Court Opinion

ID: 9536511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:00:55.103966+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:35.856262
License: Public Domain

RABINOWITZ, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the court’s holding that ch. 52 SLA 1986 is unconstitutional.1 In my view Alaska’s subsistence laws are not violative of either section 3 (“common use”), section 15 (“no exclusive right of fisheries”), or section 17 (“equal application of laws”) of article VIII of the Alaska Constitution.
Article VIII, section 4 explicitly provides for “preferences among beneficial uses.” In Kenai Pen. Fisherman’s Co-op Ass’n v. State, 628 P.2d 897, 904 (Alaska 1981), we said in part: “[wjhile section 15 does prohibit granting monopoly fishing rights, that section was not meant to prohibit differential treatment of such diverse user groups as commercial, sport, and subsistence fishermen.” The subsistence laws at issue here do not exclude individuals from access to wildlife; rather, wildlife resources are allocated on a preferential basis. Nor do these laws create an exclusive right of fishery in any class. Rather, the effect of these laws is to providé for a subsistence preference among beneficial users of the resource. No exclusive, monopolistic, or otherwise closed classes of resource users are established.
I would further hold that ch. 52 SLA 1986 is not violative of the equal protection provisions of the Alaska Constitution (article I, section 1, article VIII, section 17). In my view adoption of the strict scrutiny and least restrictive alternative standards is inappropriate. Given the nature of the interest at stake I would apply a lesser standard for purposes of equal protection analysis. This subsistence legislation is substantially related to legitimate legislative goals. I conclude that the fit between the legislature’s goal of furthering the health and welfare of subsistence users, and the subsistence preference system it devised to carry out this objective, is sufficiently close *15to withstand scrutiny under Alaska’s equal protection provisions.
INTRODUCTION.
In response to the impact the state’s population growth has had upon subsistence lifestyles, Congress in 1980 enacted the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (hereinafter ANILCA or federal subsistence law).2 ANILCA was designed to protect subsistence hunting and fishing by giving such uses priority over commercial and sport uses in rural areas.3
The federal subsistence law specified that subsistence uses must be “customary and traditional uses by rural Alaska residents.” ANILCA § 803; 16 U.S.C. § 3113 (emphasis added). Thus, under ANILCA, eligibility for subsistence permits was dependent in part upon one’s geographic place of residence. ANILCA § 804; 16 U.S.C. § 3114.4
ANILCA authorized the state to continue managing fish and game inhabiting Alaska’s federal lands and waters if the state established regulations maintaining the definition of and preference for subsistence uses articulated in the federal subsistence law. ANILCA § 805(d); 16 U.S.C. § 3115(d). The state legislature complied, and thereby retained managerial control over federal lands located within the state by authorizing the Joint Boards of Fish and Game to promulgate regulations defining “rural” use.
In enacting ch. 52 SLA 1986 the Alaska House of Representatives adopted a letter of intent.5 The letter articulated the subsistence-rural preference of the act in the following terms:
This limitation of the definition of “subsistence uses” recognizes that Alaska is unique, and unlike any of the other forty-nine states, the economy of many rural communities in rural areas in Alaska is significantly dependent upon participation by the residents of the communities in the taking of fish stocks and game populations for personal and family consumption. Further, the legislature finds that the general health and welfare of these citizens is significantly tied to their participation in these activities.6
The subsistence statutes challenged here define “rural area” as “a community or area of the state in which the noncommercial, customary, and traditional use of fish or game for personal or family consumption is a principal characteristic of the economy of the community or area.” AS 16.05.-940(25).
