The accompanying material, which assembles in one place a summary of all of the legislation considered by the committee during the 90th Congress, should be useful to you and informative to others interested in the activities of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. I think you will find the statistical data impressive and the informative summaries of the work of each of the subcommittees helpful. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, Chairman. ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS INTRODUCTION The responsibility of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, stated broadly, involves considering, reporting on, and helping to secure enactment of legislative measures providing for the maximum utilization, management, and conservation of the public lands, minerals, water supplies, forests, and other natural resources of the United States; legislative matters involving the government and administration of the territories and other offshore areas; and legislation affecting the Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos of the United States and their lands and claims. During the 90th Congress, 874 measures dealing with these matters were referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.1 One hundred three of them were Senate-passed measures. The remaining 771 were House bills, joint resolutions, simple resolutions, and concurrent resolutions, which were introduced by 296 Members of Congress and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. Some of these were of nationwide or broad regional significance; others were of concern to one or another of 52 distinct jurisdictions-47 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands-and Antarctica. Of the 874 measures referred to the committee, many were duplicate or companion measures and some were introduced jointly by two or more Members. Out of that total, 148 were reported to the House by the committee and 128 were enacted into law (116 public laws and 12 private laws). It is noteworthy that out of all of the legislation considered and enacted by the 90th Congress, approximately 19 percent of the public laws were the product of this committee. At the time of adjournment, only three measures reported by the committee awaited House action-98 percent had been approved by the House. The distribution by general subjects of the measures referred to the committee and of those which were considered, reported, passed by the House, and enacted is as follows: 1 The total number of measures referred to the committee and to each of the subcommittees includes those which were duplicates or similar in subject matter, as well as those which were introduced jointly by 2 or more Members. 21-007-68-2 The full committee met 85 times during the 90th Congress for the consideration of these measures and other matters. Its subcommittees met in Washington 244 times for the same purposes and spent many days conducting hearings, attending meetings, and making necessary inspections in the States of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. In addition, some members of the committee or staff visited American Samoa, Antarctica, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the Virgin Islands. Many important bills which the committee considered did not become law, some because of lack of time, others because of their controversial nature. The time spent in hearing and considering these measures was not wasted, either on the part of the committee or on the part of the witnesses who appeared before it. The record that was made will be valuable if the subjects are taken up again in the next Congress. The appendix to this publication includes all of the documents published by the committee during the 90th Congress, including special hearings on matters of concern to the committee, as well as hearings on legislation. The committee's assignment is not confined to legislation alone. It also handled a number of reports made to it on National Park Service concessionaire contracts, on contracts proposed to be entered into under the Small Reclamation Projects Act and the Rehabilitation and Betterment Act, and on proposed land withdrawals for nonmilitary purposes and proposed reclassifications or designations of public lands. A more detailed description of the jurisdiction of the committee is outlined in the following pages which describe the functions and contributions of each of the subcommittees.1 INDIAN AFFAIRS The Subcommittee on Indian Affairs has legislative responsibility over matters involving governmental relations with 450,000 Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts, of whom about 280,000 reside on or near reservations. Indian landholdings and reservations (totaling approximately 52 million acres in 29 States) subject to varying degrees of Federal control, are also within the subcommittee's legislative jurisdiction. In addition, the Subcommittee on Indian Affairs has oversight responsibilities with respect to the administration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and it is interested in the Indian health and sanitation programs supervised by the Division of Indian Health of the U.S. Public Health Service, as well as being concerned with the participation of Indians in the public housing and economic opportunity programs. Of the 169 measures referred to the subcommittee, 58 were reported by the full committee; 57 were enacted. The subcommittee held 41 meetings in Washington, D.C. In addition a staff investigation and field hearings were held in Palm Springs, Calif. 