Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB411 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 411
55 To provide compensation to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for the
66 taking without just compensation of land by the United States inside
77 the exterior boundaries of the L’Anse Indian Reservation that were
88 guaranteed to the Community under a treaty signed in 1854.
99 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1010 JANUARY15, 2025
1111 Mr. B
1212 ERGMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
1313 Committee on Natural Resources
1414 A BILL
1515 To provide compensation to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Com-
1616 munity for the taking without just compensation of land
1717 by the United States inside the exterior boundaries of
1818 the L’Anse Indian Reservation that were guaranteed to
1919 the Community under a treaty signed in 1854.
2020 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2121 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2222 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2323 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keweenaw Bay Indian 4
2424 Community Land Claim Settlement Act of 2025’’. 5
2525 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
2626 Congress finds that— 7
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3030 (1) the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is a 1
3131 federally recognized Indian Tribe residing on the 2
3232 L’Anse Indian Reservation in Baraga County in the 3
3333 Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan; 4
3434 (2) the Community is a successor in interest to 5
3535 the Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of the Mis-6
3636 sissippi and Lake Superior, made and concluded at 7
3737 La Pointe of Lake Superior October 4, 1842 (7 8
3838 Stat. 591) (referred to in this section as the ‘‘1842 9
3939 Treaty’’), which, among other things, guaranteed the 10
4040 usufructuary rights of the Community over a large 11
4141 area of land that was ceded to the United States, 12
4242 until such time that those usufructuary rights were 13
4343 properly and legally extinguished; 14
4444 (3) the Community is also a successor in inter-15
4545 est to the Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of Lake 16
4646 Superior and the Mississippi, made and concluded at 17
4747 La Pointe September 30, 1854 (10 Stat. 1109) (re-18
4848 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘1854 Treaty’’); 19
4949 (4) article 2, paragraph 1 of the 1854 Treaty 20
5050 created the L’Anse Indian Reservation as a perma-21
5151 nent reservation; 22
5252 (5) pursuant to article 13 of the 1854 Treaty, 23
5353 the 1854 Treaty became ‘‘obligatory on the con-24
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5757 tracting parties’’ when ratified by the President and 1
5858 the Senate on January 10, 1855; 2
5959 (6) in 1850, Congress enacted the Act of Sep-3
6060 tember 28, 1850 (commonly known and referred to 4
6161 in this section as the ‘‘Swamp Land Act’’) (9 Stat. 5
6262 519, chapter 84), which authorized the State of Ar-6
6363 kansas and other States, including the State of 7
6464 Michigan, to ‘‘construct the necessary levees and 8
6565 drains to reclaim’’ certain unsold ‘‘swamp and over-9
6666 flowed lands, made unfit thereby for cultivation’’ 10
6767 and stating that those lands ‘‘shall remain unsold at 11
6868 the passage of this act. . . .’’; 12
6969 (7) following enactment of the Swamp Land 13
7070 Act, the State claimed thousands of acres of swamp 14
7171 land in the State pursuant to that Act; 15
7272 (8) between 1893 and 1937, the General Land 16
7373 Office patented 2,743 acres of land to the State that 17
7474 were located within the exterior boundaries of the 18
7575 Reservation (referred to in this section as ‘‘Reserva-19
7676 tion Swamp Lands’’); 20
7777 (9) the right of the Community to use and oc-21
7878 cupy the unsold land within the Reservation had not 22
7979 been extinguished when the United States patented 23
8080 the Reservation Swamp Lands to the State; 24
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8484 (10) in 1852, Congress enacted the Act of Au-1
8585 gust 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 92) (referred to 2
8686 in this section as the ‘‘Canal Land Act’’), to facili-3
8787 tate the building of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal at 4
8888 the Falls of the St. Mary’s River, to connect Lake 5
8989 Superior to Lake Huron; 6
9090 (11) pursuant to the Canal Land Act, the 7
9191 United States granted the State the right to select 8
9292 750,000 acres of unsold public land within the State 9
9393 to defray the cost of construction of the Sault Ste. 10
9494 Marie Canal; 11
9595 (12) the State identified and selected, among 12
