Alaska SR 3: Recognizing March 2024 as Chronic Kidney Disease Awareness Month in Alaska to raise awareness of the need for research, screening programs, and access to care for individuals who suffer from chronic kidney disease.

Bill Text

-1- Enrolled SR 3
S T A T E O F A L A S K A
SENATE

2025

Senate
Source Resolve No.
SR 3 3

Urging the United States Congress to grant American Samoans the ability to serve as
commissioned officers in the uniformed services of the United States and the right to vote in
federal elections.

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BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE:

WHEREAS American Samoa has been an unincorporated territory of the United
States since 1900; and
WHEREAS American Samoa is the only inhabited territory of the United States
whose residents are considered nationals of the United States but are not citizens; and
WHEREAS United States citizenship is granted at birth to residents of all other
inhabited territories of the United States, including Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana
Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands; and
WHEREAS, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, as nationals of the United
States, American Samoans owe permanent allegiance to the United States; and
WHEREAS American Samoans can obtain a United States passport as well as live
and work in any location in the United States; and

Enrolled SR 3 -2-
WHEREAS the 2020 Census showed that the population of American Samoa was
49,710, and in 2023 the United States Census Bureau estimated that there were 268,539
people of Samoan descent living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; and
WHEREAS American Samoans have contributed greatly to the civic, cultural,
economic, and spiritual life of the United States and this state; and
WHEREAS American Samoans have a long history of patriotism and service to the
United States, and American Samoa has the highest military enlistment rate of any state or
territory; and
WHEREAS American Samoan men who reside in the 50 states or the District of
Columbia must register with the Selective Service System and can be drafted into military
service; and
WHEREAS, despite the long tradition of military service by American Samoans,
federal law prohibits noncitizen nationals of the United States from serving as commissioned
officers in the uniformed services of the United States; and
WHEREAS federal law prohibits American Samoans who are nationals but not
citizens of the United States from voting in elections for President, Vice President, United
States Senate, and United States House of Representatives; and
WHEREAS the right to vote and participate in the democratic process is one of the
most cherished principles on which the nation's society is built; and
WHEREAS, by being denied the right to vote in the states where American Samoans
reside, American Samoans are being subjected to taxation without representation;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska Senate urges the United States Congress to pass
legislation allowing nationals of the United States to serve as commissioned officers in the
uniformed services of the United States and to vote in federal elections in the state in which
they reside.
COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President
of the United States; the Honorable JD Vance, Vice President of the United States and
President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives; the Honorable Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of
Representatives; the Honorable John Thune, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the
Honorable Charles E. Schumer, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa

-3- Enrolled SR 3
Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Nicholas
Begich, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other
members of the 119th United States Congress.