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How is municipal government
structured in Alaska?
Alaska's municipal government
structure has just cities and organized boroughs. City
government is a community-based entity, while boroughs
provide services on a regional basis. Cities and boroughs
are organized as either home rule municipalities, which
can exercise any power not prohibited by state or federal
law or by the home rule charter; or general law municipalities,
which derive their powers from state statutes. (Note: Unified
municipalities are treated as boroughs in statute and regulation.)
A city government is a municipal
corporation and political subdivision of the State of Alaska.
It generally exercises its powers within an established
boundary that normally encompasses a single community.
Under the state's constitution, a city is also part of
the borough in which it is located.
An organized borough is a municipal
corporation and political subdivision of the State of Alaska
that provides services and exercises powers on a regional
basis. Organized boroughs are intermediate-sized governments - much
larger than cities. Organized boroughs may provide services
on three levels. These are areawide (throughout the borough),
non-areawide (that part of the borough outside of cities),
and service areas (size and make-up vary).
Alaska's Constitution requires
that the entire state be divided into boroughs, organized
or unorganized. As a result, a large portion of the state
that has not incorporated as an organized borough is designated
the "unorganized borough."
What is the reasoning behind
the structure of municipal governments throughout the
state?
The delegates to the State
of Alaska's Constitutional Convention of 1955-56 wanted
to avoid overlapping local government jurisdictions. Of
particular concern was preventing the duplication of local
government authorities with the power to tax. A guiding
principle of the constitutional convention that provided
direction for the arrangement of local government forms
in the state is that they did not want to force a particular
form of government on any community or region of the state.
For the most part, this approach continues to this day;
in part, because the economies of many regions of the state
have not yet developed enough to support regional government.
The constitutional framers
attempted to create a system of local government that would
be flexible enough to meet the desire for local control
as well as the need to realize economies of scale through
regional organization. A major factor that had to be considered
was the diversity of economies and infrastructure. At the
time Alaska statehood was being considered many communities
relied almost exclusively on a subsistence lifestyle. Entire
regions of the state were without basic services or substantial
cash economies while other parts of the state were developing
resource industries that promised a robust economy.
Considering these differences,
the constitution did not mandate the creation of incorporated
local governments throughout the state, but did provide
that the entire state be divided into boroughs based on,
in part, natural geographic boundaries, economic viability,
and common interests. In those areas where economies were
better developed, organized boroughs were formed. The rest
of the state was designated the "unorganized borough."
In the unorganized borough,
the state legislature serves as the governing body and
has oversight of services that would otherwise be provided
by the organized borough (e.g. education, planning and
zoning). Communities in either the organized or unorganized
borough may also incorporate as first class, second class,
or home rule cities. The differences between the three
are the range of mandatory powers, the degree of power,
and the taxing authority each has.
The Alaska Constitution provides
that boroughs shall be established in a manner and according
to standards provided by law (the legislature). The standards
shall include: population, geography, economy, and transportation.
Each borough shall embrace an area and population with
common interests to the maximum degree possible. The constitution
also provides that the legislature shall classify boroughs
and prescribe their powers and functions; as well as, methods
by which boroughs may be organized, incorporated, merged,
consolidated, reclassified or dissolved.
Why isn't Alaska divided
into counties?
The minutes of the constitutional
convention indicate that counties were not used as a form
of local government for various reasons. The failure of
some local economies to generate enough revenue to support
separate counties was an important issue, as well as the
desire to use a model that would reflect the unique character
of Alaska, provide for maximum local input, and avoid a
body of county case law already in existence. Instead,
Alaska adopted boroughs as a form of regional government.
This regionalization was an attempt to avoid having a number
of independent, limited-purpose governments with confusing
boundaries and inefficient governmental operations.
Does the State recognize
tribes as the local government in Native communities?
Yes. In communities where residents
are mostly Native and have not incorporated a municipal
government, the State, for practical purposes, considers
the tribal council to be the local government.
In communities with both municipal
and tribal governments, the State recognizes both as a
local government and will work with both governments jointly
or separately, depending on the issue at hand. Only municipalities,
however, are accepted by the state as the local government
representing all residents. Tribal councils are viewed
as representing the interests of the tribal membership
and a potential partner with the municipality in providing
community services.