Appellants’ basic contention here is that “by excluding from eligibility as subsistence users all urban dwellers and by including all rural dwellers, it unfairly excludes some urban residents who have lived a subsistence lifestyle and desire to continue to do so, while needlessly including numerous rural residents who have not engaged in subsistence hunting and fishing.” The *16linchpin of this dispute, then, is whether the challenged subsistence law constitutes an unconstitutionally imperfect attempt to fulfill the legislature's purpose of protecting subsistence uses.
I. DO ALASKA’S SUBSISTENCE LAWS VIOLATE ARTICLE VIII OF THE ALASKA CONSTITUTION?
Appellants challenge the constitutionality of the state subsistence laws under three clauses of article VIII of the Alaska Constitution, sections 3 (“common use”), 15 (“no exclusive right of fisheries”), and 17 (“equal application of laws”).7 The court attributes a “shared meaning” to these three constitutional provisions: that “exclusive or special privileges to take fish and wildlife are prohibited.” The court then concludes that the subsistence statute’s preference for rural residents violates each of the aforementioned clauses and offends the shared meaning of article VIII. I disagree.
A. Section Three: The “Common Use” Clause.
Article VIII, section 3 (the “common use” clause) is derived from laws designed to guarantee the common citizen participation in wildlife harvest, and to divest the Crown of exclusive entitlement to those resources.8 It is said that this “public trust” doctrine9 “impose[s] upon the state a trust duty to manage the fish, wildlife and water resources of the state for the benefit of all the people.” Owsichek v. State, 763 P.2d 488, 495 (Alaska 1988) (citations omitted); see also Metlakatla Indian Community, Annette Island Reserve v. Egan, 362 P.2d 901, 905 (Alaska 1961), aff'd, 369 U.S. 45, 82 S.Ct. 552, 7 L.Ed.2d 562 (1962); Herscher v. State, Dep’t of Commerce, 568 P.2d 996, 1003 (Alaska 1977).
In State v. Ostrosky, 667 P.2d 1184 (Alaska 1983), reh’g denied, 468 U.S. 1204, 104 S.Ct. 3572, 82 L.Ed.2d 871 (1984), we accepted the view that the common use clause reflects “anti-exclusionist values.” Id. 667 P.2d at 1191. Thereafter, in Owsichek v. State, 763 P.2d 488 (Alaska 1988), a case involving an exclusive right to conduct guided hunting in particular areas of wilderness, we reiterated this theme stating that section 3 is fundamentally “anti-monopoly” in its thrust. Id. at 493 (“Because an EGA [exclusive guide area] is clearly a type of monopoly ... [legislative] history strongly suggests that the statutes at issue here are unconstitutional.”). Critical to our holding that the guide licensing system at issue in Owsichek was unconstitutional under the common use clause were the following characteristics of the scheme: it per*17mitted a single guide permanently to exclude all other guides from leading hunts professionally on specific lands; it favored established guides at the expense of new entrants in the guiding market; it created a salable, property-like interest in the license; and it established exclusivity of an unlimited duration. Id. at 496.
In the case at bar the challenged subsistence laws exhibit none of these characteristics. The state subsistence laws establish a subsistence preference, not an exclusive, monopolistic, or otherwise closed class. Anyone may join subsistence users by moving to a sector of the state which has been designated as a “rural area.” Further, these laws do not establish subsistence hunting and fishing as an exclusive use, even in rural areas, except during periods of extreme resource scarcity.10 In regard to this issue I think the court’s reliance on Owsichek and Ostrosky is misplaced. Both Owsichek and Ostrosky emphasize that the primary thrust of article VIII is anti-exclu-sionist or anti-monopolistic, not anti-preferential.
