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7346118
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Signing of S. 2981, H.R. 13374, H.R. 3954, H.R. 11890, S. 3843, H.R. 10793, and S. 3380 [Bill]
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7346118
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document
title
Signing of S. 2981, H.R. 13374, H.R. 3954, H.R. 11890, S. 3843, H.R. 10793, and S. 3380 [Bill]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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U.S. Senate. (03/04/1789 - )
U.S. House of Representatives. (03/04/1789 - )
Legislation
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7346118
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9
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1976-10-09
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10
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1976
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nara-archive
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Digitized from Box 32 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
October 9, 1976
Office of the White House Press Secretary
(Dallas, Texas)
NOTICE TO THE PRESS
The President has signed S. 2981 - Appropriation authorization for the
Indian Claims Commission for fiscal year 1977. This bill authorizes
appropriations in the amount of $1, 650, 000 for the Indian Claims Com-
mission for fiscal year 1977 and extends the life of the Commission through
September 30, 1978.
Under the Indian Claims Commission Act, the Commission was created
in 1946 to adjudicate claims involving Native American Indian rights to
land and compensation to Indians for the value of their aboriginal claims
to land.
The bill will lso require that upon dissolution, the Commission shall
deliver to the Archivist of the United States all case records and files
in which a final determination has been entered, and by December 31, 1976,
transfer to the U.S. Court of Claims all cases which it has determined can-
not be completely adjudicated by September 30, 1978. S. 2981 directs the
Commission to file a report to the Congress on the first day of the next ses-
sion on those cases which it transferred to the Archives and the Court of Claims
and at six-month intervals thereafter on the status of its remaining work.
The President has signed H.R. 13374 - Minnesota River Valley National
Wildlife Refuge. This bill establishes the Minnesota River Valley National
Wildlife Refuge and an adjacent wildlife recreation area, and authorizes
appropriations of not more than $14. 5 million and $6 million for land acqui-
sition and development.
The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, as amended, as-
signs sponsibility to the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to provide for the preservation, development,
and management of wildlife habitat areas included in the National Wildlife
Refuge System. Under the Act, new units of the system may be established
by law, executive order, or administrative designation by the Secretary of
the Interior. The Secretary is generally authorized to cooperate with any
State or other Federal agency in the acquisition, development, and regulation
of public use of refuge lands, consistent with the overall purpose of conser-
vation and management of designated wildlife habitat.
The Lower Minnesota River Valley consists of an extensive network of
floodplain marshes along the main channel of the Minnesota River.
The bill establishes the Refuge and an adjacent wildlife recreation area along
a section of the Lower Minnesota River approximately 30 miles southwest of
the Minneapolie - St. Paul metropolitan area. The bill will direct the Secre-
tary of the Interior to acquire approximately 9, 500 acres within the boundar-
ies of the proposed refuge area within six years of enactment. Acquisition
costs would be financed through the Federal portion of the Land and Water
Conservation Fund.
H.R. 13374 will also drect the establishment of an 8, 000-acre wildlife recre-
ation area on lands adjacent to the refuge. These lands would be acquired and
administered by the State of Minnesota in cooperation with the Fish and Wild-
life Service. For this purpose, the Secretary would be authorized to reim-
burse the State for up to 50 percent of the cost of planning, acquisition, and
development of the area.
(MORE)
-2-
The bill further directs the Secretary, in cooperation with the State, to
develop a comprehensive plan for the preservation and development of the
refuge and adjacent recreation area. This plan, to be completed within
three years of enactment, would provide management guidelines for both
federally controlled refuge lands and State-Federal recreation areas. In
additon, the plan would provi de for the inclusion of the Minnesota Valley
Trail Corridor, authorized and administered by the State, as an integral
part of the refuge and recreation area, as well as other provisions considered
necessary by the Secretary and the State.
The President has signed H.R. 3954 - Defense Medical Personnel Malpractice
Liability Protection Act. This bill protects from individual liability
certain medical personnel of the Department of Defense, the armed forces,
the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Guard, and the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration, while they are acting within the scope of
their official duties.
This bill will extend protection against medical malpractice suits to medical
personnel of the armed forces, Department of Defense, the Central
Intelligence Agency, the National Guard, and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration. This protection would cover physicians, dentists,
nurses, pharmacies, paramedicals, and other medical support personnel
while acting within the scope of their official duties. With the exception of
the National Guard, the protection H.R. 3954 will provide is essentially
the same as the protection now provided to Veterans Administration,
Public Health Service, and State Department employees. The bill would
make claims against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act
the only legal recourse available to claimants seeking remuneration for
injury or death allegedly resulting from medical malpractice. For the
National Guard, the bill would make an individual medical malpractice
liability incurred by a Guard member, acting within the scope of his duties
and while engaged in certain training exercises, the liability of the United
States.
The President has signed H.R. 11890 - Relief of Bernard Julian Phillips, to
permit the issuance of an immigrant visa to an alien convicted of a drug
offense who is the spouse of a United States citizen.
The President has signed S. 3843, naming the Visitors' Center at the Sleeping
Bear Dunes National Lakeshore the "Philip A. Hart Visitors' Centery"
The President has signed H.R. 10793 - Relief of Afat Yassine and her children,
Najla Yassine, Walid Yassine, Mona Yassine, and Maher Yassine, to restore
eligibility for preferential immigrant status. to the widow and children of an
alien eligible for an immigrant visa as the brother of a United States citizen.
The President has signed S. 3380 - For the relief of Mary Vance Trent, in-
creasing Foreign Service retirement annuity for Mary Vance Trent to the
amount that would have been payable if she had retired prior to April 1, 1974.
#