Title: Support for S. 1586, the Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments of 2000

 

WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and

WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest and largest national organization established in 1944 and comprised of representatives of and advocates for national, regional, and local Tribal concerns; and

WHEREAS, the health, safety, welfare, education, economic and employment opportunity, and preservation of cultural and natural resources are primary goals and objectives of NCAI; and,

WHEREAS, in the 19th century, the federal government pursued a policy of allotting Indian Nation reservation lands to private individuals, culminating in the "Dawes Act" of 1887; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the allotment policy, tribal governments lost over 100 million acres of land;

WHEREAS, the allotment policy was primarily directed at reducing or eliminating communal tribal land ownership, and tribal authority over the lands reserved to tribal governments through treaties and agreements with the federal government; and

WHEREAS, allotment and "declarations of surplus land" violated explicit treaty provisions; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court has: "never been willing to extrapolate a specific congressional purpose of diminishing reservations with the passage of every surplus land act," nevertheless, states have tried to assert that the presence of non-Indians who own fee lands within reservations provides a basis for state jurisdiction, even though treaties reserved reservation lands to tribal government, irrespective of land title; and

WHEREAS, any attempt to address the negative results of the allotment policy, including fractionated ownership of Indian lands, should primarily be directed at reversing the effects of the allotment policy on Indian tribes, because the allotment policy was primarily directed at tribal governments; and

WHEREAS, allotted lands continue to pass out of trust when they are inherited by non-Indians; and

WHEREAS, the allotment policy has had a number of different negative effects, which often differ from reservation to reservation, and which will require a variety of approaches for resolving, but the problems associated with fractionated ownership is a critical starting point; and

WHEREAS, in introducing S. 1586 in September of 1999, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, stated that on the day that Congress passed the Dawes Act, it probably violated more treaties in a single day than has in the years before or since that day; and

WHEREAS, although the Supreme Court ruled that the Dawes Act \was "thoroughly" repudiated by the Indian Reorganization Act, the provisions of that law which authorized the making of allotments and the declarations of "surplus" lands have not been repealed; and

WHEREAS, on June 14, 2000, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs reported S. 1586, the Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments of 2000, to the United States Senate with a recommendation that it "do pass" S. 1586; and

WHEREAS, S. 1586 includes the following provisions:

Recognition that the Federal government is responsible for the allotment policy and all of the disastrous results of the allotment policy;

Recognition that the Federal government is responsible for developing a solution to the problems caused by allotment;

The establishment of a Federal policy to prevent further fractionation of allotted lands through the consolidation of interests in a manner that enhances tribal sovereignty;

An explicit repeal of the sections of the Dawes Act that authorized the allotment of tribal lands and the declaration of "surplus" lands, but no amendment to sections 4 & 5 of the Dawes Act, which have been interpreted as establishing a tax exemption for allotted lands;

A mechanism to ensure that land will not pass out of trust if it is inherited by a non-Indian;

A process for tribal governments to acquire interests in allotted lands that are inherited by non-Indians without having to submit a tribal probate code to the Secretary;

A pilot project for the Secretary to acquire fractional interests from willing Indian sellers, and either convey them immediately to tribal governments or, if the interest is producing income, convey them to the tribal government after the price paid by the Secretary is recouped;

The effective date for new probate provisions will be deferred until one year after the Secretary provides adequate notice, as specified in S. 1586;

Whereas, in an effort to make S. 1586 a consensus bill the Clinton Administration has indicated that it will not object to the following changes in S. 1586:

S. 1586 does not include provisions calling for the escheat of all interests of 2% or less that pass by intestate succession;

S. 1586 directs the Secretary to take tribal views into account when deciding which fractional interests to acquire under the pilot project;

S. 1586 establishes that the Secretary may acquire interests under the pilot project for three years, and then submit a report with findings on how the project could be modified to allow for greater control by tribal governments;

S. 1586 authorizes the Secretary to provide probate planning assistance to allotment owners.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NCAI commends Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for consulting with Indian Country in the development of this bill and for undertaking to repudiate allotment polices, redress the effects of continued fractionation and end the unwarranted loss of trust lands; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NCAI supports S. 1586 if it is amended as indicated above and urges that the United States Senate, House of Representatives and President pass it into law at the earliest opportunity; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that NCAI requests that the Senator Campbell and the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs continue to work with Indian Nations to address any technical issues that may arise during the implementation of the bill.

The foregoing resolution was adopted at the 2000 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Centennial Hall in Juneau, Alaska on June 25-28, 2000 with a quorum present.

_____________________________

Susan Masten, President

Juana Majel, Recording Secretary

Adopted by the General Assembly during the 2000 Mid-Year Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Centennial Hall in Juneau, Alaska on June 25-28, 2000.