I do not read the statutes in question as providing that eligibility to participate in subsistence uses is determined solely with reference to where an individual lives. That is not the case. The subsistence laws at issue here are implemented by multi-fac-toral regulations which focus not only on place of residence, but also upon particular stocks and populations of fish and game, and particular patterns of subsistence us-. age.11 Moreover, individual characteristics are always considered under the state subsistence law during lean periods when it becomes necessary to restrict even certain subsistence uses. In those periods, the determination as to which individuals among those normally eligible for a subsistence permit may continue harvesting is made on the basis of an analysis of individuals’ characteristics under the following criteria: (1) customary and direct dependence on the resource as the mainstay of livelihood; (2) local residence; and (3) availability of alternative resources. AS 16.05.258(c).
The court’s interpretation of the common use clause would prohibit the legislature from making any differential allocation of natural resources whatsoever, an outcome precluded by our holding in Kenai Peninsula, 628 P.2d 897 (Alaska 1981) and the language of article VIII, section 4, which explicitly provides for “preferences among beneficial uses.” In Kenai, we held that “[wjhile section 15 does prohibit granting monopoly fishing rights, that section was not meant to prohibit differential treatment of such diverse user groups as commercial, sport, and subsistence fisherman.” 628 P.2d at 904 (emphasis added).
Moreover, it is axiomatic that the provisions of article VIII of the Alaska Constitution should be interpreted so as to avoid internal contradictions. Abrams v. State, 534 P.2d 91, 95 (Alaska 1975) (“It is an undisputed maxim of constitutional construction that the different provisions of the document shall be read so as to avoid conflict whenever possible”); Park v. State, 528 P.2d 785, 786-87 (Alaska 1974) (“It is a well accepted principle of judicial construction that, whenever reasonably possible, every provision of the Constitution should be given meaning and effect, and related provisions should be harmonized.”). In my view the court’s reading of article VIII, section 3 as prohibiting preferences among beneficial uses of Alaska’s resources plainly conflicts with article VIII, section 4. That section provides, in full:
Fish, forests, wildlife, grasslands, and all other replenishible resources belonging to the State shall be utilized, developed, and maintained on the sustained yield *18principle, subject to preferences among beneficial uses.
(Emphasis added.) The intent of section 4 is that persons situated differently can be treated differently and that some users of a resource may legitimately be given preference over others.
In brief, the common use clause constitu-tionalized the doctrine that wild fish and game are held in trust by the state for the benefit of the public as a whole, rather than by the sovereign in exclusive possession. That principle is consistent with the view that the sovereign state may manage wildlife for the common good, including certain beneficial preferences. Thus I conclude that the challenged subsistence laws do not offend the anti-monopolistic, anti-ex-clusionist values underpinning the public trust and common use doctrines embodied in section 3 of article VIII of Alaska’s constitution.
B. Section 15: the “No Exclusive Right” Clause.
I also disagree with the court’s holding that the state subsistence law violates article VIII, section 15 (the “no exclusive right” clause).
The court relies for its interpretation of the no exclusive right clause upon Hynes v. Grimes Packing Co., 337 U.S. 86, 69 S.Ct. 968, 93 L.Ed. 1231 (1949), a case in which the United States Supreme Court interpreted the federal legislation which governed Alaska’s fisheries before statehood, former 48 U.S.C. §§ 221-224 (1941) (hereinafter “The White Act”). The White Act did include language seemingly prohibitive of the kind of geographic distinction at issue here. Section 1 of the White Act provides, in relevant part:
[N]o exclusive or several right of fishery shall be granted ... nor shall any citizen of the United States be denied the right to take, prepare, cure, or preserve fish or shellfish in any area of the waters of Alaska where fishing is permitted by the Secretary of the Commerce.
Act of June 6, 1924, Ch. 272, § 1, 43 stat. 464 (emphasis added). On the other hand, I disagree with the court’s view that insofar as the White Act was expressly anti-geographic, section 15 should be given a similar construction. For in my opinion Hynes is distinguishable in several important respects.
