[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 69 (Monday, April 29, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3291-H3293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SANTA YNEZ BAND OF CHUMASH INDIANS LAND AFFIRMATION ACT OF 2019

  Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 317) to reaffirm the action of the Secretary of the Interior 
to take land into trust for the benefit of the Santa Ynez Band of 
Chumash Mission Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

[[Page H3292]]

  


                                H.R. 317

       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 ``Santa Ynez Band of Chumash 
     Indians Land Affirmation Act of 2019''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) On October 13, 2017, the General Council of the Santa 
     Ynez Band of Chumash Indians voted to approve the Memorandum 
     of Agreement between the County of Santa Barbara and the 
     Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians regarding the 
     approximately 1,427.28 acres of land, commonly known as Camp 
     4, and authorized the Tribal Chairman to sign the Memorandum 
     of Agreement.
       (2) On October 31, 2017, the Board of Supervisors for the 
     County of Santa Barbara approved the Memorandum of Agreement 
     on Camp 4 and authorized the Chair to sign the Memorandum of 
     Agreement.
       (3) The Secretary of the Interior approved the Memorandum 
     of Agreement pursuant to section 2103 of the Revised Statutes 
     (25 U.S.C. 81).

     SEC. 3. REAFFIRMATION OF STATUS AND ACTIONS.

       (a) Ratification of Trust Status.--The action taken by the 
     Secretary on January 20, 2017, to place approximately 
     1,427.28 acres of land located in Santa Barbara County, 
     California, into trust for the benefit of the Santa Ynez Band 
     of Chumash Indians is hereby ratified and confirmed as if 
     that action had been taken under a Federal law specifically 
     authorizing or directing that action.
       (b) Ratification of Actions of the Secretary.--The actions 
     taken by the Secretary to assume jurisdiction over the 
     appeals relating to the fee-to-trust acquisition of 
     approximately 1,427.28 acres in Santa Barbara County, 
     California, on January 30, 2015, is hereby ratified and 
     confirmed as if that action had been taken under a Federal 
     law specifically authorizing or directing that action.
       (c) Ratification of Actions of the Secretary.--The actions 
     taken by the Secretary to dismiss the appeals relating to the 
     fee-to-trust acquisition of approximately 1,427.28 acres in 
     Santa Barbara County, California, on January 19, 2017, is 
     hereby ratified and confirmed as if that action had been 
     taken under a Federal law specifically authorizing or 
     directing that action.
       (d) Administration.--
       (1) Administration.--The land placed into trust for the 
     benefit of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians by the 
     Secretary of the Interior on January 20, 2017, shall be a 
     part of the Santa Ynez Indian Reservation and administered in 
     accordance with the laws and regulations generally applicable 
     to the land held in trust by the United States for an Indian 
     tribe.
       (2) Effect.--For purposes of certain California State laws 
     (including the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, 
     Government Code Section 51200, et seq.), placing the land 
     described in subsection (b) into trust shall remove any 
     restrictions on the property pursuant to California 
     Government Code Section 51295 or any other provision of such 
     Act.
       (e) Legal Description of Lands Transferred.--The lands to 
     be transferred pursuant to this Act are described as follows:
       Legal Land Description/Site Location:Real property in the 
     unincorporated area of the County of Santa Barbara, State of 
