§2203 — Title 25 Indians | U.S. Code

Summary

Tribes can adopt a plan, with the Secretary’s OK, to sell or swap tribal land so that small split ownership shares are removed and tribal lands are brought together. Sales or swaps must get a price within 10% of the Secretary’s fair market value, unless the special Cherokee rule below applies. Tribes may add or receive cash to make trades fair. Money from sales or cash equalizations can only be used to buy more land. The Secretary must keep each tribe’s sale money in a separate trust account and only release it for land purchases. Tribes may keep mineral rights and the Secretary will help value them when setting land price. The Secretary must sign the transfer papers unless the sale or swap is not in the tribe’s best interest or does not follow the plan. One exception lets the Secretary transfer certain homesite lands for less than fair market value: lands held in trust on December 17, 1991, for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, limited to lands listed in the Cherokee plan approved February 6, 1987.

Title 25, §2203

Indians — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any tribe, acting through its governing body, is authorized, with the approval of the Secretary to adopt a land consolidation plan providing for the sale or exchange of any tribal lands or interest in lands for the purpose of eliminating undivided fractional interests in Indian trust or restricted lands or consolidating its tribal landholdings: Provided, That—

(1)except as provided by subsection (c), the sale price or exchange value received by the tribe for land or interests in land covered by this section shall be no less than within 10 per centum of the fair market value as determined by the Secretary;

(2)if the tribal land involved in an exchange is of greater or lesser value than the land for which it is being exchanged, the tribe may accept or give cash in such exchange in order to equalize the values of the property exchanged;

(3)any proceeds from the sale of land or interests in land or proceeds received by the tribe to equalize an exchange made pursuant to this section shall be used exclusively for the purchase of other land or interests in land;

(4)the Secretary shall maintain a separate trust account for each tribe selling or exchanging land pursuant to this section consisting of the proceeds of the land sales and exchanges and shall release such funds only for the purpose of buying lands under this section; and

(5)any tribe may retain the mineral rights to such sold or exchanged lands and the Secretary shall assist such tribe in determining the value of such mineral rights and shall take such value into consideration in determining the fair market value of such lands.

(b)The Secretary must execute such instrument of conveyance needed to effectuate a sale or exchange of tribal lands made pursuant to an approved tribal land consolidation plan unless he makes a specific finding that such sale or exchange is not in the best interest of the tribe or is not in compliance with the tribal land consolidation plan.

(c)The Secretary may execute instruments of conveyance for less than fair market value to effectuate the transfer of lands used as homesites held, on December 17, 1991, by the United States in trust for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Only the lands used as homesites, and described in the land consolidation plan of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma approved by the Secretary on February 6, 1987, shall be subject to this subsection.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1991—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 102–238, § 3(1), substituted “(1) except as provided by subsection (c), the sale price” for “(1) the sale price”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102–238, § 3(2), added subsec. (c). 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–608 amended subsec. (a) generally, substituting “: Provided, That—” for period at end and inserting five numbered pars., thereby correcting errors originally contained in this section as enacted by Pub. L. 97–459, the text of which had a portion of section 204 appearing in section 206 (classified to section 2205 of this title) as the result of inadvertent error in the execution of committee

Amendments

(see

House Report No. 97–908

, Sept. 30, 1982) to the bill. Pub. L. 97–459 enacted subsec. (a) as ending with “tribal landholdings.”, and included portion of section 204 containing proviso and five numbered pars. within text of section 206. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–608 included subsec. (b) within this section and substituted a period for the dash after “tribal land consolidation plan”, thereby correcting errors originally contained in this section as enacted by Pub. L. 97–459, which, as the result of inadvertent error in the execution of committee

Amendments

(see

House Report No. 97–908

, Sept. 30, 1982) to the bill, enacted subsec. (b) as part of section 206(b) of Pub. L. 97–459 and ended it with “tribal land consolidation plan—”.

§2203 Adoption of land consolidation plan with approval of Secretary

Summary

Title 25, §2203

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

Amendments

House Report No. 97–908

Amendments

House Report No. 97–908

Citations & Metadata