I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5617 

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide an equitable 

distribution of land to the 13th Alaska Native Regional Corporation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 14, 2006 

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself and Mr. DICKS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide an equitable distribution of land to the 13th Alaska 

Native Regional Corporation. 

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 ‘‘13th Regional Cor5 poration Land Entitlement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that authorizing a 

8 land entitlement for the 13th Regional Corporation would 

9 provide an equitable land entitlement for that Corporation. 


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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

2 an equitable distribution of land for the shareholders of 

3 the 13th Regional Corporation. 

4 SEC. 3. LAND ENTITLEMENT. 

5 The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 

6 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 43. THE 13TH REGIONAL CORPORATION LAND ENTI9 TLEMENT. 

10 ‘‘(a) ENTITLEMENT.—Not later than 7 years after 

11 the date of the enactment of the 13th Regional Corpora12 tion Land Entitlement Act, the 13th Regional Corporation 

13 may select, subject to subsections (b) and (c), not more 

14 than 1,453,388 acres from public lands which were with15 drawn by the Secretary for selection, or were otherwise 

16 available for selection, but which were not selected by, or 

17 if selected not conveyed to, the State of Alaska, another 

18 Regional Corporation, a Village Corporation, or a Group 

19 Corporation. Any withdrawal eligible for selection under 

20 this subsection which will expire prior to the end of the 

21 seven-year selection period for the 13th Regional Corpora22 tion shall be extended to the end of the selection period 

23 provided by this subsection. Prior to making each selec24 tion, the 13th Regional Corporation shall consult with and 


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1 solicit the comments of the Regional Corporation for the 

2 geographical region within which the selection is located. 

3 ‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—No selection may be made within 

4 the geographical region of any Regional Corporation under 

5 subsection (a) without the prior written approval of such 

6 Regional Corporation. Approval may be withheld or condi7 tioned in the reasonable judgment of the Regional Cor8 poration, including without limitation because of interest 

9 by the Regional Corporation in pursuing a land exchange 

10 involving the lands to be selected, the potential for eco11 nomic harm to the Regional Corporation, its shareholders 

12 or Village Corporations or Group Corporations within the 

13 geographical region, environmental considerations, im14 pacts on subsistence activities, the presence of Native 

15 owned cabins or campsites on or near the lands to be se16 lected, the need for access to or across the lands to be 

17 selected for transportation, pipelines or economic activi18 ties, or the availability of sand and gravel or other min19 erals or substances valuable for economic activity within 

20 the geographical region. Approval may not be conditioned 

21 upon the payment of economic consideration by the 13th 

22 Regional Corporation except to the extent of economic 

23 harm anticipated in the reasonable judgment of the Re24 gional Corporation to the Regional Corporation, its shareVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:34 Jun 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5617.IH H5617

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1 holders or Village Corporations or Group Corporations 

2 within the geographical region. 

3 ‘‘(c) CONVEYANCES; LIMITATIONS; RESTRICTIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) CONVEYANCES.—Subject to the limitations 

5 in paragraphs (2) and (3), the Secretary shall con6 vey to the 13th Regional Corporation the surface 

7 and subsurface estate of no more than 1,162,710 

8 acres of the lands selected pursuant to subsection 

9 (a). 

10 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON CONVEYANCES.— 

11 ‘‘(A) PREVIOUSLY SELECTED LANDS.—The 

12 13th Regional Corporation may select, but the 

13 Secretary shall not convey, any of the following 

14 unless the State of Alaska or any Regional Cor15 poration, Village Corporation, or Group Cor16 poration which made or has the right to make 

17 a selection has relinquished its selection or right 

18 to make its selection: 

19 ‘‘(i) Lands validly selected by, but not 

20 yet conveyed to, the State of Alaska pursu21 ant to the Alaska Statehood Act or any 

22 other provision of law. 

