Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB3579 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 3579
55 To require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and complete all mortgage
66 packages associated with residential and business mortgages on Indian
77 land by certain deadlines, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 MAY22, 2023
1010 Mr. J
1111 OHNSONof South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was
1212 referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
1313 A BILL
1414 To require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and
1515 complete all mortgage packages associated with residen-
1616 tial and business mortgages on Indian land by certain
1717 deadlines, and for other purposes.
1818 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1919 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2020 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2121 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal Trust Land 4
2222 Homeownership Act of 2023’’. 5
2323 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
2424 In this Act: 7
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2828 (1) APPLICABLE BUREAU OFFICE .—The term 1
2929 ‘‘applicable Bureau office’’ means— 2
3030 (A) a Regional office of the Bureau; 3
3131 (B) an Agency office of the Bureau; or 4
3232 (C) a Land Titles and Records Office of 5
3333 the Bureau. 6
3434 (2) B
3535 UREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 7
3636 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 8
3737 (3) D
3838 IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 9
3939 the Director of the Bureau. 10
4040 (4) F
4141 IRST CERTIFIED TITLE STATUS REPORT .— 11
4242 The term ‘‘first certified title status report’’ means 12
4343 the title status report needed to verify title status on 13
4444 Indian land. 14
4545 (5) I
4646 NDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 15
4747 has the meaning given the term in section 162.003 16
4848 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 17
4949 on the date of enactment of this Act). 18
5050 (6) L
5151 AND MORTGAGE.—The term ‘‘land mort-19
5252 gage’’ means a mortgage obtained by an individual 20
5353 Indian who owns a tract of trust land for the pur-21
5454 pose of— 22
5555 (A) home acquisition; 23
5656 (B) home construction; 24
5757 (C) home improvements; or 25
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6161 (D) economic development. 1
6262 (7) L
6363 EASEHOLD MORTGAGE .—The term ‘‘lease-2
6464 hold mortgage’’ means a mortgage, deed of trust, or 3
6565 other instrument that pledges the leasehold interest 4
6666 of a lessee as security for a debt or other obligation 5
6767 owed by the lessee to a lender or other mortgagee. 6
6868 (8) M
6969 ORTGAGE PACKAGE .—The term ‘‘mort-7
7070 gage package’’ means a proposed residential lease-8
7171 hold mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, land 9
7272 mortgage, or right-of-way document submitted to an 10
7373 applicable Bureau office under section 3(a)(1). 11
7474 (9) R
7575 ELEVANT FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 12
7676 ‘‘relevant Federal agency’’ means any of the fol-13
7777 lowing Federal agencies that guarantee or make di-14
7878 rect mortgage loans on Indian land: 15
7979 (A) The Department of Agriculture. 16
8080 (B) The Department of Housing and 17
8181 Urban Development. 18
8282 (C) The Department of Veterans Affairs. 19
8383 (10) R
8484 IGHT-OF-WAY DOCUMENT .—The term 20
8585 ‘‘right-of-way document’’ has the meaning given the 21
8686 term in section 169.2 of title 25, Code of Federal 22
8787 Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment 23
8888 of this Act). 24
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9292 (11) SUBSEQUENT CERTIFIED TITLE STATUS 1
9393 REPORT.—The term ‘‘subsequent certified title sta-2
9494 tus report’’ means the title status report needed to 3
9595 identify any liens against a residential, business, or 4
9696 land lease on Indian land. 5
9797 SEC. 3. MORTGAGE REVIEW AND PROCESSING. 6
9898 (a) R
9999 EVIEW ANDPROCESSINGDEADLINES.— 7
100100 (1) I
101101 N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 8
102102 receiving a proposed residential leasehold mortgage, 9
103103 business leasehold mortgage, land mortgage, or 10
104104 right-of-way document, the applicable Bureau office 11
105105 shall notify the lender that the proposed residential 12
106106 leasehold mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, or 13
107107 right-of-way document has been received. 14
108108 (2) P
109109 RELIMINARY REVIEW.— 15
