Title 29, Municipal Government

Article 1. Community Facilities Grants.

(a) Within the limits of appropriations for the purpose the department shall make matching grants in accordance with the provisions of AS 29.60.410 — 29.60.440 to municipalities or their nonprofit designees equal to (1) 50 percent of the estimated reasonable costs of construction…

(a) An application for a grant under AS 29.60.400 shall be made in a form prescribed by the commissioner. (b) A grant shall be allotted in accordance with an agreement made between the commissioner on behalf of the state and the grantee. The agreement may include any provision ag…

(a) [Repealed, § 35 ch 126 SLA 1994.] (b) The commissioner shall adopt regulations to carry out the purposes of AS 29.60.400 — 29.60.440.

If the amount of money appropriated by the legislature for grants under AS 29.60.400 is not adequate to satisfy amounts required for approved grant applications, money shall be allocated on the basis of priority established by regulations of the department.

Article 2. Shared Fisheries Business Taxes. AS 29.60.400 — 29.60.440 do not require that a recipient of a grant for a feasibility study must proceed with construction of the project, regardless of whether the project is determined to be feasible.

Article 3. Oil and Hazardous Substance Municipal Impact Assistance. (a) A municipality may receive a fisheries business tax allocation under this section if the municipality demonstrates to the department that the municipality suffered significant effects from fisheries business …

(a) The legislature finds and declares that a major release of oil or hazardous substances into the environment presents a real and substantial threat to the economy and public welfare of the municipalities, villages, and school districts that are affected by the release and the …

(a) Subject to (b) of this section, the commissioner may use money from the oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund to make grants to a municipality, village, or school district that is affected by the release or by the response to the release and that de…

(a) A grant made under AS 29.60.510 may be made (1) only for (A) provision of subsistence resources on which the residents of the municipality, village, or school district rely for subsistence needs; (B) the additional costs of a reasonable and appropriate function or service, in…

(a) In determining whether an expenditure or proposed expenditure by a municipality, village, or school district is eligible for a grant under AS 29.60.510, the department shall consider the (1) degree to which the effect on the municipality, village, or school district is direct…

(a) A municipality may not use a grant made under AS 29.60.510 to reduce current municipal tax rates or to retire its existing bonded indebtedness. (b) Money received by a municipality, village, or school district under AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599 may not be used for a capital impro…

The department shall maintain records showing the income and expenses of grants made under AS 29.60.510, and shall develop procedures governing the expenditure of, and accounting for, money expended.

(a) For each disaster emergency declared by the governor under AS 26.23.020 based on a release of oil or a hazardous substance or for each other release of oil or a hazardous substance for which money may be expended under AS 46.08.040, the commissioner, after consulting with and…

The commissioner and the commissioner of environmental conservation shall jointly develop and adopt regulations that are necessary to implement the purposes of AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599.

Article 4. Human Services Community Match Program. In AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599, (1) “barrel” when used with reference to oil has the meaning given in AS 43.20.144; (2) “containment and cleanup” has the meaning given in AS 46.08.900; (3) “disaster emergency” means a disaster decla…

(a) Within the limits of appropriations for the purpose, the Department of Health shall, upon application, make a matching grant to a qualified municipality equal to 70 percent of the estimated reasonable costs of providing essential human services through private nonprofit agenc…

(a) If a qualified municipality wishes to apply for a grant under AS 29.60.600, the municipality shall apply for a grant for a fiscal year by submitting a form prescribed by the commissioner of health before October 1 of the preceding fiscal year. The application must generally d…

(a) If the amount of money appropriated by the legislature for human services community matching grants under AS 29.60.600 is not adequate to satisfy amounts required for the qualified municipalities who have applied for grants, the money shall be allocated proportionately among …

Article 5. Bulk Fuel Bridge Loan Fund and Program. In AS 29.60.600 — 29.60.650, (1) “essential human services” and “services” have the meaning given “social services” in AS 47.75.060 except that they include only services whose unavailability would subject persons needing the ser…

Article 6. Reimbursement for Costs of Port and Harbor Bonds.

