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PALA BAND OF MISSION INDIANS LAND TRANSFER ACT OF 2021
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1975) to take certain land located in San Diego County, California, into trust for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1975
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF LAND IN TRUST FOR THE PALA BAND OF
MISSION INDIANS.
(a) Transfer and Administration.--
(1) Transfer of lands into trust.--If, not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Tribe transfers title to the land referred to in subsection (b) to the United States, the Secretary, not later than 180 days after such transfer, shall take that land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe.
(2) Administration.--The land transferred under paragraph
(1) shall be part of the Pala Indian Reservation and administered in accordance with the laws and regulations generally applicable to land held in trust by the United States for an Indian Tribe.
(b) Land Description.--The land referred to in subsection
(a)(1) is the approximately 721.12 acres of land located in San Diego County, California, generally depicted as ``Gregory Canyon Property Boundary'' on the map titled ``Pala Gregory Canyon Property Boundary and Parcels''.
(c) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall--
(1) enlarge, impair, or otherwise affect any right or claim of the Tribe to any land or interest in land that is in existence before the date of the enactment of this Act;
(2) affect any water right of the Tribe in existence before the date of the enactment of this Act; or
(3) terminate or limit any access in any way to any right-of-way or right-of-use issued, granted, or permitted before the date of the enactment of this Act.
(d) Restricted Use of Transferred Lands.--The Tribe may not conduct, on the land taken into trust for the Tribe pursuant to this Act, gaming activities--
(1) as a matter of claimed inherent authority; or
(2) under any Federal law, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) and regulations promulgated by the Secretary or the National Indian Gaming Commission under that Act.
(e) Definitions.--For the purposes of this section:
(1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior.
(2) Tribe.--The term ``Tribe'' means the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger Fernandez) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New Mexico.
General Leave
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from New Mexico?
There was no objection.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, H.R. 1975, the Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021, introduced by Representative Issa from California, will direct the Secretary of the Interior to take 721.12 acres of land into trust for the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
The Pala Band of Mission Indians is located in northern San Diego County with 918 enrolled members. Members of the Pala Band belong to the Cupeno and Luiseno Tribes who were forced together by Spanish Franciscan missionaries during the 1800s.
The Pala Band recently purchased property that includes the remaining portion of Gregory Mountain that is not on the existing Pala Band Reservation and other sacred and culturally significant sites in Gregory Canyon. The land was purchased to protect and preserve Gregory Mountain, Medicine Rock, and other sites considered sacred by Luiseno Tribes.
Taking land into trust is an integral part of the government-to-
government relationship between the U.S. Government and Tribal governments. By maintaining Tribal lands, Tribal governments can protect and preserve their ancestral homelands or sacred sites considered culturally significant.
This bill takes 721.12 acres into trust for the benefit of the Pala Band, ensuring that the sacred sites and cultural history located on those lands will be honored appropriately and safeguarded. The bill also stipulates that current land and water rights are not affected by its enactment, nor are any rights-of-way or rights of use that are currently permitted.
Lastly, the Pala Band may not conduct any gaming activities on the land.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank Representative Issa for championing this bipartisan legislation, and I urge its quick adoption. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1975, the Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act.
This bill would place approximately 721 acres of land located in San Diego, California, into trust for the Pala Band of Mission Indians.
As Ms. Leger Fernandez said, gaming pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is prohibited on the lands to be placed into trust by this legislation. In the early 1990s, San Diego, California, voters approved a plan to establish the Gregory Canyon landfill project, but the landfill process fell into bankruptcy and the development company sold a portion of the land to the Tribe for cultural preservation. The Tribe is now requesting to have that land placed into trust to be part of the Tribe's reservation.
I want to thank Mr. Issa for his leadership on this issue, and I again urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa).
Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. As the chair and ranking member said, this is bipartisan, and I am sure will be bicameral, and, in fact, it is necessary because not only is H.R. 1975 necessary in order to put land in trust, but we, for more than 20 years now, have had to put most land that gets into trust in trust because of action by the Congress.
I want to take this opportunity on behalf of the 18 Tribes that I represent and have represented for most of my 20 years in Congress and say that this is the kind of bill that I hope we will pass further legislation to make unnecessary. The essential right of our first people to reclaim their ancestral land and have it placed into trust on a pro forma basis, on a nearly automatic basis, should not require action by Congress time and time again.
The Pala Band of Indians had to buy this land at their own expense in order to gift it, essentially, to the Federal Government. They do so because of the importance of their ancestral land and their pride in the people they are and the people they have been since before man, Western man, walked into California and disrupted their lives.
So I am proud that, once again, we are putting land in trust. I am proud of the Pala Indians who worked for more than 30 years to recapture this land, to keep it from being effectively taken away in perpetuity. They have done the right thing.
They have reinvested their hard-earned money, in fact, on putting, for their nearly 1,000 members, together a future of Tribal land in which the public can be aware will be taken care of better than it was under private land.
It is interesting to me that, in fact, we have had to get assurances that the Tribe would not use this for gaming, which is understood. But the idea that they cannot use it--they do not, in fact, regain their water rights that they historically would have, and others--quite frankly, is a giveaway that should not be necessary.
I am happy to take the opportunity to thank the chairman and ranking member, but I ask that we really take a hard look at the inefficiency of the system that has caused every single land in trust that has been done for my 18 Tribes, or many of my 18 Tribes over 20 years, to require this action.
I believe we should streamline the process to make the bias in favor of the Tribe's right to reclaim their land, to place it, in fact, into what is trust land, which is another name for it belongs to the Federal Government even though it has been bought out of the hardworking representatives in my district; in this case, Pala.
So I want to thank the gentleman for moving this. I believe this is noncontroversial. I know I brought up a point that is more controversial which is getting the bureaucracy to do a job they should do on behalf of Tribes throughout the United States. As somebody who has been honored to represent much of Indian Country in California, I hope I speak accurately for all 18 Tribes that they believe that what was theirs and is theirs again, should be placed in trust as soon as possible.
I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his advocacy on the part of his constituents. I do again urge adoption of this.
I am ready to close, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I do want to thank Representative Issa, Representative Westerman, and Chair Grijalva for moving this bipartisan bill forward and taking the action that is required at this time to ensure that the Pala Band of Indians can, indeed, control this land for their sacred and cultural sites.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger Fernandez) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1975.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion are postponed.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 191
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