110110 (A) I
111111 N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 cal-16
112112 endar days after receipt of a proposed residen-17
113113 tial leasehold mortgage, business leasehold 18
114114 mortgage, land mortgage, or right-of-way docu-19
115115 ment, the applicable Bureau office shall conduct 20
116116 and complete a preliminary review of the resi-21
117117 dential leasehold mortgage, business leasehold 22
118118 mortgage, land mortgage, or right-of-way docu-23
119119 ment to verify that all required documents are 24
120120 included. 25
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124124 (B) INCOMPLETE DOCUMENTS .—As soon 1
125125 as practicable, but not more than 2 calendar 2
126126 days, after finding that any required documents 3
127127 are missing under subparagraph (A), the appli-4
128128 cable Bureau office shall notify the lender of 5
129129 the missing documents. 6
130130 (3) A
131131 PPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL .— 7
132132 (A) L
133133 EASEHOLD MORTGAGES .—Not later 8
134134 than 20 calendar days after receipt of a com-9
135135 plete executed residential leasehold mortgage or 10
136136 business leasehold mortgage, proof of required 11
137137 consents, and other required documentation, the 12
138138 applicable Bureau office shall approve or dis-13
139139 approve the residential leasehold mortgage or 14
140140 business leasehold mortgage. 15
141141 (B) R
142142 IGHT-OF-WAY DOCUMENTS .—Not 16
143143 later than 30 calendar days after receipt of a 17
144144 complete executed right-of-way document, proof 18
145145 of required consents, and other required docu-19
146146 mentation, the applicable Bureau office shall 20
147147 approve or disapprove the right-of-way docu-21
148148 ment. 22
149149 (C) L
150150 AND MORTGAGES.—Not later than 30 23
151151 calendar days after receipt of a complete exe-24
152152 cuted land mortgage, proof of required con-25
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156156 sents, and other required documentation, the 1
157157 applicable Bureau office shall approve or dis-2
158158 approve the land mortgage. 3
159159 (D) R
160160 EQUIREMENTS.—The determination 4
161161 of whether to approve or disapprove a residen-5
162162 tial leasehold mortgage or business leasehold 6
163163 mortgage under subparagraph (A), a right-of- 7
164164 way document under subparagraph (B), or a 8
165165 land mortgage under subparagraph (C)— 9
166166 (i) shall be in writing; and 10
167167 (ii) in the case of a determination to 11
168168 disapprove a residential leasehold mort-12
169169 gage, business leasehold mortgage, right- 13
170170 of-way document, or land mortgage shall, 14
171171 state the basis for the determination. 15
172172 (E) A
173173 PPLICATION.—This paragraph shall 16
174174 not apply to a residential leasehold mortgage or 17
175175 business leasehold mortgage with respect to In-18
176176 dian land in cases in which the applicant for 19
177177 the residential leasehold mortgage or business 20
178178 leasehold mortgage is an Indian tribe (as de-21
179179 fined in subsection (d) of the first section of the 22
180180 Act of 1955 (69 Stat. 539, chapter 615; 126 23
181181 Stat. 1150; 25 U.S.C. 415(d))) that has been 24
182182 approved for leasing under subsection (h) of 25
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186186 that section (69 Stat. 539, chapter 615; 126 1
187187 Stat. 1151; 25 U.S.C. 415(h)). 2
188188 (4) C
189189 ERTIFIED TITLE STATUS REPORTS .— 3
190190 (A) C
191191 OMPLETION OF REPORTS .— 4
192192 (i) I
193193 N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 5
194194 calendar days after the applicable Bureau 6
195195 office approves a residential leasehold 7
196196 mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, 8
197197 land mortgage, or right-of-way document 9
198198 under paragraph (3), the applicable Bu-10
199199 reau office shall complete the processing 11
200200 of, as applicable— 12
201201 (I) a first certified title status re-13
202202 port, if a first certified title status re-14
203203 port was not completed prior to the 15
204204 approval of the residential leasehold 16
205205 mortgage, business leasehold mort-17
206206 gage, land mortgage, or right-of-way 18
207207 document; and 19
208208 (II) a subsequent certified title 20
209209 status report. 21
210210 (ii) R
211211 EQUESTS FOR FIRST CERTIFIED 22
212212 TITLE STATUS REPORTS .—Notwith-23
213213 standing clause (i), not later than 14 cal-24
214214 endar days after the applicable Bureau of-25
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218218 fice receives a request for a first certified 1
