Juneau -- The Alaska House of Representatives Friday, by a 29-3 vote, passed House Joint Resolution 29, endorsing U.S. Senate legislation (S.253) by Senators Frank Murkowski and Slade Gorton to divide the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The Ninth Circuit encompasses nine states and two territories: Alaska; Arizona; California; Hawaii; Idaho; Montana; Nevada; Oregon; Washington; Guam; and the Northern Mariana Islands. S.253 proposes to divide the Ninth Circuit into three regional divisions and a fourth circuit division. The states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington would be in one of the regional divisions.

"The division of the Ninth Circuit into regions would be of enormous benefit to Alaska, which has suffered, perhaps more than any other state, from decisions made from a perspective of physical and cultural distance," said Representative Pete Kott (R-Eagle River), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which sponsors HJR 29. "Such a division would provide speedier and more consistent rulings by jurists who will be much more familiar with the social, geographical, political, and economic life in Alaska."

S.253 proposes to adopt the recommendations of a congressionally mandated commission, chaired by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, which addressed many of the shortcomings of the Ninth Circuit Court.

HJR 29 now moves to the Senate.

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= Pete Kott, 113 K = Pete Kott, 96 K