[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5403 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5403
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
February 12, 2008
Mr. Young of Alaska (for himself and Mr. Dicks) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural
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 5 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withdrawn by the Secretary for selection, or were otherwise available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 five-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.
``(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 any of the following, but the
Secretary shall not convey the land selected 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 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.
``(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.
``(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.
``(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 remain available for
traditional and customary subsistence uses unless safety
considerations otherwise warrant. 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
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 Native owned cabins or campsites on public lands 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
and shall state the price and terms of the proposed transfer,
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 in
gravel, oil and gas, minerals, water or timber that have been
leased to a third party for consideration, including a lease or
royalty payment 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 (1)(A) of Section 7(i) 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.
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