[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 51 (Thursday, March 26, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S2049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Sullivan):
  S. 872. A bill to provide for the recognition of certain Native 
communities and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska 
Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill to allow 
five Southeast Alaska communities to finally be allowed to form urban 
corporations under the terms of 1971's Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
Act, the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition 
and Compensation Act. I am joined in sponsoring this bill by my Alaska 
colleague, Senator Dan Sullivan.
  At the very beginning of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 
1971 there are a series of findings and declarations of congressional 
policy that explain the underpinnings of this landmark legislation. The 
first clause reads: ``There is an immediate need for a fair and just 
settlement of all claims by Natives and Native groups of Alaska, based 
on aboriginal land claims.'' The second clause states: ``The settlement 
should be accomplished rapidly, with certainty, in conformity with the 
real economic and social needs of Natives.''
  Unfortunately 44 years have passed since the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act became law and still the Native peoples of five 
communities in Southeast Alaska: Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, 
Tenakee and Haines--the five ``landless communities''--are still 
waiting for their fair and just settlement.
  The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act originally awarded $966 
million and 44 million acres of land to Alaska Natives and provided for 
the establishment of Native Corporations to receive and manage such 
funds and lands. The beneficiaries of the settlement were issued stock 
in one of 13 regional Alaska Native corporations--12 based in Alaska. 
Most beneficiaries also had the option to enroll and receive stock in a 
village or urban corporation or group.
  For reasons that still defy explanation, the native peoples of the 
``landless communities,'' were not permitted by the Act to form village 
or urban corporations. These communities were excluded from this 
benefit even though they did not differ significantly from other 
communities in Southeast Alaska that were permitted to form village or 
urban corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. For 
example, the Ketchikan area had more Native residents in 1970, than 
Juneau, which was permitted to form the Goldbelt urban corporation, or 
Sitka that formed the Shee Atika urban corporation. This finding was 
confirmed in a February 1994 report submitted to the Secretary of the 
Interior at the 1993 direction of Congress. That study was conducted by 
the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of 
Alaska.
  The native people of Southeast Alaska have recognized the injustice 
of this oversight for more than four decades. An independent study 
issued two decades ago confirms that the grievance of the landless 
communities is legitimate. Legislation has been introduced in the past 
sessions of Congress to remedy this injustice. Hearings have been held 
and reports written. Yet legislation to right the wrong has inevitably 
stalled out.
  I am convinced that this cause is just, it is right, and it is about 
time that the Native peoples of the five landless communities receive 
what has been denied to them for so long.
  The legislation that I am introducing today would enable the Native 
peoples of the five ``landless communities'' to organize five ``urban 
corporations,'' one for each unrecognized community. These newly formed 
corporations would be offered and could accept the surface estate to 
23,040 acres of land--one township as granted all other village 
corporations in Southeast. Sealaska Corporation, the regional Alaska 
Native Corporation for Southeast Alaska, would receive title to the 
subsurface estate to the designated lands. This version of the 
legislation has been modified to guarantee that the lands to be 
conveyed may include subsistence sites, aquaculture sites, 
hydroelectric sites, tidelands, eco-tourism sites and surplus federal 
properties to help satisfy any compensation requirement.
  It is long past time that we return to the Native peoples of 
Southeast Alaska a small slice of the aboriginal lands that were once 
theirs alone.
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