II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2155

To provide restitution of the economic potential lost to communities dependent

on Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico due to inadequate

implementation of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 10, 1998

Mr. BINGAMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide restitution of the economic potential lost to communities dependent on Spanish and Mexican Land

Grants in New Mexico due to inadequate implementation

of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

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 ‘‘Fair Deal for Northern

5 New Mexico of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE, DEFINITIONS AND FINDINGS.

7 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to create

8 a mechanism for the settlement of Spanish and Mexican
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1 land grant claims in New Mexico as claimed under the

2 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act:

4 (1) TREATY OF GUADALUPE-HIDALOG.—The

5 term ‘‘Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalogo’’ means the

6 Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement

7 (Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo), between the United

8 States and the Republic of Mexico, signed February

9 2, 1848 (TS 207; 9 Bevans 791);

10 (2) COMMUNITY LAND GRANT.—The term

11 ‘‘community land grant’’ means a village, town, set12 tlement, or pueblo consisting of land held in common

13 (accompanied by lesser private allotments) by three

14 or more families under a grant from the King of

15 Spain (or his representative) before the effective

16 date of the Treaty of Cordova, August 24, 1821, or

17 from the authorities of the Republic of Mexico before

18 May 30, 1848, in what became the State of new

19 Mexico, regardless of the original character of the

20 grant.

21 (3) LAND GRANT CLAIM.—The term ‘‘land

22 grant claim’’ means a claim of title to land by a

23 community land grant under the terms of the Treaty

24 of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
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1 (4) ELIGIBLE DESCENDANTS.—The term ‘‘eligi2 ble descendant’’ means a descendant of a person

3 who—

4 (A) was a Mexican citizen before the Trea5 ty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo;

6 (B) was a member of a community land

7 grant; and

8 (C) became a United States citizen within

9 ten years after the effective date of the Treaty

10 of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, May 30, 1848, pursuant

11 to the terms of the Treaty.

12 (5) SETTLEMENT COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘set13 tlement committee’’ refers to committee, or one of

14 the county specific subcommittees as appropriate,

15 authorized in Section 3 of this Act.

16 (6) RECONSTITUTED.—The term ‘‘reconsti17 tuted,’’ with regard to a valid community land grant,

18 means restoration to full status as a municipality

19 with rights properly belonging to a municipality

20 under State law, including the nontaxability of mu21 nicipal property (common lands) and the right of

22 local self-government.

23 (c) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

24 (1) New Mexico has a unique and complex his25 tory regarding land ownership due to the substantial
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1 number of Spanish and Mexican land grants that

2 were an integral part of the colonization of New

3 Mexico before the United States acquired the area in

4 the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

5 (2) Under the terms of the Treaty of Guada6 lupe-Hidalgo, these land grant claims were recog7 nized as valid property claims under United States

8 law.

9 (3) Several studies, including the New Mexico

10 Land Grant Series published by the University of

11 New Mexico, have documented that the Treaty of

12 Guadalupe-Hidalgo in regards to these land grant

13 claims in New Mexico was never well implemented.

14 Whether because of a lack of knowledge of Spanish

15 land law on the part of the judicial system in the

16 then new Territory of New Mexico, whether because

17 of inadequate or conflicting documentation of these

18 claims, or whether it was due to sharp legal prac19 tices, many of the former citizens of Mexico, and

20 then new citizens of the United States, lost title to

21 lands that had been guaranteed to them by treaty.

22 (4) Following the United States war with Mex23 ico, the economy of the Territory of New Mexico was

24 dependent on the use of land resources, and that

25 held true for much of this century as well. When the
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1 land grant claimants lost title to their land, the pre2 dominantly Hispanic communities in northern New

3 Mexico lost a keystone to their economy. The effects

4 of this loss have had long lasting economic con5 sequences and are in part the cause that these com6 munities remain some of the poorest in the United

7 States.

8 (5) The history of the implementation of the

9 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo has been a source of

10 continuing controversy for generations and has left

11 a lingering sense of injustice in the communities in

12 northern New Mexico, which has periodically led to

13 armed conflicts.

