Indian Heirship Land Problem

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., in room 3110, New Senate Office Building, Senator Frank Church presiding. Present: Senators Church, Anderson (chairman of the full committee), Burdick, Gruening, and Allott.

Also present: James H. Gamble, professional staff member.

Senator CHURCH. This morning the subcommittee is beginning hearings on S. 1392, a bill I have introduced relating to the Indian heirship land problems.

In order that those who will read these proceedings may fully understand what the subcommittee has been doing in regard to heirship, I would like to set out a chronology of our activities.

Beginning in the 1st session of the 86th Congress, the staff of this committee was instructed by the then chairman of the committee, Senator Murray of Montana, to engage the assistance of the Library of Congress and to undertake a comprehensive survey of Indian heirship lands and the problems associated with multiple ownership of Indian allotments.

A series of questionnaires were prepared by the staff, designed to elicit all pertinent information and opinions relating to administrative problems arising from fractionated ownership of allotments and the use being made of such lands. Responses to those questionnaires were compiled in part I of the study entitled "Indian Heirship Land Survey of the 86th Congress, 1st Session," and a complete analysis of the material was made and printed in part II. These two volumes were widely distributed among Indian tribes and others early in this session of Congress. The findings of our study were as follows:

1. Approximately 6 million acres of land is now in heirship status and another 6 million acres will become heirship land in the near future unless prompt action is taken.

2. The heirship problem is not only present in surface ownership of land but also in mineral ownership.

3. Requiring all heirs to sign lease or sale papers is one of the foremost obstacles to the American Indian in utilizing his heirship land and to the Federal Government in administering it.

4. The heirs themselves have expressed an active interest in the problem as evidenced by the 38,871 requests for various actions made to Bureau of Indian Affairs officials during fiscal year 1958.

5. Most local jurisdictions of the Bureau feel that present authority is inadequate to solve the problem and are almost unanimous in recommending corrective legislation.

6. Some tribal councils have evidenced an interest in this problem as it relates to consolidation of the tribal land base.

7. Continuing to hold allotted Indian lands in trust or restricted status without any consideration given to the individual's ability to manage his own land without supervision is serving to intensify the heirship problem.

At my direction, the committee staff prepared legislation designed to resolve many of the problems which the heirship study disclosed plagued the owners of undivided interests in allotments and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the management of these lands. The staff informed me that in the drafting of S. 1392 particular attention was paid to produce legislation that would

(1) Solve the major problems brought to light in the studies, yet afford maximum opportunity to retain Indian land in Indian ownership.

(2) Avoid any violation of the Indian's constitutional rights as a citizen.

(3) Not provoke any situation that might result in hundreds of cases before the Court of Claims by individual Indians who might feel they were not fairly treated.

(4) Not bring about a situation where Congress will be besieged for hundreds of private bills to issue fee patents.

And the bill that was introduced based upon the committee's work, as you know, was S. 1392, the subject of the hearing today.

H.R. 6569, the companion measure, was introduced in the House. So that Indian tribes and others directly concerned with this problem would be apprised of our activities, I had prepared a memorandum to the members of the full committee containing excerpts from the statement I made on the Senate floor at the time S. 1392 was introduced. The memorandum contained the entire text of the proposal and explanatory material of the various sections of the bill.

More than 9,000 of these committee prints, entitled "Indian Heirship Land Survey," were mailed to tribal officals, tribal attorneys, Indian organizations, and officials of the Department of the Interior so that they would be fully informed of the results of our 2-year study. I might add that in sponsoring this bill I made it clear that S. 1392 was a vehicle for the purpose of exploring further the viewpoints and wishes of the people most affected by the problem.

While this committee was attacking the heirship situation from the standpoint of administrative problems, the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs was approaching the problem in a different fashion. The staff of the House committee prepared a questionnaire that was directed to the Indian owners of allotted land in heirship status in an effort to learn as much as possible about the experiences

they have had with heirship land and what the Indians want done with the property they have inherited. Some 50,000 questionnaires were mailed out, and 9,001 usable returns were fully analyzed. The analysis of the questionnaires is contained in House Committee Print No. 27, of the 86th Congress, 2d session, entitled "Indian Heirship Land Study."

I want to emphasize that the legislation before us was prepared on the basis of the information contained in these two studies and is the result of 4 years of intensive review of the overall heirship problem. I do not know of any aspect of Indian affairs that has undergone a more thorough and detailed examination.

S. 1392 was submitted to the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of the Budget, the Department of Justice, and the General Accounting Office for departmental reports. The reports have been received and will be incorporated in the hearing record with the bill following my statement. Also, I believe it would be helpful if we included the committee print which I had prepared explaining the bill, S. 1392, and its various provisions.

