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| Constitution of the State of Alaska | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Jurisdiction | Alaska,United States |
| Ratified | April 24, 1956; 69 years ago (1956-04-24) |
| Date effective | January 3, 1959; 67 years ago (1959-01-03) |
| History | |
| Amendments | 28 |
| Signatories | 55 |
TheConstitution of the State of Alaska was ratified on April 4, 1956 and took effect withAlaska's admission to theUnited States as aU.S. state on January 3, 1959.
In the 1940s, the movement for Alaska statehood was gaining momentum within theterritory, but stymied by opposition fromLower 48 commercial interests and some members ofCongress. Many statehood proponents felt that a well-written constitution would help advance the cause inWashington, D.C.
As a result, one of the duties the Alaska Territorial Legislature laid upon the Alaska Statehood Committee, established in 1949, was to "assemble applicable material, make studies and provide recommendations in a timely manner" preparatory to drafting a constitution.
On November 8, 1955, 55 elected delegates from across Alaska (a number chosen to echo the 55 in attendance at thePhiladelphia Convention of 1787) met at the brand new student union building at theUniversity of Alaska. The building, quickly christened Constitution Hall by the Board of Regents, was temporarily handed over to the delegates who assembled to create the new document at aconstitutional convention.Fairbanks (technically, in this instance,College) was selected as the site instead ofJuneau, the territorial capital, to escape the influence oflobbyists and to benefit from the academic setting. The latter consideration was largely influenced byNew Jersey's choice ofRutgers University for its 1947 convention.
The convention was led by then-territorial SenatorWilliam A. Egan, who became the state's firstgovernor. The other delegates, 49 men and six women, included territorial legislatorsRalph J. Rivers, who becameU.S. Representative fromAlaska at-large, andJack Coghill, who becamelieutenant governor. Frank Peratrovich, the mayor ofKlawock who was also a territorial legislator, was the onlyAlaska Native among the delegates. The oldest delegate, Earnest B. Collins, was speaker of the 1st territorial House in 1913. Collins lived in Alaska longer than any delegate except for Peratrovich, having arrived in 1904. The youngest delegate, Thomas C. Harris, had only lived in Alaska for around five years and had been elected by some 150 votes cast in and around theValdez area. Other delegates who were notable outside of law and politics include: Fairbanks bush pilot Frank Barr; mining engineer and Fairbanks Exploration Company executive John C. Boswell;Swiss emigrant andKachemak Bay homesteader Yule F. Kilcher; World War II era military officer Marvin R. "Muktuk" Marston; Steve McCutcheon, a photographer whose collection represents a significant documentation of mid-20th century life in Alaska; Leslie Nerland, who took his father's department store in Fairbanks and turned it into a statewide empire, even extending toHawaii at one point; Barrie M. White, an Anchorage entrepreneur and real estate developer, and Ada Wien, from a pioneer Alaskan and pioneer aviation family.
The constitutional convention was in session for 75 days. The constitution was adopted by the delegates on February 5, 1956. The signing of the constitution the following day attracted nearly 1,000 spectators, so the event was moved to the university's gymnasium and library building. This building was renamed Signers' Hall in the late 1980s, and presently houses the administration of the current-dayUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks campus. One delegate,R. E. Robertson, was absent, having resigned his position in protest of the finished document and returned toJuneau. The constitution was ratified by territorial voters on April 24, 1956, and became effective when theAlaska Statehood Proclamation was signed on January 3, 1959.
The delegates drew on several sources for inspiration: theNational Municipal League's "Model State Constitution" as well as the recently adoptedconstitutions of Missouri,New Jersey, andHawaii, and studies by consultants andconstitutional law scholars.
One of the aims of the delegates was to produce a short, general document, on the model of theUnited States Constitution. Rather than specify most aspects in minute detail, as did many state constitutions, the delegates chose instead to leave broad authority tofuture state legislatures. The resulting document is thus only half the average state constitution length of 26,000 words. Much of the language in the new constitution was a reaction against weak territorial institutions (thus the strong legislature andexecutive provided for in Articles II and III). At the same time, a state constitutional reform movement was growing in theUnited States, and ideas such as the "broad strokes" approach and the unifiedjudiciary of Article IV incorporated leading constitutional thought.[citation needed]
We the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land, in order to secure and transmit to succeeding generations our heritage of political, civil, and religious liberty within the Union of States, do ordain and establish this constitution for the State of Alaska.
The constitution begins by establishing the basic rights of Alaska's citizens. Much of Article I essentially reiterates theUnited States Bill of Rights, but includes several original provisions. Section 3 bans discrimination based on "race, color,creed,sex, ornational origin". Section 7, which largely mirrors the Due Process protections under Section 1 of theFourteenth Amendment, extends protection to "persons to fair and just treatment in the course of legislative and executive investigations", a reaction againstMcCarthyism. Section 22 establishes the right toprivacy; theAlaska Supreme Court has interpreted this to protect, among other things, home possession of small amounts ofmarijuana (seeRavin v. State, 537 P.2d 494 (Alaska Supreme Court 1975).).
Article II establishes abicameralAlaska Legislature, composed of 20senators elected for four years and 40representatives elected for two. Many delegates favored aunicameral legislature; this failed but is reflected in the large number of purposes for whichjoint sessions are required. The delegates trusted the legislature to act responsibly, so the constitution does not contain the detailed limits on the legislature often found in other states.
Article III vests executive power in agovernor elected for four years. The governor andlieutenant governor are elected on a single ticket, and are the only statewide elected officials. Territorial executives were weak, with federalbureaucracy exerting weight from above and elected territorial legislatures limiting the authority of thePresidentially-appointed governor with a variety of special commissions. The delegates desired a strong, streamlined executive, so Article III gives the governor more power than most of his or her counterparts in other states. The governor also has a large amount of patronage; he appoints the heads of all executive departments (most states provide for some to be elected), who are required in general to be people, not multi-member boards.
