AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 41 OF THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT.

SEC. 306. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 41 OF THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT. Section 41(b) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1629g(b)) is amended—(1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: “(except that the term ‘nonmineral’, as used in that Act, shall for the purpose of this subsection be defined as provided in section 905(a)(3) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 1634(a)(3)), except that such definition shall not apply to land within a conservation system unit)”; and (2) in paragraph (2)—(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) as clauses (i), (ii), and (iii), respectively, and indenting the clauses appropriately;(B) by inserting “(A)” after “(2)”;(C) in clause (ii) (as redesignated by subparagraph (A)), by inserting after “Department of Veterans Affairs” the following: “or based on other evidence acceptable to the Secretary”; and(D) by adding at the end the following:118 STAT. 3591 “(B)(i) If the Secretary requests that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs make a determination whether a veteran died as a direct consequence of a wound received in action, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, within 60 days of receipt of the request—“(I) provide a determination to the Secretary if the records of the Department of Veterans Affairs contain sufficient information to support such a determination; or“(II) notify the Secretary that the records of the Department of Veterans Affairs do not contain sufficient information to support a determination and that further investigation will be necessary. “(ii) Not later than 1 year after notification to the Secretary that further investigation is necessary, the Department of Veterans Affairs shall complete the investigation and provide a determination to the Secretary.”.