Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2023

Subjects: Native Americans, Federal-Indian relations, Indian claims, Indian lands and resources rights, Land transfers, Michigan

Summary:  <p><b>Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2023</b></p> <p>This bill directs the Department of the Interior to transfer funds to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) in order to settle the KBIC's land claims to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands and clear title to those lands.</p> <p>The KBIC may use these funds for any lawful purpose except to acquire land for gaming.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 650 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 650

 To provide compensation to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for the 
 taking without just compensation of land by the United States inside 
  the exterior boundaries of the L'Anse Indian Reservation that were 
       guaranteed to the Community under a treaty signed in 1854.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 31, 2023

 Mr. Bergman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide compensation to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for the 
 taking without just compensation of land by the United States inside 
  the exterior boundaries of the L'Anse Indian Reservation that were 
       guaranteed to the Community under a treaty signed in 1854.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Land 
Claim Settlement Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is a federally 
        recognized Indian Tribe residing on the L'Anse Indian 
        Reservation in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the 
        State of Michigan;
            (2) the Community is a successor in interest to the Treaty 
        with the Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi and Lake Superior, 
        made and concluded at La Pointe of Lake Superior October 4, 
        1842 (7 Stat. 591) (referred to in this section as the ``1842 
        Treaty''), which, among other things, guaranteed the 
        usufructuary rights of the Community over a large area of land 
        that was ceded to the United States, until such time that those 
        usufructuary rights were properly and legally extinguished;
            (3) the Community is also a successor in interest to the 
        Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior and the 
        Mississippi, made and concluded at La Pointe September 30, 1854 
        (10 Stat. 1109) (referred to in this section as the ``1854 
        Treaty'');
            (4) article 2, paragraph 1 of the 1854 Treaty created the 
        L'Anse Indian Reservation as a permanent reservation;
            (5) pursuant to article 13 of the 1854 Treaty, the 1854 
        Treaty became ``obligatory on the contracting parties'' when 
        ratified by the President and the Senate on January 10, 1855;
            (6) in 1850, Congress enacted the Act of September 28, 1850 
        (commonly known and referred to in this section as the ``Swamp 
        Land Act'') (9 Stat. 519, chapter 84), which authorized the 
        State of Arkansas and other States, including the State of 
        Michigan, to ``construct the necessary levees and drains to 
        reclaim'' certain unsold ``swamp and overflowed lands, made 
        unfit thereby for cultivation'' and stating that those lands 
        ``shall remain unsold at the passage of this act . . . .'';
            (7) following enactment of the Swamp Land Act, the State 
        claimed thousands of acres of swamp land in the State pursuant 
        to that Act;
            (8) between 1893 and 1937, the General Land Office patented 
        2,743 acres of land to the State that were located within the 
        exterior boundaries of the Reservation (referred to in this 
        section as ``Reservation Swamp Lands'');
            (9) the right of the Community to use and occupy the unsold 
        land within the Reservation had not been extinguished when the 
        United States patented the Reservation Swamp Lands to the 
        State;
            (10) in 1852, Congress enacted the Act of August 26, 1852 
        (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92) (referred to in this section as the 
        ``Canal Land Act''), to facilitate the building of the Sault 
        Ste. Marie Canal at the Falls of the St. Mary's River, to 
        connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron;
            (11) pursuant to the Canal Land Act, the United States 
        granted the State the right to select 750,000 acres of unsold 
        public land within the State to defray the cost of construction 
        of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal;
            (12) the State identified and selected, among other land, a 
        minimum of 1,333.25 and up to 2,720 acres within the exterior 
        boundaries of the Reservation (referred to in this section as 
        the ``Reservation Canal Lands'');
            (13) the Department of the Interior approved the land 
        selections of the State, including the Reservation Canal Lands, 
        after ratification of the 1854 Treaty;
            (14) the Secretary noted that the approval described in 
        paragraph (13) was ``subject to any valid interfering rights'';
            (15) the 1854 Treaty set apart from the public domain all 
        unsold land within the Reservation to the Community as of 
        September 30, 1854, which preceded the date on which the State 
        established legally effective title to the Reservation Canal 
        Lands;
            (16) the Community made claims to the Department of the 
        Interior with respect to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the 
        Reservation Canal Lands, providing legal analysis and 
        ethnohistorical support for those claims;
            (17) in December 2021, the Department of the Interior 
        stated that ``We have carefully reviewed pertinent documents, 
        including the Tribe's expert reports, and have determined that 
        the Tribe's claims to the Swamp Lands and Canal Lands have 
        merit'';
            (18) the United States, through the actions of the General 
        Land Office, deprived the Community of the exclusive use and 
        occupancy of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation 
        Canal Lands within the Reservation, without just compensation 
        as required under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to 
        the Constitution of the United States;
            (19) the loss of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the 
        Reservation Canal Lands without just compensation has--
                    (A) impacted the exercise by the Community of 
                cultural, religious, and subsistence rights on the 
                land;
                    (B) caused a harmful disconnect between the 
                Community and its land;
                    (C) impacted the ability of the Community to fully 
                exercise its economy within the Reservation; and
                    (D) had a negative economic impact on the 
                development of the economy of the Community;
            (20) certain non-Indian individuals, entities, and local 
        governments occupy land within the boundaries of the 
        Reservation--
                    (A) acquired ownership interests in the Reservation 
                Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands in good 
                faith; and
                    (B) have an interest in possessing clear title to 
                that land;
            (21) this Act allows the United States--
                    (A) to secure a fair and equitable settlement of 
                past inequities suffered by the Community as a result 
                of the actions of the United States that caused the 
                taking of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the 
                Reservation Canal Lands without just compensation; and
                    (B) to ensure protection of the ownership of the 
                Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands 
                by non-Indian occupants of the Reservation, through the 
                settlement of the claims of the Community to that land, 
                and through that action, the relief of any clouds on 
                title;
            (22) a settlement will allow the Community to receive just 
        compensation and the local landowners to obtain clear title to 
        land, without long and protracted litigation that would be both 
        costly and detrimental to all involved; and
            (23) this Act achieves both justice for the Community and 
        security for current landowners through a restorative and non-
        confrontational process.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to acknowledge the uncompensated taking by the Federal 
        Government of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation 
        Canal Lands;
            (2) to provide compensation to the Community for the 
        uncompensated taking of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the 
        Reservation Canal Lands by the Federal Government;
            (3) to extinguish all claims by the Community to the 
        Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands and to 
        confirm the ownership by the current landowners of the 
        Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands, who 
        obtained that land in good faith;
            (4) to extinguish all potential claims by the Community 
        against the United States, the State, and current landowners 
        concerning title to, use of, or occupancy of the Reservation 
        Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands; and
            (5) to authorize the Secretary--
                    (A) to compensate the Community; and
                    (B) to take any other action necessary to carry out 
                this Act.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Community.--The term ``Community'' means the Keweenaw 
        Bay Indian Community.
            (2) County.--The term ``County'' means Baraga County, 
        Michigan.
            (3) Reservation.--The term ``Reservation'' means the L'Anse 
        Indian Reservation, located in--
                    (A) T. 51 N., R. 33 W.;
                    (B) T. 51 N., R. 32 W.;
                    (C) T. 50 N., R. 33 W., E\1/2\;
                    (D) T. 50 N., R. 32 W., W\1/2\; and
                    (E) that portion of T. 51 N., R. 31 W. lying west 
                of Huron Bay.
            (4) Reservation canal lands.--The term ``Reservation Canal 
        Lands'' means the 1,333.25 to 2,720 acres of Community land 
        located within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation that 
        the Federal Government conveyed to the State pursuant to the 
        Act of August 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92).
            (5) Reservation swamp lands.--The term ``Reservation Swamp 
        Lands'' means the 2,743 acres of land located within the 
        exterior boundaries of the Reservation that the Federal 
        Government conveyed to the State between 1893 and 1937 pursuant 
        to the Act of September 28, 1850 (commonly known as the ``Swamp 
        Land Act'') (sections 2479 through 2481 of the Revised Statutes 
        (43 U.S.C. 982 through 984)).
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (7) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of Michigan.