Article IV creates theAlaska Court System. While in many states judicial authority is fragmented among several levels of jurisdiction with many special courts, the delegates designed the Alaska judiciary to be a single, unified system. The constitution specifies theAlaska Supreme Court, the Alaska Superior Court, and leaves other courts to be "established by the legislature" as needed. Article IV provides forMissouri Plan selection of judges.
Article V's provisions are mostly standard, setting such things asvoting age and election dates. It guarantees both thesecret ballot and provides for judicial review of contested election results. A requirement that voters must be able to "read or speak the English language" was removed by amendment in 1970 after the passage of theVoting Rights Act of 1965.
Article VI sets procedures for decennial reapportionment. This is carried out by an appointed board, rather than the legislature as in most states; prior to 1998 amendments, the governor held this authority.
Article VII is the shortest in the constitution, mandating a "system ofpublic schools open to all children of the State [...] free from sectarian control", establishing theUniversity of Alaska as thestate university, and directing the legislature to "provide for the promotion and protection ofpublic health" and "provide for public welfare".
Article VIII is the first article dealing solely and broadly with resources to appear in a state constitution. The delegates wished to curtail what was seen as abuse of Alaska's resources (seeOrdinance No. 3) and ensure reasonable development to broaden Alaska'seconomic base. The chief principle was that resources should be managed as apublic trust, providing "for maximum use consistent with thepublic interest", further defined as "utilization, development, andconservation ... for the maximum benefit of [the] people"; for common access to resources; and for development to be based onsustainable yield. Article VIII also provides forstate parks andprotected areas, and for theleasing of state lands for resource development.
Article IX deals withbudgeting,appropriations,tax exemptions,public debt, and bans "earmarking". Later amendments established theAlaska Permanent Fund and budget reserves.[citation needed]
Article X provides for Alaska's uniqueborough system. Local government in the territory was undeveloped, due to its sparse population and theOrganic Act of 1912 which banned the creation ofcounties. The delegates wished to avoid the pitfalls of the traditional county system, such as overlapping jurisdictions and service districts, and tightly constrained local bodies, so they created an entirely new system. The aim, as stated in Section 1, was "to provide for maximum local self-government with a minimum of local government units, and to prevent duplication of tax-levying jurisdictions." Thus Article X states that the only local government units arecities and boroughs (both organized andunorganized), and only organized boroughs and cities may levy taxes.[citation needed]
Article XI sets out procedures for the use of initiatives to "propose and enact laws", referendums to "approve and reject acts of the legislature", and elections to recall public officials. It also restricts the initiative and referendum from being used in certain areas, such as appropriations or to enactspecial legislation.
Article XII is a miscellaneous article, containing definitions of terms, setting the state boundaries, and prescribing theoath of office andmerit system, among other things.
Article XIII sets procedures for constitutional amendment. Amendments can originate either with the legislature or at a constitutional convention, and are voted on at the nextgeneral election. Constitutional conventions can be called by the Legislature at any time; additionally, every ten years a referendum must be taken on whether to hold a convention. All four such referendums held to date have failed.
Article XIV set up the initial apportionment of the legislature, to be used prior to the first post-statehoodcensus, and is now obsolete.
Article XV dealt with eventual Alaska statehood, focusing on legal continuity and establishment of the new state government. Since it is no longer a working part of the constitution, Alaska courts have ruled that it can be modified bystatute or initiative. This has allowed, for instance, the various initiatives to move thestate capital, as Juneau's capital status is defined in Section 20.
The referendum on constitutional ratification contained three ballot measures to be voted upon, as provided in Article XV, Section 24.
Ordinance No. 1 was the ratifying proposition itself:Shall the Constitution for the State of Alaska prepared and agreed upon by the Alaska Constitutional Convention be adopted? Ordinance No. 1 passed 17,447 – 8,180.
Ordinance No. 2 provided for the adoption of the "Alaska-Tennessee Plan", which provided that twoU.S. Senators and aRepresentative should be elected to serve as a "shadow" delegation until statehood. Ordinance No. 2 passed 15,011 – 9,556.
Ordinance No. 3 outlawed the use offish traps in commercialsalmon fishing. This issue had special significance in territorial Alaska. Fish traps, usually operated byOutside-ownedcanneries and widely blamed for the near-collapse of the salmon fishery, were seen as a symbol of exploitation of Alaska by absentee commercial interests. Former territorial GovernorErnest Gruening alluded to the issue in hiskeynote address to the convention:
The people of Alaska have repeatedly and unchangingly manifested their overwhelming opposition to fish traps. [...] But fish trap beneficiaries, residents of the mother country, want to retain their Alaska traps. So the traps are retained. And it is the power and authority of the federal government which retains them. In a clear-cut issue between the few, profiting, non-colonial Americans and the many, seriously damaged, colonial Alaskans, the state-side interest wins hands down.
Ordinance No. 3 passed by 21,285 – 4,004.
As of 2006 there have been 28amendments to the Alaska Constitution, as well as 12 which were rejected by voters. This is substantially fewer than in most state constitutions (which average 115 amendments), due both to the short period the constitution has been in force and to its generalized construction. Amendments which passed include Article I's right-to-privacy clause and ban on sexual discrimination (1972), an amendment authorizing theAlaska Permanent Fund (1976), and an amendment banningsame-sex marriage (1998) (this was later declared unconstitutional inObergefell v. Hodges).[1][2]
