04/15/1998 03:30 PM Senate RES

         SB 281 - YAKUTAT GENERAL GRANT LAND ENTITLEMENT                       
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD announced SB 281 and said they had a committee                
substitute that adopts the amount of land Yakutat would have gotten            
under the original provisions based on VUU, instead of going back              
in VUU. It comes to 8,552 acres.                                               
                                                                               
SENATOR GREEN moved to adopt the CS to SB 281.  There were no                  
objections and it was so ordered.                                              
                                                                               
SENATOR LINCOLN asked why the acreage was changed from 21,000 to               
8,000 acres.                                                                   
                                                                               
MR. BRETT HUBER, staff to Senator Halford, said he requested the               
DNR to envision Yakutat incorporating today as the original borough            
boundary, including the annexation, and tell him what the vacant               
unreserved, unappropriated land base is.  That answer came back                
87,100 acres.  The formula used in the land entitlement is 10                  
percent of the vuu land, therefore, the 87,100 acres becomes 8,710             
minus the original portion that was granted to Yakutat at the time             
of incorporation.  That comes to 8,552 acres.                                  
                                                                               
SENATOR TORGERSON asked what happened to the Mental Health Trust.              
                                                                               
SENATOR MACKIE explained that it had been resolved before they                 
adopted the CS.  There was no objection to the 21,000 acres                    
originally requested.                                                          
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN HALFORD said they may want to look at limiting the                    
selection of land on the Yakutaga end of this thing, if they wanted            
to create a borough in Cordova.  There is a small population base              
at one end of the area.  If they are going to ever have boroughs in            
some of the other areas, there needs to be some kind of land base              
left over.                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR MACKIE said that land was all included within the Yakutat              
Borough now and wouldn't be available for Cordova, anyway.  He said            
even Chugach corporation and others didn't have an objection to                
this legislation the way it's written.                                         
                                                                               
SENATOR TORGERSON moved to pass CSSB 281(RES) from Committee with              
individual recommendations.  There were no objections and it was so            
ordered.