Occasionally, tribal and municipal
governments enter into contractual agreements to share
administrative responsibilities and maximize limited resources.
In these communities, there is usually one point of contact
or administrative entity representing both municipal and
tribal governments. See the LOGON section on Contractual
Agreements Between Municipal and Tribal Governments and
Non-profits for more information on these agreements.
Do municipal governments
and federally recognized tribes have the same local government
powers?
No. These two organizations
frequently have different powers and attempt to address
different issues. Title 29 of the Alaska Statutes and the
municipal charter outline the powers of a municipal government.
The relevant federal statutes and the tribe's constitution
and bylaws establish the powers of a tribal government.
The municipal powers generally
extend within the boundaries of the municipality. Tribal
authority extends to tribal members and to any Indian country
under the jurisdiction of the tribal council.
What defines tribes in Alaska?
A simple definition is: those
Native entities within Alaska recognized as tribes and
included on the Department of Interior's Public Law (PL)
103-454 list and eligible to receive services from the
Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tribes may be represented
by a traditional council or by an IRA council organized
under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, as amended
in 1936.
In 1936, the IRA provisions
were amended to reflect that the concept of tribes includes
Natives customarily associated with a community. The amended
Act allowed groups of Natives associated with a place to
petition the Secretary of the Interior for incorporation
and recognition as a tribe. The majority of the Alaskan
tribes currently recognized by the federal government were
incorporated under these provisions.
What is the difference between
an IRA and traditional tribal council?
Traditional councils have formed
through custom and necessity according to the system established
by the particular tribe. IRA councils are formed under
the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
as amended in 1936. In order to organize under the provisions
of the Indian Reorganization Act, the tribe must adopt
a constitution and by-laws, which must be approved by the
Secretary of the Interior and ratified by the tribal members
through an election conducted by Department of Interior.
What is the difference between
Alaska tribes and tribes in other states?
In most other states, there
are reservations created by treaty, federal statute, or
executive order over which Congress has plenary (overriding)
power. State governance is generally not permitted on federal
reservations. In other states the lands encompassed by
the reservation are designated Indian country and delineated
by boundaries that are under the sovereign jurisdiction
of the tribe. Before Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
(ANCSA), Public Law (PL) 83-280, enacted in 1953 and amended
in 1958 to add Alaska, extended state police jurisdiction
over certain crimes into Alaska tribal territory.
What is Indian country in
Alaska?
ANCSA extinguished reservations
in Alaska, except the Annette Island Reservation (Metlakatla
Indian Community), and instead instituted corporations
established under state law. ANCSA did not extinguish tribal
status. ANCSA took the land that would in other cases constitute
the nexus of the tribe and put it into private corporation
ownership. As a result of ANCSA, most of the land previously
recognized as tribal is not considered Indian country.
This was confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Alaska
v Native Village of Venetie (1998), which found that
in order to satisfy the test for designation as Indian
country, certain criteria must be met. These are: 1) the
land must have been set aside by the federal government
for the use of Indians as Indian land; and 2) the land
must be under federal superintendence. Since ANCSA land
is owned by corporations formed under state law, the land
is not set aside exclusively for the use of the tribes,
nor is it under federal superintendence. It does not, therefore,
meet these criteria for Indian country designation.
There are still some categories
of tribal land in Alaska that are considered Indian country.
Indian Land is generally considered to be land held in
trust by the United States for the benefit of a tribe or
Native individual. The basic types of Indian Land in Alaska
are: the Metlakatla Indian Community Federal Reservation
on Annette Island; individual Native Allotments obtained
under the Alaska Allotment Act; and Townsite Lots conveyed
to tribal governments under the Native Townsite Act. Land
conveyed to an ANCSA corporation under ANCSA, then conveyed
to a tribal government, does not become Indian Land because
of tribal government ownership.
If I am not a tribal member
can the tribal government tax my business?
Maybe. If your business is
located in Indian country or if you are a tribal member,
the tribal council may impose their legitimate taxing authority
on your business.
Can tribes pass laws that
non-Natives have to follow in Alaskan communities?
Yes. The laws of the Tribal
council govern non-Natives when conducting business or
living within Indian Country. If a non-Native is a tribal
member they are also required to abide by the laws of the
tribe.
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