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I 109TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4255 To convey certain submerged lands to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in order to give that territory the same benefits in its submerged lands as Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have in their submerged lands. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 8, 2005 Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. FORTUN˜O, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, and Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources A BILL To convey certain submerged lands to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in order to give that territory the same benefits in its submerged lands as Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have in their submerged lands. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2 •HR 4255 IH SECTION 1. CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN SUBMERGED LANDS 1 TO THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN 2 MARIANA ISLANDS. 3 The first section of Public Law 93–435 (48 U.S.C. 4 1705) is amended— 5 (1) in the second sentence of subsection (b), by 6 inserting ‘‘the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar- 7 iana Islands,’’ after ‘‘Guam,’’ each place it appears; 8 and 9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(e)(1) Subject to valid existing rights, all right, title, 11 and interest of the United States in lands permanently 12 or periodically covered by tidal waters up to but not above 13 the line of mean high tide and seaward to a line 3 geo- 14 graphical miles distant from the coastline of the territory 15 of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 16 (as modified before, on, or after the date of enactment 17 of this subsection by accretion, erosion, or reliction, or in 18 artificially made, filled in, or reclaimed lands that were 19 formerly permanently or periodically covered by tidal wa- 20 ters) are conveyed to the Government of the Common- 21 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to be adminis- 22 tered in trust for the benefit of the people of the Common- 23 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 24 ‘‘(2) The conveyance shall be subject to subsections 25 (b), (c), and (d) except that each reference to the ‘date 26 3 •HR 4255 IH of enactment of this Act’ in those clauses shall (for the 1 purposes of this subsection) be considered to be a ref- 2 erence to the date of enactment of this subsection.’’. 3 SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF PUBLIC LAW 93–435. 4 Public Law 93–435 (48 U.S.C. 1705 et seq.) is 5 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 6 ‘‘SEC. 7. CONSISTENT APPLICATION. 7 ‘‘This Act is intended to be applied in a consistent 8 manner to Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, 9 and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 10 except to the extent that there is a specific and express 11 exception in this Act regarding its application to one or 12 more of these territories.’’. 13 Æ