IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4876 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 

Received 

NOVEMBER 13, 2006 

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

AN ACT 

To ratify a conveyance of a portion of the Jicarilla Apache 

Reservation to Rio Arriba County, State of New Mexico, 

pursuant to the settlement of litigation between the 

Jicarilla Apache Nation and Rio Arriba County, State 

of New Mexico, to authorize issuance of a patent for 

said lands, and to change the exterior boundary of the 

Jicarilla Apache Reservation accordingly, and for other 

purposes. 


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HR 4876 RFS

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

3 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

4 For the purposes of this act, the following definitions 

5 apply: 

6 (1) JICARILLA APACHE NATION.—The term 

7 ‘‘Jicarilla Apache Nation’’ means the Jicarilla 

8 Apache Nation, a tribe of American Indians recog9 nized by the United States and organized under sec10 tion 16 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 476; 

11 popularly known as the Indian Reorganization Act). 

12 (2) 1988 RESERVATION ADDITION.—The term 

13 ‘‘1988 Reservation Addition’’ means those lands 

14 known locally as the Theis Ranch that were added 

15 to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in the state of 

16 New Mexico by the proclamation of the Secretary of 

17 the Interior issued on September 1, 1988 pursuant 

18 to authority granted by section 7 of the Act of June 

19 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 467; popularly known as the 

20 Indian Reorganization Act), and published in the 

21 Federal Register on September 26, 1988 at 53 F.R. 

22 37355–56. 

23 (3) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term 

24 ‘‘Settlement Agreement’’ means the agreement exe25 cuted by the President of the Jicarilla Apache NaVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:40 Nov 16, 2006 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4876.RFS H4876

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1 tion on May 6, 2003 and executed by the Chairman 

2 of the Rio Arriba Board of County Commissioners 

3 on May 15, 2003 and approved by the Department 

4 of the Interior on June 18, 2003 to settle the Law5 suit. 

6 (4) LAWSUIT.—The term ‘‘Lawsuit’’ means the 

7 case identified as Jicarilla Apache Tribe v. Board of 

8 County Commissioners, County of Rio Arriba, No. 

9 RA 87–2225(C), State of New Mexico District 

10 Court, First Judicial District, filed in October 1987. 

11 (5) RIO ARRIBA COUNTY.—The term ‘‘Rio 

12 Arriba County’’ means the political subdivision of 

13 the state of New Mexico described in Section 4–21– 

14 1 and Section 4–21–2, New Mexico Statutes Anno15 tated 1978 (Original Pamphlet). 

16 (6) SETTLEMENT LANDS.—The term ‘‘Settle17 ment Lands’’ means Tract A and Tract B as de18 scribed in the plat of the ‘‘Dependent Resurvey and 

19 Survey of Tract within Theis Ranch’’ within the 

20 Tierra Amarilla Grant, New Mexico prepared by Leo 

21 P. Kelley, Cadastral Surveyor, United States De22 partment of the Interior, Bureau of Land Manage23 ment, dated January 7, 2004, and recorded in the 

24 office of the Rio Arriba County Clerk on March 8, 

25 2004, in Cabinet C–1, Page 199, Document No. 


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1 242411, consisting of 70.75 acres more or less. Title 

2 to the Settlement Lands is held by the United States 

3 in trust for the Jicarilla Apache Nation. 

4 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of the Interior. 

6 (8) DISPUTED COUNTY ROAD.—The term ‘‘Dis7 puted County Road’’ means the county road passing 

8 through the 1988 Reservation Addition along the 

9 course identified in the judgment entered by the 

10 New Mexico District Court in the Lawsuit on De11 cember 10, 2001 and the decision entered on De12 cember 11, 2001, which judgment and decision have 

13 been appealed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals. 

