Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 77.djvu/370

 338

PUBLIC LAW 88-183-NOV. 20, 1963

[77 STAT.

Public Law 88-183 November 20, 1963 [H. R. 2073]

Interior Department. Land convey-

"Tidelands, submerged lands, or filled lands. "

Notification to congressional committees.

AN ACT To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain submerged lands to the governments of Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) upon the request of the Governor of Guam, the Governor of the Virgin Islands, or the Governor of American Samoa, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to convey to the government of the territory concerned whatever right, title, or interest the United States has in particular tracts of tidelands, submerged lands, or filled lands in or adjacent to the territory, subject to the limitations contained in this section. The term "tidelands, submerged lands, or filled lands" means for the purposes of this Act all lands permanently or periodically covered by tidal waters up to but not above the line of mean high tide and seaward to a line three geographical miles distant from the coastlines of the territory, as heretofore or hereafter modified by accretion, erosion, and reliction, including artificially made, filled-in, or reclaimed lands which were formerly permanently or periodically covered by tidal waters. (b) No conveyance shall be made pursuant to this section unless the land proposed to be conveyed is clearly required for specific economic development purposes or to satisfy a compelling public need. (c) No conveyance shall be made pursuant to this section until the expiration of sixty calendar days (exclusive of days on which the House of Representatives or the Senate is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain) from the date on which the Secretary of the Interior submits to the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate an explanatory statement indicating the tract proposed to be conveyed and the need therefor, unless prior to the expiration of such sixty calendar days both committees inform the Secretary that they wish to take no action with respect to the proposed conveyance. (d) Conveyances pursuant to this section shall be subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Interior may deem appropriate, and shall be made without reimbursement or with such reimbursement as he may deem appropriate. (e) The governments of Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa shall have proprietary rights of ownership and the rights of management, administration, leasing, use, and the development of the lands conveyed pursuant to this section, but the Secretary of the Interior and such territorial governments shall not have the power or ri^ht to convey title to such lands unless the Secretary of the Interior (1) determines that such right to convey is necessary and (2) advises the committee of such determination in the manner described in subsection (c) of this section, and (3) unless the Secretary of the Interior, in proposing to convey such lands to such territorial governments, and such territorial governments in proposing to convey such lands to a third party or third parties pursuant to this section, shall publish notice of such proposed conveyance at least once a week for three weeks in a daily newspaper or newspapers of general circulation in the territory affected by the proposed conveyance. Such published notice shall include the names of all parties to the proposed contract of conveyance, the purchase price, and a general summary of the boundaries of the tract or tracts proposed to be included in the conveyance.

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