1995 Calif SJR 15

1995 California Senate Joint Resolution 15

        This resolution was authored by Senator Don Rogers (R-Bakersfield). It passed the
Senate on a vote of 25-2 (with 13 absent, abstaining, or not voting).
        The 25 Senators in favor were Alquist, Boatwright, Calderon, Campbell, Dills, Greene,
Haynes, Hughes, Hurtt, Johannessen, Johnson, Johnston, Kelley, Kopp, Leonard, Leslie,
Lockyer, Maddy, Marks, Monteith, Mountjoy, Rogers, Rosenthal, Russell, and Wright.
        The 2 Senators opposed were Killea and Thompson.
        The 13 Senators who were absent, abstaining, or not voting were Ayala, Beverly, Costa,
Craven, Hayden, Lewis, Mello, O'Connell, Peace, Petris, Polanco, Solis, and Watson.
        The Assembly Rules Committee deadlocked at 5-5. Those in favor were
Assemblymembers Aguiar, Brewer, Goldsmith, Knight, and Rogan. Those against were
Assemblymembers Burton, Escutia, Kuehl, Lee, and K. Murray.

BILL NUMBER: SJR 15	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE   JULY 10, 1995

INTRODUCED BY  Senator Rogers

                        FEBRUARY 24, 1995

   Senate Joint Resolution No. 15--Relative to the Alaska-Russia
boundary.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 15, as amended, Rogers.  Alaska-Russia:  maritime boundary.
   This measure would reiterate the support of the Legislature for
the State of Alaska to participate in  any future 
negotiations involving its boundaries with Russia.
   Fiscal committee:  no.




   WHEREAS, Every state has a compelling constitutional interest in
determining its own boundaries with other states and foreign
countries; and
   WHEREAS, The State of Alaska's boundary with the former Soviet
Union was the subject of negotiations between the United States
government and the Soviet government from 1981 to 1990, but the State
of Alaska was never allowed by the United States Department of State
to participate in the negotiations; and
   WHEREAS, The Alaska legislature vigorously protested this
exclusion in the form of Senate Joint Resolution 12, which was passed
nearly unanimously by both houses and signed by Governor Steve
Cowper in May 1988; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Department of State ignored these
protests, and its negotiations resulted in a proposed treaty titled
"Agreement with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the
Maritime Boundary" signed on June 1, 1990; and
   WHEREAS, The Alaska legislature sent a letter, signed by a
bipartisan majority on May 17, 1991, to the United States Committee
on Foreign Relations, stating, "We firmly believe United States
interests and Alaskan interests are at stake and in jeopardy in the
proposed treaty. . . .  No Alaskan official has ever been invited to
participate in the treaty negotiations, in spite of abiding Alaskan
interests in fisheries, petroleum, and other potential continental
shelf resources and the considerations of navigation in the area.  In
the entire history of the treaty negotiations, Alaska has had no
official voice.  Alaska has not been officially consulted in the
entire matter. . . . It is our purpose to urgently recommend that the
presently-proposed treaty not be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and
that negotiations be continued to include appropriate Alaskan
officials and current United States and Alaskan historic, territorial
and resource interests."; and
   WHEREAS, The proposed treaty was nevertheless approved by the
United States Senate vote in September 1991; and
   WHEREAS, The California Legislature has previously expressed its
support for the State of Alaska's rights to participate in
negotiations and to give its consent to any agreements affecting its
boundaries in the form of Resolution Chapter 122 of the Statutes of
1987 and Resolution Chapter 107 of the Statutes of 1991; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the California Legislature reiterates its
support for the State of Alaska in its  rightful position of
participation in any   desire to participate in any
future  negotiations involving its boundaries with Russia, the
current government controlling territory opposite from Alaska; and be
it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Chairperson
and ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, to the Chairperson and ranking member of the United States
House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, to each
Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the
United States, to the Governor of Alaska, to the President of the
Alaska Senate, and to the Speaker of the Alaska House of
Representatives.