23 ‘‘(ii) Lands validly selected by, but 

24 not yet conveyed to, another Regional CorVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:34 Jun 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5617.IH H5617

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1 poration, a Village Corporation, or a Group 

2 Corporation. 

3 ‘‘(B) CONDITIONS.—Any selections made 

4 by the 13th Regional Corporation that are sub5 ject to such valid selections shall be subordinate 

6 to those valid selections. Selections are valid if 

7 they are on file with the United States and 

8 have not been finally adjudicated or all appeal 

9 rights from any final adjudication have not 

10 lapsed or been exhausted, whether or not such 

11 selections are in compliance with all applicable 

12 standards, including without limitation time re13 strictions. Valid selections also include selec14 tions for land in excess of the amount of land 

15 to which the selecting entity may be entitled. 

16 ‘‘(C) OTHER LIMITATIONS.—The 13th Re17 gional Corporation may not select, and the Sec18 retary shall not convey the following: 

19 ‘‘(i) Any land without the approval of 

20 any Native individual or Native owned or 

21 public entity that owns a partial interest in 

22 that land, which approval may be withheld 

23 with or without reason or cause. 

24 ‘‘(ii) Any land that the State of Alas25 ka, a Regional Corporation, a Village Corsroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
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1 poration or a Group Corporation could se2 lect or acquire through the exercise of stat3 utory or contractual rights of selection or 

4 acquisition, whether or not those rights 

5 have been exercised or are subject to dis6 cretionary actions by governmental enti7 ties, without the approval of the State of 

8 Alaska, Regional Corporation, Village Cor9 poration or Group Corporation, which ap10 proval may be withheld with or without 

11 reason or cause. 

12 ‘‘(iii) Any land within any area with13 drawn for selection pursuant to sections 11 

14 or 14 of this Act or otherwise withdrawn 

15 by the Secretary for selection if a Village 

16 Corporation or Regional Corporation has 

17 unexercised selection rights or rights to 

18 conveyance in that area without the ap19 proval of the Village Corporation and Re20 gional Corporation, which approval may be 

21 withheld with or without reason or cause. 

22 ‘‘(3) RESTRICTIONS.—Selected lands which are 

23 eligible for conveyance to the 13th Regional Cor24 poration shall be conveyed subject to valid existing 

25 rights, in the same manner and subject to the same 


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1 reservations and restrictions that are applicable to 

2 lands selected by and conveyed to other Regional 

3 Corporations pursuant to this Act. The lands con4 veyed to the 13th Regional Corporation shall, when5 ever practicable and consistent with safety consider6 ations, remain available for subsistence uses. Addi7 tionally, until the lands conveyed to the 13th Re8 gional Corporation are developed, as defined in sec9 tion 907(d) of Public Law 96–487 (43 U.S.C. 

10 1636(d)), they shall be managed under policies con11 sistent with the land management policies applicable 

12 to any adjacent Native Corporation owned lands. 

13 ‘‘(d) RESERVED LANDS.—The 13th Regional Cor14 poration may not select, and the Secretary shall not con15 vey, any of the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) Lands within any conservation system unit 

17 as defined in section 102 of the Alaska National In18 terest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et 

19 seq.). 

20 ‘‘(2) Acquired lands. 

21 ‘‘(3) Lands immediately surrounding any build22 ing, permanent structure, or other development 

23 owned or controlled by the United States, another 

24 unit of government, or any person, including without 

25 limitation Native owned cabins or campsites on pubsroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
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1 lic lands with or without the permission of the public 

2 land owner. 

3 ‘‘(4) Lands withdrawn or reserved for national 

4 defense purposes. 

5 ‘‘(5) Lands within the National Petroleum Re6 serve, Alaska. 

7 ‘‘(6) Lands within the Tongass and Chugach 

8 National Forests. 

9 ‘‘(e) RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL.—The 13th Regional 

10 Corporation shall not transfer all or any portion of lands 

11 or interests therein that it acquires pursuant to this sec12 tion to a third party without first making a written offer 

13 to sell that same land or interest therein to the Regional 

14 Corporation for the geographical region within which the 

15 land or interest therein is located at the amount (or its 

16 cash equivalent) offered by the third party who desires to 

17 acquire the land or interest therein. The following terms 

18 shall govern such transfers and offers: 

19 ‘‘(1) The offer shall be made to the Regional 

20 Corporation not less than 30 days before any pro21 posed transfer of such land or interest therein and 

22 shall state the price and terms of the proposed sale, 

23 and the name and address of both the offerer and 

24 offeree. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Not later than 20 days after the receipt of 

2 the offer, the Regional Corporation may exercise an 

3 option to purchase all, but not less than all, of the 

4 land or interest therein that is to be transferred on 

5 the terms in the offer or their cash equivalent. 

