[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 130 (Thursday, September 19, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11050-S11051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           UTAH SCHOOLS AND LANDS IMPROVEMENT ACT AMENDMENTS

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 558, H.R. 2464.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2464) to amend Public Law 103-93 to provide 
     additional land within the State of Utah for the Indian 
     reservation and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the bill?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 
2464, a bill to amend Public Law 103-93 to add certain State and 
Federal lands to the Goshute Indian Reservation in Utah.
  Public Law 103-93 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 
about 200,000 acres of Utah school trust land located within the 
boundaries of national parks, forests, and Indian reservations in Utah. 
In exchange, the school trust will receive other Federal land and 
mineral rights of equal value.
  H.R. 2464 amends the 1993 act to make an additional 7,000 acres of 
State land eligible for exchange for Federal lands or interests of 
equal value and their addition in trust to the Goshute Reservation. The 
bill also provides for about 1,280 acres of Federal land and mineral 
interests to be added to the reservation.
  The addition of these lands to the Goshute Reservation will provide a 
more clearly defined and manageable reservation boundary. This will 
greatly improve the tribe's ability to deal with poaching, trespassing, 
and other problems along the reservation boundary.
  Enactment of the legislation will also further assist the State of 
Utah and the Federal Government in consolidating their respective 
landholdings and thus contribute to more effective, environmentally 
responsible land management.
  The Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing on H.R. 2464 in July 
of this year. Hearing testimony established that the bill is without 
controversy and clearly in the beneficial interest of the Goshute 
Tribe, the State of Utah, and the United States. The Congressional 
Budget Office subsequently reported that enactment of the bill would 
have no significant impact on the Federal budget, nor would it affect 
direct spending or receipts.
  I commend Utah's Senators Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett for their 
cooperative efforts with the tribe, the State, and the administration 
that led to development of H.R. 2464 and its Senate counterpart, S. 
1766.
  Mr. President, H.R. 2464 is meritorious legislation, and I urge its 
passage by the Senate.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am delighted the Senate has scheduled 
consideration of H.R. 2464.
  This legislation amends the Utah Schools and Lands Improvement Act of 
1993 (Public Law 103-93) which provides a vehicle by which school trust 
lands located within Federal reservations in Utah--such as national 
parks, national forests, wilderness, and Indian reservations--could be 
exchanged for lands located elsewhere in Utah.
  The act helps to ensure that Utah's schools receive the full and 
intended benefit of the trust lands by resolving Federal and State land 
management problems resulting from interspersed land ownership within 
Utah.
  H.R. 2464 would amend the 1993 act to provide for the exchange of 
approximately 8,000 acres of additional State land, located within the 
Goshute Reservation boundaries, for Federal lands, or interests, of 
equal value.
  The Goshute Tribe's reservation is located in a remote valley 
southwest of the Great Salt Lake and astride the border between Utah 
and Nevada with approximately half of the reservation within each 
State.
  This bill will resolve a long standing problem associated with the 
southern

[[Page S11051]]

boundary of the tribe's reservation. When Congress initially considered 
Public Law 103-93, the Goshute Tribe requested a resolution of the 
irregular configuration on the reservation's southern boundary. The 
irregular configuration and remote location of about 8,000 acres of 
land along that boundary make proper land management virtually 
impossible. In fact, the State of Utah, the Bureau of Land Management 
and the tribe have been unable to prevent trespassing and poaching in 
this area.
  This measure will improve the tribe's ability to manage and preserve 
that land.
  H.R. 2464 was introduced in the House by my good friend Congressman 
Jim Hansen of Utah, and has wide support from many diverse groups 
including the Bureau of Land Management, the State of Utah, the Goshute 
Tribe, Juab County, and the Utah Wilderness Coalition.
  This legislation is very important to the people of Utah--to our 
school system--and to the tribal members of the Goshute Tribe.
  I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support its passage.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I would like to ask my friend, the Senator from 
Arizona [Mr. McCain], the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 
if he would engage in a colloquy with me and the Senator from Idaho 
[Mr. Craig], the chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and Public 
Land Management, on the bill H.R. 2464?
  Mr. McCAIN. I will be pleased to have a colloquy with the Senator 
from Alaska and the Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank the Senator. As he knows, H.R. 2464 amends the 
Utah Schools and Lands Improvement Act of 1993, an Act which, in the 
103rd Congress, was considered exclusively by the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources.
  I was therefore surprised to learn that on May 15th of this year the 
Parliamentarian referred H.R. 2464 to the Committee on Indian Affairs. 
I was further surprised to learn that on the very next day, May 16th, 
the Parliamentarian referred an identical Senate bill, S. 1766, 
introduced by our colleague, Senator Bennett, to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources, which then referred it to Senator Craig's 
Subcommittee.
  So I ask my friend, the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 
whether he would agree with me and Senator Craig that it would have 
been appropriate for the Parliamentarian to refer H.R. 2464 to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources?
  Mr. McCAIN. I agree with the Senators from Alaska and Idaho that 
referral of H.R. 2464 to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
would have been appropriate. The rules of the Senate are clear that 
issues pertaining to the management of the public lands are within the 
jurisdiction of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  I note, however, that both the 1993 Act and H.R. 2464 include 
provisions that deal with the issue of adding land in trust to Indian 
reservations in Utah. Would the Chairman of the Energy Committee agree 
with me that, with respect to this issue, referral of the legislation 
to the Committee on Indian Affairs is appropriate?
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I agree with the Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. I thank the Senator. As he knows, the Committee on Indian 
Affairs held a hearing on H.R. 2464. The Committee found that the 
authority the bill would provide for addressing reservation boundary-
related problems is appropriate and necessary and very important to the 
Goshute Indian Tribe. The Committee supports this meritorious and 
noncontroversial legislation.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank the Senator from Arizona for his statement.
  Mr. CRAIG. I am pleased to add that we have looked at the hearing 
record and the report of the Committee on Indian Affairs on H.R. 2464. 
The Subcommittee has reviewed the bill, and I am confident that had we 
had more time this session, we would have reported it favorably. We 
have no problems with the bill as reported by the Committee on Indian 
Affairs.
  I see no reason for further consideration of the legislation by the 
Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands or the Full Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I concur with the Senator from Idaho, and I thank the 
Senator from Arizona for his Committee's expeditious work on this 
legislation. I am pleased to join with him in urging that it be passed.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be 
deemed read for a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid 
on the table, and any statements relating to the bill be placed at the 
appropriate place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 2464) was deemed read a third time and passed.

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