Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Fulfillment Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4889 To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to increase the dividend exclusion, to exclude certain payments to Alaska Native elders for deter- mining eligibility for certain programs, to provide that Village Corpora- tions shall not be required to convey land in trust to the State of Alaska for the establishment of Municipal Corporations, and to provide for the recognition of certain Alaska Native communities and the settle- ment of certain claims under that Act, to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain interests in land in the State of Alaska, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 10, 2020 Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources A BILL To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to in- crease the dividend exclusion, to exclude certain pay- ments to Alaska Native elders for determining eligibility for certain programs, to provide that Village Corpora- tions shall not be required to convey land in trust to the State of Alaska for the establishment of Municipal Corporations, and to provide for the recognition of cer- tain Alaska Native communities and the settlement of certain claims under that Act, to require the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain interests in land in the State of Alaska, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4889 IS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alaska Native Claims 4 Settlement Act Fulfillment Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. DIVIDEND EXCLUSION INCREASE. 6 Section 29(c)(A) of the Alaska Native Claims Settle- 7 ment Act (43 U.S.C. 1626(c)(A)) is amended by striking 8 ‘‘exceed $2,000 per individual per annum;’’ and inserting 9 the following: ‘‘exceed— 10 ‘‘(i) for any calendar year preceding 2020, 11 $2,000 per individual per annum; and 12 ‘‘(ii) for calendar year 2020 and all subse- 13 quent calendar years, $5,000 per individual per 14 annum, to be adjusted for inflation in calendar 15 year 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, by in- 16 creasing the amount provided under this sub- 17 paragraph for the preceding year by the per- 18 centage increase in the Consumer Price Index 19 for All Urban Consumers, as published by the 20 Bureau of Labor Statistics, during the pre- 21 ceding 5-year period;’’. 22 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN PROGRAMS. 23 Section 29(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 24 Act (43 U.S.C. 1626(c)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4889 IS (1) in subparagraph (D) following the undesig- 1 nated matter following paragraph (3), by striking 2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 3 (2) in subparagraph (E) following the undesig- 4 nated matter following paragraph (3), by striking 5 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(F) an amount distributed or benefit pro- 8 vided by a Settlement Trust to a Native or de- 9 scendant of a Native who is 65 years of age or 10 older.’’. 11 SEC. 4. CANYON VILLAGE. 12 (a) CONVEYANCE.—Notwithstanding section 13 2653.3(c) of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations (or suc- 14 cessor regulations), or the withdrawal made by section 15 303(2)(A) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Con- 16 servation Act (Public Law 96–487; 94 Stat. 2390), the 17 Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this section as 18 the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall convey to Kian Tr’ee Corporation, 19 for the Native Village of Canyon Village, the surface estate 20 in the land selected by the Kian Tr’ee Corporation pursu- 21 ant to section 14(h)(2) of the Alaska Native Claims Settle- 22 ment Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)(2)). 23 (b) LIMITATION.—The conveyance under subsection 24 (a) shall not exceed 6,400 acres. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4889 IS (c) SUBSURFACE ESTATE.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Unless Doyon, Limited, 2 elects to receive conveyance under paragraph (2), 3 the Secretary shall convey to Doyon, Limited, the 4 subsurface estate in the land conveyed under sub- 5 section (a). 6 (2) ALTERNATE SELECTION.—At the option of 7 Doyon, Limited, in lieu of accepting the conveyance 8 under paragraph (1)— 9 (A) Doyon, Limited, may receive a convey- 10 ance from existing selections on land withdrawn 11 pursuant to section 11(a)(3) of the Alaska Na- 12 tive Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 13 1610(a)(3)) that is equal in acreage to the sub- 14 surface that would otherwise be conveyed under 15 paragraph (1); 16 (B) Doyon, Limited, shall notify the Sec- 17 retary (acting through the Alaska State Office 18 of the Bureau of Land Management) of the 19 preference of Doyon, Limited, not later than 90 20 days after the date of enactment of this Act; 21 and 22 (C) the Secretary shall convey to Doyon, 23 Limited, the subsurface estate selected under 24 subparagraph (A). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4889 IS SEC. 5. KAKTOVIK INUPIAT CORPORATION. 1 In order to fulfill the legal and moral obligation of 2 the United States to convey certain land to the Alaska 3 Native Corporations for the community of Kaktovik, Alas- 4 ka, in fulfillment of aboriginal land claims and to clarify 5 land ownership patterns within the Coastal Plain of the 6 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, notwithstanding section 7 1302(h)(2) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Con- 8 servation Act (16 U.S.C. 3192(h)(2)), the Secretary of the 9 Interior shall convey— 10 (1) to the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation the 11 surface estate of the land described in paragraph 1 12 of Public Land Order 6959 (58 Fed. Reg. 14323), 13 to the extent necessary to fulfill the entitlement of 14 the Corporation under section 12 of the Alaska Na- 15 tive Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1611) in ac- 16 cordance with the terms and conditions of the 17 Agreement between the Department of the Interior, 18 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bu- 19 reau of Land Management, and the Kaktovik 20 Inupiat Corporation, effective January 22, 1993; 21 and 22 (2) to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation 23 the remaining subsurface estate to which the Cor- 24 poration is entitled pursuant to the Agreement be- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4889 IS tween the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and the 1 United States of America dated August 9, 1983. 2 SEC. 6. REVERSION OF CERTAIN LAND CONVEYED IN 3 TRUST TO STATE OF ALASKA. 4 Section 14(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 5 Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(c)) is amended— 6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 7 (5) as subparagraphs (A) through (E), respectively, 8 and indenting appropriately; 9 (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 10 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘(c) Each patent’’ 11 and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘(c) CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN LAND BY VILLAGE 13 CORPORATION.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each patent’’; 15 (3) in paragraph (1) (as so designated), in the 16 undesignated matter following subparagraph (E) (as 17 so redesignated), in the first sentence— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘section 14(c) of this Act’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘this subsection’’; and 20 (B) by striking ‘‘There is authorized’’ and 21 inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There are author- 24 ized’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4889 IS (4) in paragraph (2)(A) (as so redesignated), in 1 the second sentence, by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ 2 and inserting the following: 3 ‘‘(B) FORM OF FUNDING.—The Sec- 4 retary’’; and 5 (5) in paragraph (1) (as so designated)— 6 (A) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (B) 7 (as so redesignated)— 8 (i) by striking ‘‘the’’ the first place it 9 appears and inserting ‘‘The’’; and 10 (ii) by striking the semicolon at the 11 end and inserting a period; 12 (B) in subparagraph (D) (as so redesig- 13 nated), by striking ‘‘the’’ the first place it ap- 14 pears and inserting ‘‘The’’; 15 (C) by striking ‘‘existed as of’’ in subpara- 16 graph (D) (as so redesignated) and all that fol- 17 lows through ‘‘for’’ in subparagraph (E) (as so 18 redesignated) and inserting the following: ‘‘ex- 19 isted as of December 18, 1971. 20 ‘‘(E) For’’; and 21 (D) in subparagraph (C) (as so redesig- 22 nated)— 23 (i) by striking the semicolon at the 24 end and inserting a period; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4889 IS (ii) by striking ‘‘in trust: Provided 1 however, That the word’’ and all that fol- 2 lows through ‘‘sentence,’’ and inserting the 3 following: ‘‘in trust. 4 ‘‘(II) DEFINITION OF SALE.— 5 For purposes of subclause (I), the 6 term ‘sale’ ’’; 7 (iii) by striking ‘‘one thousand two 8 hundred and eighty acres: Provided further, 9 That any net’’ and inserting the following: 10 ‘‘1,280 acres. 11 ‘‘(iii) NET REVENUES.— 12 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Any net’’; 13 (iv) by striking ‘‘community needs: 14 Provided, That the’’ and inserting the fol- 15 lowing: ‘‘community needs. 16 ‘‘(ii) MINIMUM ACREAGE.—The’’; 17 (v) by striking ‘‘(C) the Village Cor- 18 poration’’ and inserting the following: 19 ‘‘(C) CONVEYANCE TO MUNICIPAL COR- 20 PORATION OR STATE IN TRUST.