Lieutenant Governor of the State of Alaska v. Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance

OPINION

BOLGER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

The Lieutenant Governor declined to certify a proposed ballot initiative that would ban . commercial set net fishing in nonsubsistence areas, reasoning that the initiative was a constitutionally prohibited appropriation of public 'assets. But the superior court approved the initiative, concluding that set netters were not a distinct commercial user group and that the legislature and Board of Fisheries would retain discretion to allocate the salmon stock to other commercial fisheries. In this appeal, we conclude that set netters are a distinct commercial…