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HJM008........................................by RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
BIOSPHERE RESERVES - A memorial opposing the establishment of biosphere
reserves in Idaho without the consent of the Idaho Legislature.
01/28 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/29 Rpt prt - to Res/Con
02/18 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/19 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/23 3rd rdg - ADOPTED - voice vote - to Senate
02/24 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Res/Env
HJM008|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session - 1998IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 8 BY RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE 1 A JOINT MEMORIAL 2 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE SECRETARY OF STATE, THE SENATE AND 3 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, 4 AND TO THE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION REPRESENTING THE STATE OF IDAHO IN THE 5 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. 6 We, your Memorialists, the House of Representatives and the Senate of the 7 State of Idaho assembled in the Second Regular Session of the Fifty-fourth 8 Idaho Legislature, do hereby respectfully represent that: 9 WHEREAS, the United Nations has promoted a Biosphere Program throughout 10 the world; and 11 WHEREAS, the Biosphere Program threatens to place millions of acres of 12 land under the control of the United Nations via agreements and/or executive 13 orders; and 14 WHEREAS, the United Nations Cultural, Educational, and Scientific Organi- 15 zation (UNESCO) has created a worldwide system of 328 Biosphere Reserves in 82 16 nations; and 17 WHEREAS, 47 United Nations-designated Biosphere Reserves are within the 18 sovereign borders of the United States; and 19 WHEREAS, neither the Legislature of the State of Idaho nor the Congress of 20 the United States has considered, debated, or approved such designations; and 21 WHEREAS, such designations require strict land use management procedures 22 as are set forth in the 1994 Strategic Plan for the United States Man and the 23 Biosphere Program, as published by the United States State Department, and 24 further described in the Global Biodiversity Assessment, published by the 25 United Nations Environment Program, expressly for the Conferences of the Par- 26 ties to the Convention on Biological Diversity; and 27 WHEREAS, Biosphere Reserves are, by definition, designed to continually 28 expand each of the three zones: core protected zone, buffer zone, and zone of 29 cooperation; and 30 WHEREAS, Biosphere Reserves are expected to be the nucleus of the system 31 of protected areas required by Article 8 of the Convention on Biological 32 Diversity expressed in the minutes of the first meeting of the Conference of 33 the Parties; and 34 WHEREAS, no landowner, within reach or potential reach of the Biosphere 35 Reserves on American soil, has input or recourse to land management policies 36 of UNESCO or the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological 37 Diversity; and 38 WHEREAS, no body of elected officials, whether local, state, or federal, 39 has input, recourse, or veto power over such land-use management policies that 40 may be prescribed by either UNESCO or the Conference of the Parties to the 41 Convention on Biological Diversity; and 42 WHEREAS, even though the Convention on Biological Diversity has not been 43 ratified by the United States Senate, the very presence of United Nations 2 1 Biosphere Reserves on American soil demonstrates compliance with an interna- 2 tional treaty that has not been ratified; and 3 WHEREAS, the use of land in biosphere areas for ordinary commercial or 4 agriculture purposes may be severely restricted or eliminated; and 5 WHEREAS, the Idaho Legislature does not believe that a request from the 6 National Park Service or a tourist and convention service should be adequate 7 to subject land in Idaho to the control of the United Nations or any other 8 foreign parties; and 9 WHEREAS, the areas encompassed by Biosphere Reserves can include not only 10 public, but private, lands; and 11 WHEREAS, the placing of environmental or other restrictions upon the use 12 of private lands has been held by a number of recent United States Supreme 13 Court decisions to constitute a taking of the land for public purposes; and 14 WHEREAS, the proposed Biodiversity Treaty, if ratified by the United 15 States, would ultimately lead to the reality that Idahoans could not use their 16 private and public lands in the manner to which they have been accustomed; and 17 WHEREAS, there are no proposals either to purchase the private lands by 18 the United States or the United Nations; and 19 WHEREAS, the restrictions contemplated together with the outside control 20 of the land encompassed by a Biosphere Reserve constitutes an unlawful taking 21 of that land in violation of the Constitution of the United States, to wit: 22 Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, provides that before any state lands can be 23 purchased, the consent of the state legislature must be obtained; and 24 WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, of the Constitution of the 25 United States provides that nothing in the Constitution "shall be so construed 26 as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state"; 27 and 28 WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 4, of the Constitution of the United States 29 provides that "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union 30 a republican form of government"; and 31 WHEREAS, Amendment V to the Constitution of the United States provides 32 that no person shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due 33 process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without 34 just compensation"; and 35 WHEREAS, the virtual ceding of these lands to the United Nations leaves 36 the residents who own the land, the local governments, and the states without 37 any legitimate form for redress of grievances or for input into decision- 38 making processes relating to Biosphere Reserves; and 39 WHEREAS, under Article VI of the Constitution of the United States, this 40 treaty would be given equal footing with the Constitution of the United 41 States, thus effectively precluding any legal means of redress; and 42 WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Idaho does not wish to have por- 43 tions of its land area controlled by foreign persons who are not subject to 44 state law and over whom the state has no control. 45 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular Ses- 46 sion of the Fifty-fourth Idaho Legislature, the House of Representatives and 47 the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature of the State of Idaho is 48 unalterably opposed to the inclusion of any land within the borders of the 49 State of Idaho within the purview of the Biodiversity Treaty or any 50 biodiversity program without the express consent of the Legislature of the 51 State of Idaho, as provided in the Constitution of the United States and the 52 Constitution of the State of Idaho. 53 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature of the State of Idaho urges 54 the members of Congress of the United States, and especially the Idaho delega- 55 tion to the Congress of the United States, to oppose ratification of this 56 treaty and the inclusion of any land within the State of Idaho in any 3 1 biosphere program of the United Nations. 2 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the House of Representa- 3 tives be, and she is hereby authorized and directed to forward a copy of this 4 Memorial to the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the 5 President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of 6 Congress, and the congressional delegation representing the State of Idaho in 7 the Congress of the United States.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 07374
The purpose of this Memorial is to send Congress and the
Administration this message: The Legislature of the State of
Idaho is unalterably opposed to inclusion of any land within its
borders within the purview of the Biodiversity Treaty or any
such program, without the expressed consent of the Legislature
of the State of Idaho.
FISCAL NOTE
No fiscal impact.
CONTACT: Rep. McKague
332-1000
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE
HUM 8