I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2559
To provide for the recognition of certain Native communities and the settle-
ment of certain claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 23, 2005
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To provide for the recognition of certain Native communities 
and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska 
Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unrecognized South-
east Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Com-
pensation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) In 1971, Congress enacted the Alaska Na-
tive Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S. C. 1601 et seq.) 
(referred to in this section as the ‘‘Act’’) to recog-
nize and settle the aboriginal claims of Alaska Na-
tives to the lands Alaska Natives had used for tradi-
tional purposes. 
(2) 
The 
Act 
awarded 
approximately 
$1,000,000,000 and 44,000,000 acres of land to 
Alaska Natives and provided for the establishment 
of Native Corporations to receive and manage such 
funds and lands. 
(3) Pursuant to the Act, Alaska Natives have 
been enrolled in one of 13 Regional Corporations. 
(4) Most Alaska Natives reside in communities 
that are eligible under the Act to form a Village or 
Urban Corporation within the geographical area of 
a Regional Corporation. 
(5) Village or Urban Corporations established 
under the Act received cash and surface rights to 
the settlement land described in paragraph (2) and 
the corresponding Regional Corporation received 
cash and land which includes the subsurface rights 
to the land of the Village or Urban Corporation. 
(6) The southeastern Alaska communities of 
Haines, 
Ketchikan, 
Petersburg, 
Tenakee, 
and
Wrangell are not listed under the Act as commu-
nities eligible to form Village or Urban Corporations, 
even though the population of such villages com-
prises greater than 20 percent of the shareholders of 
the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska and 
display historic, cultural, and traditional qualities of 
Alaska Natives. 
(7) The communities described in paragraph 
(6) have sought full eligibility for lands and benefits 
under the Act for more than three decades. 
(8) In 1993, Congress directed the Secretary of 
the Interior to prepare a report examining the rea-
sons why the communities listed in paragraph (6) 
had been denied eligibility to form Village or Urban 
Corporations and receive land and benefits pursuant 
to the Act. 
(9) The report described in paragraph (8), pub-
lished in February, 1994, indicates that—
(A) the communities listed in paragraph 
(6) do not differ significantly from the south-
east Alaska communities that were permitted to 
form Village or Urban Corporations under the 
Act; 
(B) such communities are similar to other 
communities that are eligible to form Village or
Urban Corporations under the Act and receive 
lands and benefits under the Act—
(i) in actual number and percentage 
of Native Alaskan population; and 
(ii) with respect to the historic use 
and occupation of land; 
(C) each such community was involved in 
advocating the settlement of the aboriginal 
claims of the community; and 
(D) some of the communities appeared on 
early versions of lists of Native Villages pre-
pared before the date of the enactment of the 
Act, but were not included as Native Villages in 
the Act. 
(10) The omissions described in paragraph (9) 
are not clearly explained in any provision of the Act 
or the legislative history of the Act. 
(11) On the basis of the findings described in 
paragraphs (1) through (10), Alaska Natives who 
were enrolled in the five unlisted communities and 
their heirs have been inadvertently and wrongly de-
nied the cultural and financial benefits of enrollment 
in Village or Urban Corporations established pursu-
ant to the Act.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to redress 
the omission of the communities described in subsection 
(a)(6) from eligibility by authorizing the Native people en-
rolled in the communities—
(1) to form Urban Corporations for the commu-
nities of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, 
and Wrangell under the Act; and 
(2) to receive certain settlement lands and other 
compensation pursuant to the Act. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF ADDITIONAL NATIVE COR-
PORATIONS. 
Section 16 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
Act (43 U.S.C. 1615) is amended by adding at the end 
thereof the following new subsection: 
‘‘(e)(1) The Native residents of each of the Native 
Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and 
Wrangell, Alaska, may organize as Urban Corporations. 
‘‘(2) Nothing in this subsection shall affect any enti-
tlement to land of any Native Corporation previously es-
tablished pursuant to this Act or any other provision of 
law.’’. 
SEC. 4. SHAREHOLDER ELIGIBILITY. 
Section 8 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
(43 U.S.C. 1607) is amended by adding at the end thereof 
the following new subsection:
‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary of the Interior shall enroll to 
each of the Urban Corporations for Haines, Ketchikan, 
Petersburg, Tenakee, or Wrangell those individual Natives 
who enrolled under this Act to the Native Villages of 
Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, or Wrangell, re-
spectively. 
‘‘(2) Those Natives who are enrolled to an Urban 
Corporation for Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, 
or Wrangell pursuant to paragraph (1) and who were en-
rolled as shareholders of the Regional Corporation for 
Southeast Alaska on or before March 30, 1973, shall re-
ceive 100 shares of Settlement Common Stock in such 
Urban Corporation. 
‘‘(3) A Native who has received shares of stock in 
the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska through 
inheritance from a decedent Native who originally enrolled 
to the Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, 
Tenakee, or Wrangell, which decedent Native was not a 
shareholder in a Village or Urban Corporation, shall re-
ceive the identical number of shares of Settlement Com-
mon Stock in the Urban Corporation for Haines, Ketch-
ikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, or Wrangell as the number of 
shares inherited by that Native from the decedent Native 
who would have been eligible to be enrolled to such Urban 
Corporation.
‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection shall affect entitle-
ment to land of any Regional Corporation pursuant to sec-
tion 12(b) or section 14(h)(8).’’. 
SEC. 5. DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS. 
Section 7 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
(43 U.S.C. 1606) is amended—
(1) in subsection (j), by adding at the end 
thereof the following new sentence: ‘‘Native members 
of the Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Peters-
burg, Tenakee, and Wrangell who become share-
holders in an Urban Corporation for such a commu-
nity shall continue to be eligible to receive distribu-
tions under this subsection as at-large shareholders 
of the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska.’’; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end thereof the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(s) No provision of or amendment made by the Un-
recognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Rec-
ognition and Compensation Act shall affect the ratio for 
determination of revenue distribution among Native Cor-
porations under this section and the ‘1982 Section 7(i) 
Settlement Agreement ’ among the Regional Corporations 
or among Village Corporations under subsection (j).’’.
SEC. 6. COMPENSATION. 
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof 
the following new section: 
‘‘URBAN CORPORATIONS FOR HAINES, KETCHIKAN, 
PETERSBURG, TENAKEE, AND WRANGELL 
‘‘SEC. 43. (a) Upon incorporation of the Urban Cor-
porations for Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, 
and Wrangell, the Secretary, in consultation and coordina-
tion with the Secretary of Commerce, and in consultation 
with representatives of each such Urban Corporation and 
the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska, shall offer 
as compensation, pursuant to this Act, one township of 
land (23,040 acres) to each of the Urban Corporations 
for Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and 
Wrangell, and other appropriate compensation, including 
the following: 
‘‘(1) Local areas of historical, cultural, tradi-
tional, and economic importance to Alaska Natives 
from the Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, 
Tenakee, or Wrangell. In selecting the lands to be 
withdrawn and conveyed pursuant to this section, 
the Secretary shall give preference to lands with 
commercial purposes and may include subsistence 
and cultural sites, aquaculture sites, hydroelectric 
sites, tidelands, surplus Federal property and eco-
tourism sites. The lands selected pursuant to this 
section shall be contiguous and reasonably compact 
tracts wherever possible. The lands selected pursu-
ant to this section shall be subject to all valid exist-
ing rights and all other provisions of section 14(g), 
including any lease, contract, permit, right-of-way, 
or easement (including a lease issued under section 
6(g) of the Alaska Statehood Act). 
‘‘(2) $650,000 for capital expenses associated 
with corporate organization and development, includ-
ing—
‘‘(A) the identification of forest and land 
parcels for selection and withdrawal; 
‘‘(B) making conveyance requests, receiv-
ing title, preparing resource inventories, land 
and resource use, and development planning; 
‘‘(C) land and property valuations; 
‘‘(D) corporation incorporation and start-
up; 
‘‘(E) advising and enrolling shareholders; 
‘‘(F) issuing stock; and 
‘‘(G) seed capital for resource development. 
‘‘(3) Such additional forms of compensation as 
the Secretary deems appropriate, including grants 
and loan guarantees to be used for planning, devel-
opment and other purposes for which Native Cor-
porations are organized under the Act, and any ad-
ditional financial compensation, which shall be allo-
cated among the five Urban Corporations on a pro 
rata basis based on the number of shareholders in 
each Urban Corporation. 
‘‘(b) The Urban Corporations for Haines, Ketchikan, 
Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, shall have one year 
from the date of the offer of compensation from the Sec-
retary to each such Urban Corporation provided for in this 
section within which to accept or reject the offer. In order 
to accept or reject the offer, each such Urban Corporation 
shall provide to the Secretary a properly executed and cer-
tified corporate resolution that states that the offer pro-
posed by the Secretary was voted on, and either approved 
or rejected, by a majority of the shareholders of the Urban 
Corporation. In the event that the offer is rejected, the 
Secretary, in consultation with representatives of the 
Urban Corporation that rejected the offer and the Re-
gional Corporation for Southeast Alaska, shall revise the 
offer and the Urban Corporation shall have an additional 
six months within which to accept or reject the revised 
offer. 
‘‘(c) Not later than 180 days after receipt of a cor-
porate resolution approving an offer of the Secretary as
required in subsection (b), the Secretary shall withdraw 
the lands and convey to the Urban Corporation title to 
the surface estate of the lands and convey to the Regional 
Corporation for Southeast Alaska title to the subsurface 
estate as appropriate for such lands. 
‘‘(d) The Secretary shall, without consideration of 
compensation, convey to the Urban Corporations of 
Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, 
by quitclaim deed or patent, all right, title, and interest 
of the United States in all roads, trails, log transfer facili-
ties, leases, and appurtenances on or related to the land 
conveyed to the corporations pursuant to subsection (c). 
‘‘(e)(1) The Urban Corporations of Haines, Ketch-
ikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell may establish a 
settlement trust in accordance with the provisions of sec-
tion 39 for the purposes of promoting the health, edu-
cation, and welfare of the trust beneficiaries and pre-
serving the Native heritage and culture of the communities 
of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, 
respectively. 
‘‘(2) The proceeds and income from the principal of 
a trust established under paragraph (1) shall first be ap-
plied to the support of those enrollees and their descend-
ants who are elders or minor children and then to the sup-
port of all other enrollees.’’.
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
shall be necessary to carry out this Act and the amend-
ments made by this Act.
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