First, Hynes did not involve an allocation of fish and game on the basis of residence; rather, the exemption at issue there applied only to fish, and was predicated upon the users’ status as Indians, not their place of residence. 337 U.S. at 89-97, 69 S.Ct. at 971-976. Second, Hynes involved an exclusive right of access which had been made available only to a closed class of fishermen. At issue in Hynes was a regulation of the Secretary of the Interior completely prohibiting commercial salmon fishing in all waters within 3,000 feet of the shores of the Karluk reservation, but exempting Native fishermen from this otherwise comprehensive ban. Id. Therefore, Hynes, like Owsichek, is distinguishable from the classification scheme at issue in the present case, since in the case at bar one may become eligible for subsistence permits by moving into a rural area. Finally, as noted previously, both article VIII, section 4 and Kenai Fisherman’s establish that section 15 cannot be read to prohibit differential treatment of such diverse user groups as commercial, sport, and subsistence users.
C. Section 17: the “Equal Application” Clause.
Although section 17 (the “equal application clause”) is a component of article VIII, it is essentially, as the court states, a “ ‘more stringent ... ’ equal protection clause [for] ... cases involving natural resources.” I will address these issues together.
II. DO THE 1986 STATE SUBSISTENCE LAWS VIOLATE ARTICLE VIII, SECTION 17 OR THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE OF THE ALASKA CONSTITUTION (ARTICLE I, SECTION 1)?
The court holds the state subsistence laws unconstitutional on equal protection *19grounds.12
Although this court has not yet addressed the issue whether equal access to fish and game is a fundamental right, we have held that commercial fishing is not fundamental. Commercial Fisheries Entry Comm’n v. Apokedak, 606 P.2d 1255, 1262 (Alaska 1980). Other courts have concluded that recreational hunting is not a fundamental right. See, e.g., Baldwin v. Montana Fish and Game Comm’n, 436 U.S. 371, 98 S.Ct. 1852, 56 L.Ed.2d 354 (1978) (elk hunting by non-residents not fundamental); Utah Public Employees Ass’n v. State, 610 P.2d 1272 (Utah 1980) (entry in big game permit drawing not fundamental). See also Herscher v. State, Department of Commerce, 568 P.2d 996, 1003, 1006 (Alaska 1977).
In my view, the interest at stake, i.e., the right to participate in subsistence hunting and fishing, is not a fundamental right. Maximum scrutiny is reserved for fundamental rights and suspect classifications. Ostrosky, 667 P.2d at 1192. Given what I perceive to be the appropriate characterization of the interest involved, the state must demonstrate the existence of a substantial relationship between the means utilized by the legislation and the legitimate governmental ends sought to be achieved thereby.
Since I am of the view that strict scrutiny is inapplicable, I conclude that the questioned legislation does not violate the Alaska Constitution’s equal protection clause. The challenged subsistence laws are fairly and substantially related to the important governmental goal of protecting the health and welfare of the state’s subsistence users, a goal admittedly within the state’s police powers to pursue.13
Implicit in my view that this legislation is not violative of equal protection is the further conclusion that the subsistence classification formulated to fulfill this concededly legitimate legislative purpose is not constitutionally infirm. As we said in Apokedak, 606 P.2d at 1267:
[Individual cases will arise in which those barred may be able to show extreme hardship. The legislature in its wisdom could conceivably have better provided for such instances. But equal protection, even under Alaska’s stricter standard, does not demand perfection in classification. If it did, there would be few laws establishing classifications that would sustain an equal protection challenge.
The subsistence legislation in question here effectively captures within its ambit the thousands of subsistence users residing in Alaska’s numerous rural villages. In short, I would hold that the subsistence laws’ fit satisfies the requirements of equal protection under both article I, section 1, and article VIII, section 17 of the Alaska Constitution.

