[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2155 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2155

 To provide restitution of the economic potential lost to communities 
   dependent on Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico due to 
   inadequate implementation of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 10, 1998

 Mr. Bingaman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide restitution of the economic potential lost to communities 
   dependent on Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico due to 
   inadequate implementation of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Deal for Northern New Mexico of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE, DEFINITIONS AND FINDINGS.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to create a mechanism for 
the settlement of Spanish and Mexican land grant claims in New Mexico 
as claimed under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
    (b) Definitions.--For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Treaty of guadalupe-hidalog.--The term ``Treaty of 
        Guadalupe-Hidalogo'' means the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, 
        Limits, and Settlement (Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo), between 
        the United States and the Republic of Mexico, signed February 
        2, 1848 (TS 207; 9 Bevans 791);
            (2) Community land grant.--The term ``community land 
        grant'' means a village, town, settlement, or pueblo consisting 
        of land held in common (accompanied by lesser private 
        allotments) by three or more families under a grant from the 
        King of Spain (or his representative) before the effective date 
        of the Treaty of Cordova, August 24, 1821, or from the 
        authorities of the Republic of Mexico before May 30, 1848, in 
        what became the State of new Mexico, regardless of the original 
        character of the grant.
            (3) Land grant claim.--The term ``land grant claim'' means 
        a claim of title to land by a community land grant under the 
        terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
            (4) Eligible descendants.--The term ``eligible descendant'' 
        means a descendant of a person who--
                    (A) was a Mexican citizen before the Treaty of 
                Guadalupe-Hidalgo;
                    (B) was a member of a community land grant; and
                    (C) became a United States citizen within ten years 
                after the effective date of the Treaty of Guadalupe-
                Hidalgo, May 30, 1848, pursuant to the terms of the 
                Treaty.
            (5) Settlement committee.--The term ``settlement 
        committee'' refers to committee, or one of the county specific 
        subcommittees as appropriate, authorized in Section 3 of this 
        Act.
            (6) Reconstituted.--The term ``reconstituted,'' with regard 
        to a valid community land grant, means restoration to full 
        status as a municipality with rights properly belonging to a 
        municipality under State law, including the nontaxability of 
        municipal property (common lands) and the right of local self-
        government.
    (c) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) New Mexico has a unique and complex history regarding 
        land ownership due to the substantial number of Spanish and 
        Mexican land grants that were an integral part of the 
        colonization of New Mexico before the United States acquired 
        the area in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
            (2) Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 
        these land grant claims were recognized as valid property 
        claims under United States law.
            (3) Several studies, including the New Mexico Land Grant 
        Series published by the University of New Mexico, have 
        documented that the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in regards to 
        these land grant claims in New Mexico was never well 
        implemented. Whether because of a lack of knowledge of Spanish 
        land law on the part of the judicial system in the then new 
        Territory of New Mexico, whether because of inadequate or 
        conflicting documentation of these claims, or whether it was 
        due to sharp legal practices, many of the former citizens of 
        Mexico, and then new citizens of the United States, lost title 
        to lands that had been guaranteed to them by treaty.
            (4) Following the United States war with Mexico, the 
        economy of the Territory of New Mexico was dependent on the use 
        of land resources, and that held true for much of this century 
        as well. When the land grant claimants lost title to their 
        land, the predominantly Hispanic communities in northern New 
        Mexico lost a keystone to their economy. The effects of this 
        loss have had long lasting economic consequences and are in 
        part the cause that these communities remain some of the 
        poorest in the United States.
            (5) The history of the implementation of the Treaty of 
        Guadalupe-Hidalgo has been a source of continuing controversy 
        for generations and has left a lingering sense of injustice in 
        the communities in northern New Mexico, which has periodically 
        led to armed conflicts.
            (6) The Government of the United States has an obligation 
        to try to find an equitable remedy for the inadequate 
        implementation of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and the 
        consequences that has had on the communities and people of New 
        Mexico. This should be done as expeditiously as possible. 
        However, reconstructing the one hundred and fifty year history 
        of land title claims and transfers in these communities is 
        likely to prove lengthy and costly. In some cases it may never 
        be possible to adequately reconstruct the title history.
            (7) The Secretary of the Interior has had an experience in 
        administratively developing settlement packages to resolve 
        large and complex Tribal water rights claims as an alternative 
        to lengthy and expensive litigation. This experience may be 
        invaluable in resolving the large, complex, and sometimes 
        conflicting Spanish and Mexican land grant claims in northern 
        New Mexico.
            (8) The history of colonial Spanish America, the system of 
        land distribution under Spanish and Mexican law, and the 
        subsequent impacts to that system following the transfer of 
        territory from Mexico to the United States under the Treaty of 
        Guadalupe-Hidalgo is a requisite body of knowledge in 
        determining an appropriate settlement of land grant claims. It 
        is also an integral part of the national history and culture of 
        the United States of America and, as such, deserves formal 
recognition and interpretation by our institutions of historical 
preservation.

SEC. 3. CREATION OF SETTLEMENT COMMITTEES.

