Notes on 25 U.S.C. § 2201 : US Code - Notes

Search Notes on 25 U.S.C. § 2201 : US Code - Notes

(Pub. L. 97-459, title II, Sec. 202, Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2517;
Pub. L. 106-462, title I, Sec. 103(1), Nov. 7, 2000, 114 Stat.
1992; Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 6(b), Oct. 27, 2004, 118 Stat. 1804.)
REFERENCES IN TEXT
The Indian Reorganization Act, referred to in par. (2)(B), is act
June 18, 1934, ch. 576, 48 Stat. 984, as amended, which is
classified generally to subchapter V (Sec. 461 et seq.) of chapter
14 of this title. The term "Indian" is defined for purposes of this
Act in section 479 of this title. For complete classification of
this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section
461 of this title and Tables.
This chapter, referred to in pars. (6) and (7), was in the
original "this Act", which was translated as reading "this title",
meaning title II of Pub. L. 97-459, to reflect the probable intent
of Congress.
AMENDMENTS
2004 - Par. (2). Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 6(b)(1), added par. (2)
and struck out former par. (2) which read as follows: " 'Indian'
means any person who is a member of any Indian tribe or is eligible
to become a member of any Indian tribe, or any person who has been
found to meet the definition of 'Indian' under a provision of
Federal law if the Secretary determines that using such law's
definition of Indian is consistent with the purposes of this
chapter;".
Par. (4). Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 6(b)(2), added par. (4) and
struck out former par. (4) which read as follows: " 'trust or
restricted lands' means lands, title to which is held by the United
States in trust for an Indian or an Indian tribe or lands title to
which is held by Indians or an Indian tribe subject to a
restriction by the United States against alienation; and".
Pars. (6) to (10). Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 6(b)(3), added pars. (6)
to (10).
2000 - Par. (1). Pub. L. 106-462, Sec. 103(1)(A), substituted
"(1)'Indian tribe' or 'tribe' " for "(1) 'tribe' ".
Par. (2). Pub. L. 106-462, Sec. 103(1)(B), added par. (2) and
struck out former par. (2) which read as follows: " 'Indian' means
any person who is a member of a tribe or any person who is
recognized as an Indian by the Secretary of the Interior;".
Par. (5). Pub. L. 106-462, Sec. 103(1)(C)-(E), added par. (5).
NOTICE; EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2004 AMENDMENT
Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 8, Oct. 27, 2004, 118 Stat. 1809, provided
that:
"(a) Notice. -
"(1) In general. - Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act [Oct. 27, 2004], the Secretary shall notify
Indian tribes and owners of trust or restricted lands of the
amendments made by this Act [see Short Title of 2004 Amendment
note below].
"(2) Specifications. - The notice required under paragraph (1)
shall be designed to inform Indian owners of trust or restricted
land of -
"(A) the effect of this Act and the amendments made by this
Act, with emphasis on the effect of the provisions of this Act
and the amendments made by this Act, on the testate disposition
and intestate descent of their interests in trust or restricted
land;
"(B) estate planning options available to the owners,
including any opportunities for receiving estate planning
assistance or advice;
"(C) the use of negotiated sales, gift deeds, land exchanges,
and other transactions for consolidating the ownership of land;
and
"(D) a toll-free telephone number to be used for obtaining
information regarding the provisions of this Act and any trust
assets of such owners.
"(3) Requirements. - The Secretary shall provide the notice
required under paragraph (1) -
"(A) by direct mail for those Indians with interests in trust
and restricted lands for which the Secretary has an address for
the interest holder;
"(B) through the Federal Register;
"(C) through local newspapers in areas with significant
Indian populations, reservation newspapers, and newspapers that
are directed at an Indian audience; and
"(D) through any other means determined appropriate by the
Secretary.
"(4) Certification. - After providing notice under this
subsection, the Secretary shall -
"(A) certify that the requirements of this subsection have
been met; and
"(B) publish notice of that certification in the Federal
Register.
"(b) Effective Date. - Section 207 of the Indian Land
Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2206), except subsections (e) and (f)
of that section, shall not apply to the estate of an individual who
dies before the date that is 1 year after the date on which the
Secretary makes the certification required under subsection (a)(4)
[such certification made June 20, 2005, see 70 F.R. 37107]."
SHORT TITLE OF 2005 AMENDMENT
Pub. L. 109-157, Sec. 1, Dec. 30, 2005, 119 Stat. 2949, provided
that: "This Act [amending sections 464, 2204 to 2206, 2212, 2214,
and 2216 of this title, enacting provisions set out as a note under
section 464 of this title, and amending provisions set out as a
note under this section] may be cited as the 'Indian Land Probate
Reform Technical Corrections Act of 2005'."
