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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 155 / Monday, August 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
The Department published a proposed rule on December 11, 2020 85 FR
79965 and accepted comments on the proposed rule until February 9, 2021.
Section II of this document provides an overview of the final rule. Section III of this document summarizes the comments received on the proposed rule and responds to those comments.
Section IV of this document details changes made from the proposed rule to the final rule stage.
II. Overview of Final Rule The regulations being finalized today replace those that have been in place since 1981 though redesignated from 25
CFR part 120 to 25 CFR part 150. Now, 40 years later, BIA area offices are BIA Regions, and the LTRO maintains title documents primarily through an electronic system: The Trust Asset Accounting Management System TAAMS. Each LTRO office records land title documents that are primarily within its designated geographic area;
however, it is BIAs vision that, eventually, all title documents will be electronically stored and accessible to LTRO offices regardless of geographic area.

The rule modernizes the LTRO
regulations to provide a framework for continued operations and future electronic maintenance of most title documents. This approach will more efficiently address title-related actions that support Indian land transactions such as a title examination to take land into trust by allowing workloads to be shifted among LTRO offices to promptly address each request and prevent the risk of any backlogs. The rule continues to provide that each LTRO office is primarily responsible for certain geographic areas, but rather than specifying those LTRO offices in the rule, it instead points to a web page where BIA can keep the list accurately updated.
The rule also addresses changes that have evolved over the past 40 years that have removed requirements for Secretarial approval of certain title documents in support of Tribal selfgovernance and self-determination e.g., individual leases under approved Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership HEARTH Act regulations by clarifying that these documents must still be
Current 25 CFR

New 25 CFR

Description of changes Provides more general description of responsibilities e.g., to account for other types of reports beyond land title status reports that LTRO provides.
Alphabetizes terms.
Adds definitions for certify, certified copy, Certifying Officer, defect or title defect, I or you for plain language purposes, inherently Federal function, land, Office of Hearings and Appeals OHA, Probate Inventory Report, record of title, Region, and title.
Deletes definitions of Administrative Law Judge, Commissioner, land, and Superintendent.
Revises definition of Agency to clarify that contracting and compacting Tribes are included.
Revises definition of Indian land to limit to trust or restricted land only, in accordance with other regulatory definitions, while moving provisions regarding other categories of land to proposed 150.201c.
Revises definition of recording to move substantive statement as to the significance of recording a document to the body of the regulation at proposed 150.101.
Revises definition of title document to provide examples.
Revises definition of title examination to add detail.
Revises definition of Tribe to cite the List Act of 1994.
New section to address that Tribes may compact or contract for LTRO functions under Tribal self-governance and self-determination compacts and contracts.
New section to address the significance of recording a document in the record of title.
No substantive change.

150.1

Purpose and scope

150.1 What is the purpose of this part?

150.2

Definitions

150.2

What terms do I need to know?

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150.3 May Tribes administer this part on LTROs behalf?

150.3 Maintenance of land records and title documents.

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150.101 What is the purpose of the record of title?
150.102 Who maintains the record of title?
150.103 What services does the LTRO perform to maintain the record of title?
150.104 How does the LTRO maintain the record of title?

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recorded in the LTRO because the documents affect who is authorized to use Indian land.
The rule also makes more transparent the LTROs role as a support office to BIA and, with respect to title-related matters related to probate, the Office of Hearings and Appeals OHA. Generally, the Realty staff in BIA are the primary liaison to the LTRO, as the Realty staff are responsible for processing land transactions requested by Indian and Tribal landowners. Similarly, the rule would clarifies the LTROs role with respect to any defects to title: The LTRO
provides a notation of the defect in the record of title, but the originating office is responsible for providing the LTRO
with a corrected title document for the LTRO to record.
Finally, the rule allows the BIA
Director to delegate recording responsibilities to another office for certain transactions on an as-needed basis. This capability provides flexibility to facilitate future electronic recording capabilities for efficiency.
The following table shows changes from the current regulation to the final rule.

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New section to provide a list of services that the LTRO performs.
New section to address that the LTRO primarily maintains the record of title electronically.

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