6 ‘‘(3) If the Regional Corporation does not pur7 chase all of the land or interest therein to be trans8 ferred within the required time, then the 13th Re9 gional Corporation may transfer all of the land or 

10 interest therein offered (but not a lesser or greater 

11 amount) to the third party specified in the offer, but 

12 not for a price less or on terms different from those 

13 originally made by the third party. Any land or in14 terest therein not transferred by the 13th Regional 

15 Corporation to the specified third party not later 

16 than 60 days after making the offer to the Regional 

17 Corporation shall again become subject to the re18 strictions of this subsection as though it had never 

19 been offered. 

20 ‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection, ‘transfer’ 

21 means the sale, transfer, or exchange of land or in22 terests therein for consideration, but does not in23 clude an exchange for other land or an interest 

24 therein within the state of Alaska pursuant to sec25 tion 22(f) of this Act or section 1302(h) of the AlasVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:34 Jun 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5617.IH H5617

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1 ka National Interest Lands and Conservation Act, 

2 mineral or other leasing on commercially reasonable 

3 terms, or the pledge, encumbrance or grant of a se4 curity interest on commercially reasonable terms.’’. 

5 SEC. 4. REVENUE SHARING. 

6 Section 7(i)(1) of the Alaska Native Claims Settle7 ment Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(i)) is amended to read as fol8 lows: 

9 ‘‘(1)(A) Except as provided by subparagraph 

10 (B), 70 percent of all revenues received by each of 

11 the 12 Regional Corporations organized under sub12 section (a) from the timber and subsurface estate 

13 patented to it pursuant to this Act, and 15 percent 

14 of all revenues received by the 13th Regional Cor15 poration organized under subsection (c) from the 

16 timber and subsurface estate patented to it pursuant 

17 to the 13th Regional Corporation Land Entitlement 

18 Act, shall be divided annually by the Regional Cor19 poration among the 12 Regional Corporations orga20 nized pursuant to subsection (a) according to the 

21 number of Natives enrolled in each region pursuant 

22 to section 5 of this Act. An additional, 10 percent 

23 of such revenues received by the 13th Regional Cor24 poration, shall be distributed to the Regional Cor25 poration for the geographical region where the reVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:34 Jun 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5617.IH H5617

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1 sources giving rise to such revenues are located. If 

2 the resources developed are on lands originally with3 drawn for selection by a Village Corporation, then 

4 one-half of the 10 percent paid to the local Regional 

5 Corporation shall be distributed by that corporation 

6 to the Village Corporation. Revenues distributed by 

7 or received from the 13th Regional Corporation are 

8 not subject to the requirements of subsections (j), 

9 (k), (l), (m), and (n) of this section. 

10 ‘‘(B) The Regional Corporations, including the 

11 13th Regional Corporation shall determine the reve12 nues required to be distributed pursuant to this sub13 section in accordance with the section 7(i) Settle14 ment Agreement by and between the 12 Regional 

15 Corporations created pursuant to subsection (a), as 

16 previously or hereafter amended, and shall be bound 

17 by the provisions of that Agreement with respect to 

18 the revenues they distribute. The 13th Regional Cor19 poration shall be bound by any amendment to the 

20 section 7(i) Settlement Agreement unless the amend21 ment is not of general applicability to the other Re22 gional Corporations. Nothing in this section shall be 

23 construed to grant the 13th Regional Corporation 

24 any rights with respect to any revenues distributed 

25 by the 12 Regional Corporations pursuant to section 


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1 7(i), or to grant the 13th Regional Corporation the 

2 right or power to approve any amendment to the 

3 section 7(i) Settlement Agreement.’’. 

Æ 


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