SHORT TITLE OF 2004 AMENDMENT
Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 1, Oct. 27, 2004, 118 Stat. 1773, provided
that: "This Act [enacting sections 2220 and 2221 of this title,
amending this section and sections 348, 464, 2204 to 2206, 2212 to
2216, and 2218 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as
notes under this section] may be cited as the 'American Indian
Probate Reform Act of 2004'."
SHORT TITLE OF 2000 AMENDMENT
Pub. L. 106-462, Sec. 1, Nov. 7, 2000, 114 Stat. 1991, provided
that: "This Act [enacting sections 2205, 2206, and 2212 to 2219 of
this title, amending this section and sections 348, 372, 373, 464,
2204, and 2207 of this title, repealing sections 331 to 333, 2205,
and 2206 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as notes
under this section and sections 396 and 2206 of this title] may be
cited as the 'Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments of 2000'."
SHORT TITLE OF 1991 AMENDMENT
Pub. L. 102-238, Sec. 1, Dec. 17, 1991, 105 Stat. 1908, provided
that: "This Act [amending sections 2203, 2703, and 2718 of this
title, enacting provisions set out as a note under section 1437f of
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, and repealing provisions
set out as a note under section 1437f of Title 42] may be cited as
the 'Technical Amendments to Various Indian Laws Act of 1991'."
SHORT TITLE
Section 201 of title II of Pub. L. 97-459 provided that: "This
title [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the 'Indian Land
Consolidation Act'."
REGULATIONS
Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 10, Oct. 27, 2004, 118 Stat. 1810, provided
that: "The Secretary is authorized to adopt such regulations as may
be necessary to implement the provisions of this Act [see Short
Title of 2004 Amendment note above]."
SEVERABILITY
Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 9, Oct. 27, 2004, 118 Stat. 1810, as
amended by Pub. L. 109-157, Sec. 8(a)(2), Dec. 30, 2005, 119 Stat.
2952, provided that: "If any provision of this Act [see Short Title
of 2004 Amendment note above] or of any amendment made by this Act,
or the application of any such provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid for any reason, the remainder
of this Act and of amendments made by this Act, and the application
of the provisions and of the amendments made by this Act to any
other person or circumstance shall not be affected by such holding,
except that each of subclauses (II), (III), and (IV) of section
205(c)(2)(I)(i) of the Indian Land Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C.
2204(c)(2)(I)(i)) is deemed to be inseverable from the other 2,
such that if any 1 of those 3 subclauses is held to be invalid for
any reason, neither of the other 2 of such subclauses shall be
given effect."
CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS
Pub. L. 108-374, Sec. 2, Oct. 27, 2004, 118 Stat. 1773, provided
that: "Congress finds that -
"(1) the Act of February 8, 1887 (commonly known as the 'Indian
General Allotment Act') (25 U.S.C. 331 et seq.), which authorized
the allotment of Indian reservations, did not permit Indian
allotment owners to provide for the testamentary disposition of
the land that was allotted to them;
"(2) that Act provided that allotments would descend according
to State law of intestate succession based on the location of the
allotment;
"(3) the reliance of the Federal Government on the State law of
intestate succession with respect to the descent of allotments
has resulted in numerous problems affecting Indian tribes,
members of Indian tribes, and the Federal Government, including -

"(A) the increasingly fractionated ownership of trust and
restricted land as that land is inherited by successive
generations of owners as tenants in common;
"(B) the application of different rules of intestate
succession to each interest of a decedent in or to trust or
restricted land if that land is located within the boundaries
of more than 1 State, which application -
"(i) makes probate planning unnecessarily difficult; and
"(ii) impedes efforts to provide probate planning
assistance or advice;
"(C) the absence of a uniform general probate code for trust
and restricted land, which makes it difficult for Indian tribes
to work cooperatively to develop tribal probate codes; and
"(D) the failure of Federal law to address or provide for
many of the essential elements of general probate law, either
directly or by reference, which -
"(i) is unfair to the owners of trust and restricted land
(and heirs and devisees of owners); and
"(ii) makes probate planning more difficult;
"(4) a uniform Federal probate code would likely -
"(A) reduce the number of fractionated interests in trust or
restricted land;
"(B) facilitate efforts to provide probate planning
assistance and advice and create incentives for owners of trust
and restricted land to engage in estate planning;
"(C) facilitate intertribal efforts to produce tribal probate
codes in accordance with section 206 of the Indian Land
Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2205); and
"(D) provide essential elements of general probate law that
are not applicable on the date of enactment of this Act [Oct.
