1998 Alaska House Joint Resolution 22

1998 Alaska House Joint Resolution 22

This resolution was sponsored by Representatives Al Vezey (R-Fairbanks), Joe Ryan
(R-Anchorage), Ramona Barnes (R-Anchorage), Mark Hodgins (R-Kenai), John Davies
(D-Fairbanks), J. Allen Kemplin (D-Anchorage), and Alan Austerman (R-Kodiak), and
Senators Rick Halford (R-Chugiak), Robin Taylor (R-Wrangell), Loren Leman (R-Anchorage),
and Jerry Ward (R-Anchorage).

It passed the House on March 12, 1997, on a vote of 38-1 (1 absent). The sole opponent
was Ben Grussendorf (D-Kodiak). Unfortunately, Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee
Tim Kelly (R-Anchorage) held onto the resolution for more than a year, and then allowed a vote
on a slightly amended version on May 7, 1998. The vote was 19-0 (1 absent). This maneuver
with a slight amendment effectively killed the resolution because it was too late in the session for
the House to concur.

A similar 1999 resolution successfully overcame this legislative obstruction and passed
both the House and Senate and was signed by the Governor. [See 1999 House Joint Resolution 27.]

00 SENATE CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 22(RLS)                   
01 Relating to the maritime boundary between Alaska and the former Union of
02 Soviet Socialist Republics.

                                                            
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:


04  WHEREAS, on June 1, 1990, the United States negotiated and signed the United
05 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement without the participation or consent of Alaska
06 in the negotiations or terms of the agreement; and
07  WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement places on the U.S.S.R.
08 side the following eight islands and their entire territorial seas and seabeds:  Wrangell, Herald,
09 Bennett, Henrietta, and Jeannette Islands in the Arctic, and Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock, and
10 Sea Otter Rock on the west end of the Aleutian Chain; and 
11  WHEREAS the maritime boundary described in the Agreement delimits the territorial
12 sea and seabeds of Little Diomede Island at less than the normal 3-mile or 12-mile extent; and
13  WHEREAS Alaska may have sovereignty and potential or actual property interest in
14 these islands and their territorial seas and seabeds; and
01  WHEREAS the Fifteenth Alaska State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Joint
02 Resolution 12, which requested that a representative of Alaska be included in the United States
03 Department of State's negotiations on setting a maritime boundary between Alaska and the
04 Soviet Union; however, a reply was never received from the Department of State, and a
05 representative of Alaska was never included in the negotiations; and
06  WHEREAS the views of 28 bipartisan members of the Alaska House of
07 Representatives and eight bipartisan members of the Alaska Senate were expressed on the
08 Agreement in a letter dated May 17, 1991, to Senator Joseph Biden, Jr., of the United States
09 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, stating in part:
10            "We firmly believe United States interests and Alaskan interests are at stake 
11 and in jeopardy in the proposed treaty. . . No Alaskan official has ever been
12 invited to participate in the treaty negotiations, in spite of abiding Alaskan
13 interests in fisheries, petroleum and other potential continental shelf resources
14 and the considerations of navigation in the area.  In the entire history of the
15 treaty negotiations, Alaska has had no official voice.  Alaska has not been fully
16 consulted in the entire matter. . . It is our purpose to urgently recommend that
17 the presently-proposed treaty not be ratified by the U.S. Senate, and that
18 negotiations be continued to include appropriate Alaskan officials and current
19 United States and Alaskan historic, territorial, and resource interests";
20 and                                                                       
21  WHEREAS the California Legislature unanimously passed in 1991 Senate Joint
22 Resolution 20 supporting Alaska, and the resolution requested the President to withdraw the
23 proposed Agreement from consideration by the United States Senate and the California United
24 States Senators to decline to consider the proposed Agreement until Alaska has been able to
25 participate fully in negotiations and has been guaranteed that its consent will be required for
26 any agreement affecting its boundaries; and
27  WHEREAS the U.S.S.R. dissolved itself without taking action to approve the
28 Agreement, and the Agreement has not been put into force; and
29  WHEREAS, at the same time he signed the Agreement on June 1, 1990, Secretary of
30 State James A. Baker III signed a side agreement with the U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister that
31 stated that, pending the entry into force of the Agreement, the two governments agreed to
01 abide by the terms of the Agreement as of June 15, 1990; and
02  WHEREAS the side agreement was not publicly revealed at the time or mentioned in
03 the transmittal of the Agreement to the United States Congress, in the Department of State
04 testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in the committee
05 report, or in the Senate floor debate; and
06  WHEREAS the authority of the Secretary of State to establish on his own a maritime
07 boundary that has implications for land territory, seabed jurisdiction, sovereignty, and Alaska
08 property raises questions of constitutionality;
09  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that because the proposed United
10 States - U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Agreement was not put into force before the dissolution
11 of the U.S.S.R., the agreement does not have legal force, and any agreement on a maritime
12 boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia must be negotiated anew with whatever new
13 foreign government has sovereignty in the area at the time; and be it
14  FURTHER RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that for an agreement on a
15 maritime boundary between Alaska and eastern Russia to be negotiated by the United States
16 government, Alaska must be formally represented in the negotiations and its consent obtained;
17 and be it                             
18  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature considers null and void the
19 side agreement requiring the two governments to abide by the Agreement pending its entry
20 into force and requests the United States Department of State to reveal any and all acts,
21 directives, and reports regarding implementation of the side agreement; and be it
22  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Alaska delegation
23 in the Congress to promote and aggressively pursue the views expressed in this resolution,
24 especially the need for state representation in any negotiations over setting a maritime
25 boundary between the state and eastern Russia; and be it
26  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that setting a
27 maritime boundary between the state and eastern Russia is a states' rights issue and
28 respectfully requests the Governor and the Attorney General of Alaska to actively pursue the
29 matters described in the previous resolves.
30  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill J. Clinton, President of
31 the United States; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State; the
01 Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States; the Honorable Jesse Helms,
02 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Benjamin A.
03 Gilman, Chair of the U.S. House Committee on International Relations; the Honorable Joseph
04 R. Biden, Jr., Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations;
05 the Honorable Lee H. Hamilton, Ranking Minority Member of the U.S. House Committee on
06 International Relations; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank
07 Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of
08 the Alaska delegation in Congress.