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Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and WorksRelease 119-110

§523 Excess Real Property Located on Indian Reservations

Title 40 › SUBTITLE I — FEDERAL PROPERTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES › CHAPTER 5 — PROPERTY MANAGEMENT › SUBCHAPTER II — USE OF PROPERTY › § 523

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The General Services Administrator must create rules to transfer surplus federal land that lies inside a reservation to the Secretary of the Interior at no cost, when the tribe is recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as eligible for services. The Interior Secretary must keep that land in trust for the tribe on whose reservation it sits. For land in Oklahoma, the Secretary must hold it in trust for Oklahoma tribes the Secretary recognizes if the land is either inside former reservation boundaries (as the Secretary defines them) and was in trust when the Government acquired it, or is next to land now held in trust and was in trust at any time.

Full Legal Text

Title 40, §523

Public Buildings, Property, and Works, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Procedures for Transfer.—
The Administrator of General Services shall prescribe procedures necessary to transfer to the Secretary of the Interior, without compensation, excess real property located within the reservation of any group, band, or tribe of Indians that is recognized as eligible for services by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
(b)Property Held in Trust.—
(1)In general.—
Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall hold excess real property transferred under this section in trust for the benefit and use of the group, band, or tribe of Indians, within whose reservation the excess real property is located.
(2)Special requirement for oklahoma.—
The Secretary shall hold excess real property that is located in Oklahoma and transferred under this section in trust for Oklahoma Indian tribes recognized by the Secretary if the real property—
(A)is located within boundaries of former reservations in Oklahoma, as defined by the Secretary, and was held in trust by the Federal Government for an Indian tribe when the Government acquired it; or
(B)is contiguous to real property presently held in trust by the Government for an Oklahoma Indian tribe and was held in trust by the Government for an Indian tribe at any time.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 52340:483(a)(2).June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title II, § 202(a)(2), as added Pub. L. 93–599, (2), Jan. 2, 1975, 88 Stat. 1954.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

40 U.S.C. § 523

Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110