COLVILLE TERMINATION

MONDAY, APRIL 5, 1965

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS OF THE

COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS,

Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in room 310, New Senate Office Building, Senator Lee Metcalf presiding.

Present: Senators Metcalf, Jackson, Anderson, Fannin, and Simp

son.

Also present: James H. Gamble, professional staff member, and Richard W. C. Falknor, professional staff member.

Senator METCALF. The subcommittee will be in order.

The purpose of this hearing is to take testimony on S. 1413, a bill to provide for the termination of Federal supervision over the property of the Confederated Tribes of Colville Indians located in the State of Washington and the individual members thereof, and for other purposes, introduced by Senator Jackson at the request of the Colville Tribal Business Council. The bill and the reports from the departments will be printed at this point. (The bill and reports follow:)

[S. 1413, 89th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide for the termination of Federal supervision over the property of the Confederated Tribes of Colville Indians located in the State of Washington and the individual members thereof, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sections of this Act shall become effective on the date a majority of the number of the adult members of the tribes voting in a referendum approve a termination of Federal supervision in accordance with those sections. The Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a referendum to ascertain the wishes of the enrolled adult members within ninety days after the enactment of this Act in accordance with such rules and regulations as he may prescribe.

SEC. 2. The purpose of this Act is to provide for the termination of Federal supervision over the trust and restricted property of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, Washington, and of the individual members thereof, for the disposition of federally owned property acqired or withdrawn for the administration of the affairs of said Indians, and for a termination of Federal services furnished such Indians because of their status as Indians. SEC. 3. For the purposes of this Act:

(a) "Tribes" means the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, Washington.

(b) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior.

(c) "Lands" means real property, interests therein, or improvements thereon, and includes water rights.

(d) "Tribal property" means any real or personal property, including water rights, or any interest in real or personal property, that belongs to the tribes and either is held by the United States in trust for the tribes or is subject to a restriction against alienation imposed by the United States.

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(e) "Adult" means a member of the tribes who is an adult according to the law of the place of his residence.

SEC. 4. At midnight of the date this section becomes effective the roll of the tribes shall be closed and no child born thereafter shall be eligible for enrollment: Provided, That the tribes shall have a period of six months from the date this section becomes effective in which to prepare and submit to the Secretary a proposed roll of the members of the tribes living on the date this section becomes effective, which shall be published in the Federal Register. If the tribes fail to submit such roll within the time specified in this section, the Secretary shall prepare a proposed roll for the tribes which shall be published in the Federal Register. Any person claiming membership rights in the tribes or an interest in the assets of the tribes, or a representative of the Secretary on behalf of any such person, may, within ninety days from the date of publication of the proposed roll, file an appeal with the Secretary contesting the inclusion or omission of the name of any person on or from such roll. The Secretary shall review such appeals and his decisions thereon shall be final and conclusive. After disposition of all such appeals, the roll of the tribes shall be published in the Federal Register, and such roll shall be final for the purposes of this Act.

SEC. 5. Upon publication in the Federal Register of the final roll as provided in section 4 of this Act, the beneficial interest in tribal property of each person whose name appears on the roll shall constitute personal property which may be inherited or bequeathed, but shall not otherwise be subject to alienation or encumbrance before the transfer of title to such tribal property as provided in section 7 of this Act without the approval of the Secretary. Any contract made in violation of this section shall be null and void. Property which this section makes subject to inheritance or bequest and which in inherited or bequeathed after the effective date of this section and prior to the transfer of title to tribal property as provided in section 7 of this Act shall not be subject to State or Federal inheritance, estate, legacy, or succession taxes.