     California, described as follows: PARCEL 1: (APN: 141-121-51 
     AND PORTION OF APN 141-140-10)LOTS 9 THROUGH 18, INCLUSIVE, 
     OF TRACT 18, IN THE COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, STATE OF 
     CALIFORNIA, AS SHOWN ON THE MAP SHOWING THE SUBDIVISIONS OF 
     THE CANADA DE LOS PINOS OR COLLEGE RANCHO, FILED IN RACK 3, 
     AS MAP 4 IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY RECORDER OF SAID COUNTY. 
     THIS LEGAL IS MADE PURSUANT TO THAT CERTAIN CERTIFICATE OF 
     COMPLIANCE RECORDED DECEMBER 5, 2001 AS INSTRUMENT NO. 01-
     105580 OF OFFICIAL RECORDS. PARCEL 2: (PORTION OF APN: 141-
     140-10)LOTS 1 THROUGH 12, INCLUSIVE, OF TRACT 24, IN THE 
     COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, AS SHOWN ON THE 
     MAP SHOWING THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE CANADA DE LOS PINOS OR 
     COLLEGE RANCHO, FILED IN RACK 3, AS MAP 4 IN THE OFFICE OF 
     THE COUNTY RECORDER OF SAID COUNTY.THIS LEGAL IS MADE 
     PURSUANT TO THAT CERTAIN CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE RECORDED 
     DECEMBER 5, 2001 AS INSTRUMENT NO. 01-105581 OF OFFICIAL 
     RECORDS. PARCEL 3: (PORTIONS OF APNS: 141-230-23 AND 141-140-
     10)LOTS 19 AND 20 OF TRACT 18 AND THAT PORTION OF LOTS 1, 2, 
     7, 8, 9, 10, AND 15 THROUGH 20, INCLUSIVE, OF TRACT 16, IN 
     THE COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, AS SHOWN ON 
     THE MAP SHOWING THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE CANADA DE LOS PINOS 
     OR COLLEGE RANCHO, FILED IN RACK 3, AS MAP 4 IN THE OFFICE OF 
     THE COUNTY RECORDER OF SAID COUNTY, THAT LIES NORTHEASTERLY 
     OF THE NORTHEASTERLY LINE OF THE LAND GRANTED TO THE STATE OF 
     CALIFORNIA BY AN EXECUTOR'S DEED RECORDED APRIL 2, 1968 IN 
     BOOK 2227, PAGE 136 OF OFFICIAL RECORDS OF SAID COUNTY.THIS 
     LEGAL IS MADE PURSUANT TO THAT CERTAIN CERTIFICATE OF 
     COMPLIANCE RECORDED DECEMBER 5, 2001 AS INSTRUMENT NO. 01-
     105582 OF OFFICIAL RECORDS. PARCEL 4: (APN: 141-240-02 AND 
     PORTION OF APN: 141-140-10)LOTS 1 THROUGH 12, INCLUSIVE, OF 
     TRACT 25, IN THE COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, STATE OF 
     CALIFORNIA, AS SHOWN ON THE MAP SHOWING THE SUBDIVISIONS OF 
     THE CANADA DE LOS PINOS OR COLLEGE RANCHO, FILED IN RACK 3, 
     AS MAP 4 IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY RECORDER OF SAID 
     COUNTY.THIS LEGAL IS MADE PURSUANT TO THAT CERTAIN 
     CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE RECORDED DECEMBER 5, 2001 AS 
     INSTRUMENT NO. 01-105583 OF OFFICIAL RECORDS. PARCEL 5: 
     (PORTION OF APN: 141-230-23)THAT PORTION OF LOTS 3 AND 6 OF 
     TRACT 16, IN THE COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, STATE OF 
     CALIFORNIA, AS SHOWN ON THE MAP SHOWING THE SUBDIVISIONS OF 
     THE CANADA DE LOS PINOS OR COLLEGE RANCHO, FILED IN RACK 3, 
     AS MAP 4 IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY RECORDER OF SAID COUNTY, 
     THAT LIES NORTHEASTERLY OF THE NORTHEASTERLY LINE OF THE LAND 
     GRANTED TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA BY AN EXECUTOR'S DEED 
     RECORDED APRIL 2, 1968 IN BOOK 2227, PAGE 136 OF OFFICIAL 
     RECORDS OF SAID COUNTY.THIS LEGAL IS MADE PURSUANT TO THAT 
     CERTAIN CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE RECORDED DECEMBER 5, 2001 
     AS INSTRUMENT NO. 01-105584 OF OFFICIAL RECORDS.
       (f) 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.
       (g) Restricted Use of Transferred Lands.--The Tribe may not 
     conduct, on the land described in subsection (b) 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.
       (h) 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 Santa Ynez Band of 
     Chumash Mission Indians.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Van Drew) and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.


