II 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ANCSA Fractional 

5 Shares Consolidation Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FRACTIONAL SHARES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(h) of the Alaska Native 

8 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(h)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ‘‘, subject 

2 to paragraph (4)’’ after ‘‘pursuant to applicable laws 

3 of intestate succession’’; 

4 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para5 graph (5); and 

6 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(4) FRACTIONAL SHARES.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

10 State law regarding fractional shares, a Re11 gional Corporation is authorized to issue a full 

12 share of any class of stock, for no consider13 ation, in exchange for a fractional share of the 

14 same class of stock, held by any shareholder, as 

15 long as the Regional Corporation exchanges all 

16 fractional shares of a class of stock for full 

17 shares of the same class of stock at the same 

18 time. 

19 ‘‘(B) ELIMINATION OF FRACTIONAL

20 SHARES.—A Regional Corporation shall be au21 thorized, after taking the action specified in 

22 subparagraph (A) for any class of stock, to 

23 adopt, by resolution of the board of directors of 

24 the Regional Corporation, a policy that provides 

25 for the elimination of fractional shares that 


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1 would result by will or the laws of intestate suc2 cession by— 

3 ‘‘(i) issuing a full share in lieu of any 

4 fractional share that would otherwise re5 sult from the application of a will or the 

6 intestacy laws; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) issuing the maximum number of 

8 full shares possible to each devisee or bene9 ficiary in the manner specified in a will or 

10 under the applicable intestacy laws, and, if 

11 any shares remain unissued, then issuing 

12 any such remaining shares as full shares 

13 only, in accordance with a process specified 

14 in the resolution that may reflect, in the 

15 discretion of the board of directors, local 

16 customs, traditions, and laws. 

17 ‘‘(C) NO LEGAL CAUSE OF ACTION.—No 

18 action taken by a Regional Corporation under 

19 subparagraph (A) or (B) shall provide a legal 

20 cause of action to any shareholder of the Re21 gional Corporation against either the Regional 

22 Corporation or its board of directors. 

23 ‘‘(D) PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.—The 

24 provisions of this paragraph shall preempt 


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1 State law with respect to fractional shares of 

2 Regional Corporations.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 8(c) of the 

4 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1607(c)) 

5 is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph (4)’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘paragraph (5)’’. 

Æ 


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