AK SJR10

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

University of Alaska received no federal land under the Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862 and only a fraction of land under the 1915 Wickersham land grant, receiving the smallest land grant among states except Delaware.

Alaska Statehood Act in 1958 granted the state 103,000,000 acres with congressional intent for the legislature to provide the University of Alaska a land endowment from those lands.

The Twenty-First Legislature passed Senate Bill No. 7 and the Twenty-Fourth Legislature passed House Bill No. 130 to grant approximately 250,000 acres to remedy the university's deficit, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled the transfers violated the state constitution's prohibition on dedicated funds.

Any new land grant must comply with Alaska Constitution Article IX, Section 7, by establishing it as land required by the federal government for state participation in federal programs.