— 21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Village Cor- 22 poration’’; and 23 (vi) by adding at the end the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4889 IS ‘‘(iv) CASES IN WHICH CONVEYANCE 1 SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED.— 2 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Notwith- 3 standing any other provision of this 4 subparagraph, if a Village Corpora- 5 tion, prior to the date of enactment of 6 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 7 Act Fulfillment Act of 2020, conveyed 8 to the State in trust all or a portion 9 of the acreage of land required to be 10 conveyed under this subparagraph for 11 the establishment of a Municipal Cor- 12 poration in the future, and a Munic- 13 ipal Corporation has not been estab- 14 lished as of that date of enactment, 15 on formal resolution by the Village 16 Corporation and the residents of the 17 Native village requesting dissolution 18 of the trust, the trust shall be dis- 19 solved and title to the land shall re- 20 vert to the Village Corporation, sub- 21 ject to subclause (III). 22 ‘‘(II) ADDITIONAL LAND.—Not- 23 withstanding any other provision of 24 this subparagraph, as of the date of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4889 IS enactment of the Alaska Native 1 Claims Settlement Act Fulfillment Act 2 of 2020, a Village Corporation shall 3 not be required to convey any addi- 4 tional land in trust under this sub- 5 paragraph for the establishment of a 6 Municipal Corporation in the future. 7 ‘‘(III) REQUIREMENTS.—In ac- 8 cordance with subsection (g)— 9 ‘‘(aa) the reversion of land 10 to a Village Corporation pursuant 11 to subclause (I) shall be subject 12 to— 13 ‘‘(AA) valid existing 14 rights, including valid exist- 15 ing rights created by the ap- 16 plicable trust; and 17 ‘‘(BB) any existing 18 easements, rights-of-way 19 necessary for public roadway 20 access, or rights-of-way for 21 access of holders of valid ex- 22 isting rights; and 23 ‘‘(bb) the Village Corpora- 24 tion shall assume the obligations 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4889 IS of the applicable trust with re- 1 spect to any lease or other use 2 agreement applicable to the land 3 on reversion of the land to the 4 Village Corporation pursuant to 5 subclause (I).’’. 6 SEC. 7. RECOGNITION AND COMPENSATION OF UNRECOG- 7 NIZED NATIVE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHEAST 8 ALASKA. 9 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to re- 10 dress the omission of the southeastern Alaska commu- 11 nities of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and 12 Wrangell from eligibility under the Alaska Native Claims 13 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) by authorizing 14 the Alaska Natives enrolled in those communities— 15 (1) to form Urban Corporations for the commu- 16 nities of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, 17 and Wrangell under the Alaska Native Claims Set- 18 tlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.); and 19 (2) to receive certain settlement land pursuant 20 to that Act. 21 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADDITIONAL NATIVE COR- 22 PORATIONS.—Section 16 of the Alaska Native Claims Set- 23 tlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1615) is amended by adding at 24 the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Nov 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4889.IS S4889 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4889 IS ‘‘(e) NATIVE VILLAGES OF HAINES, KETCHIKAN, PE- 1 TERSBURG, TENAKEE, AND WRANGELL, ALASKA.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Native residents of 3 each of the Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, 4 Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, Alaska, may or- 5 ganize as Urban Corporations. 6 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON ENTITLEMENT TO LAND.— 7 Nothing in this subsection affects any entitlement to 8 land of any Native Corporation established before 9 the date of enactment of this subsection pursuant to 10 this Act or any other provision of law.’’. 11 (c) SHAREHOLDER ELIGIBILITY.—Section 8 of the 12 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1607) 13 is amended by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(d) NATIVE VILLAGES OF HAINES, KETCHIKAN, 15 PETERSBURG, TENAKEE, AND WRANGELL.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall enroll 17 to each of the Urban Corporations for Haines, 18 Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, or Wrangell those 19 individual Natives who enrolled under this Act to the 20 Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, 21 Tenakee, or Wrangell, respectively. 22 ‘‘(2) NUMBER OF SHARES.—Each Native who 23 is enrolled to [Text truncated for display. 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