SEC. 6. The Secretary shall

(a) within sixty days after this section becomes effective institute a program, to be completed within one year, to bring up to date all land and ownership records pertaining to lands on the Colville Indian Reservation; and immediately following completion of such program, jointly with the Secretary of Agriculture, determine what parts of the tribal lands are valuable chiefly for timber purposes, what parts are valuable chiefly for farming, what parts are valuable chiefly for grazing, and what parts are valuable chiefly for other purposes; and divide each such part into appropriate units for sale or management in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

(b) cause separate appraisals to be made by three qualified independent appraisers of the units designated under subsection (a) for the purpose of ascertaining the fair market value of each such unit. The fair market value of the timber assets shall be defined to be the market price that would be realized if the sale of the timber assets were made over a period of ten years. The Secretary shall determine fair market value by averaging the three appraisals;

(c) determine the value of tribal mineral rights (including oil and gas) in each unit;

(d) determine the value of the tribes of the tribal hunting and fishing rights on each unit appraised to the extent such value is not included in the appraisal ;

(e) cause reports of said appraisal and determinations of values to be delivered to all adult enrolled members of the tribes and within sixty days thereafter give to each member whose name appears on the final roll of the tribes an opportunity to elect to withdraw from the tribes and have his beneficial interest in tribal property recognized by section 5 converted into money and paid to him, or to remain in the tribes and participate in the tribal management plan to be prepared pursuant to subsection (g) of this section; in the case of members who are minors, persons declared incompetent by judicial proceedings, or deceased, the opportunity to make such election on their behalf shall be given to the person designated by the Secretary as the person best able to represent the interests of such member: Provided, That any member, or any heir or any devisee of any deceased member, for whom the Secretary has so designated a representative may (on his own behalf, through his natural guardian, or next friend) within one hundred and twenty days after receipt of written notice of such secretarial designation, contest the secretarial designation in any naturalization court

for the area in which such member resides, by filing of a petition therein requesting designation of a named person other than the secretarial designee, and the burden shall thereupon devolve upon the Secretary to show cause why the member-designated representative should not represent the interests of such member, and the decision of such court shall be final and conclusive; (f) select the portion of the tribal property which if sold at the appraised value would provide sufficient funds to pay the members who elect to withdraw from the tribes for their beneficial interest in the total tribal property, sell the property so selected at not less than the appraised value determined by section 6 of this Act, and pay the proceeds of the sale to the withdrawing members: Provided, That any tribal forest lands that are offered for sale shall be purchased by the Secretary of Agriculture with funds that are hereby authorized to be appropriated, and such lands shall become national forest lands subject to the laws that are applicable to lands acquired pursuant to the Act of March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), as amended: Provided further, That any person whose name appears on the final roll of the tribes, or a guardian on behalf of any person who is a minor or an incompetent, shall have the right to purchase, for his or its own account but not as an agent for others, any other property in lots as offered for sale for not less than the highest offer received by competitive bid; any individual Indian purchaser who has elected to withdraw from the tribes may apply toward the purchase price up to 100 per centum of the amount estimated by the Secretary to be due him from the sale of his interest in tribal property: Provided, That title to lands purchased by using individual interest as collateral shall be withheld by the Secretary until distribution of the proceeds of the tribal estate as provided in this section; and if more than one right is exercised to purchase the same property pursuant to this proviso the property shall be sold to one of such persons on the basis of competitive bids;

(g) cause a plan to be prepared in form and content satisfactory to the members who elect to remain in the tribes and to the Secretary for the management of tribal property through a trustee, corporation, or other legal entity. If no plan that is satisfactory both to the members who elect to remain in the tribes and to the Secretary has been prepared six months before the time limit provided in subsection (b) of section 7 of this Act the Secretary shall adopt a plan for managing the tribal property, subject to the provisions of section 15 of this Act.

SEC. 7. (a) The Secretary is authorized and directed to execute any conveyancing instrument that is necessary or appropriate to convey title to tribal property to be sold in accordance with the provisions of section 6 of this Act, and to transfer title to all other tribal property to a trustee, corporation, or other legal entity in accordance with the plan prepared pursuant to subsection (g) of secion 6 of this Act: Provided, That at any time prior to a transfer of such other tribal property to a trustee, a corporation, or other legal entity, the Secretary may, upon request of a majority of the members who elected to remain in the tribes, sell such other tribal property and distribute the proceeds of sale among the members if he determines that such action is the more feasible and practical course to follow.

(b) It is the intention of the Congress that all of the actions required by sections 6 and 7 of this Act shall be completed at the earliest practicable time and in no event later than four years from the date this section becomes effective.

(c) Members of the tribes who receive the money value of their interests in tribal property shall thereupon cease to be members of the tribes: Provided, That nothing shall prevent them from sharing in the proceeds of tribal claims against the United States.

SEC. 8. No funds distributed pursuant to section 6 of this Act to members who withdraw from the tribes shall be paid to any person as compensation for services pertaining to the enactment of this Act or amendments thereto and any person making or receiving such payments shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be imprisoned for not more than six months and fined an amount equal to the payment received by him plus not more than $500.

SEC. 9. (a) The Secretary is authorized and directed to transfer within four years from the date this section becomes effective to each member of the tribes unrestricted control of funds or other personal property held in trust for such member by the United States.

(b) All restrictions on the sale or encumbrance of trust or restricted interests in land, wherever located, owned by members of the tribes (including allottees, purchasers, heirs, and devisees, either adult or minor), and on trust or restricted interests in lands with the Colville Indian Reservation, regardless of ownership, are hereby removed four years after the date this section becomes effective, and the patents or deeds under which titles are then held shall pass the titles in fee simple, subject to any valid encumbrances. The titles to all interests in trust or restricted land acquired by members of the tribes by devise or inheritance four years or more after the date this section becomes effective shall vest in such members in fee simple, subject to any valid encumbrance.

(c) Prior to the time provided in subsection (b) of this section for the removal of restrictions on land owned by one or by more than one person, the Secretary may

(1) upon request of any of the owners, partition the land and issue to each owner a patent or deed for his individual share that shall become unrestricted four years from the date this section becomes effective;

(2) upon request of any of the owners, and a finding by the Secretary that partition of all or any part of the land is not practicable, cause all or any part of the land to be sold at not less than the appraised value thereof and distribute the proceeds of sale to the owners: Provided, That any one or more of the owners may elect before a sale of purchase the other interests in the land at not less than the appraised value thereof, and the purchaser shall receive an unrestricted patent or deed to the land; and

(3) if the whereabouts of none of the owners can be ascertained, cause such lands to be sold and deposit the proceeds of sale in the Treasury of the United States for safekeeping.

(d) The Secretary is hereby authorized to approve—

(1) the exchange of trust or restricted land between the tribes and any of the enrolled members;

(2) the sale by the tribes of tribal property to individual members of the tribes; and

(3) the exchange of tribal property of real property in fee status. Title to all real property included in any sale or exchange as provided in this subsection shall be conveyed in fee simple.

SEC. 10. (a) The Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 855), the Act of February 14, 1913 (37 Stat. 678), and other Acts amendatory thereto shall not apply to the probate of the trust and restricted property of the members of the tribes who die six months or more after the date this section becomes effective.

(b) The laws of the several States, territories, possessions, and the District of Columbia with respect to the probate of wills, the determination of heirs, and the administration of decedents' estates shall apply to the individual property of members of the tribes who die six months or more after the date this section becomes effective.

SEC. 11. The Secretary is authorized, in his discretion, to transfer to the tribes or any member or group of members thereof any federally owned property acquired, withdrawn, or used for the administration of the affairs of the tribes which he deems necessary for Indian use, or to transfer to a public or nonprofit body any such property which he deems necessary for public use and from which members of the tribes will derive benefit.

SEC. 12. No property distributed under the provisions of this Act shall at the time of distribution be subject to Federal or State income tax. Following any distribution of property made under the provisions of the Act, such property and any income derived therefrom by the individual, corporation or other legal entity shall be subject to the same taxes, State and Federal, as in the case of nonIndians: Provided, That, for the purpose of capital gains or losses the base value of the property shall be the value of the property when distributed to the individual, corporation, or other legal entity.

