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Alaska Bill Text
BILL ID: HJR 17
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 17
01 Opposing the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
03 WHEREAS the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, H.R. 3283, 108th
04 United States Congress, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives and
05 would have authorized the United States Forest Service, the United States Bureau of Land
06 Management, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the
07 United States Bureau of Reclamation to charge visitor fees for recreation on publicly owned
08 land; and
09 WHEREAS H.R. 3283 was not voted on separately in the United States House of
10 Representatives and was not introduced in, did not have hearings in, and was not approved by
11 the United States Senate, but instead was attached to the omnibus spending bill, H.R. 4818,
12 108th United States Congress, as an appropriation rider; and
13 WHEREAS the 108th United States Congress enacted H.R. 4818, and the Federal
14 Lands Recreation Enhancement Act is now codified as 16 U.S.C. 6801 - 6814; and
15 WHEREAS the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act includes criminal
16 penalties and is substantive legislation that fundamentally changes the way public land in the
01 state is funded and managed; and
02 WHEREAS the concept of paying fees to use public land is contrary to the idea that
03 public land belongs to the people of the state and is land where every person is granted access
04 and is welcome, a concept that has been and should remain in place; and
05 WHEREAS recreational fees constitute double taxation and bear no relationship to
06 the actual costs associated with recreational use such as hiking, picnicking, observing wildlife,
07 or scenic driving on state roads and public rights-of-way; and
08 WHEREAS the fees imposed by the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act are
09 a regressive tax that places an undue burden on the people living in rural areas adjacent to or
10 surrounded by large areas of federal land and discriminates against lower-income and
11 working Alaskans by placing financial obstacles in the way of their enjoyment of public land;
12 and
13 WHEREAS the public land access fees in the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement
14 Act are highly controversial and are opposed by hundreds of organizations, several state
15 legislatures, and millions of rural Americans; and
16 WHEREAS the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act establishes an
17 interagency pass that may be used to cover entrance fees and recreational amenity fees for
18 federal public land and water, disregarding the substantially different ways in which national
19 parks and other federal public land are managed and funded; and
20 WHEREAS the limited means of expressing opposition to and the lack of public
21 debate in the implementation of the fee program raises the concern that some citizens may be
22 deterred from visiting and enjoying public land in the state and throughout the United States;
23 and
24 WHEREAS tourism is an important industry to the state, and the imposition of
25 recreational use fees will have a negative effect on state and local economies;
26 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature demands that the Federal Lands
27 Recreation Enhancement Act, which was enacted on December 8, 2004, be repealed and that
28 no recreational fees authorized under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act be
29 imposed to use federal public land in the state.
30 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable George W. Bush, President
31 of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States
01 and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Gale Norton, United States Secretary of the
02 Interior; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the
03 Honorable Bill Frist, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Harry Reid, Minority
04 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Tom DeLay, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of
05 Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of
06 Representatives; the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S.
07 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska
08 delegation in Congress; and, by electronic transmission, all other members of the 109th
09 United States Congress.
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