[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 28, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        A BILL TO AMEND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT

                                 ______


                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 28, 1994

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a bill to 
amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 at the request of 
Cook Inlet Region Incorporated [CIRI].
  Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act [ANCSA] in 
1971 to address claims to lands in Alaska by its Eskimo, Indian, and 
Aleut Native people. Lands and other benefits transferred to Alaska 
Natives under the act were conveyed to corporations formed under the 
act. Alaska Natives enrolled to these corporations were issued shares 
in the corporation. Cook Inlet Region, Inc. [CIRI] is one of the 
corporations formed under ANCSA and has approximately 6,262 Alaska 
Natives enrolled, each of whom were issued 100 shares of stock in CIRI, 
as required under ANCSA.
  ANCSA stock, unlike most corporate stock, can not be sold, 
transferred, or pledged by the owners of the shares. Rather, transfers 
can only happen through inheritance, or in limited cases by court 
decree. The ANCSA provisions restricting the sale of stock were put in 
place to protect Native shareholders from knowledgeable or unscrupulous 
transactions, and to allow the corporation to grow and mature in order 
to provide long lasting benefits to its shareholders.
  The drafters of ANCSA initially believed that a period of 20 years 
would be sufficient amount of time for the restrictions on sale to 
remain in place. Therefore, the restrictions were to expire 20 years 
after passage of ANCSA on December 31, 1991.
  As 1991 approached, bringing with it the impending change in the 
alienability of Native stock. The Alaska Native community grew 
concerned about the effect of the potential sale of Native stock. The 
Alaska Federation of Natives, a statewide organization representing the 
State's 90,000 Natives, spearheaded a legislative initiative to address 
the 1991 stock sale issue. Many of the Native corporations, including 
CIRI, actively solicited their shareholders' views on this critical 
matter, through meetings, questionnaires, polling, and formal votes. In 
1987, 3 years prior to the 1991 restriction-lifting date, Congress 
enacted legislation which reformed the mechanism governing stock sale 
restrictions in a fundamental way. Under the 1987 amendments, instead 
of expiring automatically in 1991, the restrictions on alienability 
continue automatically unless and until the shareholders of a Native 
corporation vote to remove them. The 1987 amendments provided several 
procedural mechanisms to bring such a vote, including action by the 
board of directors and petitions by shareholders.
  To date, no Native corporation has sought to lift the alienability 
restrictions. Fundamentally, this is because Native shareholders 
continue to value Native ownership of the corporations and Native 
control of the lands and other assets held by them.
  CIRI has conducted a number of continuing surveys, focus groups, and 
special shareholder meetings to ascertain the views of its shareholders 
regarding the alienation restrictions on CIRI stock. Two results have 
consistently stood out in these assessments.
  First, the majority of CIRI shareholders favor maintaining Native 
ownership and control of CIRI. These shareholders, whose numbers 
consistently register at the 70- to 80- percent level, see economic 
benefits in the continuation of Native ownership, and also value the 
important cultural goals, values, and activities of their ANCSA 
corporation.
  Second, a significant percentage, albeit a minority of shareholders, 
favor accessing some, or all, of the value of their CIRI stock through 
sale of that stock. These shareholders include, but, are not limited to 
elderly shareholders who have real current needs, yet doubt that sale 
of stock will be available to them in their lifetime; holders of small, 
fractional shares received through one or more cycles of inheritance; 
non-Natives who have acquired stock through inheritance but without 
attendant voting privileges; and shareholders who have few ties to the 
corporation or to Alaska, 25 percent of CIRI shareholders live outside 
of Alaska.
  Under current law, these two legitimate but conflicting concerns 
cannot be addressed, because lifting restriction on the sale of stock 
is an all or nothing proposition. In order to allow the minority of 
shareholders to exercise their desire to sell some or all of their 
stock, the majority of shareholders would have to sacrifice their 
important desire to maintain Native control and ownership to CIRI.
  CIRI believes this conflict will eventually leave the interests of 
the majority of its shareholders vulnerable to political instability. 
In addition, CIRI recognizes that responding to the desire of those 
shareholders who wish to sell CIRI stock is a legitimate corporate 
responsibility. More importantly, CIRI believes that there is a way to 
address the needs and desires of both groups of shareholders, those who 
wish to sell stock and those who desire to maintain Native ownership of 
CIRI, so that the sale of stock will not compromise the ``nativeness of 
the company, and will not jeopardize the economic future of the company 
for those who choose not to sell. The method embodied in the proposed 
legislation is one that other companies routinely use: the buying back 
its own stock. The newly acquired stock would then be canceled.
  Mr. Speaker, I have discussed this bill at length with CIRI and am 
convinced this bill is the best and only option available for their 
shareholders to voluntarily sell their stock back to CIRI. I plan to 
distribute this legislation to the Department of the Interior, the 
State of Alaska, and all other Alaska regional corporations for 
official comments and to begin the process of reviewing the bill. I 
welcome all input with regard to this legislation.

                          ____________________