Home > 106th Congressional Bills > S. 1586 (is) To reduce the fractionated ownership of Indian lands, and for other purposes. [Introduced in Senate] ...S. 1586 (is) To reduce the fractionated ownership of Indian lands, and for other purposes. [Introduced in Senate] ...
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 1586
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To reduce the fractionated ownership of Indian lands, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Indian Land Consolidation Act
Amendments of 2000''.
TITLE I--INDIAN LAND CONSOLIDATION
SEC. 101. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) in the 1800's and early 1900's, the United States
sought to assimilate Indian people into the surrounding non-
Indian culture by allotting tribal lands to individual members
of Indian tribes;
(2) as a result of the allotment Acts and related Federal
policies, over 90,000,000 acres of land have passed from tribal
ownership;
(3) many trust allotments were taken out of trust status,
often without their owners consent;
(4) without restrictions on alienation, allotment owners
were subject to exploitation and their allotments were often
sold or disposed of without any tangible or enduring benefit to
their owners;
(5) the trust periods for trust allotments have been
extended indefinitely;
(6) because of the inheritance provisions in the original
treaties or allotment Acts, the ownership of many of the trust
allotments that have remained in trust status has become
fractionated into hundreds or thousands of undivided interests,
many of which represent 2 percent or less of the total
interests;
(7) Congress has authorized the acquisition of lands in
trust for individual Indians, and many of those lands have also
become fractionated by subsequent inheritance;
(8) the acquisitions referred to in paragraph (7) continue
to be made;
(9) the fractional interests described in this section
often provide little or no return to the beneficial owners of
those interests and the administrative costs borne by the
United States for those interests are inordinately high;
(10) in Babbitt v. Youpee (117 S Ct. 727 (1997)), the
United States Supreme Court found the application of section
207 of the Indian Land Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2206) to
the facts presented in that case to be unconstitutional,
forcing the Department of the Interior to address the status of
thousands of undivided interests in trust and restricted lands;
(11)(A) on February 19, 1999, the Secretary of Interior
issued a Secretarial Order which officially reopened the
probate of all estates where an interest in land was ordered to
escheat to an Indian tribe pursuant to section 207 of the
Indian Land Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2206); and
(B) the Secretarial Order also directed appropriate
officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to distribute such
interests ``to the rightful heirs and beneficiaries without
regard to 25 U.S.C. 2206'';
(12) in the absence of comprehensive remedial legislation,
the number of the fractional interests will continue to grow
exponentially;
(13) the problem of the fractionation of Indian lands
described in this section is the result of a policy of the
Federal Government, cannot be solved by Indian tribes, and
requires a solution under Federal law.
(14) any devise or inheritance of an interest in trust or
restricted Indian lands is a matter of Federal law; and
(15) consistent with the Federal policy of tribal self-
determination, the Federal Government should encourage the
recognized tribal government that exercises jurisdiction over a
reservation to establish a tribal probate code for that
reservation.
SEC. 102. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to prevent the further fractionation of trust
allotments made to Indians;
(2) to consolidate fractional interests and ownership of
those interests into usable parcels;
(3) to consolidate fractional interests in a manner that
enhances tribal sovereignty;
(4) to promote tribal self-sufficiency and self-
determination; and
(5) to reverse the effects of the allotment policy on
Indian tribes.
SEC. 103. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN LAND CONSOLIDATION ACT.
The Indian Land Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2201 et seq.) is
amended--
(1) in section 202--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``(1) `tribe'''
and inserting ``(1) `Indian tribe' or `tribe''';
(B) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the
following:
``(2) `Indian' means any person who is a member of any
Indian tribe or is eligible to become a member of any Indian
tribe, or any person who has been found to meet the definition
of `Indian' under a provision of Federal law if the Secretary
determines that using such law's definition of Indian is
consistent with the purposes of this Act;'';
(C) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph
(3);
(D) by striking the period at the end of paragraph
(4) and inserting ``; and''; and
(E) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) `heirs of the first or second degree' means parents,
children, grandchildren, grandparents, brothers and sisters of
a decedent.'';
(2) in section 205--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)--
(i) by striking ``Any Indian'' and
inserting ``(a) In General.--Subject to
subsection (b), any Indian'';
(ii) by striking the colon and inserting
the following: ``. Interests owned by an Indian
tribe in a tract may be included in the
computation of the percentage of ownership of
the undivided interests in that tract for
purposes of determining whether the consent
requirement under the preceding sentence has
been met.'';
(iii) by striking ``: Provided, That--'';
and inserting the following:
``(b) Conditions Applicable to Purchase.--Subsection (a) applies on
the condition that--'';
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``If,'' and inserting
``if''; and
(ii) by adding ``and'' at the end; and
(C) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the
following:
``(3) the approval of the Secretary shall be required for a
land sale initiated under this section, except that such
approval shall not be required with respect to a land sale
transaction initiated by an Indian tribe that has in effect a
land consolidation plan that has been approved by the Secretary
under section 204.'';
(3) by striking section 206 and inserting the following:
``SEC. 206. TRIBAL PROBATE CODES; ACQUISITIONS OF FRACTIONAL INTERESTS
BY TRIBES.