. Hereinafter state subsistence laws.

. Pub.L. No. 96-487, 94 Stat. 2371 (1980); 16 U.S.C. §§ 3101-3233 (West 1985). Congress prefaced Title VIII of ANILCA with a declaration that "the continuation of the opportunity for subsistence uses by rural residents of Alaska ... is essential to Native physical, economic, traditional, and cultural existence....” 16 U.S.C. § 3111(1). .

. See 16 U.S.C. §§ 3111-3126 (1982 & Supp. IV 1986).

. "Rural" areas are those with sparse populations, and the term "rural” as used in ANILCA is not a term of art. Kenaitze Indian Tribe v. State of Alaska, 860 F.2d 312 (9th Cir.1988), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 3187, 105 L.Ed.2d 695 (1989), (term "rural” is to be given its ordinary significance, meaning “sparsely populated”).

.1985 House Journal 1246.

. See also the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs Report issued in conjunction with the passage of ANILCA.
After consideration of the testimony at the subcommittee's hearings and town meetings throughout Alaska and review of studies done by a variety of federal, state, academic, and other agencies and groups, the Committee has no doubt about the importance of subsistence uses to the rural people of Alaska. Reliable evidence was given to the Committee demonstrating that fifty percent of the food for three-quarters of the Native families in Alaska's small and medium villages is acquired through subsistence uses, and 40% of such families spend an average of 6 to 7 months of the year in subsistence activities....
H.R.Rep. No. 1045, 95th Cong., 2d Sess., at 181 (1978).

. Section 3 of article VIII provides:
Wherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use.
Section 15 of article VIII provides:
No exclusive right or special privilege of fishery shall be created or authorized in the natural waters of the State. This section does not restrict the power of the State to limit entry into any fishery for the purposes of resource conservation, to prevent economic distress among fishermen and those dependent upon them for a livelihood and to promote the efficient development of aquaculture in the State.
Section 17 of article VIII provides:
Laws and regulations governing the use or disposal of natural resources shall apply equally to all persons similarly situated with reference to the subject matter and purpose to be served by the law or regulation.

. In Lewis v. State, 110 Ark. 204, 161 S.W. 154 (1913), the court described the history of the common use principle in the following terms:
[AJIthough at one time in England after the Norman Conquest the right to take fish and game was claimed as a royal prerogative to the exclusion of the people, it was restored to them by the Barons at Runnymede in 1215, and was declared in the great charter which they wrested from King John.
******
These rights were confirmed and established ever thereafter in England by acts of Parliament, and they have come down to use from the laws of England and may be regarded as a common heritage of the English-speaking people.
Id. at 155 (citations omitted).

.The public trust doctrine maintains that government holds untaken wildlife in trust for public use, and that government owes a fiduciary duty to manage such resources for the common good of the public as beneficiary. See Owsichek v. State, 763 P.2d 488, 493-95 (Alaska 1988).

. Alaska Statute 16.05.258(c) authorizes complete prohibition of non-subsistence uses during periods of famine when the state’s total harvest is insufficient to support even normal subsistence uses.

. Subsistence uses must be "customary and traditional" uses as determined by the separate Boards after evaluation of a particular fish or game stock in light of eight criteria. 5 AAC 99.010(b). These eight criteria include examination of individual populations’ patterns of use, methods and efficiency of use, consistency of use, and methods of food storage, as well as the nexus between the asserted subsistence use and the maintenance of individuals’ cultural heritage. Id.

. The majority opinion employs article VIII section 17 and the concurring opinion of Justice Moore uses article I section 1. As Justice Moore points out, the method of analysis in either case is the same. Because Alaska’s equal protection standards are more stringent than the federal constitutional standard, any statute which passes muster under Alaskan law will also survive the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution. Herrick's Aero-Aqua Repair v. Department of Transportation, 754 P.2d 1111, 1114 (Alaska 1988). Therefore, discussion of the federal standard is omitted.

. As mentioned previously, in enacting the state subsistence laws, the Alaska legislature explicitly found that "the general health and welfare of these citizens is significantly tied to their participation in [subsistence] activities.” 1985 House Journal 1246. In a similar vein this court said in State v. Tanana Valley Sportsmen's Ass'n, 583 P.2d 854, 859 n. 18 (Alaska 1978):
... For hundreds of years, many of the Native people of Alaska depended on hunting to obtain the necessities of life. To this day, despite incursions by those of different cultures, many Alaska Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts eke out a livelihood by reliance on fish and game.... Not only is the game of prime importance in furnishing the bare necessities of life, but subsistence hunting is at the core of the cultural tradition of many of these people....