[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2000 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  2d Session

                               H. R. 2000

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

   To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to make certain 
 clarifications to the land bank protection provisions, and for other 
                               purposes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2000

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
   To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to make certain 
 clarifications to the land bank protection provisions, 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. AUTOMATIC LAND BANK PROTECTION.

    (a) Lands Received in Exchange From Certain Federal Agencies.--The 
matter preceding clause (i) of section 907(d)(1)(A) of the Alaska 
National Interest Lands Conservation Act (43 U.S.C. 1636(d)(1)(A)) is 
amended by inserting ``or conveyed to a Native Corporation pursuant to 
an exchange authorized by section 22(f) of Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act or section 1302(h) of this Act or other applicable law'' 
after ``Settlement Trust''.
    (b) Lands Exchanged Among Native Corporations.--Section 
907(d)(2)(B) of such Act (43 U.S.C. 1636(d)(2)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (ii);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of clause (iii) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(iv) lands or interest in lands shall not be considered 
        developed or leased or sold to a third party as a result of an 
        exchange or conveyance of such land or interest in land between 
        or among Native Corporations and trusts, partnerships, 
        corporations, or joint ventures, whose beneficiaries, partners, 
        shareholders, or joint venturers are Native Corporations.''.
    (c) Actions by Trustee Serving Pursuant to Agreement of Native 
Corporations.--Section 907(d)(3)(B) of such Act (43 U.S.C. 
1636(d)(3)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of clause (i);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of clause (ii) and 
        inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(iii) to actions by any trustee whose right, title, or 
        interest in land or interests in land arises pursuant to an 
        agreement between or among Native Corporations and trusts, 
        partnerships, or joint ventures whose beneficiaries, partners, 
        shareholders, or joint venturers are Native Corporations.''.

SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT BY THIRD-PARTY TRESPASSERS.

    Section 907(d)(2)(A)(i) of the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act (43 U.S.C. 1636(d)(2)(A)(i)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``Any such modification shall be performed 
        by the Native individual or Native Corporation.'' after 
        ``substantial modification.'';
            (2) by inserting a period after ``developed state'' the 
        second place it appears; and
            (3) by adding ``Any lands previously developed by third-
        party trespassers shall not be considered to have been 
        developed.''.

SEC. 3. RETAINED MINERAL ESTATE.

    (a) In General.--Section 12(c)(4) of the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1611(c)(4)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) as 
        subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively, and by inserting after 
        subparagraph (B) the following new subparagraphs:
            ``(C) Where such public lands are surrounded by or 
        contiguous to subsurface lands obtained by a Regional 
        Corporation under subsections (a) or (b), the Corporation may, 
        upon request, have such public land conveyed to it.
            ``(D)(i) A Regional Corporation which elects to obtain 
        public lands under subparagraph (C) shall be limited to a total 
        of not more than 12,000 acres. Selection by a Regional 
        Corporation of in lieu surface acres under subparagraph (E) 
        pursuant to an election under subparagraph (C) shall not be 
        made from any lands within a conservation system unit (as that 
        term is defined by section 102(4) of the Alaska National 
        Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3102(4)).
            ``(ii) An election to obtain the public lands described in 
        subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) shall include all available 
        parcels within the township in which the public lands are 
        located.
            ``(iii) For purposes of this subparagraph and subparagraph 
        (C), the term `Regional Corporation' shall refer only to Doyon, 
        Limited.''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (E) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``(A) or (B)'' and inserting ``(A), (B), or (C)''.
    (b) Failure to Appeal Not Prohibitive.--Section 12(c) of the Alaska 
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1611(c)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
            ``(5) Subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (4) 
        shall apply, notwithstanding the failure of the Regional 
        Corporation to have appealed the rejection of a selection 
        during the conveyance of the relevant surface estate.''.

SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO PUBLIC LAW 102-415.

