§ 640d–10 TITLE 25—INDIANS Page 250

1So in original. Probably should be ‘‘States’’.

2So in original. Two pars. designated (2) have been enacted.

3So in original. Probably should be ‘‘paragraph (1)’’.

the 30-day period described in paragraph (2), if

the Indian tribe does not respond within such

period in writing to a written request for such

consent), the Secretary of the Interior determines that such improvement, construction,

or development is necessary for the health or

safety of the Navajo Tribe, the Hopi Tribe, or

any individual who is a member of either

tribe.

(B) If a written request for a determination described in subparagraph (A)(ii) is submitted to

the Secretary of the Interior after the Navajo

Tribe or Hopi Tribe has refused to consent to

any improvement, construction, or development

(or after the close of the 30-day period described

in paragraph (2), if the Indian tribe does not respond within such period in writing to a written

request for such consent), the Secretary shall,

by no later than the date that is 45 days after

the date on which such request is submitted to

the Secretary, determine whether such improvement, construction, or development is necessary

for the health or safety of the Navajo Tribe, the

Hopi Tribe, or any individual who is a member

of either Tribe.

(C) Any development that is undertaken pursuant to this section shall be without prejudice

to the rights of the parties in the civil action

pending before the United States District Court

for the District of Arizona commenced pursuant

to section 640d–7 of this title, as amended.

(Pub. L. 93–531, §10, Dec. 22, 1974, 88 Stat. 1716;

Pub. L. 96–305, §3, July 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 929; Pub.

L. 100–666, §6, Nov. 16, 1988, 102 Stat. 3932.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

Act of June 14, 1934, referred to in subsec. (a), is act

June 14, 1934, ch. 521, 48 Stat. 960, which was not classified to the Code.

AMENDMENTS

1988—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 100–666 designated existing

provisions as par. (1) and added pars. (2) and (3).

1980—Subsecs. (c) to (f). Pub. L. 96–305 added subsecs.

(c) to (f).

§ 640d–10. Resettlement lands for Navajo Tribe

(a) Transfer of lands under jurisdiction of Bureau of Land Management; State and private

land exchanges; valuation; acquired private

lands; lands to be held in trust

The Secretary is authorized and directed to—

(1) transfer not to exceed two hundred and

fifty thousand acres of lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management

within the State 1 of Arizona and New Mexico

to the Navajo Tribe: Provided, That, in order

to facilitate such transfer, the Secretary is authorized to exchange such lands for State or

private lands of equal value or, if they are not

equal, the values shall be equalized by the

payment of money to the grantor or to the

Secretary as the circumstances require so long

as payment does not exceed 25 per centum of

the total value of the lands transferred out of

Federal ownership. The Secretary shall try to

reduce the payment to as small an amount as

possible.

(2) 2 on behalf of the United States, accept

title to not to exceed one hundred and fifty

thousand acres of private lands acquired by

the Navajo Tribe. Title thereto shall be taken

in the name of the United States in trust for

the benefit of the Navajo Tribe as a part of the

Navajo Reservation.

Subject to the provisions of the following sentences of this subsection, all rights, title and interests of the United States in the lands described in paragraph (1), including such interests

the United States as lessor has in such lands

under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as

amended [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], will, subject to

existing leasehold interests, be transferred without cost to the Navajo Tribe and title thereto

shall be taken by the United States in trust for

the benefit of the Navajo Tribe as a part of the

Navajo Reservation. So long as selected lands

coincide with pending noncompetitive coal lease

applications under the Mineral Leasing Act of

1920, as amended, the Secretary may not transfer any United States interests in such lands

until the noncompetitive coal lease applications

have been fully adjudicated. If such adjudication

results in issuance of Federal coal leases to the

applicants, such transfer shall be subject to such

leases. The leaseholders rights and interests in

such coal leases will in no way be diminished by

the transfer of the rights, title and interests of

the United States in such lands to the Navajo

Tribe. If any selected lands are subject to valid

claims located under the Mining Law of 1872 the

transfer of the selected lands may be made subject to those claims.