219219 title status report from an applicant for a 2
220220 residential leasehold mortgage, business 3
221221 leasehold mortgage, land mortgage, or 4
222222 right-of-way document under paragraph 5
223223 (1), the applicable Bureau office shall com-6
224224 plete the processing of the first certified 7
225225 title status report. 8
226226 (B) N
227227 OTICE.— 9
228228 (i) I
229229 N GENERAL.—As soon as prac-10
230230 ticable after completion of the processing 11
231231 of, as applicable, a first certified title sta-12
232232 tus report or a subsequent certified title 13
233233 status report under subparagraph (A), but 14
234234 by not later than the applicable deadline 15
235235 described in that subparagraph, the appli-16
236236 cable Bureau office shall give notice of the 17
237237 completion to the lender. 18
238238 (ii) F
239239 ORM OF NOTICE.—The applica-19
240240 ble Bureau office shall give notice under 20
241241 clause (i)— 21
242242 (I) electronically through secure, 22
243243 encryption software; and 23
244244 (II) through the United States 24
245245 mail. 25
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249249 (iii) OPTION TO OPT OUT.—The lend-1
250250 er may opt out of receiving notice elec-2
251251 tronically under clause (ii)(I). 3
252252 (b) N
253253 OTICES.— 4
254254 (1) I
255255 N GENERAL.—If the applicable Bureau of-5
256256 fice does not complete the review and processing of 6
257257 mortgage packages under subsection (a) (including 7
258258 any corresponding first certified title status report 8
259259 or subsequent certified title status report under 9
260260 paragraph (4) of that subsection) by the applicable 10
261261 deadline described in that subsection, immediately 11
262262 after missing the deadline, the applicable Bureau of-12
263263 fice shall provide notice of the delay in review and 13
264264 processing to— 14
265265 (A) the party that submitted the mortgage 15
266266 package or requested the first certified title sta-16
267267 tus report; and 17
268268 (B) the lender for which the mortgage 18
269269 package (including any corresponding first cer-19
270270 tified title status report or subsequent certified 20
271271 title status report) is being requested. 21
272272 (2) R
273273 EQUESTS FOR UPDATES .—In addition to 22
274274 providing the notices required under paragraph (1), 23
275275 not later than 2 calendar days after receiving a rel-24
276276 evant inquiry with respect to a submitted mortgage 25
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280280 package from the party that submitted the mortgage 1
281281 package or the lender for which the mortgage pack-2
282282 age (including any corresponding first certified title 3
283283 status report or subsequent certified title status re-4
284284 port) is being requested or an inquiry with respect 5
285285 to a requested first certified title status report from 6
286286 the party that requested the first certified title sta-7
287287 tus report, the applicable Bureau office shall re-8
288288 spond to the inquiry. 9
289289 (c) D
290290 ELIVERY OFFIRST ANDSUBSEQUENT CER-10
291291 TIFIEDTITLESTATUSREPORTS.—Notwithstanding any 11
292292 other provision of law, any first certified title status report 12
293293 and any subsequent certified title status report, as appli-13
294294 cable, shall be delivered directly to— 14
295295 (1) the lender; 15
296296 (2) any local or regional agency office of the 16
297297 Bureau that requests the first certified title status 17
298298 report or subsequent certified title status report; 18
299299 (3) in the case of a proposed residential lease-19
300300 hold mortgage or land mortgage, the relevant Fed-20
301301 eral agency that insures or guarantees the loan; and 21
302302 (4) if requested, any individual or entity de-22
303303 scribed in section 150.303 of title 25, Code of Fed-23
304304 eral Regulations (as in effect on the date of enact-24
305305 ment of this Act). 25
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309309 (d) ACCESS TOTRUSTASSET ANDACCOUNTING 1
310310 M
311311 ANAGEMENTSYSTEM.—Beginning on the date of enact-2
312312 ment of this Act, the relevant Federal agencies and Indian 3
313313 Tribes shall have read-only access to the Trust Asset and 4
314314 Accounting Management System maintained by the Bu-5
315315 reau. 6
316316 (e) A
317317 NNUALREPORT.— 7
318318 (1) I
319319 N GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 of 8
320320 each calendar year, the Director shall submit to the 9
321321 Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the 10
