[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4801 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4801

 To extend the deadlines for distributing certain funds secured by the 
   Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 2006

  Mr. Stupak introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To extend the deadlines for distributing certain funds secured by the 
   Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Michigan Indian Land Claims 
Settlement Act Amendments''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act (Public 
        Law 105-143) (hereafter ``the Act'') provides for the 
        distribution of certain judgment funds awarded by the Indian 
        Claims Commission to certain Ottawa and Chippewa of Michigan in 
        dockets numbered 18-E, 58, 18-R, and 364.
            (2) Under the terms and conditions of the Act, a sizable 
        percentage of those funds have already been distributed to the 
        Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indian, the Bay 
        Mills Indian Community, the Little River Band of Ottawa 
        Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa, and the Sault 
        Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa. The remaining funds are currently 
        being held in trust pending distribution to certain individual 
        descendants of treaty signers, and to certain unrecognized 
        Michigan Ottawa and Chippewa Tribes that obtain Federal 
        acknowledgment or a Federal reaffirmation of the government-to-
        government relationship with the United States prior to the 
        distribution period established in the Act. That distribution 
        period is no earlier than December 15, 2005, and no later than 
        December 15, 2006.
            (3) To qualify for these funds, an unrecognized Michigan 
        Ottawa or Chippewa Tribe must--
                    (A) be a signatory to either the 1836 treaty (7 
                Stat. 391) or the 1855 treaty (11 Stat. 621);
                    (B) have a membership which is predominantly 
                Chippewa and Ottawa;
                    (C) have submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
                a letter of intent to seek Federal acknowledgment not 
                later than July 15, 1998;
                    (D) have submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
                a documented petition for Federal acknowledgment not 
                later than December 15, 2000; and
                    (E) have obtained Federal acknowledgment or 
                reaffirmation by Congress or the Bureau of Indian 
                Affairs prior to the distribution period established in 
                the Act.
            (4) Two Michigan based unrecognized Ottawa and Chippewa 
        Tribes, the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and 
        the Grand River Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, have met 
        the first 5 requirements, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs has 
        not completed its review of the tribes' documented petitions.
            (5) Because neither of those tribes has caused this delay, 
        it would be unfair and unjust to deny either tribe its tribal 
        shares of the funds merely because the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
        has been unable to complete work on the petitions.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to extend the distribution 
dates established in Public Law 105-143 to protect the legal rights of 
those 2 tribes.

SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.

    Section 106(a)(2) of the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act 
is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) Time limitations.--The judgment distribution roll of 
        descendants prepared pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) shall be 
        approved not later than December 15, 2007.''.
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