                             General Leave

  Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. 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 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 317 will reaffirm the action of the Secretary of 
the Interior to take certain lands into trust for the benefit of the 
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians in California.
  The current Chumash reservation is just under 100 acres, but only 40 
of those acres are able to be utilized for government offices, economic 
development, and a few Tribal homes.
  It is obvious that there is not enough Tribal land for housing needs. 
Only 17 percent of Tribal members and lineal descendants are able to 
live in Tribal housing.
  In 2010, the Tribe purchased approximately 1,400 acres of ancestral 
land in an effort to provide suitable housing for the Tribe's members 
and their descendants. Even though this land was taken into trust 
administratively, a number of parties continue to file lawsuits 
appealing the decision.
  The Chumash leadership has been forthcoming in their desire to 
acquire this land only for additional Tribal housing, and they have 
attempted to be a good neighbor by engaging local elected officials and 
groups to mitigate any concerns.
  It is a shame that it has taken almost a decade for this issue to be 
resolved, but now we are at the point where we can finally put an end 
to this process.
  Passage of H.R. 317 will reaffirm the Secretarial decision that put 
the land

[[Page H3293]]

in trust, clearing the way for the Chumash to finally provide 
additional Tribal housing for their members. The bill will also 
incorporate a memorandum of agreement between the Chumash Tribe and the 
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in relation to the land.
  Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the Chumash leadership for their work and 
for their persistence on this issue, and I encourage adoption of this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman 
from California (Mr. LaMalfa), the sponsor of this particular piece of 
legislation.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Bishop and Mr. Van Drew for 
their work on this effort here tonight.
  I am very excited about the support for this bill, and of course, I 
rise tonight in support of H.R. 317, which is the Santa Ynez Band of 
Chumash Indians Land Affirmation Act.
  It has always been a bipartisan effort to affirm the Department of 
the Interior to take land into trust for the benefit of the Chumash 
Tribe, codifying agreements reached between the Tribe and the county of 
Santa Barbara after much work.
  I am very proud of the good faith, bipartisan effort that has gone 
into this bill both in Congress and in the local community.
  For the several years I have been involved with this legislation, I 
have seen the Chumash Indians and the local government work together to 
build trust and act as good neighbors to forge an agreement that works 
for everyone.
  There is nothing controversial about this bill. It simply ensures the 
Tribe has the ability to provide housing for its members. I can't think 
of anyone who really should take issue with that effort.
  In fact, last Congress, this bill was passed both out of the Natural 
Resources Committee and on this House floor with unanimous consent.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank, in the committee, Chairman Grijalva and Ranking 
Member Bishop for their hard work in support of this legislation 
through the whole way.
  Mr. Speaker, I also thank my colleague Congressman Salud Carbajal 
from the Chumash homeland area who has been the region's representative 
and an original cosponsor of this bill. He has played a key role in 
facilitating these discussions at the local level, and I appreciate it.
  Located in Santa Barbara, the recorded history of the Chumash reaches 
back to the earliest arrival of Europeans in California when the 
Spanish explorer Cabrillo recorded his encounters with the Chumash in 
1542.
  The Chumash have a strong and unbroken connection to the Camp 4 
parcel, which is what this is known as, Camp 4, which is located close 
to their current reservation.
  Starting in the early 1800s, the Chumash became wards of the Spanish 
mission in Santa Ynez, which included Camp 4. Later, lands were granted 
to them that included Camp 4 as well. A commission recognized that the 
Tribe continued to reside in the Camp 4 area, though only 99 acres were 
ultimately taken into trust at that time.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Van Drew for pointing out that the Chumash 
face a significant housing crisis. Fewer than 17 percent of the Chumash 
members and lineal descendants are able to reside on the Tribe's 
existing reservations, which consists largely of hillsides, wetlands, 
and streambeds unsuitable for housing, and areas that they want to 
preserve.
  To address this shortage, the Chumash used their own resources to 
purchase the Camp 4 parcel, the 1,400 acres, with the intent of 
construction of homes on a small part of it.
  The Tribe applied to take Camp 4 into trust administratively. After 
the formal BIA process, the Department of the Interior completed the 
fee-to-trust process in January 2017.
  That same year, the county ratified an agreement with the Chumash, 
ensuring that any impacts of Camp 4 housing on local infrastructure and 
other resources would be addressed. The Department of the Interior 
approved this agreement that same day.
  In order to enable the Chumash to address their housing crisis and 
ensure any impacts to local governments are addressed, H.R. 317 affirms 
and ratifies the action of the Department of the Interior to take the 
land into trust and codifies the agreement ratified between the county 
and the Tribe addressing local impacts.
  At the request of the Tribe, it also prohibits the operation of 
gaming facilities on this parcel, which is a key element the people 
would have been concerned about, and it protects and respects the 
rights-of-way held by local stakeholders.
  The bill represents, again, the culmination of years of good faith 
negotiations by all parties and should be considered a model for 
maintaining positive working relationships between Tribal governments 
and local governments.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the measure. I thank 
everybody who has helped with this in a bipartisan effort.

                              {time}  1700

  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this entire day we should have had Yogi Berra come in 
here and say it is like deja vu all over again because, once again, 
this particular piece of legislation we saw last year when it passed 
out of committee--sponsored by Mr. LaMalfa then--at the same time, 
passed the floor at the same time, and now we are bringing it back here 
to see if we can get it all the way through to the finish line.
  The bill is one that we have talked about for quite awhile, but it 
also has, I think, three significant things it accomplishes, why it has 
to be in bill form and can't simply be administratively negotiated in 
some way.
  The first one, obviously, is it nullifies certain restrictions that 
were imposed by the State of California's conservation law. Even if 
that restriction to the land title were not a problem, it also solves 
the problem that was created because the Obama administration BIA 
appointees, in their haste trying to approve a fee-to-trust land 
acquisition, cut some legal corners--they cut a lot of legal corners--
which added to a lot of appeals and litigation, all of which cost 
everyone a whole lot of money.
  The second specific thing it does is prohibit gaming in this Camp 4 
area, as was said, which is a concern of the county of Santa Barbara 
that will obviously, when this passes, lose a great deal of 
jurisdiction over the land in that area.
  And, finally, one thing this bill does, I think, that is very 
important is it references the memorandum of understanding between the 
Tribe and the county of Santa Barbara that they negotiated. This MOU 
addresses the concerns that they had, puts them in perspective, and 
will actually solve a lot of problems and efforts that have gone on in 
the past.
  This is a good bill, used to get people working together, solving 
certain situations and certain problems. And, I guess, most 
importantly, the last bill we passed is going to cost us $11 billion; 
this one has no significant costs associated with it, so Mr. LaMalfa 
can maintain his status as a true fiscal conservative in the bills he 
brings here to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 317, as amended.
  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. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________