[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2022 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2022

 To provide for the development of remedies to resolve unmet community 
                    land grant claims in New Mexico.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 2, 2000

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the development of remedies to resolve unmet community 
                    land grant claims in New Mexico.

    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 ``New Mexico Community Land Grant 
Reivew Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE, DEFINITIONS, AND FINDINGS.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide for the 
development of potential remedies to resolve unmet obligations by the 
United States with regard to community land grant claims in New Mexico 
under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
    (b) Definitions.--As used in this Act:
            (1) Treaty of guadalupe-hidalgo.--The term ``Treaty of 
        Guadalupe-Hidalgo'' 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, with the amending Protocol of Queretaro signed May 26, 
        1848; entered into force on May 30, 1948 (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 to land owned by a community land grant.
            (4) GAO.--The term ``GAO'' means the United States General 
        Accounting Office.
    (c) Findings.--The Congress finds:
            (1) New Mexico has a unique and complex history regarding 
        land ownership due to the substantial number of land grants 
        awarded by the King of Spain and the Republic of Mexico as an 
        integral part of the colonization of New Mexico prior to the 
        takeover of the area by the United States under the Treaty of 
        Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
            (2) Under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the United 
        States agreed to respect valid land grants claims.
            (3) Several studies, including the New Mexico Land Grant 
        Series published by the University of New Mexico, have called 
        into question whether the United States has fulfilled its 
        obligations under the Treaty. There continue to be claims that 
        citizens of the United States were illegally deprived of the 
        property rights protected by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 
        through the actions of the Office of the Surveyor General 
        established in 1854, the Court of Private Land Claims 
        established in 1891, and the Territory of New Mexico.
            (4) There was a remarkable difference in outcomes between 
        the land claims adjudications in the State of California, where 
        approximately 73 percent of the claimed acreage was confirmed, 
        and the former Territory of New Mexico, where only 24 percent 
        of the claimed acreage was confirmed. This difference in 
        outcomes raises serious questions as to whether adjudications 
        in New Mexico were equitably and fairly administered.
            (5) Following the United States war with Mexico and for 
        much of this century, the economy of New Mexico was dependent 
        on land resources. When the land grant claimants lost title to 
        their land, the predominantly Hispanic communities in New 
        Mexico lost a keystone to their economy, and the effects of 
        this loss had long lasting economic consequences for these 
        communities.
            (6) Whether the United States failed to meet its 
        obligations under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo has been a 
        source of continuing controversy and has left a lingering sense 
        of injustice in some communities in New Mexico over the last 
        one-hundred and fifty years.
            (7) This issue, which regards the integrity of the United 
        States with regards to its international commitments and its 
        commitments to its citizenry, must be resolved.
            (8) The GAO has been requested to review how the United 
        States implemented the provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe-
        Hidalgo which pertain to the protection of community land grant 
        claims New Mexico, and to provide a report to the Congress and 
        the President by December 31, 2002, which includes an 
        assessment of whether the procedures established by the United 
        States to implement the treaty appear to have been adequate, 
        and whether the community land grants claims appear to have 
        been equitably adjudicated.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF REMEDY RECOMMENDATIONS AND PRESIDENTIAL 
              PROPOSAL.

    If the GAO concludes, in the report to Congress and the President 
described in section (2)(c)(8) of this Act, that the obligations of the 
United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo regarding the 
protection of the community land grant rights do not appear to have 
been met, the Department of Justice shall prepare for the President a 
list of alternative methods to remedy the problem. The President shall 
then submit to Congress recommendations to resolve these claims within 
six months of the submission of the GAO report. In no event shall these 
recommendations include the divestiture of private property rights.
                                 <all>