[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5617 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5617

    To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide an 
   equitable distribution of land to the 13th Alaska Native Regional 
                              Corporation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 14, 2006

    Mr. Young of Alaska (for himself and Mr. Dicks) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide an 
   equitable distribution of land to the 13th Alaska Native Regional 
                              Corporation.

    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 ``13th Regional Corporation Land 
Entitlement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that authorizing a land entitlement 
for the 13th Regional Corporation would provide an equitable land 
entitlement for that Corporation.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide an equitable 
distribution of land for the shareholders of the 13th Regional 
Corporation.

SEC. 3. LAND ENTITLEMENT.

    The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 43. THE 13TH REGIONAL CORPORATION LAND ENTITLEMENT.

    ``(a) Entitlement.--Not later than 7 years after the date of the 
enactment of the 13th Regional Corporation Land Entitlement Act, the 
13th Regional Corporation may select, subject to subsections (b) and 
(c), not more than 1,453,388 acres from public lands which were 
withdrawn by the Secretary for selection, or were otherwise available 
for selection, but which were not selected by, or if selected not 
conveyed to, the State of Alaska, another Regional Corporation, a 
Village Corporation, or a Group Corporation. Any withdrawal eligible 
for selection under this subsection which will expire prior to the end 
of the seven-year selection period for the 13th Regional Corporation 
shall be extended to the end of the selection period provided by this 
subsection. Prior to making each selection, the 13th Regional 
Corporation shall consult with and solicit the comments of the Regional 
Corporation for the geographical region within which the selection is 
located.
    ``(b) Approval.--No selection may be made within the geographical 
region of any Regional Corporation under subsection (a) without the 
prior written approval of such Regional Corporation. Approval may be 
withheld or conditioned in the reasonable judgment of the Regional 
Corporation, including without limitation because of interest by the 
Regional Corporation in pursuing a land exchange involving the lands to 
be selected, the potential for economic harm to the Regional 
Corporation, its shareholders or Village Corporations or Group 
Corporations within the geographical region, environmental 
considerations, impacts on subsistence activities, the presence of 
Native owned cabins or campsites on or near the lands to be selected, 
the need for access to or across the lands to be selected for 
transportation, pipelines or economic activities, or the availability 
of sand and gravel or other minerals or substances valuable for 
economic activity within the geographical region. Approval may not be 
conditioned upon the payment of economic consideration by the 13th 
Regional Corporation except to the extent of economic harm anticipated 
in the reasonable judgment of the Regional Corporation to the Regional 
Corporation, its shareholders or Village Corporations or Group 
Corporations within the geographical region.
    ``(c) Conveyances; Limitations; Restrictions.--
            ``(1) Conveyances.--Subject to the limitations in 
        paragraphs (2) and (3), the Secretary shall convey to the 13th 
        Regional Corporation the surface and subsurface estate of no 
        more than 1,162,710 acres of the lands selected pursuant to 
        subsection (a).
            ``(2) Limitations on conveyances.--
                    ``(A) Previously selected lands.--The 13th Regional 
                Corporation may select, but the Secretary shall not 
                convey, any of the following unless the State of Alaska 
                or any Regional Corporation, Village Corporation, or 
                Group Corporation which made or has the right to make a 
                selection has relinquished its selection or right to 
                make its selection:
                            ``(i) Lands validly selected by, but not 
                        yet conveyed to, the State of Alaska pursuant 
                        to the Alaska Statehood Act or any other 
                        provision of law.
                            ``(ii) Lands validly selected by, but not 
                        yet conveyed to, another Regional Corporation, 
                        a Village Corporation, or a Group Corporation.
                    ``(B) Conditions.--Any selections made by the 13th 
                Regional Corporation that are subject to such valid 
                selections shall be subordinate to those valid 
                selections. Selections are valid if they are on file 
                with the United States and have not been finally 
                adjudicated or all appeal rights from any final 
                adjudication have not lapsed or been exhausted, whether 
                or not such selections are in compliance with all 
                applicable standards, including without limitation time 
                restrictions. Valid selections also include selections 
                for land in excess of the amount of land to which the 
                selecting entity may be entitled.
                    ``(C) Other limitations.--The 13th Regional 
                Corporation may not select, and the Secretary shall not 
                convey the following:
                            ``(i) Any land without the approval of any 
                        Native individual or Native owned or public 
                        entity that owns a partial interest in that 
                        land, which approval may be withheld with or 
                        without reason or cause.
                            ``(ii) Any land that the State of Alaska, a 
                        Regional Corporation, a Village Corporation or 
                        a Group Corporation could select or acquire 
                        through the exercise of statutory or 
                        contractual rights of selection or acquisition, 
                        whether or not those rights have been exercised 
                        or are subject to discretionary actions by 
                        governmental entities, without the approval of 
                        the State of Alaska, Regional Corporation, 
                        Village Corporation or Group Corporation, which 
                        approval may be withheld with or without reason 
                        or cause.
                            ``(iii) Any land within any area withdrawn 
                        for selection pursuant to sections 11 or 14 of 
                        this Act or otherwise withdrawn by the 
                        Secretary for selection if a Village 
                        Corporation or Regional Corporation has 
                        unexercised selection rights or rights to 
                        conveyance in that area without the approval of 
                        the Village Corporation and Regional 
                        Corporation, which approval may be withheld 
                        with or without reason or cause.
            ``(3) Restrictions.--Selected lands which are eligible for 
        conveyance to the 13th Regional Corporation shall be conveyed 
        subject to valid existing rights, in the same manner and 
        subject to the same reservations and restrictions that are 
        applicable to lands selected by and conveyed to other Regional 
        Corporations pursuant to this Act. The lands conveyed to the 
        13th Regional Corporation shall, whenever practicable and 
        consistent with safety considerations, remain available for 
        subsistence uses. Additionally, until the lands conveyed to the 
        13th Regional Corporation are developed, as defined in section 
        907(d) of Public Law 96-487 (43 U.S.C. 1636(d)), they shall be 
        managed under policies consistent with the land management 
        policies applicable to any adjacent Native Corporation owned 
        lands.
    ``(d) Reserved Lands.--The 13th Regional Corporation may not 
select, and the Secretary shall not convey, any of the following:
            ``(1) Lands within any conservation system unit as defined 
        in section 102 of the Alaska National Interest Lands 
        Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.).
            ``(2) Acquired lands.
            ``(3) Lands immediately surrounding any building, permanent 
        structure, or other development owned or controlled by the 
        United States, another unit of government, or any person, 
        including without limitation Native owned cabins or campsites 
        on public lands with or without the permission of the public 
        land owner.
            ``(4) Lands withdrawn or reserved for national defense 
        purposes.
            ``(5) Lands within the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska.
            ``(6) Lands within the Tongass and Chugach National 
        Forests.
    ``(e) Right of First Refusal.--The 13th Regional Corporation shall 
not transfer all or any portion of lands or interests therein that it 
acquires pursuant to this section to a third party without first making 
a written offer to sell that same land or interest therein to the 
Regional Corporation for the geographical region within which the land 
or interest therein is located at the amount (or its cash equivalent) 
offered by the third party who desires to acquire the land or interest 
therein. The following terms shall govern such transfers and offers:
            ``(1) The offer shall be made to the Regional Corporation 
        not less than 30 days before any proposed transfer of such land 
        or interest therein and shall state the price and terms of the 
        proposed sale, and the name and address of both the offerer and 
        offeree.
            ``(2) Not later than 20 days after the receipt of the 
        offer, the Regional Corporation may exercise an option to 
        purchase all, but not less than all, of the land or interest 
        therein that is to be transferred on the terms in the offer or 
        their cash equivalent.
            ``(3) If the Regional Corporation does not purchase all of 
        the land or interest therein to be transferred within the 
        required time, then the 13th Regional Corporation may transfer 
        all of the land or interest therein offered (but not a lesser 
        or greater amount) to the third party specified in the offer, 
        but not for a price less or on terms different from those 
        originally made by the third party. Any land or interest 
        therein not transferred by the 13th Regional Corporation to the 
        specified third party not later than 60 days after making the 
        offer to the Regional Corporation shall again become subject to 
        the restrictions of this subsection as though it had never been 
        offered.
            ``(4) For purposes of this subsection, `transfer' means the 
        sale, transfer, or exchange of land or interests therein for 
        consideration, but does not include an exchange for other land 
        or an interest therein within the state of Alaska pursuant to 
        section 22(f) of this Act or section 1302(h) of the Alaska 
        National Interest Lands and Conservation Act, mineral or other 
        leasing on commercially reasonable terms, or the pledge, 
        encumbrance or grant of a security interest on commercially 
        reasonable terms.''.