14 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

15 Congress finds the following: 

16 (1) The lands constituting the 1988 Reserva17 tion Addition to the Jicarilla Apache Reservation 

18 were purchased by the Jicarilla Apache Nation in 

19 June 1985 and were conveyed to the United States 

20 by a trust deed accepted by the Secretary of the In21 terior in March 1988 pursuant to authority granted 

22 by section 5 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 

23 465; popularly known as the Indian Reorganization 

24 Act). 


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1 (2) The lands constituting the 1988 Reserva2 tion Addition were added to the Jicarilla Apache 

3 Reservation in September 1988 by proclamation of 

4 the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to authority 

5 granted by section 7 of the Act of June 18, 1934 

6 (25 U.S.C. 467; popularly known as the Indian Re7 organization Act). 

8 (3) There is pending before the Court of Ap9 peals of the State of New Mexico a lawsuit, filed in 

10 October 1987, that involves a claim that a county 

11 road passing through the 1988 Reservation Addition 

12 had been established by prescription prior to acquisi13 tion of the land by the Jicarilla Apache Nation in 

14 1985. 

15 (4) The parties to that lawsuit, the Jicarilla 

16 Apache Nation and the County of Rio Arriba, have 

17 executed a Settlement Agreement, approved by the 

18 Secretary of the Interior, to resolve all claims relat19 ing to the disputed county road, which agreement 

20 requires ratifying legislation by the Congress of the 

21 United States. 

22 (5) The parties to the Settlement Agreement 

23 desire to settle the claims relating to the disputed 

24 county road on the terms agreed to by the parties, 

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1 solve the claims through the Settlement Agreement 

2 and this implementing legislation. 

3 SEC. 3. CONDITION ON EFFECT OF SECTION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of this Act shall not 

5 take effect until the Secretary finds the following events 

6 have occurred: 

7 (1) The Board of Commissioners of Rio Arriba 

8 County has enacted a resolution permanently aban9 doning the disputed county road and has submitted 

10 a copy of that resolution to the Secretary. 

11 (2) The Jicarilla Apache Nation has executed a 

12 quitclaim deed to Rio Arriba County for the Settle13 ment Lands subject to the exceptions identified in 

14 the Settlement Agreement and has submitted a copy 

15 of the quitclaim deed to the Secretary. 

16 (b) PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS.—If the Secretary 

17 finds that the conditions set forth in subsection (a) have 

18 occurred, the Secretary shall publish such findings in the 

19 Federal Register. 

20 SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF CONVEYANCE; ISSUANCE OF PAT21 ENT. 

22 (a) CONDITIONAL RATIFICATION AND APPROVAL.— 

23 This Act ratifies and approves the Jicarilla Apache Na24 tion’s quitclaim deed for the Settlement Lands to Rio 

25 Arriba County, but such ratification and approval shall be 


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1 effective only upon satisfaction of all conditions in section 

2 3, and only as of the date that the Secretary’s findings 

3 are published in the Federal Register pursuant to section 

4 3. 

5 (b) PATENT.—Following publication of the notice de6 scribed in section 3, the Secretary shall issue to Rio Arriba 

7 County a patent for the Settlement Lands, subject to the 

8 exceptions and restrictive covenants described subsection 

9 (c). 

10 (c) CONDITIONS OF PATENT.—The patent to be 

11 issued by the Secretary under subsection (b) shall be sub12 ject to all valid existing rights of third parties, including 

13 but not limited to easements of record, and shall include 

14 the following perpetual restrictive covenant running with 

15 the Settlement Lands for the benefit of the lands com16 prising the Jicarilla Apache Reservation adjacent to the 

17 Settlement Lands: ‘‘Tract A shall be used only for govern18 mental purposes and shall not be used for a prison, jail 

19 or other facility for incarcerating persons accused or con20 victed of a crime. For purposes of this restrictive covenant, 

21 ‘governmental purposes’ shall include the provision of gov22 ernmental services to the public by Rio Arriba County and 

23 the development and operation of private businesses to the 

24 extent permitted by applicable State law.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. BOUNDARY CHANGE. 

2 Upon issuance of the patent authorized by section 4, 

3 the lands conveyed to Rio Arriba County in the patent 

4 shall cease to be a part of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation 

5 and the exterior boundary of the Jicarilla Apache Reserva6 tion shall be deemed relocated accordingly. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 27, 

2006. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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