9696 other land, a minimum of 1,333.25 and up to 2,720 13
9797 acres within the exterior boundaries of the Reserva-14
9898 tion (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Reservation 15
9999 Canal Lands’’); 16
100100 (13) the Department of the Interior approved 17
101101 the land selections of the State, including the Res-18
102102 ervation Canal Lands, after ratification of the 1854 19
103103 Treaty; 20
104104 (14) the Secretary noted that the approval de-21
105105 scribed in paragraph (13) was ‘‘subject to any valid 22
106106 interfering rights’’; 23
107107 (15) the 1854 Treaty set apart from the public 24
108108 domain all unsold land within the Reservation to the 25
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112112 Community as of September 30, 1854, which pre-1
113113 ceded the date on which the State established legally 2
114114 effective title to the Reservation Canal Lands; 3
115115 (16) the Community made claims to the De-4
116116 partment of the Interior with respect to the Reserva-5
117117 tion Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal 6
118118 Lands, providing legal analysis and ethnohistorical 7
119119 support for those claims; 8
120120 (17) in December 2021, the Department of the 9
121121 Interior stated that ‘‘We have carefully reviewed per-10
122122 tinent documents, including the Tribe’s expert re-11
123123 ports, and have determined that the Tribe’s claims 12
124124 to the Swamp Lands and Canal Lands have merit’’; 13
125125 (18) the United States, through the actions of 14
126126 the General Land Office, deprived the Community of 15
127127 the exclusive use and occupancy of the Reservation 16
128128 Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands 17
129129 within the Reservation, without just compensation as 18
130130 required under the Takings Clause of the Fifth 19
131131 Amendment to the Constitution of the United 20
132132 States; 21
133133 (19) the loss of the Reservation Swamp Lands 22
134134 and the Reservation Canal Lands without just com-23
135135 pensation has— 24
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139139 (A) impacted the exercise by the Commu-1
140140 nity of cultural, religious, and subsistence 2
141141 rights on the land; 3
142142 (B) caused a harmful disconnect between 4
143143 the Community and its land; 5
144144 (C) impacted the ability of the Community 6
145145 to fully exercise its economy within the Reserva-7
146146 tion; and 8
147147 (D) had a negative economic impact on the 9
148148 development of the economy of the Community; 10
149149 (20) certain non-Indian individuals, entities, 11
150150 and local governments occupy land within the 12
151151 boundaries of the Reservation— 13
152152 (A) acquired ownership interests in the 14
153153 Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reservation 15
154154 Canal Lands in good faith; and 16
155155 (B) have an interest in possessing clear 17
156156 title to that land; 18
157157 (21) this Act allows the United States— 19
158158 (A) to secure a fair and equitable settle-20
159159 ment of past inequities suffered by the Commu-21
160160 nity as a result of the actions of the United 22
161161 States that caused the taking of the Reserva-23
162162 tion Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal 24
163163 Lands without just compensation; and 25
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167167 (B) to ensure protection of the ownership 1
168168 of the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Res-2
169169 ervation Canal Lands by non-Indian occupants 3
170170 of the Reservation, through the settlement of 4
171171 the claims of the Community to that land, and 5
172172 through that action, the relief of any clouds on 6
173173 title; 7
174174 (22) a settlement will allow the Community to 8
175175 receive just compensation and the local landowners 9
176176 to obtain clear title to land, without long and pro-10
177177 tracted litigation that would be both costly and det-11
178178 rimental to all involved; and 12
179179 (23) this Act achieves both justice for the Com-13
180180 munity and security for current landowners through 14
181181 a restorative and non-confrontational process. 15
182182 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 16
183183 The purposes of this Act are— 17
184184 (1) to acknowledge the uncompensated taking 18
185185 by the Federal Government of the Reservation 19
186186 Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands; 20
187187 (2) to provide compensation to the Community 21
188188 for the uncompensated taking of the Reservation 22
189189 Swamp Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands by 23
190190 the Federal Government; 24
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194194 (3) to extinguish all claims by the Community 1
195195 to the Reservation Swamp Lands and the Reserva-2
