that  describe the                                                               
history of  Black History Month.  He said "whereas"  clauses were                                                               
added  to speak  specifically  to some  of  the African  American                                                               
contributions in  Alaska, starting  with the Buffalo  Soldiers in                                                               
Dyea and Skagway  during the Gold Rush, the  engineers who helped                                                               
build the  Alaska Canada Highway  (ALCAN), and then  also talking                                                               
generally about  those African Americans  who contributed  in all                                                               
walks  of  life  to  Alaska.  He disclosed  that  in  the  Senate                                                               
Education  Committee  that  a  number  of  people  who  testified                                                               
publically about some of the awards  the last few weeks that were                                                               
provided in Anchorage  and other areas around  the state honoring                                                               
African Americans in Alaska.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
4:34:10 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DUNLEAVY opened public testimony on SR 3.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
4:34:35 PM                                                                                                                    
WILLIAM DEATON,  representing self  and family,  Cordova, Alaska,                                                               
testified in opposition  of SR 3. He said SR  3 is discriminatory                                                               
in supporting only one race.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
4:35:59 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DUNLEAVY closed public testimony on SR 3.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
4:36:07 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR GIESSEL  moved to report  SR 3, version  30-LS0418\D from                                                               
committee  with individual  recommendations  and attached  fiscal                                                               
note(s).                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
4:36:18 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DUNLEAVY  announced that hearing  no objection, SR  3 moved                                                               
from the Senate State Affairs Standing Committee.