I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2606 
To amend the Act of August 4, 1947 (commonly known as the Stigler 
Act), with respect to restrictions applicable to Indians of the Five Civ-
ilized Tribes of Oklahoma, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 23, 2017 
Mr. COLE (for himself, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. LUCAS, and Mr. RUSSELL) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Act of August 4, 1947 (commonly known 
as the Stigler Act), with respect to restrictions applicable 
to Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma, 
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 ‘‘Stigler Act Amend-
ments of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. IN GENERAL. 
The first section of the Act of August 4, 1947 (61 
Stat. 731, chapter 458), is amended— 
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(1) in the matter before subsection (a), by 
striking ‘‘That all restrictions’’ and all that follows 
through subsection (a) and inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 1. All restrictions against alienation, convey-
ance, lease, mortgage, creation of liens, or other encum-
brances upon all lands, including oil and gas or other min-
eral interests, in Oklahoma belonging to a lineal descend-
ant by blood of an original enrollee whose name appears 
on the Final Indian Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes in 
Indian Territory, whether acquired by allotment, inherit-
ance, devise, gift, purchase, exchange, partition, partition 
sale, or by purchase with restricted funds, of whatever de-
gree of Indian blood, and whether enrolled or unenrolled, 
shall be and are hereby, extended until an Act of Congress 
determines otherwise, including, without limitation, those 
interests in the estate of a decedent Indian who died be-
fore the date of enactment of Stigler Act Amendments of 
2017 that were, immediately prior to the decedent’s death, 
subject to restrictions that had not, as of said date, been— 
‘‘(1) the subject of a final order issued by an 
Oklahoma district court or a United States district 
court determining the decedent’s heirs or devisees or 
otherwise determining the ownership of said inter-
ests; 
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‘‘(2) conveyed by the decedent’s undetermined 
heirs or devisees by deed approved by an Oklahoma 
district court; or 
‘‘(3) conveyed by the decedent’s undetermined 
heirs or devisees of less than one-half degree of In-
dian blood with or without Oklahoma district court 
approval. 
‘‘SEC. 2. (a) Except as provided in subsection (f), 
subsection (g), subsection (h), and subsection (i), no con-
veyance, including an oil and gas or mineral lease, of any 
interest in the restricted lands described in this section 
shall be valid unless approved in open court by the district 
court of the county in Oklahoma in which the land is situ-
ated.’’; 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘county judge’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘district judge’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘Proceedings for approval 
of conveyances by restricted heirs or devisees’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Proceedings for approval of con-
veyances’’; 
(3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘best interest 
of the Indian’’ and inserting ‘‘best interest of the 
grantor’’; and 
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(4) by adding before the period at the end the 
following: ‘‘; (h) nothing contained in this section 
shall limit or affect the right of an Indian owner of 
restricted lands described in this Act to seek and ob-
tain Secretarial removal of restrictions on all or any 
portion of said restricted lands in accordance with 
any applicable Federal law; and (i) nothing con-
tained in this section shall invalidate the alienation, 
conveyance, lease, including oil and gas or other 
mineral leases, mortgage, creation of liens, or other 
encumbrance of any lands, if such action was effec-
tive before the date of enactment of the Stigler Act 
Amendments of 2017 and valid under the law then 
in effect.’’. 
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS. 
The Act of August 4, 1947 (61 Stat. 731, chapter 
458), is amended— 
(1) in section 5, by striking ‘‘of one-half or 
more Indian blood,’’; 
(2) in section 6(c), by striking ‘‘of one-half or 
more Indian blood,’’; and 
(3) in section 8, by striking ‘‘of one-half or 
more Indian blood,’’. 
SEC. 4. REPEALS. 
The following are repealed: 
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(1) Section 1 of the Act of August 11, 1955 
(69 Stat. 666, chapter 768). 
(2) Section 2 of the Act of August 4, 1947 (61 
Stat. 731, chapter 458). 
Æ 
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