27, 2004] to interests in trust or restricted land; and
"(5) the provisions of a uniform Federal probate code and other
forth [sic] in this Act [see Short Title of 2004 Amendment note
above] should operate to further the policy of the United States
as stated in the Indian Land Consolidated Act Amendments of 2000,
Public Law 106-462, [Sec.]102, November 7, 2000, 114 Stat. 1992
[set out as a note below]."
Pub. L. 106-462, title I, Sec. 101, Nov. 7, 2000, 114 Stat. 1991,
provided that: "Congress finds that -
"(1) in the 1800's and early 1900's, the United States sought
to assimilate Indian people into the surrounding non-Indian
culture by allotting tribal lands to individual members of Indian
tribes;
"(2) as a result of the allotment Acts and related Federal
policies, over 90,000,000 acres of land have passed from tribal
ownership;
"(3) many trust allotments were taken out of trust status,
often without their owner's consent;
"(4) without restrictions on alienation, allotment owners were
subject to exploitation and their allotments were often sold or
disposed of without any tangible or enduring benefit to their
owners;
"(5) the trust periods for trust allotments have been extended
indefinitely;
"(6) because of the inheritance provisions in the original
treaties or allotment Acts, the ownership of many of the trust
allotments that have remained in trust status has become
fractionated into hundreds or thousands of undivided interests,
many of which represent 2 percent or less of the total interests;
"(7) Congress has authorized the acquisition of lands in trust
for individual Indians, and many of those lands have also become
fractionated by subsequent inheritance;
"(8) the acquisitions referred to in paragraph (7) continue to
be made;
"(9) the fractional interests described in this section often
provide little or no return to the beneficial owners of those
interests and the administrative costs borne by the United States
for those interests are inordinately high;
"(10) in Babbitt v. Youpee (117 S[.] Ct. 727 (1997)), the
United States Supreme Court found the application of section 207
of the Indian Land Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2206) to the
facts presented in that case to be unconstitutional, forcing the
Department of the Interior to address the status of thousands of
undivided interests in trust and restricted lands;
"(11)(A) on February 19, 1999, the Secretary of the Interior
issued a Secretarial Order which officially reopened the probate
of all estates where an interest in land was ordered to escheat
to an Indian tribe pursuant to section 207 of the Indian Land
Consolidation Act (25 U.S.C. 2206); and
"(B) the Secretarial Order also directed appropriate officials
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to distribute such interests 'to
the rightful heirs and beneficiaries without regard to 25 U.S.C.
2206';
"(12) in the absence of comprehensive remedial legislation, the
number of the fractional interests will continue to grow
exponentially;
"(13) the problem of the fractionation of Indian lands
described in this section is the result of a policy of the
Federal Government, cannot be solved by Indian tribes, and
requires a solution under Federal law.[;]
"(14) any devise or inheritance of an interest in trust or
restricted Indian lands is a matter of Federal law; and
"(15) consistent with the Federal policy of tribal self-
determination, the Federal Government should encourage the
recognized tribal government that exercises jurisdiction over a
reservation to establish a tribal probate code for that
reservation."
DECLARATION OF POLICY
Pub. L. 106-462, title I, Sec. 102, Nov. 7, 2000, 114 Stat. 1992,
provided that: "It is the policy of the United States -
"(1) to prevent the further fractionation of trust allotments
made to Indians;
"(2) to consolidate fractional interests and ownership of those
interests into usable parcels;
"(3) to consolidate fractional interests in a manner that
enhances tribal sovereignty;
"(4) to promote tribal self-sufficiency and self-determination;
and
"(5) to reverse the effects of the allotment policy on Indian
tribes."
AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS
Pub. L. 106-462, title I, Sec. 105, Nov. 7, 2000, 114 Stat. 2007,
provided that: "There are authorized to be appropriated not to
exceed $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and each subsequent fiscal
year to carry out the provisions of this title [enacting sections
2205, 2206, and 2212 to 2219 of this title, amending this section
and sections 348, 372, 373, 464, 2204, and 2207 of this title,
repealing sections 331 to 333, 2205, and 2206 of this title, and
enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section
2206 of this title] (and the amendments made by this title) that
are not otherwise funded under the authority provided for in any
other provision of Federal law."
(!1) So in original. The period probably should be a semicolon.