A few weeks ago the Task Force on Indian Affairs submitted its report to Secretary of the Interior Udall. Among the recommendations made by the task force was the need for corrective legislation in the matter of heirship lands. The Secretary in turn expressed his deep interest in remedial legislation. Therefore, I scheduled these hearings and announced through a general press release and a statement in the Congressional Record-copies of which will be placed in the record that we intended to move ahead in this area in an attempt to report a bill during this session of Congress.

The Department of the Interior, the Department most directly concerned in this matter, has submitted a substitute bill in its report. As we proceed in our consideration of this matter, I believe this subcommittee will want to pursue all viewpoints and suggestions, including direct testimony and recommendations on S. 1392.

And I might say in that connection that we will, of course, use these hearings for the purpose of fully examining the substance of the substitute which has been recommended by the Department of the Interior.

Senator ALLOTT. Would the chairman yield at that point?
Senator CHURCH. I will be happy to yield.

Senator ALLOTT. Mr. Chairman, this meeting has been called and the notice was on S. 1392, which is the only bill before the Senate, but I wonder if it wouldn't accelerate our own progress and perhaps help if we could have an understanding that we were not limiting comments in this matter entirely to this Senate bill. We do not have H.R. 8077, of course, before us, but at the same time I would regret having all of these witnesses here and considering S. 1392 and then be in the position of having to repeat the entire process with H.R. 8077 at another time, or the substance of it, if it should be introduced in the Senate.

What would be the Chair's thinking on this subject?

Senator CHURCH. I concur wholeheartedly in the statement made by the Senator from Colorado. Of course, it is not possible for us to consider other bills because only one bill is presently before the Senate. Therefore, this hearing has been called to consider the bill that

is pending before this committee, S. 1392. However, the administration's substitute has been introduced in the House as the Senator has pointed out, H.R. 8077, and since we are looking for a solution to the heirship problem, we should take into full consideration all aspects of the substitute proposal and utilize this hearing for that purpose. And I think we made that clear in the announcements that have heretofore gone out concerning this hearing.

I concur wholeheartedly that we should examine the full problem, the full scope of the problem, and give such latitude as is needed to the substitute proposal made.

Senator ALLOTT. It might possibly involve just a little more time here, but I think in the long run it will greatly expedite the investigation of this matter.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator CHURCH. I agree wholeheartedly.

The material to which I referred in my opening statement will be inserted at this point in the record.

(The exhibits are as follows:)

[S. 1392, 87th Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL Relating to the Indian heirship land problem

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. That upon the request of any owner of an Indian interest in any tract of land in which any undivided interest is held by the United States in trust for an individual Indian or an Indian tribe, or in which any undivided interest is held by an individual Indan or an Indian tribe subject to a restriction against alienation imposed by the United States, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to partition or to sell all undivided Indian trust or restricted interests in the land, unless the Secretary finds that such a partition or sale would not be in the best interests of the Indian owners and reports annually to the Congress the basis for his finding in each case. Any interest in oil, gas, or other minerals that is reserved to an Indian owner in any sale made pursuant to this section shall be reserved in a nontrust and unrestricted status, unless the Secretary makes the determination referred to in subsection 10(b). The Secretary is authorized to execute all appropriate title documents for sales made pursuant to this section, and to distribute the proceeds of such sales in accordance with the regulations applicable to individual Indian moneys. No sale under the provisions of this section shall include any mineral estate that has been reserved to any Indian tribe by other provisions of law.

SEC. 2. The Secretary may, when he deems it in the best interests of the Indian owners, obtain a power of attorney from the owner of a non-Indian or unrestricted interest in the land to be sold authorizing the Secretary to sell and convey such interest.

SEC. 3. For the purposes of this Act, the Secretary may represent any Indian owner who is a minor, or who is non compos mentis, and after giving reasonable notice by publication of the proposed sale, he may represent an Indian owner who cannot be located.

SEC. 4. All sales of lands authorized by section 1 of this Act shall be by competitive bid, except that a sale may be made to one of the owners of an interest in the land, or to the tribe within whose reservation the land is located, at not less than the appraised value of the land if none of the owners after reasonable notice objects. If a timely objection is made, the sale shall be by sealed, competitive bid, subject, upon request made prior to the solicitation of bids, to the right of the tribe or any of the Indian owners to ask immediately after bids are opened that the land be sold at auction, in which event auction bidding shall be limited to persons who submitted sealed bids in amounts not less than 75 per centum of the appraised value of the land, the Indian owners, and the tribe. The highest sealed bid shall be considered the opening auction bid. No sale shall be made unless the price is substantially equal to the appraised value. Title to any land purchased by a tribe may be taken in trust for the tribe if it is located

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Indian Heirship Land Problem: Hearings...April 2 and 3, 1962, Del 1