IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 205 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 16, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend the Act titled ‘‘An Act to authorize the leasing 

of restricted Indian lands for public, religious, educational, recreational, residential, business, and other 

purposes requiring the grant of long-term leases’’, approved August 9, 1955, to provide for Indian tribes 

to enter into certain leases without prior express approval 

from the Secretary of the Interior, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Helping Expedite and 

5 Advance Responsible Tribal Home Ownership Act of 

6 2012’’ or the ‘‘HEARTH Act of 2012’’. 

7 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OF, AND REGULATIONS RELATED TO, 

8 TRIBAL LEASES. 

9 The first section of the Act titled ‘‘An Act to author10 ize the leasing of restricted Indian lands for public, reli11 gious, educational, recreational, residential, business, and 

12 other purposes requiring the grant of long-term leases’’, 

13 approved August 9, 1955 (25 U.S.C. 415), is amended 

14 as follows: 

15 (1) In subsection (d)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘the 

17 Navajo Nation’’ and inserting ‘‘an applicable 

18 Indian tribe’’; 

19 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘the 

20 Navajo Nation’’ and inserting ‘‘an Indian 

21 tribe’’; 

22 (C) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

23 after the semicolon at the end; 

24 (D) in paragraph (8)— 

25 (i) by striking ‘‘the Navajo Nation’’; 


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1 (ii) by striking ‘‘with Navajo Nation 

2 law’’ and inserting ‘‘with applicable tribal 

3 law’’; and 

4 (iii) by striking the period at the end 

5 and inserting a semicolon; and 

6 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(9) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the meaning 

8 given such term in section 102 of the Federally Rec9 ognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 

10 479a); and 

11 ‘‘(10) the term ‘individually owned allotted 

12 land’ means a parcel of land that— 

13 ‘‘(A)(i) is located within the jurisdiction of 

14 an Indian tribe; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) is held in trust or restricted status by 

16 the United States for the benefit of an Indian 

17 tribe or a member of an Indian tribe; and 

18 ‘‘(B) is allotted to a member of an Indian 

19 tribe.’’. 

20 (2) By adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(h) TRIBAL APPROVAL OF LEASES.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the discretion of any In23 dian tribe, any lease by the Indian tribe for the pur24 poses authorized under subsection (a) (including any 

25 amendments to subsection (a)), except a lease for 


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1 the exploration, development, or extraction of any 

2 mineral resources, shall not require the approval of 

3 the Secretary, if the lease is executed under the trib4 al regulations approved by the Secretary under this 

5 subsection and the term of the lease does not ex6 ceed— 

7 ‘‘(A) in the case of a business or agricul8 tural lease, 25 years, except that any such lease 

9 may include an option to renew for up to 2 ad10 ditional terms, each of which may not exceed 25 

11 years; and 

12 ‘‘(B) in the case of a lease for public, reli13 gious, educational, recreational, or residential 

14 purposes, 75 years, if such a term is provided 

15 for by the regulations issued by the Indian 

16 tribe. 

17 ‘‘(2) ALLOTTED LAND.—Paragraph (1) shall 

18 not apply to any lease of individually owned Indian 

19 allotted land. 

20 ‘‘(3) AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY OVER TRIBAL

21 REGULATIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

23 have the authority to approve or disapprove any 

24 tribal regulations issued in accordance with 

25 paragraph (1). 


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1 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPROVAL.— 

2 The Secretary shall approve any tribal regula3 tion issued in accordance with paragraph (1), if 

4 the tribal regulations— 

5 ‘‘(i) are consistent with any regula6 tions issued by the Secretary under sub7 section (a) (including any amendments to 

8 the subsection or regulations); and 

9 ‘‘(ii) provide for an environmental re10 view process that includes— 

11 ‘‘(I) the identification and eval12 uation of any significant effects of the 

13 proposed action on the environment; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(II) a process for ensuring 

16 that— 

17 ‘‘(aa) the public is informed 

18 of, and has a reasonable oppor19 tunity to comment on, any sig20 nificant environmental impacts of 

21 the proposed action identified by 

22 the Indian tribe; and 

23 ‘‘(bb) the Indian tribe pro24 vides responses to relevant and 

25 substantive public comments on 


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1 any such impacts before the In2 dian tribe approves the lease. 

3 ‘‘(C) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec4 retary may provide technical assistance, upon 

5 request of the Indian tribe, for development of 

6 a regulatory environmental review process 

7 under subparagraph (B)(ii). 

8 ‘‘(D) INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION

9 ACT.—The technical assistance to be provided 

10 by the Secretary pursuant to subparagraph (C) 

11 may be made available through contracts, 

12 grants, or agreements entered into in accord13 ance with, and made available to entities eligi14 ble for, such contracts, grants, or agreements 

15 under the Indian Self-Determination Act (25 

16 U.S.C. 450 et seq.). 

17 ‘‘(4) REVIEW PROCESS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 

19 days after the date on which the tribal regula20 tions described in paragraph (1) are submitted 

21 to the Secretary, the Secretary shall review and 

22 approve or disapprove the regulations. 

23 ‘‘(B) WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION.—If the 

24 Secretary disapproves the tribal regulations de25 scribed in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall inVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:28 May 17, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H205.RFS H205

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1 clude written documentation with the dis2 approval notification that describes the basis for 

3 the disapproval. 