14 (6) The Government of the United States has

15 an obligation to try to find an equitable remedy for

16 the inadequate implementation of the Treaty of Gua17 dalupe-Hidalgo and the consequences that has had

18 on the communities and people of New Mexico. This

19 should be done as expeditiously as possible. How20 ever, reconstructing the one hundred and fifty year

21 history of land title claims and transfers in these

22 communities is likely to prove lengthy and costly. In

23 some cases it may never be possible to adequately

24 reconstruct the title history.
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1 (7) The Secretary of the Interior has had an

2 experience in administratively developing settlement

3 packages to resolve large and complex Tribal water

4 rights claims as an alternative to lengthy and expen5 sive litigation. This experience may be invaluable in

6 resolving the large, complex, and sometimes conflict7 ing Spanish and Mexican land grant claims in north8 ern New Mexico.

9 (8) The history of colonial Spanish America,

10 the system of land distribution under Spanish and

11 Mexican law, and the subsequent impacts to that

12 system following the transfer of territory from Mex13 ico to the United States under the Treaty of Guada14 lupe-Hidalgo is a requisite body of knowledge in de15 termining an appropriate settlement of land grant

16 claims. It is also an integral part of the national his17 tory and culture of the United States of America

18 and, as such, deserves formal recognition and inter19 pretation by our institutions of historical preserva20 tion.

21 SEC. 3. CREATION OF SETTLEMENT COMMITTEES.

22 (a) Within one hundred and eighty (180) days of en23 actment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior working

24 through the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau

25 of Indian Affairs, and the Secretary of Agriculture work-
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1 ing through the Forest Service are hereby authorized and

2 directed to establish a ‘‘Settlement Committee’’ to develop

3 comprehensive settlements for land grant claims on a

4 county by county basis.

5 (b) The Settlement Committee will be comprised of

6 separate subcommittees for each county in which there are

7 land grant claims in New Mexico.

8 (c) Each county subcommittee shall by comprised of

9 seven members including:

10 (1) a representative of the Secretary of the In11 terior;

12 (2) a representative of the Secretary of Agri13 culture;

14 (3) a representative of the State Commissioner

15 of Public Lands; and

16 (4) four residents of the particular county in

17 question. The four county representatives are to be

18 appointed their county commissions: Provided, That

19 in counties with federally recognized Native Amer20 ican Indian Tribes that at least one county rep21 resentative shall be an enrolled member of a tribe

22 whose reservation pueblo boundaries come within

23 that county: Provided further, That at least one

24 county representative shall be an eligible descendent
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1 who is not an enrolled member of a Native American

2 Indian Tribe.

3 (d) Each member shall be appointed for the life of

4 the Settlement Committee. A vacancy in the Settlement

5 Committee shall be filled in the manner in which the origi6 nal appointment was made.

7 SEC. 4. SUBMISSION OF LAND GRANT CLAIMS.

8 (a) Within ninety (90) days of the creation of the set9 tlement committee it shall establish a set of guidelines for

10 the submission of land grant claims, and publish these

11 guidelines within papers of general circulation in each of

12 the counties in New Mexico.

13 (b) Land grant claims must be submitted to the ap14 propriate county settlement committee within one year of

15 the publication of the guidelines.

16 SEC. 5. REVIEW AND SETTLEMENT PACKAGE.

17 (a) The settlement committee for each county shall

18 review all of the submitted claims in the county and, based

19 on the documentation at its disposal, make an initial de20 termination concerning their potential validity including:

21 possible past conveyances, the accuracy of the boundaries

22 of the land claimed, and the number of eligible heirs af23 fected.

24 (b) Upon completing this review, the settlement com25 mittee shall develop a proposed settlement package in sat-
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1 isfaction of land grant claims within that county. In creat2 ing the settlement package, the settlement committee shall

3 take into account: the degree of certainty with which it

4 has determined that various claims are valid, the impacts,

5 including economic and social impacts, that any unfulfilled

6 land grant claims may have had on the communities with7 in that county, the relative benefits of various settlement

8 options on those communities, and whether there is a legal

9 entity that can accept settlement. The elements of a pro10 posed settlement package may include, but are not limited

11 to:

12 (1) restoration of lands to a given land grant

13 community or communities;

