[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1386 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1386

   To require uniform appraisals of certain leaseholds of restricted 
                 Indian lands, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 1997

 Mr. Metcalf introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require uniform appraisals of certain leaseholds of restricted 
                 Indian lands, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AMENDMENT.

    The Act entitled ``An Act to authorize the leasing of restricted 
Indian lands for public, religious, educational, residential, business, 
and other purposes requiring the grant of long-term leases'', approved 
August 9, 1955 (25 U.S.C. 416 et seq.), is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:
    ``Sec. 7. (a) Not more than 6 months before rent for a residential 
leasehold of restricted Indian lands is established or the equities of 
the parties to the lease are reviewed, the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
shall contract with an independent MAI appraiser who shall prepare a 
report which includes--
            ``(1) an estimate of the annual market rent of the 
        leasehold;
            ``(2) a narrative appraisal report of the leasehold which 
        separately identifies the value of the leased fee and the value 
        of the leasehold interest; and
            ``(3) a review of the equity position of the parties to the 
        lease.
    ``(b) Appraisals made under this section shall comply with 
applicable requirements of the Uniform Standards of Professional 
Appraisal Practice, and the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal 
Land Acquisitions.
    ``(c) Contracts required under subsection (a) shall be funded from 
amounts made available to the real estate service budgets of Bureau of 
Indian Affairs regional offices.
    ``(d) A residential lease of restricted Indian lands and the 
corresponding report required under subsection (a) shall be made 
available to the public not later than 2 weeks after the date that the 
lease is approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
    ``(e)(1) If a dispute arises regarding a residential lease of 
restricted Indian lands, the lessee, the lessor, or the Secretary of 
the Interior may elect to submit the dispute to binding arbitration.
    ``(2) An arbitration under this subsection shall be heard by an 
arbitration board consisting of--
            ``(A) one member selected by the lessee;
            ``(B) one member selected by the lessor; and
            ``(C) one member agreed upon by the members selected 
        pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B). If the members selected 
        pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) are unable to agree upon 
        a third member within 20 days after selection of the second 
        member, the senior judge of the Federal District Court for the 
        district where the leased premises are located shall select the 
        third member.
    ``(3) The administrative costs of an arbitration under this 
subsection shall be shared equally by the lessee and the lessor.
    ``(f) Prior to approving a residential lease or the assignment of a 
residential lease of restricted Indian lands, the Secretary of the 
Interior shall ensure that all applicable State laws relating to 
disclosure on real estate transactions have been complied with, 
including disclosure of the nature and amount of any present or 
proposed assessments or taxes.
    ``(g) A report by an independent MAI appraiser is not necessary for 
periodic review purposes when the rent is adjusted on the basis of the 
Consumer Price Index or other nationally recognized economic index.
    ``(h) For purposes of this section `MAI appraiser' means a person 
who holds a current general membership designation from the Appraisal 
Institute.

SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect on the first day of the first fiscal 
year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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