[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1495 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1495

    To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regarding the 
 treatment of fractional shares of stock by Regional Corporations, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 29, 2017

 Ms. Murkowski (for herself and Mr. Sullivan) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act regarding the 
 treatment of fractional shares of stock by Regional Corporations, 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 ``ANCSA Fractional Shares 
Consolidation Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. FRACTIONAL SHARES.

    (a) In General.--Section 7(h) of the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(h)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ``, subject to 
        paragraph (4)'' after ``pursuant to applicable laws of 
        intestate succession'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) Fractional shares.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any State law 
                regarding fractional shares, a Regional Corporation is 
                authorized to issue a full share of any class of stock, 
                for no consideration, in exchange for a fractional 
                share of the same class of stock, held by any 
                shareholder, as long as the Regional Corporation 
                exchanges all fractional shares of a class of stock for 
                full shares of the same class of stock at the same 
                time.
                    ``(B) Elimination of fractional shares.--A Regional 
                Corporation shall be authorized, after taking the 
                action specified in subparagraph (A) for any class of 
                stock, to adopt, by resolution of the board of 
                directors of the Regional Corporation, a policy that 
                provides for the elimination of fractional shares that 
                would result by will or the laws of intestate 
                succession by--
                            ``(i) issuing a full share in lieu of any 
                        fractional share that would otherwise result 
                        from the application of a will or the intestacy 
                        laws; or
                            ``(ii) issuing the maximum number of full 
                        shares possible to each devisee or beneficiary 
                        in the manner specified in a will or under the 
                        applicable intestacy laws, and, if any shares 
                        remain unissued, then issuing any such 
                        remaining shares as full shares only, in 
                        accordance with a process specified in the 
                        resolution that may reflect, in the discretion 
                        of the board of directors, local customs, 
                        traditions, and laws.
                    ``(C) No legal cause of action.--No action taken by 
                a Regional Corporation under subparagraph (A) or (B) 
                shall provide a legal cause of action to any 
                shareholder of the Regional Corporation against either 
                the Regional Corporation or its board of directors.
                    ``(D) Preemption of state law.--The provisions of 
                this paragraph shall preempt State law with respect to 
                fractional shares of Regional Corporations.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 8(c) of the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1607(c)) is amended by striking ``paragraph 
(4)'' and inserting ``paragraph (5)''.
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