§ 2203. — Adoption of land consolidation plan with approval of Secretary.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 25USC2203]
TITLE 25--INDIANS
CHAPTER 24--INDIAN LAND CONSOLIDATION
Sec. 2203. Adoption of land consolidation plan with approval of
Secretary
(a) Statement of purpose; sales or exchanges: terms and conditions
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) of this section, 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) Conveyancing requirement; specific findings for nonexecution
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) Below market value conveyance of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
homesites
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.
(Pub. L. 97-459, title II, Sec. 204, Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2517; Pub.
L. 98-608, Sec. 1(1), Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 3171; Pub. L. 102-238,
Sec. 3, Dec. 17, 1991, 105 Stat. 1908.)
Amendments
1991--Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 102-238, Sec. 3(1), substituted ``(1)
except as provided by subsection (c) of this section, the sale price''
for ``(1) the sale price''.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102-238, Sec. 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--''.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 2204, 2212 of this title.