1 Included under the individual subcommittees are bills which would normally fall within its jurisdiction but which, in a few instances, were handled directly by the full committee. GENERAL LEGISLATION Four bills of general applicability were enacted during the 90th Congress. They were: Amendments to the Indian Claims Commission Act (P.L. 90-9; H.R. 2536, Haley; H.R. 537, Edmondson; H.R. 3944, Adams). Indian Education in Sectarian Schools (P.L. 90-280; S. 876; H.R. 9582, Edmondson; H. R. 9397, Pollock). Expansion of Indian Vocational Education Program (P.L. -90-252; S. 306; H.R. 10664, Edmondson; H.R. 10330, Berry). Acceptance of Gifts for the Benefit of Indians (P.L. 90-333; H.R. 14672, Berry). Public Law 90-9 extends the life of the Indian Claims Commission for 5 additional years, enlarges the size of the Commission from three to five members, and requires the Commission to prepare a trial calendar that is realistically designed to complete the trial of all pending claims within the extended 5-year period. This is the third 5-year extension for the Commission since it was created by Congress in 1946. The principal objective of the provisions of the act is to enable the Commission to complete its consideration of all of the litigation before April 10, 1972.1 Public Law 90-280 repeals a 1917 statute and permits the use of Federal funds that are appropriated annually for the education of Indian children to be used for educating them in sectarian institutions of higher learning and in sectarian schools offering vocational and technical training, but it does not apply to secondary schools. The Federal assistance is provided to the Indian student, and not to the school. Public Law 90-280 brings the Indian legislation into harmony with other Federal legislation of general applicability which provides for assistance to students attending any qualified school. Because the demand far exceeds available funds, Public Law 90-252 increases the appropriation authorization for the Indian adult vocational education program from $15 to $25 million annually. The existing, voluntary program enables Indian people to obtain occupational skills in any one of 374 schools located in 23 States and, as a result, helps them to achieve full employment. Public Law 90-333 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to accept gifts to be used in furtherance of any program for the benefit of Indians which is authorized by statute. Once a program has been authorized by Congress, any donations of funds or property to carry out the program will lessen the demands on the Federal treasury. In order that Congress may be kept informed of the magnitude of gifts, the act requires the Secretary of the Interior to make an annual report showing the donations made and the use made of them. USE OF CLAIMS JUDGMENT FUNDS Twenty-four bills were enacted by the 90th Congress to authorize the use of judgments recovered against the United States. All of The judgments already awarded by the Indian Claims Commission exceed $250,000,000, and about half of the claims remain to be decided. 2 The judgments totaled $109,910,188.89. the judgment statutes contain provisions for the deduction of costs of litigation and distribution, provisions to protect the funds payable to minors, and provisions to exempt per capita distributions from Federal and State income tax. The acts authorizing the use of the individual judgment funds were: California Indians (P.L. 90-507; H.R. 10911, Sisk). Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe of Oklahoma (P.L. 90-117; S. 1933; H.R. 11847, Edmondson; H.R. 11856, Jarman; H.R. 10637, Smith of Okla.). Creek Indians (P.L. 90-504; H.R. 14205, Edmondson; H.R. 14778, Edwards of Ala., H.R. 15353, Sikes; H.R. 15654, Sikes; H.R. 16932, Dickinson). Creek Nation of Indians of Oklahoma (P.L. 90-506; H.R. 16211. Edmondson). Delaware Nation (P.L. 90-508; H.R. 16402, Edmondson; H.R. 16541, Hosmer). Emigrant New York Indians (P.L. 90-93; S. 1972; H.R. 11428, Byrnes). Flathead Indians (P.L. 90-11; S. 1177; H.R. 7345, Olsen). Iowa Tribes of Kansas and Nebraska and of Oklahoma (P.L. 90-199; H. R. 2828, Mize). Mescalero Apache (P.L. 90-266; S. 1727; H.R. 12527, Walker and Morris). Minnesota Chippewa Tribe (P.L. 90-94; S. 1165; H.R. 7060, Blatnik, H.R. 7289, Langen). Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma (P.L. 90-63; H. R. 2532, Edmondson). Sac and Fox Indians (P.L. 90-80; H. R. 10566; Kyl; H.R. 10231,; Steed; H. R. 10728, Steed). Spokane Tribe (P.L. 90-337; H.R. 15271, Foley). Ute Indians (P.L. 90–60; S. 1191; H. R. 6629, Aspinall). Upper and Lower Chehalis Tribes, Washington (P.L. 90–114; Yakima Nation (P.L. 90-278; S. 2336; H. R. 10902, Foley). Quechan Tribe (P.L. 90-529; S. 3620; H.R. 17953, Tunney and Kiowa, Comanche, Apache Tribes (P.L. 90-527; S. 3728; .HR. 18192, Edmondson; H.R. 18200, Steed; H.R. 18199, Smith of Oklahoma). Chickasaw Nation (P.L. 90-533; S. 2715; H.R. 14296, Edmondson). Muckleshoot Tribe (P.L. 90-530; S. 3621; H.R. 17850, Adams). The California Indian judgment was for $29,100,000. It will be distributed per capita to the Indians whose names are on a new roll which is to be prepared by the Secretary of the Interior. The Cheyenne-Arapaho (Oklahoma) judgment was for $15 million. All except $500,000 will be distributed per capita to the members of the tribes. The $500,000 will be reserved for an education and scholarship grant program. The Creek Nation of Indians of Oklahoma and the Creek Nation of Indians East of the Mississippi jointly recovered a judgment for |