14 (2) reconstitution of a given land grant commu15 nity or communities;

16 (3) the setting aside of certain lands for com17 munal use for fuel wood, building materials, hunt18 ing, recreation, etc. These lands could be set aside

19 as special managerial units within existing Federal

20 land management agencies or transferred to local

21 county, tribal, or municipal, governments;

22 (4) trust funds for scholarships or home and

23 business loans; or

24 (5) land for commercial use with the proceeds

25 to be deposited into the trust funds.
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1 (c) The settlement committee shall complete its re2 view and proposed settlement package within three years

3 of the deadline for submission of land grant claims under

4 this Act, and submit them in a report to the Senate Com5 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate

6 Committee on Indian Affairs, and to the House Resources

7 Committee. Any proposal that requires action by the gov8 ernment of the State of New Mexico shall be submitted

9 to the Governor, to the Speaker of the State House of

10 Representatives, and to the President Pro Tem of the

11 State Senate for New Mexico.

12 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION OF THE SETTLEMENT COMMIT13 TEE.

14 (a) To complete its tasks the settlement committee

15 may use a variety of methods to gather information and

16 to build community consensus on the form of a proposed

17 settlement package, including: the use of town meetings,

18 holding formal hearings, the solicitation of written com19 ments, and the use of mediators trained in alternative dis20 pute resolution methods. The settlement committee is also

21 authorized to hire consultants as it may choose for histori22 cal, economic, and legal analysis. In its efforts to develop

23 a consensus on a settlement package, the Settlement Com24 mittee is not subject to the Federal Advisory Committee

25 Act (Public Law 92–462; 5 U.S.C. Ap. 2 § 1).
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1 (b) GIFTS, BEQUESTS, AND DEVISES.—The Settle2 ment Committee may accept, use, and dispose of gifts, be3 quests, or devises of services or property, both real and

4 personal, for the purpose of aiding or facilitating the work

5 of the Settlement Committee. Gifts, bequests, or devises

6 of money and proceeds from sales of other property re7 ceived as gifts, bequests, or devises shall be deposited in

8 the Treasury and shall be available for disbursement upon

9 order of the Settlement Committee. For purposes of the

10 Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, property accepted

11 under this subsection shall be considered as a gift, be12 quest, or devise to the United States.

13 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.—Upon the

14 request of the Settlement Committee, the Administrator

15 of General Services shall provide to the Settlement Com16 mittee, on a reimbursable basis, the administrative sup17 port services necessary for the Settlement Committee to

18 carry out its responsibilities under this Act.

19 (d) IMMUNITY.—The Settlement Committee is an

20 agency of the United States for the purpose of part V of

21 title 18, United States Code (relating to the immunity of

22 witnesses).

23 (e) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Settlement

24 Committee shall each be entitled to receive the daily equiv25 alent of level V of the Executive Schedule for each day
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1 (including travel time) during which they are engaged in

2 the actual performance of duties vested in the Settlement

3 Committee.

4 SEC. 7. SPANISH LAND GRANT STUDY PROGRAM.

5 (a) The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and

6 the Settlement Committee working in conjunction with the

7 University of New Mexico, and Highlands University shall

8 establish a Spanish Land Grant Study program with a re9 search archive at the On ̃ate Center in Alcalde, New Mex10 ico. This program shall be designed to meet the require11 ments of the Smithsonian Institution’s Affiliated Institu12 tions Program.

13 (b) The purposes of the Spanish Land Grant Study

14 Program are to assist the Settlement Committee in the

15 performance of its activities under section 5, and to ar16 chive and interpret the history of land distribution in the

17 southwestern United States under Spanish and Mexican

18 law, and the changes to this land distribution system fol19 lowing the transfer of territory from Mexico to the United

20 States under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hi21 dalgo in 1848.

22 SEC. 8. TERMINATION.

23 The Settlement Committee shall terminate on 180

24 days after submitting its final report to Congress under

25 section 5.
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1 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There is authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000

3 for each of the fiscal years 1999 through 2003 for the

4 purpose of carrying out the activities of the Settlement

5 Committee created in section 3, and the Spanish Land

6 Grant Study Program created in section 7.

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