IB
Union Calendar No. 438
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3182
[Report No. 106–763]
To provide for a land conveyance to the city of Craig, Alaska, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 28, 1999
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
JULY 19, 2000
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union
and ordered to be printed
A BILL
To provide for a land conveyance to the city of Craig, Alaska,
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 ‘‘Craig Municipal Eq-
uity Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds and declares the following:
(1) Section 6(a) of the Alaska Statehood Act
(48 U.S.C., note preceding section 21) granted
400,000 acres of national forest land to the State of
Alaska for the purpose of furthering development of
and expansion of communities. In 1969, the State of
Alaska selected 17,040 acres of this Federal land
grant at the request of the city of Craig, Alaska, but
this and other selections were not approved by the
United States Forest Service.
(2) On December 18, 1971, the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act (48 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) was
enacted to settle outstanding Native aboriginal
claims to lands in the State of Alaska. The settle-
ment included the direction to convey certain lands
to Alaska Native village corporations located in
Southeast Alaska. These conveyances included all of
the public land in the vicinity of the city of Craig
that was selected by the State of Alaska in 1969.
(3) Pursuant to ANCSA, the Federal Govern-
ment conveyed 3,960 acres of public land within the
city of Craig, and all public land surrounding the
community, to 2 Native village corporations. These
adjoining conveyances occupy 93 percent of the
4,258 acres within the city limits of the city of
Craig. Outside of the existing 200-acre Craig town-
site, no other land within 10 miles of the Craig city
limits has been available for selection under the
Alaska Statehood Act.
(4) In the Alaska National Interest Lands Con-
servation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), the Congress
exempted Native corporations from municipal tax-
ation of their underdeveloped land, and enacted a
tax recapture provision, in section 907(d)(5) of that
Act (43 U.S.C. 1636(d)(5)), that acts as a further
disincentive to development of Native village cor-
poration land.
(5) Under the laws of the State of Alaska, in-
corporated municipalities are entitled to a share of
available State land within their corporate limits.
However, the enactment of ANCSA and cir-
cumstances experienced by no other municipality in
Alaska, including Federal land conveyances to 2 ad-
joining Native village corporations, has prevented
the city of Craig from acquiring a State land entitle-
ment.
(6) Since 1971, the city of Craig has grown
from a population of 250 people to nearly 2,500 peo-
ple and its demographics have changed, making it
difficult for Craig to qualify for many programs en-
acted by the Congress to provide assistance to vil-
lages with majority Alaska Native populations.
(7) Provisions of Federal tax laws and Federal
land conveyances have had the unintended effect of
preventing the city of Craig from exercising its gov-
ernmental powers to tax 93 percent of the land with-
in the municipality, and to receive any of the Fed-
eral land grant promised at the time of Alaska state-
hood for community expansion and development.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO CONVEY LANDS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture
shall, subject to valid existing rights, convey to the city
of Craig, Alaska, all right, title, and interest of the United
States in and to the lands described in subsection (b).
(b) LEGAL DESCRIPTION.—The lands referred to in
subsection (a) are all Federal lands in the following de-
scribed protracted and partially surveyed townships in the
Copper River Meridian, Alaska:
COPPER RIVER MERIDIAN, ALASKA
T. 71 S., R. 81 E.
Section 24, E1⁄2;
Section 25, E1⁄2, S1⁄2SW1⁄4;
Section 36.
Containing 1360 acres, more or less.
T. 71 S., R. 82 E.
Section 19, S1⁄2SW1⁄4;