§2201. Definitions
For the purpose of this chapter-
(1) "Indian tribe" or "tribe" means any Indian tribe, band, group, pueblo, or community for which, or for the members of which, the United States holds lands in trust;
(2) "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;
(3) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior;
(4) "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
(5) "heirs of the first or second degree" means parents, children, grandchildren, grandparents, brothers and sisters of a decedent.
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References in Text
This chapter, referred to in par. (2), was in the original "this Act", which was translated as reading "this title", meaning title II of
Amendments
2000-Par. (1).
Par. (2).
Par. (5).
Short Title of 2000 Amendment
Short Title of 1991 Amendment
Short Title
Section 201 of title II of
Congressional Findings
"(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
"(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