I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 43
To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to provide that Village
Corporations shall not be required to convey land in trust to the State
of Alaska for the establishment of Municipal Corporations, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. B
EGICHintroduced 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 Village Corporations shall not be required to
convey land in trust to the State of Alaska for the
establishment of Municipal Corporations, 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. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alaska Native Village 4
Municipal Lands Restoration Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 43 IH
SEC. 2. REVERSION OF CERTAIN LAND CONVEYED IN 1
TRUST TO THE STATE OF ALASKA. 2
Section 14(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 3
Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(c)) is amended— 4
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 5
(5) as subparagraphs (A) through (E), respectively, 6
and indenting appropriately; 7
(2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 8
(as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘(c) Each patent’’ 9
and inserting the following: 10
‘‘(c) C
ONVEYANCE OF CERTAINLAND BYVILLAGE 11
C
ORPORATION.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each patent’’; 13
(3) in paragraph (1) (as so designated), in the 14
undesignated matter following subparagraph (E) (as 15
so redesignated), in the first sentence— 16
(A) by striking ‘‘section 14(c) of this Act’’ 17
and inserting ‘‘this subsection’’; and 18
(B) by striking ‘‘There is authorized’’ and 19
inserting the following: 20
‘‘(2) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 21
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—There are author-22
ized’’; 23
(4) in paragraph (2)(A) (as so redesignated), in 24
the second sentence, by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ 25
and inserting the following: 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 43 IH
‘‘(B) FORM OF FUNDING .—The Sec-1
retary’’; and 2
(5) in paragraph (1) (as so designated)— 3
(A) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (B) 4
(as so redesignated)— 5
(i) by striking ‘‘the’’ the first place it 6
appears and inserting ‘‘The’’; and 7
(ii) by striking the semicolon at the 8
end and inserting a period; 9
(B) in subparagraph (D) (as so redesig-10
nated), by striking ‘‘the’’ the first place it ap-11
pears and inserting ‘‘The’’; 12
(C) by striking ‘‘existed as of’’ in subpara-13
graph (D) (as so redesignated) and all that fol-14
lows through ‘‘for’’ in subparagraph (E) (as so 15
redesignated) and inserting the following: ‘‘ex-16
isted as of December 18, 1971. 17
‘‘(E) For’’; and 18
(D) in subparagraph (C) (as so redesig-19
nated)— 20
(i) by striking the semicolon at the 21
end and inserting a period; 22
(ii) by striking ‘‘in trust: Provided, 23
however, That the word’’ and all that fol-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 43 IH
lows through ‘‘sentence,’’ and inserting the 1
following: ‘‘in trust. 2
‘‘(II) D
EFINITION OF SALE .— 3
For purposes of subclause (I), the 4
term ‘sale’’’; 5
(iii) by striking ‘‘one thousand two 6
hundred and eighty acres: Provided further, 7
That any net’’ and inserting the following: 8
‘‘1,280 acres. 9
‘‘(iii) N
ET REVENUES.— 10
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Any net’’; 11
(iv) by striking ‘‘community needs: 12
Provided, That the’’ and inserting the fol-13
lowing: ‘‘community needs. 14
‘‘(ii) M
INIMUM ACREAGE.—The’’; 15
(v) by striking ‘‘(C) the Village Cor-16
poration’’ and inserting the following: 17
‘‘(C) C
ONVEYANCE TO MUNICIPAL COR -18
PORATION OR THE STATE IN TRUST .— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Village Cor-20
poration’’; and 21
(vi) by adding at the end the fol-22
lowing: 23
‘‘(iv) C
ASES IN WHICH CONVEYANCE 24
SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED .— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 43 IH
‘‘(I) IN GENERAL .—Notwith-1
standing any other provision of this 2
subparagraph, if a Village Corpora-3
tion, prior to the date of enactment of 4
the Alaska Native Village Municipal 5
Lands Restoration Act of 2025, con-6
veyed to the State in trust all or a 7
portion of the acreage of land re-8
quired to be conveyed under this sub-9
paragraph for the establishment of a 10
Municipal Corporation in the future, 11
and a Municipal Corporation has not 12
been established as of that date of en-13
actment, on formal resolution by the 14
Village Corporation and the residents 15
of the Native village requesting dis-16
solution of the trust, the trust shall be 17
dissolved and title to the land shall re-18
vert to the Village Corporation, sub-19
ject to subclause (III). 20
‘‘(II) A
DDITIONAL LAND.—Not-21
withstanding any other provision of 22
this subparagraph, as of the date of 23
enactment of the Alaska Native Vil-24
lage Municipal Lands Restoration Act 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•HR 43 IH
of 2025, a Village Corporation shall 1
not be required to convey any addi-2
tional land in trust under this sub-3
paragraph for the establishment of a 4
Municipal Corporation in the future. 5
‘‘(III) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In ac-6
cordance with subsection (g)— 7
‘‘(aa) the reversion of land 8
to a Village Corporation pursuant 9
to subclause (I) shall be subject 10
to— 11
‘‘(AA) valid existing 12
rights created by the appli-13
cable trust; and 14
‘‘(BB) any existing 15
easements, rights-of-way 16
necessary for public roadway 17
access, or rights-of-way for 18
access of holders of valid ex-19
isting rights; and 20
‘‘(bb) the Village Corpora-21
tion shall assume the obligations 22
of the applicable trust with re-23
spect to any lease or other use 24
agreement applicable to the land 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7
•HR 43 IH
on reversion of the land to the 1
Village Corporation pursuant to 2
subclause (I).’’. 3
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H43.IH H43
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB