“A bill to amend the Act of August 9, 1955, to make improvements to that Act, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section amends the Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955 (25 U.S.C. 415 et seq.)—commonly known as authority for Indian tribes to enter into leases of trust or restricted lands for up to 99 years with Secretary of the Interior approval—to (1) expand eligibility beyond specified bands (e.g., Chehalis Reservation) to all federally recognized tribes, bands, pueblos, villages, communities, component bands, or component reservations listed under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131); (2) restructure subsection headings; and (3) remove lease term limitations previously specified in subsection (h)(1). This section makes a technical correction to section 2 of the Long-Term Leasing Act (25 U.S.C. 415a) by inserting "of the Interior" after each reference to the "Secretary." This section amends the Act of February 5, 1948 (25 U.S.C. 323 et seq.)—which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant rights-of-way over trust or restricted Indian lands—to restructure existing provisions, eliminate obsolete references to specific tribal organization statutes, and add new section 8. Under new section 8, an Indian tribe may grant rights-of-way over its tribal lands for any purpose without Secretary approval if executed pursuant to a tribal regulation approved by the Secretary. (Thus, this enhances tribal self-governance for rights-of-way, akin to prior expansions for business leases and surface leases.) The Secretary must approve such regulations within 180 days (extendable after consultation) if they are consistent with existing Department of the Interior regulations under section 4 of the act and include an environmental review process with public notice, comment, and tribal responses; the Secretary's approval process is exempt from the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), section 306108 of title 54, United States Code, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Tribes must submit copies of granted rights-of-way and payment documentation to the Secretary to enable discharge of the U.S. trust responsibility.