(2) 2 Those interests in lands acquired in the

State of New Mexico by the Navajo Tribe pursuant to subsection 2 3 of this section shall be

subject to the right of the State of New Mexico to receive the same value from any sales,

bonuses, rentals, royalties and interest

charges from the conveyance, sale, lease, development, and production of coal as would

have been received had the subsurface interest

in such lands remained with the United States

and been leased pursuant to the Mineral Lands

Leasing Act of 1920, as amended [30 U.S.C. 181

et seq.], or any successor Act; or otherwise developed. The State’s interest shall be accounted for in the same manner as it would

have been if a lease had issued pursuant to the

Mineral Lands Leasing Act of 1920, as amended.

(b) Proximity of lands to be transferred or acquired to Navajo Reservation; lands to be

used for exchanges

A border of any parcel of land so transferred or

acquired shall be within eighteen miles of the

present boundary of the Navajo Reservation:

Provided, That, except as limited by subsection

(g) of this section, Bureau of Land Management

lands anywhere within the States of Arizona and

New Mexico may be used for the purpose of exchanging for lands within eighteen miles of the

present boundary of the reservation.
Page 251 TITLE 25—INDIANS § 640d–10

4See References in Text note below. 5So in original. Probably should be ‘‘Commissioner’s’’.

(c) Selection of lands to be transferred or acquired; time period; consultation; restriction

of New Mexico lands

Lands to be so transferred or acquired shall,

for a period of three years after July 8, 1980, be

selected by the Navajo Tribe after consultation

with the Commissioner: Provided, That, at the

end of such period, the Commissioner shall have

the authority to select such lands after consultation with the Navajo Tribe: Provided further, That not to exceed thirty-five thousand

acres of lands so transferred or acquired shall be

selected within the State of New Mexico.

(d) Progress and status of land transfer program;

reports to Congressional committees

The Commissioner, in consultation with the

Secretary, shall within sixty days following the

first year of enactment of this subsection report

to the House Committee on Interior and Insular

Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, on the progress of the land transfer

program authorized in subsection (a) of this section. Sixty days following the second year of enactment of this subsection the Commissioner, in

consultation with the Secretary, shall submit a

report to the House Committee on Interior and

Insular Affairs and the Senate Select Committee

on Indian Affairs giving the status of the land

transfer program authorized in subsection (a) of

this section, making any recommendations that

the Commissioner deems necessary to complete

the land transfer program.

(e) Entitlement lands payments

Payments being made to any State or local

government pursuant to the provisions of chapter 69 of title 31, on any lands transferred pursuant to subsection (a)(1) of this section shall continue to be paid as if such transfer had not occurred.

(f) Acquisition of title to surface and subsurface

interest; time period; public notice; report to

Congressional committees; rights of subsurface owner

(1) For a period of three years after July 8,

1980, the Secretary shall not accept title to

lands acquired pursuant to subsection (a)(2) 4 of

this section unless fee title to both surface and

subsurface has been acquired or the owner of the

subsurface interest consents to the acceptance

of the surface interest in trust by the Secretary.

(2) If, ninety days prior to the expiration of

such three year period, the full entitlement of

private lands has not been acquired by the Navajo Tribe and accepted by the Secretary in trust

for the Navajo Tribe under the restrictions of

paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Commissioner, after public notice, shall, within thirty

days, make a report thereon to the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the

Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs.

(3) In any case where the Secretary accepts, in

trust, title to the surface of lands acquired pursuant to subsection (a)(2) 4 of this section where

the subsurface interest is owned by third parties, the trust status of such surface ownership

and the inclusion of the land within the Navajo

Reservation shall not impair any existing right

of the subsurface owner to develop the subsurface interest and to have access to the surface for the purpose of such development.

(g) Lands not available for transfer

No public lands lying north and west of the

Colorado River in the State of Arizona shall be

available for transfer under this section.