4 ‘‘(C) EXTENSION.—The deadline described 

5 in subparagraph (A) may be extended by the 

6 Secretary, after consultation with the Indian 

7 tribe. 

8 ‘‘(5) FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.— 

9 Notwithstanding paragraphs (3) and (4), if an In10 dian tribe carries out a project or activity funded by 

11 a Federal agency, the Indian tribe shall have the au12 thority to rely on the environmental review process 

13 of the applicable Federal agency rather than any 

14 tribal environmental review process under this sub15 section. 

16 ‘‘(6) DOCUMENTATION.—If an Indian tribe exe17 cutes a lease pursuant to tribal regulations under 

18 paragraph (1), the Indian tribe shall provide the 

19 Secretary with— 

20 ‘‘(A) a copy of the lease, including any 

21 amendments or renewals to the lease; and 

22 ‘‘(B) in the case of tribal regulations or a 

23 lease that allows for lease payments to be made 

24 directly to the Indian tribe, documentation of 

25 the lease payments that are sufficient to enable 


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1 the Secretary to discharge the trust responsi2 bility of the United States under paragraph (7). 

3 ‘‘(7) TRUST RESPONSIBILITY.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The United States 

5 shall not be liable for losses sustained by any 

6 party to a lease executed pursuant to tribal reg7 ulations under paragraph (1). 

8 ‘‘(B) AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.—Pursu9 ant to the authority of the Secretary to fulfill 

10 the trust obligation of the United States to the 

11 applicable Indian tribe under Federal law (in12 cluding regulations), the Secretary may, upon 

13 reasonable notice from the applicable Indian 

14 tribe and at the discretion of the Secretary, en15 force the provisions of, or cancel, any lease exe16 cuted by the Indian tribe under paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(8) COMPLIANCE.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An interested party, 

19 after exhausting of any applicable tribal rem20 edies, may submit a petition to the Secretary, 

21 at such time and in such form as the Secretary 

22 determines to be appropriate, to review the 

23 compliance of the applicable Indian tribe with 

24 any tribal regulations approved by the Sec25 retary under this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(B) VIOLATIONS.—If, after carrying out 

2 a review under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 

3 determines that the tribal regulations were vio4 lated, the Secretary may take any action the 

5 Secretary determines to be necessary to remedy 

6 the violation, including rescinding the approval 

7 of the tribal regulations and reassuming respon8 sibility for the approval of leases of tribal trust 

9 lands. 

10 ‘‘(C) DOCUMENTATION.—If the Secretary 

11 determines that a violation of the tribal regula12 tions has occurred and a remedy is necessary, 

13 the Secretary shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) make a written determination 

15 with respect to the regulations that have 

16 been violated; 

17 ‘‘(ii) provide the applicable Indian 

18 tribe with a written notice of the alleged 

19 violation together with such written deter20 mination; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) prior to the exercise of any rem22 edy, the rescission of the approval of the 

23 regulation involved, or the reassumption of 

24 lease approval responsibilities, provide the 

25 applicable Indian tribe with— 


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1 ‘‘(I) a hearing that is on the 

2 record; and 

3 ‘‘(II) a reasonable opportunity to 

4 cure the alleged violation. 

5 ‘‘(9) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub6 section shall affect subsection (e) or any tribal regu7 lations issued under that subsection.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. LAND TITLE REPORTS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Bureau of Indian Affairs 

10 shall prepare and submit to the Committee on Natural Re11 sources of the House of Representatives and the Com12 mittee on Indian Affairs of the Senate a report regarding 

13 the history and experience of Indian tribes that have cho14 sen to assume responsibility for operating the Indian Land 

15 Title and Records Office (referred to in this section as 

16 the ‘‘LTRO’’) functions from the Bureau of Indian Af17 fairs. 

18 (b) CONSULTATION.—In conducting the review under 

19 subsection (a), the Bureau of Indian Affairs shall consult 

20 with the Department of Housing and Urban Development 

21 Office of Native American Programs and the Indian tribes 

22 that are managing LTRO functions (referred to in this 

23 section as the ‘‘managing Indian tribes’’). 

24 (c) CONTENTS.—The review under subsection (a) 

25 shall include an analysis of the following factors: 


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1 (1) Whether and how tribal management of the 

2 LTRO functions has expedited the processing and 

3 issuance of Indian land title certifications as com4 pared to the period during which the Bureau of In5 dian Affairs managed the programs. 

6 (2) Whether and how tribal management of the 

7 LTRO functions has increased home ownership 

8 among the population of the managing Indian tribe. 

9 (3) What internal preparations and processes 

10 were required of the managing Indian tribes prior to 

11 assuming management of the LTRO functions. 

12 (4) Whether tribal management of the LTRO 

13 functions resulted in a transfer of financial resources 

14 and manpower from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to 

15 the managing Indian tribes and, if so, what trans16 fers were undertaken. 

17 (5) Whether, in appropriate circumstances and 

18 with the approval of geographically proximate Indian 

19 tribes, the LTRO functions may be performed by a 


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1 single Indian tribe or a tribal consortium in a cost 

2 effective manner. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 15, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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