SEC. 5. PAYMENTS.

    (a) Transfer of Funds.--As soon as practicable after the date on 
which the amount authorized to be appropriated under subsection (c) is 
made available to the Secretary, the Secretary shall transfer 
$33,900,000 to the Community.
    (b) Use of Funds.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the Community 
        may use the amount received under subsection (a) for any lawful 
        purpose, including--
                    (A) governmental services;
                    (B) economic development;
                    (C) natural resources protection; and
                    (D) land acquisition.
            (2) Restriction on use of funds.--The community may not use 
        the amount received under subsection (a) to acquire land for 
        gaming purposes.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out subsection (a), $33,900,000 
for fiscal year 2024, to remain available until expended.

SEC. 6. EXTINGUISHMENT OF CLAIMS.

    (a) In General.--Effective on the date on which the Community 
receives the payment under section 5(a), all claims of the Community to 
the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands owned by 
persons or entities other than the Community are extinguished.
    (b) Clear Title.--Effective on the date on which the Community 
receives the payment under section 5(a), the title of all current 
owners to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands 
is cleared of all preexisting rights held by the Community and any of 
the members of the Community.

SEC. 7. EFFECT.

    Nothing in this Act authorizes--
            (1) the Secretary to take land into trust for the benefit 
        of the Community for gaming purposes; or
            (2) the Community to use land acquired using amounts 
        received under this Act for gaming purposes.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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