    (a) Within one hundred and eighty (180) days of enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of the Interior working through the Bureau of Land 
Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Secretary of 
Agriculture working through the Forest Service are hereby authorized 
and directed to establish a ``Settlement Committee'' to develop 
comprehensive settlements for land grant claims on a county by county 
basis.
    (b) The Settlement Committee will be comprised of separate 
subcommittees for each county in which there are land grant claims in 
New Mexico.
    (c) Each county subcommittee shall by comprised of seven members 
including:
            (1) a representative of the Secretary of the Interior;
            (2) a representative of the Secretary of Agriculture;
            (3) a representative of the State Commissioner of Public 
        Lands; and
            (4) four residents of the particular county in question. 
        The four county representatives are to be appointed their 
        county commissions: Provided, That in counties with federally 
        recognized Native American Indian Tribes that at least one 
        county representative shall be an enrolled member of a tribe 
        whose reservation pueblo boundaries come within that county: 
        Provided further, That at least one county representative shall 
        be an eligible descendent who is not an enrolled member of a 
        Native American Indian Tribe.
    (d) Each member shall be appointed for the life of the Settlement 
Committee. A vacancy in the Settlement Committee shall be filled in the 
manner in which the original appointment was made.

SEC. 4. SUBMISSION OF LAND GRANT CLAIMS.

    (a) Within ninety (90) days of the creation of the settlement 
committee it shall establish a set of guidelines for the submission of 
land grant claims, and publish these guidelines within papers of 
general circulation in each of the counties in New Mexico.
    (b) Land grant claims must be submitted to the appropriate county 
settlement committee within one year of the publication of the 
guidelines.

SEC. 5. REVIEW AND SETTLEMENT PACKAGE.

    (a) The settlement committee for each county shall review all of 
the submitted claims in the county and, based on the documentation at 
its disposal, make an initial determination concerning their potential 
validity including: possible past conveyances, the accuracy of the 
boundaries of the land claimed, and the number of eligible heirs 
affected.
    (b) Upon completing this review, the settlement committee shall 
develop a proposed settlement package in satisfaction of land grant 
claims within that county. In creating the settlement package, the 
settlement committee shall take into account: the degree of certainty 
with which it has determined that various claims are valid, the 
impacts, including economic and social impacts, that any unfulfilled 
land grant claims may have had on the communities within that county, 
the relative benefits of various settlement options on those 
communities, and whether there is a legal entity that can accept 
settlement. The elements of a proposed settlement package may include, 
but are not limited to:
            (1) restoration of lands to a given land grant community or 
        communities;
            (2) reconstitution of a given land grant community or 
        communities;
            (3) the setting aside of certain lands for communal use for 
        fuel wood, building materials, hunting, recreation, etc. These 
        lands could be set aside as special managerial units within 
        existing Federal land management agencies or transferred to 
        local county, tribal, or municipal, governments;
            (4) trust funds for scholarships or home and business 
        loans; or
            (5) land for commercial use with the proceeds to be 
        deposited into the trust funds.
    (c) The settlement committee shall complete its review and proposed 
settlement package within three years of the deadline for submission of 
land grant claims under this Act, and submit them in a report to the 
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate 
Committee on Indian Affairs, and to the House Resources Committee. Any 
proposal that requires action by the government of the State of New 
Mexico shall be submitted to the Governor, to the Speaker of the State 
House of Representatives, and to the President Pro Tem of the State 
Senate for New Mexico.

SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION OF THE SETTLEMENT COMMITTEE.

    (a) To complete its tasks the settlement committee may use a 
variety of methods to gather information and to build community 
consensus on the form of a proposed settlement package, including: the 
use of town meetings, holding formal hearings, the solicitation of 
written comments, and the use of mediators trained in alternative 
dispute resolution methods. The settlement committee is also authorized 
to hire consultants as it may choose for historical, economic, and 
legal analysis. In its efforts to develop a consensus on a settlement 
package, the Settlement Committee is not subject to the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (Public Law 92-462; 5 U.S.C. Ap. 2 Sec. 1).
    (b) Gifts, Bequests, and Devises.--The Settlement Committee may 
accept, use, and dispose of gifts, bequests, or devises of services or 
property, both real and personal, for the purpose of aiding or 
facilitating the work of the Settlement Committee. Gifts, bequests, or 
devises of money and proceeds from sales of other property received as 
gifts, bequests, or devises shall be deposited in the Treasury 
and shall be available for disbursement upon order of the Settlement 
Committee. For purposes of the Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, 
property accepted under this subsection shall be considered as a gift, 
bequest, or devise to the United States.
    (c) Administrative Support Services.--Upon the request of the 
Settlement Committee, the Administrator of General Services shall 
provide to the Settlement Committee, on a reimbursable basis, the 
administrative support services necessary for the Settlement Committee 
to carry out its responsibilities under this Act.
    (d) Immunity.--The Settlement Committee is an agency of the United 
States for the purpose of part V of title 18, United States Code 
(relating to the immunity of witnesses).
    (e) Compensation.--Members of the Settlement Committee shall each 
be entitled to receive the daily equivalent of level V of the Executive 
Schedule for each day (including travel time) during which they are 
engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in the Settlement 
Committee.

SEC. 7. SPANISH LAND GRANT STUDY PROGRAM.

    (a) The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Settlement 
Committee working in conjunction with the University of New Mexico, and 
Highlands University shall establish a Spanish Land Grant Study program 
with a research archive at the Onate Center in Alcalde, New Mexico. 
This program shall be designed to meet the requirements of the 
Smithsonian Institution's Affiliated Institutions Program.
    (b) The purposes of the Spanish Land Grant Study Program are to 
assist the Settlement Committee in the performance of its activities 
under section 5, and to archive and interpret the history of land 
distribution in the southwestern United States under Spanish and 
Mexican law, and the changes to this land distribution system following 
the transfer of territory from Mexico to the United States under the 
terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848.

SEC. 8. TERMINATION.

    The Settlement Committee shall terminate on 180 days after 
submitting its final report to Congress under section 5.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 1999 through 2003 for the purpose of carrying out the 
activities of the Settlement Committee created in section 3, and the 
Spanish Land Grant Study Program created in section 7.
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