A bill to authorize, ratify, and confirm the Agreement of Settlement and Compromise to Resolve the Akwesasne Mohawk Land Claim ...

This section would give federal approval to two things. First, it would authorize, ratify, and confirm the Agreement of Settlement and Compromise to Resolve the Akwesasne Mohawk Land Claim in the State of New York, called the Settlement Agreement in this bill, which was entered into by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, the State of New York, the Counties of Franklin and Saint Lawrence in New York, the Towns of Fort Covington and Bombay in New York, and the New York Power Authority. Second, it would authorize, ratify, and confirm any transfer of land, right-of-way, or easement that is the subject of the claims raised in three lawsuits: Canadian Saint Regis Band of Mohawk Indians v. New York et al. (82-CV-783); Canadian Saint Regis Band of Mohawk Indians v. New York et al. (82-CV-1114); and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, and the People of the Longhouse at Akwesasne, by Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs v. The State of New York, et al. (89-CV-829).

This section would make two categories of land count as Indian Country, using the definition of that term in section 1151(a) of title 18 of the United States Code, and subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of the Settlement Agreement. The first category is land that the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe owns, as of the effective date of the Settlement Agreement, within the Settlement Acquisition Areas defined in the Settlement Agreement. The second category is land the Tribe acquires within those same Settlement Acquisition Areas after the Settlement Agreement's effective date.