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 pro-
vide an equitable distribution of land to the 13th Alaska 
Native Regional Corporation. 
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 ‘‘13th Regional Cor-
poration Land Entitlement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that authorizing a 
land entitlement for the 13th Regional Corporation would 
provide an equitable land entitlement for that Corporation. 
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(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 
an equitable distribution of land for the shareholders of 
the 13th Regional Corporation. 
SEC. 3. LAND ENTITLEMENT. 
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 
1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 43. THE 13TH REGIONAL CORPORATION LAND ENTI-
TLEMENT. 
‘‘(a) ENTITLEMENT.—Not later than 7 years after 
the date of the enactment of the 13th Regional Corpora-
tion Land Entitlement Act, the 13th Regional Corporation 
may select, subject to subsections (b) and (c), not more 
than 1,453,388 acres from public lands which were with-
drawn by the Secretary for selection, or were otherwise 
available for selection, but which were not selected by, or 
if selected not conveyed to, the State of Alaska, another 
Regional Corporation, a Village Corporation, or a Group 
Corporation. Any withdrawal eligible for selection under 
this subsection which will expire prior to the end of the 
seven-year selection period for the 13th Regional Corpora-
tion shall be extended to the end of the selection period 
provided by this subsection. Prior to making each selec-
tion, the 13th Regional Corporation shall consult with and 
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solicit the comments of the Regional Corporation for the 
geographical region within which the selection is located. 
‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—No selection may be made within 
the geographical region of any Regional Corporation under 
subsection (a) without the prior written approval of such 
Regional Corporation. Approval may be withheld or condi-
tioned in the reasonable judgment of the Regional Cor-
poration, including without limitation because of interest 
by the Regional Corporation in pursuing a land exchange 
involving the lands to be selected, the potential for eco-
nomic harm to the Regional Corporation, its shareholders 
or Village Corporations or Group Corporations within the 
geographical region, environmental considerations, im-
pacts on subsistence activities, the presence of Native 
owned cabins or campsites on or near the lands to be se-
lected, the need for access to or across the lands to be 
selected for transportation, pipelines or economic activi-
ties, or the availability of sand and gravel or other min-
erals or substances valuable for economic activity within 
the geographical region. Approval may not be conditioned 
upon the payment of economic consideration by the 13th 
Regional Corporation except to the extent of economic 
harm anticipated in the reasonable judgment of the Re-
gional Corporation to the Regional Corporation, its share-
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holders or Village Corporations or Group Corporations 
within the geographical region. 
‘‘(c) CONVEYANCES; LIMITATIONS; RESTRICTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) CONVEYANCES.—Subject to the limitations 
in paragraphs (2) and (3), the Secretary shall con-
vey to the 13th Regional Corporation the surface 
and subsurface estate of no more than 1,162,710 
acres of the lands selected pursuant to subsection 
(a). 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON CONVEYANCES.— 
‘‘(A) PREVIOUSLY SELECTED LANDS.—The 
13th Regional Corporation may select, but the 
Secretary shall not convey, any of the following 
unless the State of Alaska or any Regional Cor-
poration, Village Corporation, or Group Cor-
poration which made or has the right to make 
a selection has relinquished its selection or right 
to make its selection: 
‘‘(i) Lands validly selected by, but not 
yet conveyed to, the State of Alaska pursu-
ant to the Alaska Statehood Act or any 
other provision of law. 
‘‘(ii) Lands validly selected by, but 
not yet conveyed to, another Regional Cor-
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poration, a Village Corporation, or a Group 
Corporation. 
‘‘(B) CONDITIONS.—Any selections made 
by the 13th Regional Corporation that are sub-
ject to such valid selections shall be subordinate 
to those valid selections. Selections are valid if 
they are on file with the United States and 
have not been finally adjudicated or all appeal 
rights from any final adjudication have not 
lapsed or been exhausted, whether or not such 
selections are in compliance with all applicable 
standards, including without limitation time re-
strictions. Valid selections also include selec-
tions for land in excess of the amount of land 
to which the selecting entity may be entitled. 
‘‘(C) OTHER LIMITATIONS.—The 13th Re-
gional Corporation may not select, and the Sec-
retary shall not convey the following: 
‘‘(i) Any land without the approval of 
any Native individual or Native owned or 
public entity that owns a partial interest in 
that land, which approval may be withheld 
with or without reason or cause. 
‘‘(ii) Any land that the State of Alas-
ka, a Regional Corporation, a Village Cor-
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poration or a Group Corporation could se-
lect or acquire through the exercise of stat-
utory or contractual rights of selection or 
acquisition, whether or not those rights 
have been exercised or are subject to dis-
cretionary actions by governmental enti-
ties, without the approval of the State of 
Alaska, Regional Corporation, Village Cor-
poration or Group Corporation, which ap-
proval may be withheld with or without 
reason or cause. 
‘‘(iii) Any land within any area with-
drawn for selection pursuant to sections 11 
or 14 of this Act or otherwise withdrawn 
by the Secretary for selection if a Village 
Corporation or Regional Corporation has 
unexercised selection rights or rights to 
conveyance in that area without the ap-
proval of the Village Corporation and Re-
gional Corporation, which approval may be 
withheld with or without reason or cause. 
‘‘(3) RESTRICTIONS.—Selected lands which are 
eligible for conveyance to the 13th Regional Cor-
poration shall be conveyed subject to valid existing 
rights, in the same manner and subject to the same 
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reservations and restrictions that are applicable to 
lands selected by and conveyed to other Regional 
Corporations pursuant to this Act. The lands con-
veyed to the 13th Regional Corporation shall, when-
ever practicable and consistent with safety consider-
ations, remain available for subsistence uses. Addi-
tionally, until the lands conveyed to the 13th Re-
gional Corporation are developed, as defined in sec-
tion 907(d) of Public Law 96–487 (43 U.S.C. 
1636(d)), they shall be managed under policies con-
sistent with the land management policies applicable 
to any adjacent Native Corporation owned lands. 
‘‘(d) RESERVED LANDS.—The 13th Regional Cor-
poration may not select, and the Secretary shall not con-
vey, any of the following: 
‘‘(1) Lands within any conservation system unit 
as defined in section 102 of the Alaska National In-
terest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et 
seq.). 
‘‘(2) Acquired lands. 
‘‘(3) Lands immediately surrounding any build-
ing, permanent structure, or other development 
owned or controlled by the United States, another 
unit of government, or any person, including without 
limitation Native owned cabins or campsites on pub-
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