[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4255 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4255

 To convey certain submerged lands to the Commonwealth of the Northern 
 Mariana Islands in order to give that territory the same benefits in 
  its submerged lands as Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa 
                     have in their submerged lands.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 2005

 Mr. Flake (for himself, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Fortuno, Mrs. Christensen, 
    Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Burton of Indiana, and Mr. 
Faleomavaega) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To convey certain submerged lands to the Commonwealth of the Northern 
 Mariana Islands in order to give that territory the same benefits in 
  its submerged lands as Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa 
                     have in their submerged lands.

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

SECTION 1. CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN SUBMERGED LANDS TO THE COMMONWEALTH OF 
              THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.

    The first section of Public Law 93-435 (48 U.S.C. 1705) is 
amended--
            (1) in the second sentence of subsection (b), by inserting 
        ``the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,'' after 
        ``Guam,'' each place it appears; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e)(1) Subject to valid existing rights, all right, title, and 
interest of the United States in lands permanently or periodically 
covered by tidal waters up to but not above the line of mean high tide 
and seaward to a line 3 geographical miles distant from the coastline 
of the territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
(as modified before, on, or after the date of enactment of this 
subsection by accretion, erosion, or reliction, or in artificially 
made, filled in, or reclaimed lands that were formerly permanently or 
periodically covered by tidal waters) are conveyed to the Government of 
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to be administered in 
trust for the benefit of the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands.
    ``(2) The conveyance shall be subject to subsections (b), (c), and 
(d) except that each reference to the `date of enactment of this Act' 
in those clauses shall (for the purposes of this subsection) be 
considered to be a reference to the date of enactment of this 
subsection.''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF PUBLIC LAW 93-435.

    Public Law 93-435 (48 U.S.C. 1705 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section:

``SEC. 7. CONSISTENT APPLICATION.

    ``This Act is intended to be applied in a consistent manner to 
Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, except to the extent that there is a specific 
and express exception in this Act regarding its application to one or 
more of these territories.''.
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