I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2804
To expand Alaska Native contracting of Federal land management functions
and activities and promote hiring of Alaska Natives by the Federal
Government within the State of Alaska, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 5, 1999
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To expand Alaska Native contracting of Federal land man-
agement functions and activities and promote hiring of
Alaska Natives by the Federal Government within the
State of 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 ‘‘Alaska Federal Lands
Management Demonstration Project’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS; PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds and declares the fol-
lowing:
(1) The Alaska National Interest Lands Con-
servation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) established
new and expanded units of the National Park Sys-
tem and the National Wildlife System in many areas
of Alaska. The purposes of these conservation sys-
tem units were, among other purposes, to protect
habitat for fish and wildlife, to conserve fish and
wildlife populations in their natural state, to provide
continued opportunity for subsistence uses by local
residents, and to protect archaeological sites associ-
ated with Native cultures.
(2) Many rural Alaskan communities are in
close proximity to conservation system lands, and
the purposes of these units are uniquely relevant to
the culture and ways of Native Alaskans and other
residents of rural Alaskan communities. Congress
recognized this close relationship in sections 1306,
1307 and 1308 of the Alaska National Interest
Lands Conservation Act, which directed the Sec-
retary of Interior to establish programs whereby Na-
tive lands were given preference for the siting of
conservation service unit facilities, Native corpora-
tions and local residents were given preference for
the provision of visitor services, and local residents
were given preferences for employment. Despite
these provisions, little progress has been made in in-
creasing related employment opportunities for Na-
tive Alaskan and other local residents.
(3) In much of rural Alaska, Indian tribes and
tribal organizations have a long history of con-
tracting to operate Federal programs and provide
Federal services to resident Alaskan Natives and
have demonstrated the capacity to provide other
kinds of Federal programs and services.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this demonstration
project are to design innovative management strategies
that will lead to greater efficiency in conservation system
unit management, expand Native contracting opportuni-
ties, increase local employment, and further the unique
purposes of these units as they relate to subsistence prac-
tices, Alaska Native cultures, and the preservation of fish
and wildlife habitat and populations.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.
The Secretary of the Interior shall, for a period not
to exceed 5 years following the date of the enactment of
this Act, conduct an Alaska Federal Lands Management
Demonstration Project.
SEC. 4. ALASKA FEDERAL LANDS MANAGEMENT DEM-
ONSTRATION PROJECT.
(a) PARTICIPATION.—The Secretary shall select,
upon request and in a manner to achieve geographic rep-
resentation, not less than 6 eligible Alaska Native tribes
or tribal organizations per year to participate in the Dem-
onstration Project in fiscal years 2000 and 2001.
(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in the
Demonstration Project, each Indian tribe or tribal organi-
zation shall—
(1) request participation by resolution or other
official action of the governing body of the tribal or-
ganization;
(2) demonstrate financial and management sta-
bility and capability;
(3) demonstrate significant use of or depend-
ency upon the relevant conservation system unit or
other public land unit for which programs, functions,
services, and activities are requested to be placed
under contract;
(4) where the Secretary receives a request to
contract specific conservation system unit programs,
services, functions, and activities, or portions there-
of, from more than 1 Indian tribe or tribal organiza-
tion meeting the criteria set forth in paragraphs (1)
through (3), the Secretary shall apply the priority
selection criteria applied by the Juneau Area Bureau
of Indian Affairs for contracting pursuant to the In-
dian Self-Determination and Education Assistance
Act. If, after applying such criteria, there remains
more than one eligible participant and such partici-
pants have overlapping requests to negotiate and
contract for the same programs, services, functions,
and activities, or portions thereof, the Secretary may
require such Indian tribes or organizations to agree
which entity shall have the ability to contract, or to
submit a joint request prior to entering into negotia-
tions.
(c) CONTRACTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon request, the Secretary
shall negotiate and enter into a contract with each
participating Indian tribe or tribal organization to
plan, conduct and administer requested programs,
services, functions and activities, or portions thereof,
related to the administration of a conservation sys-
tem unit or other public land unit that is substan-
tially located within the geographic region of the re-
spective Indian tribe or tribal organization.
(2) TECHNICAL
SUPPORT.—Contracts author-
ized by this Act shall include, at the request of the
Indian tribe or tribal organization, the operation and
support of the regional advisory councils, biological
research, harvest monitoring, and other technical re-
search related to conservation and allocation actions
by the regional councils, and such other programs,
functions, services, and activities reasonably nec-
essary to carry out title VIII of the Alaska National
Interests Lands Conservation Act.
(3) TIME
LIMITATION
FOR
NEGOTIATION
OF
CONTRACTS.—Not later than 90 days after selection
by the Secretary of participating Indian tribes or
tribal organizations, the Secretary shall initiate and
conclude negotiations, unless an alternative negotia-
tion and implementation schedule is otherwise mutu-
ally agreed to by the parties. The declination and
appeals provisions of the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act, including section 110
of such Act, shall apply to contracts and agreements
requested and negotiated under this Act.