196196 tion Canal Lands and to confirm the ownership by 3
197197 the current landowners of the Reservation Swamp 4
198198 Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands, who ob-5
199199 tained that land in good faith; 6
200200 (4) to extinguish all potential claims by the 7
201201 Community against the United States, the State, 8
202202 and current landowners concerning title to, use of, 9
203203 or occupancy of the Reservation Swamp Lands and 10
204204 the Reservation Canal Lands; and 11
205205 (5) to authorize the Secretary— 12
206206 (A) to compensate the Community; and 13
207207 (B) to take any other action necessary to 14
208208 carry out this Act. 15
209209 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 16
210210 In this Act: 17
211211 (1) C
212212 OMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘Community’’ 18
213213 means the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. 19
214214 (2) C
215215 OUNTY.—The term ‘‘County’’ means 20
216216 Baraga County, Michigan. 21
217217 (3) R
218218 ESERVATION.—The term ‘‘Reservation’’ 22
219219 means the L’Anse Indian Reservation, located in— 23
220220 (A) T. 51 N., R. 33 W.; 24
221221 (B) T. 51 N., R. 32 W.; 25
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225225 (C) T. 50 N., R. 33 W., E
226226 1
227227 ⁄2; 1
228228 (D) T. 50 N., R. 32 W., W
229229 1
230230 ⁄2; and 2
231231 (E) that portion of T. 51 N., R. 31 W. 3
232232 lying west of Huron Bay. 4
233233 (4) R
234234 ESERVATION CANAL LANDS .—The term 5
235235 ‘‘Reservation Canal Lands’’ means the 1,333.25 to 6
236236 2,720 acres of Community land located within the 7
237237 exterior boundaries of the Reservation that the Fed-8
238238 eral Government conveyed to the State pursuant to 9
239239 the Act of August 26, 1852 (10 Stat. 35, chapter 10
240240 92). 11
241241 (5) R
242242 ESERVATION SWAMP LANDS .—The term 12
243243 ‘‘Reservation Swamp Lands’’ means the 2,743 acres 13
244244 of land located within the exterior boundaries of the 14
245245 Reservation that the Federal Government conveyed 15
246246 to the State between 1893 and 1937 pursuant to the 16
247247 Act of September 28, 1850 (commonly known as the 17
248248 ‘‘Swamp Land Act’’) (sections 2479 through 2481 of 18
249249 the Revised Statutes (43 U.S.C. 982 through 984)). 19
250250 (6) S
251251 ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20
252252 the Secretary of the Interior. 21
253253 (7) S
254254 TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 22
255255 of Michigan. 23
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259259 SEC. 5. PAYMENTS. 1
260260 (a) T
261261 RANSFER OFFUNDS.—As soon as practicable 2
262262 after the date on which the amount authorized to be ap-3
263263 propriated under subsection (c) is made available to the 4
264264 Secretary, the Secretary shall transfer $33,900,000 to the 5
265265 Community. 6
266266 (b) U
267267 SE OFFUNDS.— 7
268268 (1) I
269269 N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 8
270270 the Community may use the amount received under 9
271271 subsection (a) for any lawful purpose, including— 10
272272 (A) governmental services; 11
273273 (B) economic development; 12
274274 (C) natural resources protection; and 13
275275 (D) land acquisition. 14
276276 (2) R
277277 ESTRICTION ON USE OF FUNDS .—The 15
278278 community may not use the amount received under 16
279279 subsection (a) to acquire land for gaming purposes. 17
280280 (c) A
281281 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 18
282282 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 19
283283 out subsection (a), $33,900,000 for fiscal year 2026, to 20
284284 remain available until expended. 21
285285 SEC. 6. EXTINGUISHMENT OF CLAIMS. 22
286286 (a) I
287287 NGENERAL.—Effective on the date on which the 23
288288 Community receives the payment under section 5(a), all 24
289289 claims of the Community to the Reservation Swamp 25
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293293 Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands owned by persons 1
294294 or entities other than the Community are extinguished. 2
295295 (b) C
296296 LEARTITLE.—Effective on the date on which 3
297297 the Community receives the payment under section 5(a), 4
298298 the title of all current owners to the Reservation Swamp 5
299299 Lands and the Reservation Canal Lands is cleared of all 6
300300 preexisting rights held by the Community and any of the 7
301301 members of the Community. 8
302302 SEC. 7. EFFECT. 9
303303 Nothing in this Act authorizes— 10
304304 (1) the Secretary to take land into trust for the 11
305305 benefit of the Community for gaming purposes; or 12
306306 (2) the Community to use land acquired using 13
307307 amounts received under this Act for gaming pur-14
308308 poses. 15
309309 Æ
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