    Section 20 of the Alaska Land Status Technical Corrections Act of 
1992 (106 Stat. 2129), is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection:
    ``(h) Establishment of the account under subsection (b) and 
conveyance of land under subsection (c), if any, shall be treated as 
though 3,520 acres of land had been conveyed to Gold Creek under 
section 14(h)(2) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act for which 
rights to subsurface estate are hereby provided to CIRI. Within 1 year 
from the date of the enactment of this subsection, CIRI shall select 
3,520 acres of subsurface estate in land from the area designated for 
selection by paragraph I.B.(2)(b) of the document identified in section 
12(b) (referring to the Talkeetna Mountains) of the Act of January 2, 
1976 (43 U.S.C. 1611 note). Not more than five selections shall be made 
under this subsection, each of which shall be reasonably compact and in 
whole sections, except when separated by unavailable land or when the 
remaining entitlement is less than a whole section.''.

SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION ON TREATMENT OF BONDS FROM A NATIVE CORPORATION.

    Section 29(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
1626(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting ``and on bonds 
        received from a Native Corporation'' after ``from a Native 
        Corporation''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting ``or bonds issued by 
        a Native Corporation which bonds shall be subject to the 
        protection of section 7(h) until voluntarily and expressly sold 
        or pledged by the shareholder subsequent to the date of 
        distribution'' before the semicolon.

SEC. 6. CALISTA NATIVE CORPORATION LAND EXCHANGE.

    (a) Congressional Findings.--Congress finds and declares that--
            (1) the land exchange authorized by section 8126 of Public 
        Law 102-172 should be implemented without further delay;
            (2) the Calista Corporation, the Native Regional 
        Corporation organized under the authority of the Alaska Native 
        Claims Settlement Act for the Yupik Eskimos of Southwestern 
        Alaska, which includes the majority of the Yukon Delta National 
        Wildlife Refuge--
                    (A) has responsibilities provided for by the Alaska 
                Native Claims Settlement Act to help address social, 
                cultural, economic, health, subsistence, and related 
                issues within the region and among its villages, 
                including the viability of the villages themselves, 
                many of which are remote and isolated; and
                    (B) has been unable to fully carry out such 
                responsibilities;
            (3) the implementation of the exchange referenced in this 
        subsection is essential to helping Calista utilize its assets 
        to carry out those responsibilities and to realize the benefits 
        of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act;
            (4) the parties to the exchange have been unable to reach 
        agreement on the valuation of the lands and interests in lands 
        to be conveyed to the United States under section 8126 of 
        Public Law 102-172; and
            (5) in light of the foregoing, it is appropriate and 
        necessary in this unique situation that Congress authorize and 
        direct the implementation of this exchange as set forth in this 
        section in furtherance of the purposes and underlying goals of 
        the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the Alaska National 
        Interest Lands Conservation Act.
    (b) Land Exchange Implementation.--Section 8126 of Public Law 102-
172 (105 Stat. 1206) is amended to read as follows:
    ``Sec. 8126. (a)(1) In exchange for lands, partial estates, and 
land selection rights identified in the document entitled `The Calista 
Conveyance and Relinquishment Document', dated October 28, 1991, as 
amended September 22, 1998 (hereinafter referred to as `CCRD'), the 
United States will establish a property account for the Calista 
Corporation, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of 
Alaska, in the amount identified in the CCRD, and in accordance with 
the provisions of this Act.
    ``(2) The CCRD contains the land descriptions of the lands and 
interests in lands to be conveyed, the selections to be relinquished, 
the charges to entitlement, the quantity and class of entitlement to be 
transferred to the United States, the terms of the Kuskokwim 
Corporation Conservation Easement, and the amount that is authorized 
for the property account.
    ``(3) The covenants, terms, and conditions to be used in any 
transfers to the United States described in the CCRD shall be binding 
on the United States and the participating Native corporations and 
shall be a matter of Federal law.
    ``(b)(1) The aggregate values of such lands and interests in lands, 
together with compensation for the considerations set forth in 
congressional findings concerning the Calista Region and its villages, 
shall be the sum provided in section IX of the CCRD. The amounts 
credited to the property account described in this subsection shall not 
be subject to adjustment for minor changes in acreage resulting from 
preparation or correction of the land descriptions in the CCRD or the 
exclusion of any small tracts of land as a result of hazardous material 
surveys. The Secretary of the Interior shall maintain an accounting of 
the lands and interests in lands remaining to be conveyed or 
relinquished by Calista Corporation and the participating village 
corporations pursuant to this section. The Secretary of the Treasury on 
October 1, 1998, shall establish a property account on behalf of 
Calista Corporation.
    ``(2) The account shall be credited and available for use as 
provided in paragraph (4), according to the following schedule of 
percentages of the amount in section IX of the CCRD:
            ``(A) On October 1, 1999, and on October 1 of each year 
        thereafter through October 1, 2005, the amount equal to 12.69 
        percent.
            ``(B) On October 1, 2007, the amount equal to 11.17 
        percent.
    ``(3)(A) Unless otherwise authorized by law, the aggregate amount 
of all credits to the account, pursuant to the schedule set forth in 
paragraph (2), shall be equal to the amount in section IX of the CCRD.
    ``(B) All amounts credited to the account shall be from amounts in 
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated and shall be available for 
expenditure without further appropriation and without fiscal year 
limitation.
    ``(4) The property account may not be used until all conveyances, 
relinquishments of selections, and adjustments to entitlements 
described in the CCRD have been made to and accepted by the United 
States. The Secretary of the Interior shall notify the Secretary of the 
Treasury when all requirements of the preceding sentence have been met. 
Immediately thereafter the Secretary of the Treasury shall comply with 
his duties under this paragraph including the computations of the 
amount in the account, the amount that may be expended in any 
particular Federal fiscal year, and the balance of the account after 
any transaction. The property account may be used in the same manner as 
any other property account held by any other Alaska Native Corporation.
    ``(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Calista 
Corporation on its own behalf or on behalf of the village corporations 
identified in the CCRD, may assign any or all of the account upon 
written notification to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary 
of the Interior.
    ``(6) The Secretary of the Treasury shall notify the Secretary of 
the Interior and Calista whenever there is a reduction in the property 
account, the purpose for such reduction and the remaining balance in 
the account. The Alaska State Office of the Bureau of Land Management 
shall be the official repository of such notices.
    ``(7) For the purpose of the determination of the applicability of 
section 7(i) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
1606(i)) to revenues generated pursuant to that section, such revenues 
shall be calculated in accordance with section IX of the CCRD.
    ``(8) The United States shall not be liable for the redistribution 
of benefits by the Calista Corporation to the participating Alaska 
Native village corporations pursuant to this section.
    ``(9) These transactions are not based on appraised property values 
and therefore shall not be used as a precedent for establishing 
property values.
    ``(10) Prior to the issuance of any conveyance documents or 
relinquishments and acceptance, the Secretary of the Interior and the 
participating Native corporations may, by mutual agreement, modify the 
legal descriptions included in the CCRD to correct clerical errors.
    ``(11) Property located in the State of Alaska that is purchased by 
use of the property account shall be considered and treated as 
conveyances of land selections under the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).
    ``(12) The conveyance of lands, partial estates and land selection 
rights and relinquishment or adjustments to entitlement made by the 
Alaska Native Corporations pursuant to this section and the use of the 
property account in the Treasury shall be treated as the receipt of 
land or any interest therein or cash in order to equalize the values of 
properties exchanged pursuant to section 22(f) of the Alaska Native 
Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1621(f)) as provided in the first 
sentence in section 21(c) of that Act (43 U.S.C. 1620(c)).
    ``(13) With respect to the content of the CCRD, the Secretary of 
the Interior, the Calista Regional Corporation, and the participating 
village corporations agree upon the lands, interests in lands, 
relinquishments and adjustments to entitlement described therein that 
may be offered to the United States pursuant to this section. These 
parties also agree with the amounts to be made available in the 
property account once all conveyances and relinquishments are 
completed, and the parties agree with the needs set forth in the 
congressional findings in section 6(a) of the ANCSA Land Bank 
Protection Act of 1998. The parties do not necessarily agree on the 
hortatory statements, descriptions, and attributions of resource values 
which are included in the CCRD as drafted by Calista. But such 
disagreements will not affect the implementation of this section.
    ``(14) Descriptions of resource values provided for surface lands 
which are not offered in the exchange and will remain privately owned 
by village corporations form no part of the consideration for the 
exchange.''.

SEC. 7. MINING CLAIMS.

