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12 NARF Legal Rev. 1 (1987)

handle is hein.journals/narf12 and id is 1 raw text is: 






                     AD Rs




Native American Rights Fund


Highlights of Indian Legislation

in the 99th Congress


   The 99th Congress will be remembered in the
 Indian world more for the bills it failed to pass than
 for the bills that were actually signed into law, The
 fact that Congress did not enact major Indian
 legislation, however, is not necessarily an indication
 of failure In many instances this failure to act was a
 victory for Indian interests
   When viewing the accomplishments of any given
 Congress one must keep in mind that there are at
 least three ways in which a bill can fail to become
 law The first is actually a victory for Indian rights -
 where the legislative process is being used by anti-
 Indian forces to obtain a result that they cannot
 achieve through hostile court action. Secondly,
 there is the honest failure to overcome vested
 political interests who are opposed to what you are
 doing, Third is the case where a bill is not enacted
 due to political events that are unconnected with
 the merits of the bill, This article will review some of
 the notable bills that Congress failed to enact and
 will indicate the impact of this failure on the Indian
 world It will also briefly consider major Indian
 legislation that was enacted into law
 1991 Legislation
   h proposed amendments to the Alaska Native
Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) is a prime example
of a bill which was not enacted into law but which
must be considered as a major Indian victory
Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settle-
ment Act in 1971 to settle tribal claims of aboriginal
title A unique approach was adopted to settle the
claims The Act did not vest the proceeds of the
settlement in the tribes upon whose claims the
settlement was premised Rather, ANCSA provided
for the creation of 13 regional corporations and


           We would like to extend a special note of
    acknowledgement to the Philip Morris Company for
    its major funding of this issue of the NARFLegal
    Review The $10,000 contribution represents a first-
    time gift from the Company to NARF The Xerox
    Corporation also provided support to us in the
    amount of $2,000 for the publication of the NARF
    Legal Review.
           Thank you to both the Philip Morris
    Company and the Xerox Corporation

roughly 200 village corporations to hold title to the
44 million acres of land settled for by the Natives.
The regional corporations were entitled to select
lands within their respective geographic areas as
their major asset and village corporations were
required to select lands adjacent to their, villages
Every Alaska Native alive on December 17, 1971
received stock in a regional and village corporation
and the Act specifically provides that stock in these
corporations could not be sold until the year 1991
This protection for the corporations and the land's
                             (Continued on next page)


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Contents: Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1987


Highlights of Indian Legislation
in the 99th Congress
Casc Updates
NARF Resources and Publications


Digitized from Best Copy Available


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