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Constitutional framework
The state constitution was adopted and ratified in 1956 but did not become operative until official statehood was declared in 1959. The governor and lieutenant governor are the only elected executive officers and serve four-year terms. The 40-member House of Representatives and 20-member Senate are elected for terms of two and four years, respectively. The Supreme Court has a chief justice and four associate justices. A three-member court of appeals was established in 1980. Each of Alaska’s judicial districts is served by superior courts, district courts, and magistrates. A single federal district court sits alternately in Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Nome.
Unlike most other U.S. states, Alaska has boroughs instead of counties. The state is divided into cities, boroughs, and hundreds of unincorporated villages, each of which has unique powers. Alaska Natives are organized into 12 Alaska Native regional corporations (which are similar to tribal organizations, though they function as conventional for-profit business corporations) and 220 village corporations that were established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971, which also collectively awarded them $962 million and 44 million acres (17.8 hectares) of federal land. The profits from mineral resources found on the land are shared among all the corporations. Also, each corporation has the right to decide how much land it wants to use for development. The Metlakatla Indian Community on Annette Island Federal Reserve is the only reservation in Alaska and was not part of ANCSA.
In both federal and state politics, Alaska has been decidedly Republican (except for most Alaska Natives). In the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, Alaska benefited from more than three decades of service from Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, each of whom used their clout to channel billions of dollars in federal projects for the state and in providing the state with more control over its land. (In July 2008, however, Stevens was indicted by a federal grand jury for failing to disclose gifts received from an oil company; he was convicted in October and lost his Senate seat to a Democrat in the 2008 general elections. Charges against Stevens were later dropped, in April 2009, when it was proved that prosecutors withheld key pieces of evidence in his case.) In the 1990s and 2000s Stevens and Young fought to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, a position supported by most Alaskans but opposed by many environmentalists. In the early 21st century no Alaskan politician had a bigger impact on national politics than Sarah Palin, who was elected governor in 2006 and then chosen as the running mate of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in 2008; she stepped down as governor in 2009.
Health and welfare
Modern hospital facilities exist in Fairbanks and Anchorage, and most Alaskan communities have clinics that are affiliated with major medical centres. The federal government provides free medical care for Alaska Natives.
The state provides many services which in most other states are provided by cities and counties. For example, subsidies for numerous welfare programs including Pioneer Homes (homes providing assisted living for senior citizens) are furnished by the state.
The Air National Guard and Army National Guard each have two military installations in the state. Alaska has prisons in Kenai, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Juneau, Palmer, and elsewhere and a maximum security facility in Seward.
The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the state of Alaska, and the Alaska Native regional corporations assist Alaska Natives in achieving economic and social self-sufficiency. They provide funds for vocational training and the development of job opportunities and for welfare, social work, and medical and health needs. Despite a number of helpful programs, however, many Alaska Natives suffer from unemployment, low income, and poverty. The small size of most Indigenous communities limits employment opportunities. However, the Alaska Native regional corporations employ large numbers of Alaska Natives in various activities, including running oil rigs on the North Slope.
Education
Education is compulsory through high school and is administered by local boards of education. The state provides funding for education and pays the full cost of schools in unincorporated areas and more than half the cost in incorporated cities. Correspondence study is available for high-school work through the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. The University of Alaska, founded as a land-grant institution in 1917, operates campuses at Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau and has numerous satellite campuses. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a renowned Arctic research centre and has a rocket-launching facility just outside Fairbanks. Sheldon Jackson College (1878) in Sitka was Alaska’s oldest higher-education institution until it closed in 2008. Alaska Bible College (1966) in Glennallen and Alaska Pacific University (1957) in Anchorage are private institutions. Alaska Pacific University hosts the Institute of the North (1994), a centre for the study of the Alaskan government and economy. The state also runs schools on military bases.
Alaska’s Indigenous peoples were educated first by missionary groups, though by the time of statehood the Bureau of Indian Affairs was responsible for meeting their educational needs. The state of Alaska accepted responsibility for Indigenous education starting in the 1980s. Ilisagvik College (1995) in Barrow, for example, is a two-year tribal college that serves the Inuit (Inupiat) community and focuses on vocational and technical education.