``(a) Tribal Probate Codes.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, any Indian tribe may adopt a tribal probate code to govern
descent and distribution of trust or restricted lands that
are--
``(A) located within that Indian tribe's
reservation; or
``(B) otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of that
Indian tribe.
``(2) Possible inclusions.--A tribal probate code referred
to in paragraph (1) may include--
``(A) rules of intestate succession; and
``(B) other tribal probate code provisions that are
consistent with Federal law and that promote the
policies set forth in section 102 of the Indian Land
Consolidation Act Amendments of 2000.
``(3) Limitations.--The Secretary shall not approve a
tribal probate code if such code prevents an Indian person from
inheriting an interest in an allotment that was originally
allotted to his or her lineal ancestor.
``(b) Secretarial Approval.--
``(1) In general.--Any tribal probate code enacted under
subsection (a), and any amendment to such a tribal probate
code, shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary.
``(2) Review and approval.--
``(A) In general.--Each Indian tribe that adopts a
tribal probate code under subsection (a) shall submit
that code to the Secretary for review. Not later than
180 days after a tribal probate code is submitted to
the Secretary under this paragraph, the Secretary shall
review and approve or disapprove that tribal probate
code.
``(B) Consequence of failures to approve or
disapprove a tribal probate code.--If the Secretary
fails to approve or disapprove a tribal probate code
submitted for review under subparagraph (A) by the date
specified in that subparagraph, the tribal probate code
shall be deemed to have been approved by the Secretary,
but only to the extent that the tribal probate code is
consistent with Federal law and promotes the policies
set forth in section 102 of the Indian Land
Consolidation Act Amendments of 2000.
``(C) Consistency of tribal probate code with
act.--The Secretary may not approve a tribal probate
code, or any amendment to such a code, under this
paragraph unless the Secretary determines that the
tribal probate code promotes the policies set forth in
section 102 of the Indian Land Consolidation Act
Amendments of 2000.
``(D) Explanation.--If the Secretary disapproves a
tribal probate code, or an amendment to such a code,
under this paragraph, the Secretary shall include in
the notice of disapproval to the Indian tribe a written
explanation of the reasons for the disapproval.
``(E) Amendments.--
``(i) In general.--Each Indian tribe that
amends a tribal probate code under this
paragraph shall submit the amendment to the
Secretary for review and approval. Not later
than 60 days after receiving an amendment under
this subparagraph, the Secretary shall review
and approve or disapprove the amendment.
``(ii) Consequence of failure to approve or
disapprove an amendment.--If the Secretary
fails to approve or disapprove an amendment
submitted under clause (i), the amendment shall
be deemed to have been approved by the
Secretary, but only to the extent that the
amendment is consistent with Federal law and
promotes the policies set forth in section 102
of the Indian Land Consolidation Act of 2000.
``(3) Effective dates.--A tribal probate code approved
under paragraph (2) shall become effective on the later of--
``(A) the date specified in section 207(g)(5); or
``(B) 180 days after the date of approval.
``(4) Limitations.--
``(A) Tribal probate codes.--Each tribal probate
code enacted under subsection (a) shall apply only to
the estate of a decedent who dies on or after the
effective date of the tribal probate code.
``(B) Amendments to tribal probate codes.--With
respect to an amendment to a tribal probate code
referred to in subparagraph (A), that amendment shall
apply only to the estate of a decedent who dies on or
after the effective date of the amendment.
``(5) Repeals.--The repeal of a tribal probate code shall--
``(A) not become effective earlier than the date
that is 180 days after the Secretary receives notice of
the repeal; and
``(B) apply only to the estate of a decedent who
dies on or after the effective date of the repeal.
``(c) Authority Available to Indian Tribes.--
``(1) In general.--If the owner of an interest in trust or
restricted land devises an interest in such land to a non-
Indian under section 207(a)(6)(A), the Indian tribe that
exercises jurisdiction over the parcel of land involved may
acquire such interest by paying to the Secretary the fair
market value of such interest, as determined by the Secretary
on the date of the decedent's death. The Secretary shall
transfer such payment to the devisee.
``(2) Limitation.--
``(A) In general.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to
an interest in trust or restricted land if, while the
decedent's estate is pending before the Secretary, the
non-Indian devisee renounces the interest in favor of
an Indian person.
``(B) Reservation of life estate.--A non-Indian
devisee described in subparagraph (A) or a non-Indian
devisee described in section 207(a)(6)(B), may retain a
life estate in the interest involved, including a life
estate to the revenue produced from the interest. The
amount of any payment required under paragraph (1)
shall be reduced to reflect the value of any life
estate reserved by a non-Indian devisee under this
subparagraph.
``(3) Payments.--With respect to payments by an Indian
tribe under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--
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