SEC. 13. (a) That part of section 5 of the Act of August 13, 1914 (35 Stat. 687; 43 U.S.C. 499), which relates to the transfer of the care, operation, and maintenance of reclamation works to water users associations or irrigation districts shall be applicable to the irrigation works on the Colville Reservation.

(b) Effective on the first day of the calendar year beginning after the date of the proclamation provided for in section 18 of this Act, the deferment of the assessment and collection of construction costs provided for in the first proviso of the Act of July 1, 1932 (47 Stat. 564; 25 U.S.C. 386a), shall terminate with respect to any lands within irrigation projects on the Colville Reservation. The

Secretary shall cause the first lien against such lands created by the Act of March 7, 1928 (45 Stat. 200, 210), to be filed of record in the appropriate county office.

(c) The Secretary is authorized to adjust, eliminate, or cancel all or any part of reimbursable irrigation operation and maintenance costs and reimbursable irrigation construction costs chargeable against Indian-owned lands that are subject to the provisions of this Act, and all or any part of assessments heretofore or hereafter imposed on account of such costs, when he determines that the collection thereof would be inequitable or would result in undue hardship on the Indian owner of the land, or that the administrative costs of collection would probably equal or exceed the amount collected.

(d) Nothing contained in any other section of this Act shall affect in any way the laws applicable to irrigation projects on the Colville Indian Reservation.

SEC. 14. Nothing in this Act shall abrogate any water rights of the tribes and their members, and the laws of the State of Washington with respect to the abandonment of water rights by nonuse shall not apply to the tribes and their members until fifteen years after the date of the proclamation issued pursuant to section 18 of this Act.

SEC. 15. Prior to the transfer of title to, or the removal of restrictions from, property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Secretary shall protect the rights of members of the tribes who are minors, non compos mentis, or in the opinion of the Secretary, in need of assistance in conducting their affairs, by causing the appointment of guardians for such members in courts of competent jurisdiction, or by such other means as he may deem adequate without application from the member, including but not limited to the creation of a trust of such member's property with a trustee selected by the Secretary, or the purchase by the Secretary of an annuity for such member: Provided, That no member shall be declared to be in need of assistance in conducting his affairs unless the Secretary determines that such member does not have sufficient ability, knowledge, experience, and judgment to enable him to manage his business affairs, including the administration, use, investment, and disposition of any property turned over to such member and the income and proceeds therefrom, with such reasonable degree of prudence and wisdom as will be apt to prevent him from losing such property or the benefits thereof: Provided further, That, any member determined by the Secretary to be in need of assistance in conducting his affairs may, within one hundred and twenty days after receipt of written notice of such secretarial determination, contest the secretarial determination in any naturalization court for the area in which said member resides by filing therein a petition having that purpose; the burden shall thereupon devolve upon the Secretary to show cause why such member should not conduct his own affairs, and the decision of such court shall be final and conclusive with respect to the affected member's conduct of his affairs.

SEC. 16. Pending the completion of the property dispositions provided for in this Act, the funds now on deposit, or hereafter deposited, in the United States Treasury to the credit of the tribes shall be available for advance to the tribes, or for expenditure, for such purposes as may be designated by the governing body of the tribes and approved by the Secretary.

SEC. 17. The Secretary shall have authority to execute such patents, deeds, assignments, releases, certificates, contracts, and other instruments as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act, or to establish a marketable and recordable title to any property disposed of pursuant to this Act.

SEC. 18. (a) Upon removal of Federal restrictions on the property of the tribes and individual members thereof, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a proclamation declaring that the Federal trust relationship to the affairs of the tribes and their members has terminated. Thereafter individual members of the tribes shall not be entitled to any of the services performed by the United States for Indians because of their status as Indians and, except as otherwise provided in this Act, all statutes of the United States which affect Indians because of their status as Indians shall no longer be applicable to the tribes and their members, and the laws of the several States shall apply to the tribes and their members in the same manner as they apply to other citizens or persons within their jurisdiction.

(b) Nothing in this Act shall affect the status of the members of the tribes as citizens of the United States.