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Q: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ''Fair Deal for Northern New Mexico of
1998''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE, DEFINITIONS AND FINDINGS.

(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to create a mechanism for
the settlement of Spanish and Mexican land grant claims in New Mexico
as claimed under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this Act:
(1) Treaty of guadalupe-hidalog.--The term ''Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalogo'' means the Treaty of Peace, Friendship,
Limits, and Settlement (Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo), between
the United States and the Republic of Mexico, signed February
2, 1848 (TS 207; 9 Bevans 791);
(2) Community land grant.--The term ''community land
grant'' means a village, town, settlement, or pueblo consisting
of land held in common (accompanied by lesser private
allotments) by three or more families under a grant from the
King of Spain (or his representative) before the effective date
of the Treaty of Cordova, August 24, 1821, or from the
authorities of the Republic of Mexico before May 30, 1848, in
what became the State of new Mexico, regardless of the original
character of the grant.
(3) Land grant claim.--The term ''land grant claim'' means
a claim of title to land by a community land grant under the
terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
(4) Eligible descendants.--The term ''eligible descendant''
means a descendant of a person who--
(A) was a Mexican citizen before the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo;
(B) was a member of a community land grant; and
(C) became a United States citizen within ten years
after the effective date of the Treaty of Guadalupe-
Hidalgo, May 30, 1848, pursuant to the terms of the
Treaty.
(5) Settlement committee.--The term ''settlement
committee'' refers to committee, or one of the county specific
subcommittees as appropriate, authorized in Section 3 of this
Act.
(6) Reconstituted.--The term ''reconstituted,'' with regard
to a valid community land grant, means restoration to full
status as a municipality with rights properly belonging to a
municipality under State law, including the nontaxability of
municipal property (common lands) and the right of local self-
government.
(c) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) New Mexico has a unique and complex history regarding
land ownership due to the substantial number of Spanish and
Mexican land grants that were an integral part of the
colonization of New Mexico before the United States acquired
the area in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
(2) Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo,
these land grant claims were recognized as valid property
claims under United States law.
(3) Several studies, including the New Mexico Land Grant
Series published by the University of New Mexico, have
documented that the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in regards to
these land grant claims in New Mexico was never well
implemented. Whether because of a lack of knowledge of Spanish
land law on the part of the judicial system in the then new
Territory of New Mexico, whether because of inadequate or
conflicting documentation of these claims, or whether it was
due to sharp legal practices, many of the former citizens of
Mexico, and then new citizens of the United States, lost title
to lands that had been guaranteed to them by treaty.
(4) Following the United States war with Mexico, the
economy of the Territory of New Mexico was dependent on the use
of land resources, and that held true for much of this century
as well. When the land grant claimants lost title to their
land, the predominantly Hispanic communities in northern New
Mexico lost a keystone to their economy. The effects of this
loss have had long lasting economic consequences and are in
part the cause that these communities remain some of the
poorest in the United States.
(5) The history of the implementation of the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo has been a source of continuing controversy
for generations and has left a lingering sense of injustice in
the communities in northern New Mexico, which has periodically
led to armed conflicts.
(6) The Government of the United States has an obligation
to try to find an equitable remedy for the inadequate
implementation of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and the
consequences that has had on the communities and people of New
Mexico. This should be done as expeditiously as possible.
However, reconstructing the one hundred and fifty year history
of land title claims and transfers in these communities is
likely to prove lengthy and costly. In some cases it may never
be possible to adequately reconstruct the title history.
(7) The Secretary of the Interior has had an experience in
administratively developing settlement packages to resolve
large and complex Tribal water rights claims as an alternative
to lengthy and expensive litigation. This experience may be
invaluable in resolving the large, complex, and sometimes
conflicting Spanish and Mexican land grant claims in northern
New Mexico.
(8) The history of colonial Spanish America, the system of
land distribution under Spanish and Mexican law, and the
subsequent impacts to that system following the transfer of
territory from Mexico to the United States under the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo is a requisite body of knowledge in
determining an appropriate settlement of land grant claims. It
is also an integral part of the national history and culture of
the United States of America and, as such, deserves formal
recognition and interpretation by our institutions of historical
preservation.

SEC. 3. CREATION OF SETTLEMENT COMMITTEES.

(a) Within one hundred and eighty (180) days of enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of the Interior working through the Bureau of Land
Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Secretary of
Agriculture working through the Forest Service are hereby authorized
and directed to establish a ''Settlement Committee'' to develop
comprehensive settlements for land grant claims on a county by county
basis.
(b) The Settlement Committee will be comprised of separate
subcommittees for each county in which there are land grant claims in
New Mexico.
(c) Each county subcommittee shall by comprised of seven members
including:
(1) a representative of the Secretary of the Interior;
(2) a representative of the Secretary of Agriculture;
(3) a representative of the State Commissioner of Public
Lands; and
(4) four residents of the particular county in question.
The four county representatives are to be appointed their
county commissions: Provided, That in counties with federally
recognized Native American Indian Tribes that at least one
county representative shall be an enrolled member of a tribe
whose reservation pueblo boundaries come within that county:
Provided further, That at least one county representative shall
be an eligible descendent who is not an enrolled member of a
Native American Indian Tribe.
(d) Each member shall be appointed for the life of the Settlement
Committee. A vacancy in the Settlement Committee shall be filled in the
manner in which the original appointment was made.

SEC. 4. SUBMISSION OF LAND GRANT CLAIMS.

