[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1797 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1797

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, to provide for a land 
    conveyance to the City of Craig, Alaska, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 26, 1999

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, to provide for a land 
    conveyance to the City of Craig, Alaska, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
    Findings.--Congress finds and declares that:
            The Alaska Statehood Act of 1959 (sec. 6(a)) granted 
        400,000 acres of national forest land to the State of Alaska 
        for the purpose of furthering development of and expansion of 
        communities. In 1969, the State of Alaska selected 17,040 acres 
        of this Federal land grant at the City of Craig's request, but 
        this and other selections were not approved by the U.S. Forest 
        Service.
            On December 18, 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
        Act (ANCSA) was enacted to settle outstanding Native aboriginal 
        claims to lands in the State of Alaska. The settlement included 
        the direction to convey certain lands to Alaska Native village 
        corporations located in Southeast Alaska. These conveyances 
        included all of the public land selected around the City of 
        Craig by the State of Alaska in 1969.
            Pursuant to ANCSA, the Federal Government conveyed 3,960 
        acres of public land within the City of Craig, and all public 
        land surrounding the community, to two Native village 
        corporations. These adjoining conveyances occupy 93 percent of 
        the 4,258 acres within Craig's city limits. Outside of the 
        existing 200-acre Craig townsite, no other land within 10 miles 
        of the Craig city limits has been available for selection under 
        the Alaska Statehood Act of 1959.
            In the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act 
        (ANILCA), Congress exempted Native corporations from municipal 
        taxation of their underdeveloped land, and added a tax 
        recapture provision (43 U.S.C.A. sec. 1636(d)(5)) which acts as 
        a further disincentive to development of Native village 
        corporation land.
            Under the Alaska State law, incorporated municipalities are 
        entitled to a share of available State land within their 
        corporate limits. However, the passage of ANCSA and a set of 
        circumstances experienced by no other municipality in Alaska, 
        which includes Federal land conveyances to two adjoining Native 
        village corporations, has prevented the City of Craig from 
        acquiring a State land entitlement.
            Since 1971, the City of Craig has grown from a population 
        of 250 people to nearly 2,500 people and its demographics has 
        changed making it difficult for Craig to qualify for many 
        programs enacted by Congress to provide assistance to villages 
        with a majority of Alaska Native populations.
            Tax provisions of Federal law and Federal land conveyances 
        have had the unintended effect of preventing the City of Craig 
        from exercising its governmental powers to tax 93 percent of 
        the land within the municipality, and to receive any of the 
        Federal land grant promised at Alaska statehood for community 
        expansion and development.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Craig Municipal Equity Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION TO CONVEY LANDS.

    (a) General.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall, subject to valid 
existing rights, convey to the City of Craig all Federal interests in 
lands identified in subsection (b).
    (b) Legal Description.--Control Lake/Big Salt Lake Road Corridor:
            All Federal land in the following described protracted and 
        partially surveyed townships in the Copper River Meridian, 
        Alaska:

                     copper river meridian, alaska

            T. 71 S., R. 81 E.
                    Section 24, E\1/2\;
                    Section 25, E\1/2\, S\1/2\SW\1/4\;
                    Section 36.
    Containing 1360 acres, more or less.
            T. 71 S., R. 82 E.
                    Section 19, S\1/2\SW\1/4\;
                    Section 29, W\1/4\NW\1/4\, N\1/2\SW\1/4\;
                    Section 30, All;
                    Section 31, All.
    Containing 1500 acres, more or less.
            T. 72 S., R. 82 E.
                    Section 5, SW\1/4\NW\1/4\, W\1/2\, SW\1/4\;
                    Section 6, All;
                    Section 7, NE\1/4\NE\1/4\;
                    Section 8, W\1/2\, SW\1/4\SE\1/4\;
                    Section 17, NW\1/4\NW\1/4\, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, NE\1/
                4\SW\1/4\, W\1/2\NE\1/4\, NW\1/4\SE\1/4\, S\1/2\SE\1/
                4\;
                    Section 20, NE\1/4\.
    Containing 1672 acres, more or less.
    Aggregating 4532 acres, more or less.
    (c) Timing of Conveyance and Providing for the Establishment of an 
Escrow Account.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall convey the land 
mandated by subsection (a) within ninety (90) days after the date of 
enactment of this Act. The Secretary shall establish an escrow account 
to hold any and all proceeds derived on or after the date of enactment 
of this Act from contracts, leases, permits, rights-of-way or easements 
pertaining to the land to be conveyed, and provide for disbursement of 
those funds, plus interest, to the City of Craig when the land is 
conveyed.
    (d) Timber, Manufacturing; Export Restriction.--Notwithstanding any 
other provisions of law, timber harvested from land conveyed to the 
City of Craig under this section shall not be exported as unprocessed 
logs from Alaska, nor may the City of Craig sell, trade, exchange, 
substitute, or otherwise convey that timber to any person for the 
purpose of exporting that timber from the State of Alaska.
    (e) Relation to Other Requirements.--Notwithstanding any other 
provisions of law, the land conveyed to the City of Craig under this 
section shall be considered in lieu of land not conveyed at statehood 
for the purpose of furthering development of and expansion of the City 
of Craig. This grant is not subject to the provisions of the Alaska 
Statehood Act, nor does it limit or restrict the State of Alaska's land 
entitlement under that Act.
    (f) Maps.--The maps referred to in this section shall be maintained 
on file in the Office of the Chief, United States Forest Service, and 
in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Washington, DC. The 
acreage cited in this section is approximate, and if there is any 
discrepancy between cited acreage and the land depicted on the 
specified maps, the maps shall control. The maps do not constitute an 
attempt by the United States to convey State of Alaska or private land.
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