(SitNews) Juneau, Alaska - The Alaska State Senate approved a resolution today supporting an effort by U.S. Rep. Don Young to return management of fish and wildlife to the State of Alaska. The resolution passed by a vote of 15 to 4.

Senate Resolution 4, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage), backs House Joint Resolution 69, a measure to overturn a 2016 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule which seized authority away from the state to manage fish and wildlife for both recreational and subsistence uses on 77-million acres of federal lands in Alaska. H.J.Res.69 passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Thursday and is on its way to the U.S. Senate.

“We sent a clear message today to the unelected bureaucrats in Washington D.C.: Congress writes laws, not you,” said Sen. Cathy Giessel.

H.J.Res.69 utilizes the Congressional Review Acts (CRA), which gives Congress the power to overturn an agency rule and prevents the passage of a substantially similar rule without an act of Congress.

“One of the iron-clad promises at statehood was the promise by the federal government that the state will be the primary authority for managing its fish and wildlife,” said Sen. John Coghill (R-North Pole). “The federal government – in direct violation of the statehood act, the Alaska Constitution and relevant precedent – is directly undermining that authority via unilateral rule-making. No more.”

Sen. Giessel’s resolution further encourages U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski to make all efforts to see that the resolution is also passed in the U.S. Senate.

“Unelected federal bureaucrats are not the ultimate power in Alaska, even if they’d like to be.” said Senate President Pete Kelly (R-Fairbanks). “Congressman Young deserves our support in his fight to restore local management over fish and game.”

Related News:

Overturn of Fish and Wildlife Rule Moves Forward; Voids Carnivore Protections on Alaska National Wildlife Refuge - Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.J. Res. 69 to overturn a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule undoing a rule years in the works that was launched by professional wildlife scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that stopped intensive “predator control” methods on national wildlife refuges in Alaska. - More...
SitNews - Friday - February 17, 2017

On the Web:

Alaska Senate Resolution 4
http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/30?Root=SR%20%20%204

U.S. House Joint Resolution 69
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/69

Editing by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News:

Alaska Senate Majority
www.akleg.gov

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