    Paragraph (3) of section 22(c) of the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1621(c)) is amended--
            (1) by striking out ``regional corporation'' each place it 
        appears and inserting in lieu thereof ``Regional Corporation''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following: ``The provisions of 
        this section shall apply to Haida Corporation and the Haida 
        Traditional Use Sites, which shall be treated as a Regional 
        Corporation for the purposes of this paragraph, except that any 
        revenues remitted to Haida Corporation under this section shall 
        not be subject to distribution pursuant to section 7(i) of this 
        Act.''.

SEC. 8. SALE, DISPOSITION, OR OTHER USE OF COMMON VARIETIES OF SAND, 
              GRAVEL, STONE, PUMICE, PEAT, CLAY, OR CINDER RESOURCES.

    Subsection (i) of section 7 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(i)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Seventy per centum'' and inserting ``(A) 
        Except as provided by subparagraph (B), seventy percent''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) In the case of the sale, disposition, or other use of common 
varieties of sand, gravel, stone, pumice, peat, clay, or cinder 
resources made during a fiscal year ending after the date of enactment 
of this subparagraph, the revenues received by a Regional Corporation 
shall not be subject to division under subparagraph (A). Nothing in 
this subparagraph is intended to or shall be construed to alter the 
ownership of such sand, gravel, stone, pumice, peat, clay, or cinder 
resources.''.

SEC. 9. ALASKA NATIVE ALLOTMENT APPLICATIONS.

    Section 905(a) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1634(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(7) Paragraph (1) of this subsection and subsection (d) shall 
apply, and paragraph (5) of this subsection shall cease to apply, to an 
application--
            ``(A) that is open and pending on the date of enactment of 
        this paragraph;
            ``(B) if the lands described in the application are in 
        Federal ownership other than as a result of reacquisition by 
        the United States after January 3, 1959; and
            ``(C) if any protest which is filed by the State of Alaska 
        pursuant to paragraph (5)(B) with respect to the application is 
        withdrawn or dismissed either before, on, or after the date of 
        the enactment of this paragraph.
    ``(8)(A) Any allotment application which is open and pending and 
which is legislatively approved by enactment of paragraph (7) shall, 
when allotted, be made subject to any easement, trail, or right-of-way 
in existence on the date of the Native allotment applicant's 
commencement of use and occupancy.
    ``(B) The jurisdiction of the Secretary is extended to make any 
factual determinations required to carry out this paragraph.''.

SEC. 10. VISITOR SERVICES.

    Paragraph (1) of section 1307(b) of the Alaska National Interest 
Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3197(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Native Corporation'' and inserting 
        ``Native Corporations''; and
            (2) by striking ``is most directly affected'' and inserting 
        ``are most directly affected''.

SEC. 11. LOCAL HIRE REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall transmit to 
Congress a report.
    (b) Local Hire.--The report required by subsection (a) shall--
            (1) indicate the actions taken in carrying out subsection 
        (b) of section 1308 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 
        Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3198);
            (2) address the recruitment processes that may restrict 
        employees hired under subsection (a) of such section from 
        successfully obtaining positions in the competitive service; 
        and
            (3) describe the actions of the Secretary of the Interior 
        in contracting with Alaska Native Corporations to provide 
        services with respect to public lands in Alaska.
    (c) Cooperation.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall cooperate with 
the Secretary of the Interior in carrying out this section with respect 
to the Forest Service.

SEC. 12. SHAREHOLDER BENEFITS.

    Section 7 of the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
1606) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(r) Benefits for Shareholders or Immediate Families.--The 
authority of a Native Corporation to provide benefits to its 
shareholders who are Natives or descendants of Natives or to its 
shareholders' immediate family members who are Natives or descendants 
of Natives to promote the health, education, or welfare of such 
shareholders or family members is expressly authorized and confirmed. 
Eligibility for such benefits need not be based on share ownership in 
the Native Corporation and such benefits may be provided on a basis 
other than pro rata based on share ownership.''.

SEC. 13. SHAREHOLDER HOMESITE PROGRAM.

    Section 39(b)(1)(B) of the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act (43 
U.S.C. 1629e(b)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting after ``settlor 
corporation'' the following: ``or the land is conveyed for a homesite 
by the Trust to a beneficiary of the Trust who is also a legal resident 
under Alaska law of the Native village of the settlor corporation and 
the conveyance does not exceed 1.5 acres''.

SEC. 14. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``ANCSA Land Bank Protection Act of 
1998''.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 23, 1998.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.