To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide that Alexander Creek, Alaska, is and shall be recognized as an eligible Native village under that Act, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4582 To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide that Alexander Creek, Alaska, is and shall be recognized as an eligible Native village under that Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 Mr. YOUNG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to pro- vide that Alexander Creek, Alaska, is and shall be recog- nized as an eligible Native village under that Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. ALEXANDER CREEK VILLAGE RECOGNITION. 3 The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 4 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4582.IH H4582 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4582 IH ‘‘SEC. 43. ALEXANDER CREEK VILLAGE RECOGNITION. 1 ‘‘(a) RECOGNITION OF THE VILLAGE OF ALEXANDER 2 CREEK.—Subject to the limitations of this section and 3 notwithstanding section 1432(d) of the Alaska National 4 Interest Lands Conservation Act (Public Law 96–487) 5 and any conveyance or agreement in furtherance thereof 6 or thereto, to the contrary, Alexander Creek, located with- 7 in Township 15N, Range 7W, Seward Meridian, Alaska, 8 is and shall be recognized as an eligible Native village 9 under section 11(b)(3) of this Act. 10 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section, 11 the following terms apply: 12 ‘‘(1) The term ‘agency’ includes— 13 ‘‘(A) any instrumentality of the United 14 States; 15 ‘‘(B) any element of an agency; and 16 ‘‘(C) any wholly owned or mixed-owned 17 corporation of the United States Government 18 identified in chapter 91 of title 31, United 19 States Code. 20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Alexander Creek’ means Alex- 21 ander Creek, Incorporated, an Alaska Native Group 22 corporation organized pursuant to this Act prior to 23 the enactment of this section, but subsequent to en- 24 actment of this section means Alexander Creek, In- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4582.IH H4582 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4582 IH corporated, an Alaska Native Village corporation 1 recognized and organized pursuant to section (a). 2 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Region’ means Cook Inlet Re- 3 gion Incorporated, an Alaska Native Regional Cor- 4 poration, which is the appropriate Regional Corpora- 5 tion for Alexander Creek under section 1613(h) of 6 this Act. 7 ‘‘(c) ORGANIZATION OF ALEXANDER CREEK.—As 8 soon as practicable after enactment of this section, Alex- 9 ander Creek shall cause to be filed— 10 ‘‘(1) any amendments to its corporate charter 11 in the State of Alaska necessary to convert from a 12 Native group to a Native Village corporation; and 13 ‘‘(2) if necessary, any amendments to its cor- 14 porate charter and governing business documents 15 that fulfill the terms of the agreement authorized 16 under this Act. 17 ‘‘(d) NEGOTIATIONS.—Not later than 30 days after 18 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 19 shall open negotiations with Alexander Creek and, not 20 later than 13 months after the date of the enactment of 21 this section, reach an agreement with Alexander Creek to 22 fairly and equitably settle Alexander Creek’s aboriginal 23 land claims and any other claims of Alexander Creek 24 against the United States. An agreement under this sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4582.IH H4582 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4582 IH tion shall be in approximate value parity with those of 1 other Alaska Native Village Corporations, notwithstanding 2 Alexander Creek’s prior status as a Group Corporation. 3 The Secretary shall effectuate such agreement under the 4 authority in this section, other existing authorities, and 5 in coordination with the Administrator with respect to sur- 6 plus property to be transferred to Alexander Creek pursu- 7 ant to such agreement. Notwithstanding paragraphs (2) 8 and (3) of section 549(a) of title 40, United States Code, 9 Alexander Creek is hereby considered both a ‘State’ and 10 a ‘State agency’ under that section for the sole purpose 11 of the Secretary effectuating an agreement under this sec- 12 tion. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Alex- 13 ander Creek is hereby considered eligible to receive real 14 property declared to be surplus under section 1303 of title 15 40, United States Code, for the sole purpose of the Sec- 16 retary effectuating an agreement under this section. 17 ‘‘(e) SHAREHOLDER PARTICIPATION.—Alexander 18 Creek shall notify each member of the Native village rec- 19 ognized under this section that, upon the effective date 20 of this section, such members shall cease to receive bene- 21 fits from the Region as at-large shareholders pursuant to 22 section 7(m), and that all future resource payments from 23 the Region shall be made to the Village Corporation pur- 24 suant to section 7(j). The Region shall not be liable under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4582.IH H4582 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4582 IH any State, Federal, or local law, or under State or Federal 1 common law, for damages arising out of or related to the 2 cessation of payments to such individuals under section 3 7(m) pursuant to this section. 4 ‘‘(f) CONSTRUCTION.—Except as provided in this sec- 5 tion with respect to Alexander Creek, nothing in this sec- 6 tion shall be construed to modify or amend land convey- 7 ance entitlements or conveyance agreements between the 8 Region and village corporations other than Alexander 9 Creek in such region, nor between the Region and the 10 Federal Government, nor between any such parties and 11 the State of Alaska. 12 ‘‘(g) CONSTRUCTION REGARDING CURRENT ALEX- 13 ANDER CREEK LAND.—Nothing in this section shall be 14 construed to reduce the land entitlement to which Alex- 15 ander Creek became entitled as a Group Corporation, in- 16 cluding the land selected by and conveyed to Alexander 17 Creek at the time of enactment of this section.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4582.IH H4582 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS