109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4801
To extend the deadlines for distributing certain funds secured
by the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 16, 2006
Mr. STUPAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To extend the deadlines for distributing certain funds secured
by the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act 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 `Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act
Amendments'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings- Congress finds the following:
(1) The Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act (Public Law 105-143)
(hereafter `the Act') provides for the distribution of certain judgment
funds awarded by the Indian Claims Commission to certain Ottawa and Chippewa
of Michigan in dockets numbered 18-E, 58, 18-R, and 364.
(2) Under the terms and conditions of the Act, a sizable percentage of
those funds have already been distributed to the Grand Traverse Band of
Ottawa and Chippewa Indian, the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Little
River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa,
and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa. The remaining funds are currently
being held in trust pending distribution to certain individual descendants
of treaty signers, and to certain unrecognized Michigan Ottawa and Chippewa
Tribes that obtain Federal acknowledgment or a Federal reaffirmation of
the government-to-government relationship with the United States prior
to the distribution period established in the Act. That distribution period
is no earlier than December 15, 2005, and no later than December 15, 2006.
(3) To qualify for these funds, an unrecognized Michigan Ottawa or Chippewa
Tribe must--
(A) be a signatory to either the 1836 treaty (7 Stat. 391) or the 1855
treaty (11 Stat. 621);
(B) have a membership which is predominantly Chippewa and Ottawa;
(C) have submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs a letter of intent
to seek Federal acknowledgment not later than July 15, 1998;
(D) have submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs a documented petition
for Federal acknowledgment not later than December 15, 2000; and
(E) have obtained Federal acknowledgment or reaffirmation by Congress
or the Bureau of Indian Affairs prior to the distribution period established
in the Act.
(4) Two Michigan based unrecognized Ottawa and Chippewa Tribes, the Burt
Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and the Grand River Band of Ottawa
and Chippewa Indians, have met the first 5 requirements, but the Bureau
of Indian Affairs has not completed its review of the tribes' documented
petitions.
(5) Because neither of those tribes has caused this delay, it would be
unfair and unjust to deny either tribe its tribal shares of the funds
merely because the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been unable to complete
work on the petitions.
(b) Purpose- The purpose of this Act is to extend the distribution dates
established in Public Law 105-143 to protect the legal rights of those 2
tribes.
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.
Section 106(a)(2) of the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act is amended
to read as follows:
`(1) TIME LIMITATIONS- The judgment distribution roll of descendants prepared
pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) shall be approved not later than December
15, 2007.'.
END
