Alaska Native Veterans Land Allotment Equity Act

Alaska Native Veterans Land Allotment Equity Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) to declare that any allotment application pending before the Department of the Interior on December 18, 1971, that was closed by Interior pursuant to the civil action Shields v. United States shall be reopened and considered to be approved.

(Sec. 3) The bill revises the eligibility of Alaska Native Vietnam veterans for an allotment. Eligibility for allotments is extended to veterans who served between August 5, 1964, and May 7, 1975.

Eligible persons may file for allotments of up to two parcels of federal land (as under current law) totaling up to 160 acres.

The bill eliminates the limitation of these allotments to lands that were vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved on the date when the person eligible for the allotment first used and occupied them.

Allotments may be selected from vacant federal lands or lands that have been selected by or conveyed to the state of Alaska or a Native corporation, if the state or corporation voluntarily relinquishes or conveys the land to the United States for allotment.

The lands excluded from allotment are revised to: (1) lands in the right-of-way of the TransAlaska Pipeline; (2) the inner or outer corridor of such a right-of-way; or (3) a unit of the National Park System, a National Preserve, or a National Monument.

The heir of a deceased eligible veteran, regardless of the cause of death, may apply for and receive an allotment.

Persons who made an allotment selection under ANCSA and were not conveyed the allotment before enactment of this bill may reselect land.