SJR 26-PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE  9:30:12 AM CHAIR DYSON called the committee back to order and announced the consideration of SJR 26. 9:30:22 AM RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff, Senator Coghill, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, informed the committee that SJR 26 is a resolution recognizing June 14, 2014 as the 60th anniversary of the first recital of the United States Pledge of Allegiance (USPA) with the words "under God." She continued to provide an overview of SJR 26 as follows: In the last year, 39 other states have passed resolutions recognizing February 4, 2014 as the 60th anniversary of the introduction of House Joint Resolution 243, which is the resolution that was signed by President Eisenhower and included "under God" in the USPA. It is true that the original pledge was written by a minister in 1892 and the pledge was an allegiance to "my Flag" and it was his hope that it would be used by all nations to recognize their countries. But in 1923, the words "The Flag of the United States" was added to the pledge to make it more personal to people, pledging allegiance to the United States and that change was made at the National Flag Conference under the leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution. It was not until 1954 that Congress incorporated what was viewed as the missing-link to the USPA and this missing-link was recognized by Homer Ferguson when he heard a sermon in church that quoted the Gettysburg Address when Lincoln referred to a nation under God, so he introduced SJR 26 and it was passed and signed by President Eisenhower on June 14 in 1954, so this would be the 60th anniversary of the signing and right after the signing the group recited the USPA using the words "under God." What I wanted to point out was that the USPA is not a mundane verse that we recite, because we learned it in school and we recited it every day in school. To me the USPA reminds that we live in a country that does not persecute us because we do pledge to preserve a God given inherent right in this country and people fought for that right. It reminds me that we are a government of fifty individual states who are united as a nation of free people. It reminds us that this flag, Old Glory, has been carried through battle fields and that blood has been shed of millions of people to protect the freedom that we have to speak our minds and to disagree with each other without the threat of retaliation. It reminds us that people from all over the world come to this country at great risk to live the American dream. When I stand in the gallery in the Senate Chambers and recite the USPA with a room fool of citizens and Senators, what I hear is a group of Americans united, indivisible, and preserving this Republic and the God given rights our Forefathers strived to preserve. This resolution is yet one reminder that we are Americans united as one nation, under God. 9:35:13 AM MS. MOSS noted handing out a transcription to the committee members from a Red Skelton performance where he had explained the USPA, addressed the use of "under God," and noted his regret should "under God" ever be eliminated from the USPA. She revealed that the Massachusetts Supreme Court is reviewing a case that was argued in September 2013 that challenges the use of the words "under God." She summarized that SJR 26 is Senator Coghill's way of bringing to light just how important the USPA is and recognizing its significance. SENATOR COGHILL said the anniversary for the USPA came to his attention prior to the February 10 date and added that many states have noted February 10 as the date to commemorate, but USPA was first recited on June 14. He read Section 3 from the Alaska Statehood Act as follows: The Constitution of the State of Alaska shall always be Republican in form and shall not be repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the principals of the Declaration of Independence. He set forth that the USPA is a reminder that the United States is a republic. He remarked that many children struggle with the difference between a republic and a democracy. He set forth that USPA is a constant reminder of the Republic. He noted that the Declaration of Independence is also based on the principals that all men are created equal, but they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. He added that at the very end of the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers pledged their lives and their sacred honor, but with reliance with divine providence. 9:38:09 AM He called attention to a famous United States judge, Learned Hand, and pointed out that he had been quoted more often than any other lower-court judge. He read from one of Mr. Hand's speeches as follows: What do we mean when we say that we first seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, and courts. Believe me these are false hopes, liberty lies in the hearts of men and women, when it dies there, no constitution law or court can save it, no constitution law or court can you do much to help it, while it lies there it needs no constitution law or court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow. A society which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few, as we have learned to our sorrow. SENATOR COGHILL explained that Mr. Hand goes on in his speech that liberty really resides in the recognition that the U.S. is a nation of faith. He continued to quote from Mr. Hand's speech as follows: The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias. The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten. He pointed out that Judge Learned Hand just wanted to remind us of the history of those who have thought deeply and long about the nation's heritage. He said USPA is a constant reminder that makes us reach back and, at times, remind ourselves on a daily basis. He set forth that SJR 26 will be one way for Alaskans to commemorate the USPA. 9:40:28 AM SENATOR GIESSEL moved to report from committee SJR 26 labeled 28-LS1268\N with zero fiscal note and individual recommendations. 9:40:41 AM CHAIR DYSON announced that without objection, SJR 26 passes out of the Senate State Affairs Standing Committee.