The Alaska Legislative Council is a standing committee of 14 members of the

Alaska Legislature The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There are 40 Hou ...

, that meets to conduct the business of the Legislature when it is not in session.

Composition and authority

The Council is, per statute, a "permanent interim committee and service agency of the legislature." It is made up of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gub ...

, six Senators appointed by the President, the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

, and six House members appointed by the Speaker. Among the powers and duties of the Council are preparing recommendations for the Legislature, an annual review of statutes, conducting hearings and investigations, to manage Legislature operations when the Legislature is not in session, to manage an internship program for the Legislature, and to undertake any special projects assigned it by the Legislature.

Notable events

In 1998 the Council sued the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

over plans by the United States to take over Alaska's

subsistence fishing Artisanal fishing (or traditional/subsistence fishing) consists of various small-scale, low-technology, low-capital, fishing practices undertaken by individual fisherman, fishing households (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these househ ...

program under the

Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law signed by President Jimmy Carter on December 2, 1980. ANILCA provided varying degrees of special protection to over of land, including national parks, na ...

, claiming the proposal would violate the Alaska Statehood Compact, which gave Alaska the right to manage its own fish and game resources. At issue was a conflict between the Alaska Constitution, which guaranteed equal access to all Alaskans, the Governor and Legislature, who wished to give rural residents priority, and the Federal government, which wished to provide for

Native Alaskan Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

References

{{reflist Legislative Council