[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1831 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1831

 To convey certain submerged land to the Commonwealth of the Northern 
                Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 6, 2005

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To convey certain submerged land to the Commonwealth of the Northern 
                Mariana Islands, 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. CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN SUBMERGED LAND 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 
        ``Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,'' after 
        ``Guam,''; 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 land permanently or periodically 
covered by tidal water 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 land that was formerly permanently or 
periodically covered by tidal water) 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.
    ``(2) The conveyance shall be subject to clauses (ii), (iv), (v), 
(vii), (viii), and (ix) of subsection (b) and subsection (c), 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. AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY TO RESOLVE CERTAIN CLAIMS OF THE 
              COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.

    (a) In General.--On the request of the Governor of the Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Secretary of the Interior may 
settle any claim of the Commonwealth arising pursuant to any provision 
of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, approved 
by the first section of Public Law 94-241 (48 U.S.C. 1801 note).
    (b) Assistance.--
            (1) Request.--The Secretary may request assistance from the 
        head of any other Federal agency in order to expeditiously 
        resolve any claim described in subsection (a).
            (2) Provision.--On request, the head of the Federal agency 
        shall provide the assistance.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Secretary such sums as are necessary to carry out 
        subsection (a).
            (2) Other funds.--The Secretary may also use to carry out 
        subsection (a) any other sums that are appropriated for the 
        purpose of a provision of the Covenant that is subject to a 
        claim by the Commonwealth.
                                 <all>