| WASHINGTON, DC-U.S. Senators Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi said today they are pleased with yesterday's passage of the Indian Omnibus Bill, which included provisions to modify the Indian Land Consolidation Act (ILCA) by creating more estate planning options for Indian land owners and establishing a uniform probate code for individuals who do not have wills. The purpose of ILCA is to protect Indian lands from further fractionation and to help prevent these lands from falling outside of Indian ownership. The General Allotment Act of 1887 resulted in the loss of significant acreage of Indian land nationwide and caused severe fractionation of Indian lands. Congress has tried a number of times to reverse the problems that were created from this allotment. "American Indians will now have more options for estate planning with the passage of this bill," said Thomas, who is a senior Member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "I also want to commend the Eastern Shoshone General Council for creating a working group which provided valuable insight to Members of the Indian Affairs Committee as they drafted the final language." "This bill should help solve some of the land issues that are crippling economic development on the Wind River reservation and other areas across the country. As homeownership and business development increases on the reservation, probate reform is needed now more than ever to reduce fractionation and decrease the overwhelming number of partial ownership interests on small parcels of land," said Enzi. "I particularly commend the Wind River tribes for their hard work on this legislation. They were instrumental in shaping the final product." In Wyoming, many Indian land owners have non-Indian spouses, and it is important to allow them to maintain ownership in their families, Thomas and Enzi said. One provision of the ILCA creates a passive trust status option which gives Native American land owners more opportunities to devise their land to lineal descendents who may not necessarily be tribally enrolled members. The Senators pointed out that anybody in America can will their land to anyone they wish, regardless of the beneficiary's race, religion, etc. and it doesn't make sense to deny American Indian land owners the right to pass their land on to their families. Without this new language, family members who are not tribally enrolled prohibited from inheriting anything more than a life estate, unless the land is taken out of trust. Removing land from this trust status places it into fee status, which ultimately could transfer Indian lands to non-Indian ownership. This bill will hopefully rectify these problems, which were not addressed in earlier versions of the ILCA. The bill also creates a federal uniform probate code, which would streamline the division process of Indian land when someone dies without a will. Rather than defaulting to numerous and varied state probate laws, the Department of the Interior would have a uniform code for all tribes upon the death of an Indian land owner who do not have a will. The House of Representatives hopefully will examine the bill Friday, if the House passes the Indian Omnibus Bill, the ILCA will go to the President's desk -30-
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