SEC. 4. REVENUE SHARING.

    Section 7(i)(1) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 
U.S.C. 1606(i)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1)(A) Except as provided by subparagraph (B), 70 percent 
        of all revenues received by each of the 12 Regional 
        Corporations organized under subsection (a) from the timber and 
        subsurface estate patented to it pursuant to this Act, and 15 
        percent of all revenues received by the 13th Regional 
        Corporation organized under subsection (c) from the timber and 
        subsurface estate patented to it pursuant to the 13th Regional 
        Corporation Land Entitlement Act, shall be divided annually by 
        the Regional Corporation among the 12 Regional Corporations 
        organized pursuant to subsection (a) according to the number of 
        Natives enrolled in each region pursuant to section 5 of this 
        Act. An additional, 10 percent of such revenues received by the 
        13th Regional Corporation, shall be distributed to the Regional 
        Corporation for the geographical region where the resources 
        giving rise to such revenues are located. If the resources 
        developed are on lands originally withdrawn for selection by a 
        Village Corporation, then one-half of the 10 percent paid to 
        the local Regional Corporation shall be distributed by that 
        corporation to the Village Corporation. Revenues distributed by 
        or received from the 13th Regional Corporation are not subject 
        to the requirements of subsections (j), (k), (l), (m), and (n) 
        of this section.
            ``(B) The Regional Corporations, including the 13th 
        Regional Corporation shall determine the revenues required to 
        be distributed pursuant to this subsection in accordance with 
        the section 7(i) Settlement Agreement by and between the 12 
        Regional Corporations created pursuant to subsection (a), as 
        previously or hereafter amended, and shall be bound by the 
        provisions of that Agreement with respect to the revenues they 
        distribute. The 13th Regional Corporation shall be bound by any 
        amendment to the section 7(i) Settlement Agreement unless the 
        amendment is not of general applicability to the other Regional 
        Corporations. Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
        grant the 13th Regional Corporation any rights with respect to 
        any revenues distributed by the 12 Regional Corporations 
        pursuant to section 7(i), or to grant the 13th Regional 
        Corporation the right or power to approve any amendment to the 
        section 7(i) Settlement Agreement.''.
                                 <all>