(h) Administration of lands transferred or acquired

The lands transferred or acquired pursuant to

this section shall be administered by the Commissioner until relocation under the Commission’s 5 plan is complete and such lands shall be

used solely for the benefit of Navajo families residing on Hopi-partitioned lands as of December

22, 1974: Provided, That the sole authority for

final planning decisions regarding the development of lands acquired pursuant to this subchapter shall rest with the Commissioner until

such time as the Commissioner has discharged

his statutory responsibility under this subchapter.

(i) Negotiations regarding land exchanges or

leases

The Commissioner shall have authority to

enter into negotiations with the Navajo and

Hopi Tribes with a view to arranging and carrying out land exchanges or leases, or both, between such tribes; and lands which may be acquired or transferred pursuant to this section

may, with the approval of the Commissioner, be

included in any land exchange between the

tribes authorized under section 640d–22 of this

title.

(Pub. L. 93–531, §11, Dec. 22, 1974, 88 Stat. 1716;

Pub. L. 96–305, §4, July 8, 1980, 94 Stat. 930; Pub.

L. 98–603, title I, §106, Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 3157;

Pub. L. 100–666, §§4(b), 8, Nov. 16, 1988, 102 Stat.

3930, 3933.)

REFERENCES IN TEXT

The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended, and the

Mineral Lands Leasing Act of 1920, as amended, referred to in subsec. (a), are act Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, 41

Stat. 437, as amended, known as the Mineral Leasing

Act, which is classified generally to chapter 3A (§181 et

seq.) of Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short

Title note set out under section 181 of Title 30 and

Tables.

The Mining Law of 1872, referred to in subsec. (a), is

act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, 17 Stat. 91, as amended. That

act was incorporated into the Revised Statutes as R.S.

§§2319 to 2328, 2331, 2333 to 2337, and 2344, which are classified to sections 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 35, 37, 39

to 42, and 47 of Title 30. For complete classification of

R.S. §§2319 to 2328, 2331, 2333 to 2337, and 2344 to the

Code, see Tables.

The first year of enactment of this subsection and the

second year of enactment of this subsection, referred to

in subsec. (d), probably mean the first and second year

after the date of enactment of this subsection, which

was July 8, 1980.

Subsection (a)(2) of this section, referred to in subsec.

(f)(1), (3), means the first paragraph (2) of subsec. (a),

relating to acceptance of title to private lands.

CODIFICATION

In subsec. (e), ‘‘chapter 69 of title 31’’ substituted for

‘‘the Act of October 20, 1976 (90 Stat. 2662; 31 U.S.C. 1601
§ 640d–11 TITLE 25—INDIANS Page 252

1So in original. The period followed by the designation ‘‘(B)’’

probably should not appear.

et seq.)’’ on authority of Pub. L. 97–258, §4(b), Sept. 13,

1982, 96 Stat. 1067, the first section of which enacted

Title 31, Money and Finance.

AMENDMENTS

1988—Subsecs. (c), (d), (f)(2). Pub. L. 100–666, §4(b),

substituted ‘‘Commissioner’’ for ‘‘Commission’’ wherever appearing.

Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 100–666, §§4(b), 8, substituted ‘‘by

the Commissioner’’ for ‘‘by the Commission’’ and ‘‘December 22, 1974: Provided, That the sole authority for

final planning decisions regarding the development of

lands acquired pursuant to this subchapter shall rest

with the Commissioner until such time as the Commissioner has discharged his statutory responsibility

under this subchapter’’ for ‘‘July 8, 1980, who are awaiting relocation under this subchapter’’.

Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 100–666, §4(b), substituted ‘‘Commissioner’’ for ‘‘Commission’’ in two places.

1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–603, §106(2), inserted provisions relating to transfer without cost to the Navajo

Tribe with title taken by the United States in trust for

the benefit of the Navajo Tribe as part of the Navajo

Reservation of all rights, title, and interests of the

United States in the lands described in par. (1), subject

to existing leaseholds.

Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 98–603, §106(1), struck out provisions requiring transfer of lands without cost to the

Navajo Tribe with title taken by the United States in

trust for the benefit of the Navajo Tribe as part of the

Navajo Reservation.

Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 98–603, §106(3), added the par.

(2) relating to interests in lands acquired in New Mexico.

1980—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–305 substituted provision

authorizing the Secretary to transfer not more than

250,000 acres of land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management to the Navajo Tribe, at no

cost to the Navajo Tribe, and in order to facilitate this

transfer, exchange Bureau of Land Management land,

at equal valuation, for State and private land, and to

accept title to not more than 150,000 acres of private

lands acquired by the Navajo Tribe, with title to both

the transferred and privately acquired lands to be held

by the United States in trust for the benefit of the Navajo Tribe for provision authorizing the Secretary to

transfer not more than 250,000 acres of land under the

jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management to the

Navajo Tribe providing the Navajo Tribe pay the fair

market value of the land transferred and providing that

title to the transferred land be held by the United

States for the benefit of the Navajo Tribe.

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–305 substituted provision requiring a border of any parcel of land transferred or acquired to be within 18 miles of the present boundary of

the Navajo Reservation and providing that, with the

exception of the lands unavailable for transfer, any Bureau of Land Management lands within Arizona and

New Mexico be available for exchange for lands within

18 miles of the present boundary of the reservation for

provision authorizing the United States to take in

trust for the benefit of the Navajo Tribe any private

lands acquired by the Navajo Tribe which are contiguous or adjacent to the Navajo Reservation and restricting the total acreage of lands transferred or acquired to not more than 250,000 acres.

Subsecs. (c) to (i). Pub. L. 96–305 added subsecs. (c) to

(i).

CHANGE OF NAME

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the

House of Representatives changed to Committee on

Natural Resources of the House of Representatives on

Jan. 5, 1993, by House Resolution No. 5, One Hundred

Third Congress. Committee on Natural Resources of

House of Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Resources of House of Representatives by

section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104–14, set out as a note preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress.

Select Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate redesignated Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate

by section 25 of Senate Resolution No. 71, Feb. 25, 1993,

One Hundred Third Congress.

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in section 640d–30 of this

title.

§ 640d–11. Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation

(a) Establishment; Commissioner

There is hereby established as an independent

entity in the executive branch the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation which shall be

under the direction of the Commissioner on Navajo and Hopi Relocation (hereinafter in this subchapter referred to as the ‘‘Commissioner’’).

(b) Appointment; term of office; compensation

(1) The Commissioner shall be appointed by

the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(2) The term of office of the Commissioner

shall be 2 years. An individual may be appointed

Commissioner for more than one term. The

Commissioner serving at the end of a term shall

continue to serve until his or her successor has

been confirmed in accordance with paragraph (1)

of this subsection.

(3) The Commissioner shall be a full-time employee of the United States, and shall be compensated at the rate of basic pay payable for

level IV of the Executive Schedule.

(c) Transfer of powers, duties, and funds to Commissioner

(1)(A) Except as otherwise provided by the

Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Amendments

of 1988, the Commissioner shall have all the powers and be responsible for all the duties that the

Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission

had before November 16, 1988.

(B) All funds appropriated to the Navajo and

Hopi Indian Relocation Commission before the

date on which the first Commissioner on Navajo

and Hopi Indian Relocation is confirmed by the

Senate that have not been expended on such

date shall become available to the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation on such date and

shall remain available without fiscal year limitation.

(2) There are hereby transferred to the Commissioner, on January 31, 1989—

(A) all powers and duties of the Bureau of Indian Affairs derived from Public Law 99–190 (99

Stat. at 1236) that relate to the relocation of

members of the Navajo Tribe from lands partitioned to the Hopi Tribe, and

(B) all funds appropriated for activities relating to such relocation pursuant to Public

Law 99–190 (99 Stat. at 1236): Provided, That

such funds shall be used by the Commissioner

for the purpose for which such funds were appropriated to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

(B) 1

: Provided further, That for administrative

purposes such funds shall be maintained in a

separate account.