(a) Within ninety (90) days of the creation of the settlement
committee it shall establish a set of guidelines for the submission of
land grant claims, and publish these guidelines within papers of
general circulation in each of the counties in New Mexico.
(b) Land grant claims must be submitted to the appropriate county
settlement committee within one year of the publication of the
guidelines.

SEC. 5. REVIEW AND SETTLEMENT PACKAGE.

(a) The settlement committee for each county shall review all of
the submitted claims in the county and, based on the documentation at
its disposal, make an initial determination concerning their potential
validity including: possible past conveyances, the accuracy of the
boundaries of the land claimed, and the number of eligible heirs
affected.
(b) Upon completing this review, the settlement committee shall
develop a proposed settlement package in satisfaction of land grant
claims within that county. In creating the settlement package, the
settlement committee shall take into account: the degree of certainty
with which it has determined that various claims are valid, the
impacts, including economic and social impacts, that any unfulfilled
land grant claims may have had on the communities within that county,
the relative benefits of various settlement options on those
communities, and whether there is a legal entity that can accept
settlement. The elements of a proposed settlement package may include,
but are not limited to:
(1) restoration of lands to a given land grant community or
communities;
(2) reconstitution of a given land grant community or
communities;
(3) the setting aside of certain lands for communal use for
fuel wood, building materials, hunting, recreation, etc. These
lands could be set aside as special managerial units within
existing Federal land management agencies or transferred to
local county, tribal, or municipal, governments;
(4) trust funds for scholarships or home and business
loans; or
(5) land for commercial use with the proceeds to be
deposited into the trust funds.
(c) The settlement committee shall complete its review and proposed
settlement package within three years of the deadline for submission of
land grant claims under this Act, and submit them in a report to the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, and to the House Resources Committee. Any
proposal that requires action by the government of the State of New
Mexico shall be submitted to the Governor, to the Speaker of the State
House of Representatives, and to the President Pro Tem of the State
Senate for New Mexico.

SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION OF THE SETTLEMENT COMMITTEE.

(a) To complete its tasks the settlement committee may use a
variety of methods to gather information and to build community
consensus on the form of a proposed settlement package, including: the
use of town meetings, holding formal hearings, the solicitation of
written comments, and the use of mediators trained in alternative
dispute resolution methods. The settlement committee is also authorized
to hire consultants as it may choose for historical, economic, and
legal analysis. In its efforts to develop a consensus on a settlement
package, the Settlement Committee is not subject to the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (Public Law 92-462; 5 U.S.C. Ap. 2 Sec. 1).
(b) Gifts, Bequests, and Devises.--The Settlement Committee may
accept, use, and dispose of gifts, bequests, or devises of services or
property, both real and personal, for the purpose of aiding or
facilitating the work of the Settlement Committee. Gifts, bequests, or
devises of money and proceeds from sales of other property received as
gifts, bequests, or devises shall be deposited in the Treasury
and shall be available for disbursement upon order of the Settlement
Committee. For purposes of the Federal income, estate, and gift taxes,
property accepted under this subsection shall be considered as a gift,
bequest, or devise to the United States.
(c) Administrative Support Services.--Upon the request of the
Settlement Committee, the Administrator of General Services shall
provide to the Settlement Committee, on a reimbursable basis, the
administrative support services necessary for the Settlement Committee
to carry out its responsibilities under this Act.
(d) Immunity.--The Settlement Committee is an agency of the United
States for the purpose of part V of title 18, United States Code
(relating to the immunity of witnesses).
(e) Compensation.--Members of the Settlement Committee shall each
be entitled to receive the daily equivalent of level V of the Executive
Schedule for each day (including travel time) during which they are
engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in the Settlement
Committee.

SEC. 7. SPANISH LAND GRANT STUDY PROGRAM.

(a) The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Settlement
Committee working in conjunction with the University of New Mexico, and
Highlands University shall establish a Spanish Land Grant Study program
with a research archive at the Onate Center in Alcalde, New Mexico.
This program shall be designed to meet the requirements of the
Smithsonian Institution's Affiliated Institutions Program.
(b) The purposes of the Spanish Land Grant Study Program are to
assist the Settlement Committee in the performance of its activities
under section 5, and to archive and interpret the history of land
distribution in the southwestern United States under Spanish and
Mexican law, and the changes to this land distribution system following
the transfer of territory from Mexico to the United States under the
terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848.

SEC. 8. TERMINATION.

The Settlement Committee shall terminate on 180 days after
submitting its final report to Congress under section 5.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There is authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 for each of the
fiscal years 1999 through 2003 for the purpose of carrying out the
activities of the Settlement Committee created in section 3, and the
Spanish Land Grant Study Program created in section 7.
A:
Fair Deal for Northern New Mexico of 1998 - Directs the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture to establish a Settlement Committee to develop comprehensive settlements for land grant claims arising out of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo of 1848. Requires submission of land grant claims by eligible Mexican descendants to the appropriate New Mexico county settlement committee to be reviewed for their validity and settlement.
Directs the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Settlement Committee to establish a Spanish Land Grant Study program, with a research archive at the Onate Center in Alcalde, New Mexico, in order to assist the Settlement Committee and to archive and interpret the history of land distribution in the southwestern United States under Spanish and Mexican law, including the changes to such distribution system following the transfer of territory from Mexico to the United States under the terms of the Treaty.
Authorizes appropriations.