(d) CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION.—
(1) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN TERMS.—At the re-
quest of the contracting Indian tribe or tribal orga-
nization, the benefits, privileges, terms, and condi-
tions of agreements entered into pursuant to titles
I and IV of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-
cation Assistance Act shall be available for inclusion
in a contract entered into under this Act. If any pro-
visions of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-
cation Assistance Act are incorporated they shall
have the same force and effect as if set out in full
in this Act and shall apply notwithstanding any
other provision of law. The parties may include such
other terms and conditions as are mutually agreed
to and not otherwise contrary to law.
(2) AUDIT.—Contracts entered into under this
Act shall provide for a single-agency audit report to
be filed as required by chapter 75 of title 31, United
States Code.
(3) TRANSFER
OF
EMPLOYEES.—Any career
Federal employee employed at the time of the trans-
fer of an operation or program to an Indian tribe or
tribal organization shall not be separated from Fed-
eral service by such transfer. Intergovernmental Per-
sonnel Actions may be used to transfer supervision
of such employees to the contracting Indian tribe or
tribal organization. Such transferred employees shall
be given priority placement for any available position
within their respective agency, notwithstanding any
priority reemployment lists, directives, rules, regula-
tions or other orders from the Department of the In-
terior, the Office of Management and Budget, or
other Federal agencies.
(e) AVAILABLE FUNDING; PAYMENT.—Under the
terms of a contract negotiated pursuant to subsection (a),
the Secretary shall provide each Indian tribe or tribal or-
ganization funds in an amount not less than the Secretary
would have otherwise provided for the operation of the re-
quested programs, services, functions, and activities. Con-
tracts entered into under this Act shall provide for ad-
vance payments to the tribal organizations in the form of
annual or semiannual installments.
(f) TIMING.—Indian tribes and tribal organizations
selected to participate shall be entitled to begin implemen-
tation of any requested contracts no later than the first
fiscal year following the year in which the Indian tribe
or tribal organization is selected for participation, unless
the Indian tribe or tribal organization and the Secretary,
by mutual agreement, shall agree to an alternate imple-
mentation schedule.
(g) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the close
of fiscal years 2000 and 2001 and the end of this Dem-
onstration Project, the Secretary shall present to the Con-
gress detailed reports, including a narrative, findings, and
conclusions on the costs and benefits of the Demonstration
Project. The reports shall identify remaining institutional
and legal barriers to the contracting of conservation sys-
tem unit management to Alaska Native entities and shall
contain suggestions for improving, continuing, and ex-
panding the Demonstration Project. The reports shall be
authored jointly with, and shall include the separate views
of, all participating Alaska Native tribes and tribal organi-
zations.
(h) LIMITATIONS.—
(1) REVENUE PRODUCING VISITOR SERVICES.—
Contracts authorized under this Act shall not in-
clude revenue producing visitor services unless an
agreement is reached with the most directly affected
Alaskan Native corporations to allow such services
to be included in the contract. Such contracts shall
not otherwise repeal, alter, or otherwise modify the
any other existing provision of sections 1307 and
1308 of the Alaska National Interests Lands Con-
servation Act.
(2) DENALI NATIONAL PARK.—The Denali Na-
tional Park shall not be subject to any of the provi-
sions of this Act.
(i) GRANTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon application, the Sec-
retary shall award a planning grant in the amount
of $100,000 to any participating Alaska Native tribe
or tribal organization to plan for the contracting of
programs, functions, services, and activities author-
ized under this Act.
(2) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—
There is authorized to be appropriated $600,000 in
each of the 2 fiscal years immediately following the
date of the enactment of this Act to fund planning
grants authorized under this subsection.
SEC. 5. ANILCA SECTION 1307 AND 1308 IMPLEMENTATION
PROGRESS REPORT.
(a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 6 months
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
shall transmit to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee
on Resources of the United States House of Representa-
tives a report detailing the progress that the Department
of the Interior has made in the implementation of the pro-
visions of sections 1307 and 1308 of the Alaska National
Interests Lands Conservation Act. The report shall—
(1) include a detailed action plan on the future
implementation of the provisions of sections 1307
and 1308 of that Act;
(2) describe in detail the measures and actions
that will be taken to implement such sections, along
with a description of the anticipated results to be
achieved during the 3 fiscal years following the sub-
mission of the report;
(3) address any laws, rules, regulations, and
policies which limit or deter the goal of Alaska Na-
tive hiring or contracting to perform and conduct ac-
tivities and programs of Department agencies and
bureaus other than those currently available through
the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
(b) FUNDING.—The report required under subsection
(a) shall be completed within existing appropriations.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.—
For the purposes of this Act:
(1) CONSERVATION SYSTEM UNIT.—The term
‘‘conservation system unit’’ shall have the meaning
given that term in section 102(4) of the Alaska Na-
tional Interest Lands Conservation Act.
(2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’
shall have the meaning given that term in subsection
4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(4) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘tribal
organization’’ shall have the meaning given that