I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5403 

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 

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 

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

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 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 5 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 five-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. 

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

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

9 in paragraphs (2) and (3), the Secretary shall con10 vey to the 13th Regional Corporation the surface 

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

12 acres of the lands selected pursuant to subsection 

13 (a). 

14 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON CONVEYANCES.— 

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

16 13th Regional Corporation may select any of 

17 the following, but the Secretary shall not convey 

18 the land selected unless the State of Alaska or 

19 any Regional Corporation, Village Corporation, 

20 or Group Corporation which made or has the 

21 right to make a selection has relinquished its 

22 selection or right to make its selection. 

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

24 yet conveyed to, the State of Alaska pursuVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:27 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5403.IH H5403

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1 ant to the Alaska Statehood Act or any 

2 other provision of law. 

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

4 not yet conveyed to, another Regional Cor5 poration, a Village Corporation, or a Group 

6 Corporation. 

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

8 by the 13th Regional Corporation that are sub9 ject to such valid selections shall be subordinate 

10 to those valid selections. Selections are valid if 

11 they are on file with the United States and 

12 have not been finally adjudicated or all appeal 

13 rights from any final adjudication have not 

14 lapsed or been exhausted, whether or not such 

15 selections are in compliance with all applicable 

16 standards, including without limitation time re17 strictions. Valid selections also include selec18 tions for land in excess of the amount of land 

19 to which the selecting entity may be entitled. 

20 ‘‘(C) OTHER LIMITATIONS.—The 13th Re21 gional Corporation may not select the following: 

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

23 any Native individual or Native owned or 

24 public entity that owns a partial interest in 

25 that land. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Any Land that the State of Alas2 ka, a Regional Corporation, a Village Cor3 poration or a Group Corporation could se4 lect or acquire through the exercise of stat5 utory or contractual rights of selection or 

6 acquisition, whether or not those rights 

7 have been exercised or are subject to dis8 cretionary actions by governmental enti9 ties, without the approval of the State of 

10 Alaska, Regional Corporation, Village Cor11 poration or Group Corporation. 

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. 

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

22 eligible for conveyance to the 13th Regional Cor23 poration shall be conveyed subject to valid existing 

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

25 reservations and restrictions that are applicable to 


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1 lands selected by and conveyed to other Regional 

2 Corporations pursuant to this Act. The lands con3 veyed to the 13th Regional Corporation shall remain 

4 available for traditional and customary subsistence 

5 uses unless safety considerations otherwise warrant. 

6 Additionally, until the lands conveyed to the 13th 

7 Regional Corporation are developed, as defined in 

8 section 907(d) of Public Law 96–487 (43 U.S.C. 

9 1636(d)), they shall be managed under policies con10 sistent with the land management policies applicable 

11 to any adjacent Native Corporation owned lands. 

12 ‘‘(d) RESERVED LANDS.—The 13th Regional Cor13 poration may not select any of the following: 

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

15 as defined in section 102 of the Alaska National In16 terest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et 

17 seq.). 

18 ‘‘(2) Acquired lands. 

19 ‘‘(3) Lands immediately surrounding any build20 ing, permanent structure, or other development 

21 owned or controlled by the United States, another 

22 unit of government, or any person, including Native 

23 owned cabins or campsites on public lands or with24 out the permission of the public land owner. 


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

2 defense purposes. 

3 ‘‘(5) Lands within the National Petroleum Re4 serve, Alaska. 

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

6 National Forests. 

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

8 Corporation shall not transfer all or any portion of lands 

9 or interests therein that it acquires pursuant to this sec10 tion to a third party without first making a written offer 

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

12 Corporation for the geographical region within which the 

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

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

15 acquire the land or interest therein. The following terms 

16 shall govern such transfers and offers: 

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

18 Corporation not less than 30 days before any pro19 posed transfer of such land and shall state the price 

20 and terms of the proposed transfer, and the name 

21 and address of both the offerer and offeree. 

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

23 the offer, the Regional Corporation may exercise an 

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


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1 land or interest therein that is to be transferred on 

2 the terms in the offer or their cash equivalent. 

3 ‘‘(3) If the Regional Corporation does not pur4 chase all of the land or interest therein to be trans5 ferred within the required time, then the 13th Re6 gional Corporation may transfer all of the land or 

7 interest therein offered (but not a lesser or greater 

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

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

10 originally made by the third party. Any land or in11 terest therein not transferred by the 13th Regional 

12 Corporation to the specified third party not later 

13 than 60 days after making the offer to the Regional 

14 Corporation shall again become subject to the re15 strictions of this subsection as though it had never 

16 been offered. 

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

18 means the sale, transfer, or exchange of land or in19 terests therein in gravel, oil and gas, minerals, water 

20 or timber that have been leased to a third party for 

21 consideration, including a lease or royalty payment 

22 but does not include an exchange for other land or 

23 an interest therein within the state of Alaska pursu24 ant to section 22(f) of this Act or section 1302(h) 

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1 servation Act, mineral or other leasing on commer2 cially reasonable terms, or the pledge, encumbrance 

3 or grant of a security interest on commercially rea4 sonable terms.’’. 

5 SEC. 4. REVENUE SHARING. 

6 Section (1)(A) of Section 7(i) of the Alaska Native 

7 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1606(i)) is amended to 

8 read as follows: 

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 23:12 Feb 14, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5403.IH H5403

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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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