322322 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 11
323323 Representatives a report describing— 12
324324 (A) for the most recent calendar year, the 13
325325 number of requests received to complete resi-14
326326 dential leasehold mortgage packages, business 15
327327 leasehold mortgage packages, land mortgage 16
328328 packages, and right-of-way document packages 17
329329 (including any requests for corresponding first 18
330330 certified title status reports and subsequent cer-19
331331 tified title status reports), including a detailed 20
332332 description of— 21
333333 (i) requests that were and were not 22
334334 successfully completed by the applicable 23
335335 deadline described in subsection (a) by 24
336336 each applicable Bureau office; and 25
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340340 (ii) the reasons for each applicable 1
341341 Bureau office not meeting any applicable 2
342342 deadlines; and 3
343343 (B) the length of time needed by each ap-4
344344 plicable Bureau office during the most recent 5
345345 calendar year to provide the notices required 6
346346 under subsection (b)(1). 7
347347 (2) R
348348 EQUIREMENT.—In submitting the report 8
349349 required under paragraph (1), the Director shall 9
350350 maintain the confidentiality of personally identifiable 10
351351 information of the parties involved in requesting the 11
352352 completion of residential leasehold mortgage pack-12
353353 ages, business leasehold mortgage packages, land 13
354354 mortgage packages, and right-of-way document 14
355355 packages (including any corresponding first certified 15
356356 title status reports and subsequent certified title sta-16
357357 tus reports). 17
358358 (f) GAO S
359359 TUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the 18
360360 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 19
361361 of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 20
362362 Indian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Nat-21
363363 ural Resources of the House of Representatives a report 22
364364 that includes— 23
365365 (1) an evaluation of the need for residential 24
366366 leasehold mortgage packages, business leasehold 25
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370370 mortgage packages, land mortgage packages, and 1
371371 right-of-way document packages of each Indian 2
372372 Tribe to be digitized for the purpose of streamlining 3
373373 and expediting the completion of mortgage packages 4
374374 for residential mortgages on Indian land (including 5
375375 the corresponding first certified title status reports 6
376376 and subsequent certified title status reports); and 7
377377 (2) an estimate of the time and total cost nec-8
378378 essary for Indian Tribes to digitize the records de-9
379379 scribed in paragraph (1), in conjunction with assist-10
380380 ance in that digitization from the Bureau. 11
381381 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF REALTY OMBUDSMAN POSI-12
382382 TION. 13
383383 (a) I
384384 NGENERAL.—The Director shall establish with-14
385385 in the Division of Real Estate Services of the Bureau the 15
386386 position of Realty Ombudsman, who shall report directly 16
387387 to the Secretary of the Interior. 17
388388 (b) F
389389 UNCTIONS.—The Realty Ombudsman shall— 18
390390 (1) ensure that the applicable Bureau offices 19
391391 are meeting the mortgage review and processing 20
392392 deadlines established by section 3(a); 21
393393 (2) ensure that the applicable Bureau offices 22
394394 comply with the notices required under subsections 23
395395 (a) and (b) of section 3; 24
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399399 (3) serve as a liaison to other Federal agencies, 1
400400 including by— 2
401401 (A) ensuring the Bureau is responsive to 3
402402 all of the inquiries from the relevant Federal 4
403403 agencies; and 5
404404 (B) helping to facilitate communications 6
405405 between the relevant Federal agencies and the 7
406406 Bureau on matters relating to mortgages on In-8
407407 dian land; 9
408408 (4) receive inquiries, questions, and complaints 10
409409 directly from Indian Tribes, members of Indian 11
410410 Tribes, and lenders in regard to executed residential 12
411411 leasehold mortgages, business leasehold mortgages, 13
412412 land mortgages, or right-of-way documents; and 14
413413 (5) serve as the intermediary between the In-15
414414 dian Tribes, members of Indian Tribes, and lenders 16
415415 and the Bureau in responding to inquiries and ques-17
416416 tions and resolving complaints. 18
417417 Æ
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