Article 7. Harbor Facility Grant Program. (a) Subject to appropriations for the purpose, during each fiscal year, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall allocate to each municipality an amount to reimburse the costs paid by the municipality during the immedi…

(a) There is established the harbor facility grant fund consisting of money appropriated to the fund. Each fiscal year, the legislature may appropriate money to the fund from the watercraft fuel tax account (AS 43.40.010(f)) and from the fisheries business tax collected under AS …

A municipality or regional housing authority that owns a harbor facility may submit to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities an application for a harbor facility grant to be used for construction, expansion, major repair, or major maintenance of a harbor facility…

(a) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may award a harbor facility grant during a fiscal year only for a proposed project eligible under AS 29.60.810 based on a grant application filed during the immediately preceding fiscal year before February 1. The total a…

Article 8. Community Assistance Program. In AS 29.60.800 — 29.60.830, “regional housing authority” means a regional housing authority established under AS 18.55.996.

(a) The community assistance fund is established in the general fund for the purpose of making community assistance payments to municipalities, reserves, and communities for any public purpose. The fund consists of appropriations. Income earned on money in the fund may be appropr…

(a) The basic amount used for determining the basic community assistance payment for a fiscal year is $300,000. However, if the amount available for payments for that fiscal year under AS 29.60.850(c) is less than the amount necessary to make the payments under (b) of this sectio…

(a) Subject to (b) of this section, if the amount available for distribution under AS 29.60.850(c) exceeds the amount needed to fully fund all the basic community assistance payments, the balance shall be distributed on a per capita basis to municipalities, to reserves, and to co…

(a) The department, with advice from the Department of Law, shall determine whether there is in each community or reserve an incorporated nonprofit entity or a Native village council that will agree to receive and spend the community assistance payment. If there is more than one …

In AS 29.60.850 — 29.60.879, (1) “community” means a place in the unorganized borough, in a borough, or in a unified municipality that is not incorporated as a municipality, that is not a reserve, and in which 25 or more individuals reside as a social unit; (2) “reserve” means a …

(a) The general grant land entitlement of each of the municipalities in this subsection is the amount set out opposite each: (1) Municipality of Anchorage — 44,893 acres; (2) City and Borough of Juneau — 19,584 acres; (3) City and Borough of Sitka — 10,500 acres; (4) Bristol Bay …

(a) The general grant land entitlement of a city formerly eligible to receive general grant land under the provisions of former AS 29.18.190 and 29.18.200 is 10 percent of the maximum total acreage of vacant, unappropriated, unreserved land in the boundaries of each city at any t…

(a) The general grant land entitlement of a municipality incorporated after July 1, 1978, that does not qualify for an entitlement under AS 29.65.010 or 29.65.020 is 10 percent of the maximum total acreage of vacant, unappropriated, unreserved land within the boundaries of the mu…

(a) After July 1, 1978, general grant land entitlements provided in former AS 29.18.201 and 29.18.202 are vested property rights that must be fulfilled as provided in AS 29.65.050. After January 1, 1988, general grant land entitlements provided in AS 29.65.010 are vested property…

(a) The acreage of each municipality's land selections for which patent has been issued before July 1, 1978, shall be credited toward fulfillment of the entitlement of that municipality. (b) All approved selections under former AS 29.18.190 and 29.18.200 for which patent has not …

(a) If an entitlement determined under AS 29.65.010 or 29.65.020 results in a per capita entitlement for the municipality of less than one and one-half acre, the municipality may select vacant school or mental health land in the municipality in partial fulfillment of its land ent…

(a) If land selected by a municipality is unsurveyed at the time of approval, the director shall survey, or may approve the municipality's survey of, the exterior boundaries of an approved selection without interior subdivision, and shall issue patent in terms of the exterior bou…

[Repealed or reserved.]

The director and a municipality are authorized to exchange land or interests in land when it is in the public interest. Land or interests in land exchanged under this section must be of approximately equal value, including the nonmonetary value of public benefits. Exchange proced…

(a) Consistent with the best interests of the state, if a municipality does not contain and cannot reasonably acquire sufficient nonfederal land within its boundaries to meet its legitimate needs for public or private settlement or development, it is the policy of the state to se…

[Repealed or reserved.]

The commissioner of natural resources may, after consultation with the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, adopt regulations in accordance with AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

A municipality may not acquire subsurface rights to land of the federal government by trading land received as a general grant land entitlement. A municipality may not acquire any interest in land within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by trading land with the federal governm…

Consistent with the best interest of the state, it is the policy of the state to provide a newly formed municipality with a general grant land entitlement that is no less than 10 percent of vacant, unappropriated, unreserved land located within its boundaries. It is the policy of…