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S07566 Summary:

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S07566 Memo:

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S07566 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         7566--B
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                      June 6, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sens.  KENNEDY,  STEC -- (at request of the Governor) --
          read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to
          the  Committee on Rules -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  committee  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee
 
        AN ACT relating to settlement of certain land claims
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Land claims settlement. The legislature hereby  finds  that
     2  long-standing  disputes between the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Mohawk
     3  Council of Akwesasne, and the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs,  and  the
     4  state  of New York, Franklin county and St. Lawrence county, have gener-
     5  ated litigation in state and federal courts regarding property and other
     6  taxation, and that the status of Mohawk  lands  has  caused  decades  of
     7  unrest  and  uncertainty  for the citizens and residents of the Northern
     8  New York region of this state. The legislature further finds that it  is
     9  in  the best interests of all citizens, residents and political subdivi-
    10  sions of this state to remove any uncertainty that  such  litigation  or
    11  disputes  have  created regarding the title to and jurisdictional status
    12  of land within the state. The  legislature  recognizes  that  negotiated
    13  settlement  of these disputes will facilitate a cooperative relationship
    14  between the state, the counties and the Mohawk. Therefore, the  legisla-
    15  ture declares that:
    16    (a)  Notwithstanding  any  other law, the state, through the governor,
    17  may execute a land claims settlement agreement including, but not limit-
    18  ed to, terms considerably consistent  with  memoranda  of  understanding
    19  between  the  governor,  the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and Saint Lawrence
    20  county executed on May 28, 2014 and Resolution 188, as  adopted  by  the
    21  Franklin County Board of Legislature on June 5, 2023.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD12015-06-3
        S. 7566--B                          2
 
     1    (b) Such land claims settlement shall be deemed ratified by the legis-
     2  lature  upon  the governor's certification to the temporary president of
     3  the senate, the speaker of the assembly, and  the  secretary  of  state,
     4  that  such  agreement  has  received requisite federal approvals and the
     5  underlying litigation has been dismissed with prejudice.
     6    (c)  Except  as  otherwise specifically provided in the agreement, the
     7  state specifically reserves all its rights, as attributes of its  inher-
     8  ent  sovereignty, recognized by the tenth and eleventh amendments to the
     9  United States Constitution. Nothing in this section shall  be  construed
    10  to  affect the existing authority of the governor under the constitution
    11  and laws of this state to execute land claims settlements.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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