AK HJR39

Urges Alaska's congressional delegation, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Governor to create a joint federal-state structure for a permanent land endowment for the University of Alaska.

University of Alaska received no federal land under the 1862 Morrill Act and only a fraction of land under the 1915 Wickersham land grant statute, while the 1958 Statehood Act granted 103 million acres to the state.

The Twenty-First and Twenty-Fourth Alaska legislatures passed SB 7 and HB 130 granting approximately 250,000 acres of state land to the university, but the 2009 Alaska Supreme Court ruling in SEACC v. State of Alaska invalidated the transfer as violating the state constitution's prohibition on dedicated funds.

University of Alaska has received the smallest amount of federal land for higher education among states receiving such grants, with only Delaware receiving less.

Any remedy must comply with Alaska Constitution Article IX, Section 7, which requires land grants to be made "by the federal government for state participation."