PUBLIC LAW 96-305—JULY 8, 1980 the United States in trust for the benefit of the Navajo Tribe as a part of the Navajo Reservation. "(b) A border of any parcel of land so transferred or acquired shall be within eighteen miles of the present boundary of the Navajo Reservation: Provided, That, except as limited by subsection (g) hereof, Bureau of Land Management lands anywhere within the States of Arizona and New Mexico may be used for the purpose of exchanging for lands within eighteen miles of the present boundary of the reservation. "(c) Lands to be so transferred or acquired shall, for a period of three years after the date of enactment of this subsection, be selected by the Navajo Tribe after consultation with the Commission: Provided, That, at the end of such period, the Commission shall have the authority to select such lands after consultation with the Navajo Tribe: Provided further. That not to exceed thirty-five thousand acres of lands so transferred or acquired shall be selected within the State of New Mexico. "(d) The Commission, in consultation with the Secretary, shall within sixty days following the first year of enactment of this subsection report to the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, on the progress of the land transfer program authorized in subsection (a) of this section. Sixty days following the second year of enactment of this subsection the Commission, in consultation with the Secretary, shall submit a report to the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs giving the status of the land transfer program authorized in subsection (a) of this section, making any recommendations that the Commission deems necessary to complete the land transfer program. "(e) Payments being made to any State or local government pursuant to the provisions of the Act of October 20, 1976 (90 Stat. 2662; 31 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), on any lands transferred pursuant to subsection (a)(1) of this section shall continue to be paid as if such transfer had not occurred. "(f)(1) For a period of three years after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall not accept title to lands acquired pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this section unless fee title to both surface and subsurface has been acquired or the owner of the subsurface interest consents to the acceptance of the surface interest in trust by the Secretary. "(2) If, ninety days prior to the expiration of such three year period, the full entitlement of private lands has not been acquired by the Navajo Tribe and accepted by the Secretary in trust for the Navajo Tribe under the restrictions of paragraph (1) of this subsection, the Commission, after public notice, shall, within thirty days, make a report thereon to the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. "(3) In any case where the Secretary accepts, in trust, title to the surface of lands acquired pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this section where the subsurface interest is owned by third parties, the trust status of such surface ownership and the inclusion of the land within the Navajo Reservation shall not impair any existing right of the subsurface owner to develop the subsurface interest and to have access to the surface for the purpose of such development. "(g) No public lands lying north and west of the Colorado River in the State of Arizona shall be available for transfer under this section.
94 STAT. 931
Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission, selection authority.
Report to congressional committees.
Public notice. Report to congressional committees.
�
