Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/1135

 68 S T A T. ]

1103

PUBLIC LAW 762-SEPT. 1, 1954

value of the property shall be the value of the property when distributed to the individual, corporation, or other legal entity. SEC. 10. Nothing contained in this Act shall deprive any Indian tribe, band, or other identifiable group of American Indians of any right, privilege, or benefit granted by the Indian Claims Commission Act of August 13, 1946 (ch. 959, 60 Stat. 1049), including the right to pursue claims against the United States as authorized by said Act. SEC. 11. Nothing in this Act shall abrogate any valid lease, permit, license, right-of-way, lien, or other contract heretofore approved. Whenever any such instrument places in or reserves to the Secretary any powers, duties, or other functions with respect to the property subject thereto, the Secretary may transfer such functions, in whole or in part, to any Federal agency with the consent of such agency and may transfer such function, in whole or in part, to a State agency with the consent of such agency and the other party or parties to such instrument. SEC. 12. Nothing in this Act shall abrogate any water rights of a tribe or its members. SEC. 13. Prior to the transfer of title to, or the removal of restrictions from, property in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Secretary shall protect the rights of members of a tribe who are minors, non compos mentis, or in the opinion of the Secretary in need of assistance in conducting their affairs by causing the appointment of guardians in courts of competent jurisdiction, or by such other means as he may deem adequate. SEC. 14. Pending the completion of the property dispositions provided for in this Act, the funds now on deposit, or hereafter deposited, in the United States Treasury to the credit of the tribe shall be available for advance to the tribe, or for expenditure, for such purposes as may be designated by the governing body of the tribe and approved by the Secretary. SEC. 15. The Secretary shall have authority to execute such patents, deeds, assignments, releases, certificates, contracts, and other instruments as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this Act, or to establish a marketable and recordable title to any property disposed of pursuant to this Act. SEC. 16. The Secretary is authorized and directed to cancel any indebtedness payable to the United States by the tribe arising out of any loan made by the United States to such tribe, and any indebtedness, whether payable to the United States or to the tribe, arising out of a loan made from the proceeds thereof to an individual Indian. SEC. 17. (a) Upon removal of Federal restrictions on the property of each tribe and individual members thereof, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a proclamation declaring that the Federal trust relationship to the affairs of the tribe and its members has terminated. Thereafter individual members of the tribe shall not be entitled to any of the services performed by the United States for Indi&ns because of their status as Indians, all statutes of the United States which affect Indians because of their status as Indians shall no longer be applicable to the members of the tribe, and the laws of the several States shall apply to the tribe and its members in the same manner as they apply to other citizens or persons within their jurisdiction. (b) Nothing in this Act shall affect the status of the members of the tribe as citizens of the United States, or shall affect their rights, privileges, immunities, and obligations as such citizens.

25 USC 70 et aeq. P r i o r l e a s es, etc* Transfer of functions i

Water rights. Guardians.

Advances funds.

oif

Execution of pabents, etc.

Cancellation o f indebtedness.

Termination of Federal trust. P u b l i c ation ini FR.

S t a t u s as citizens.

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