[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PADILLA (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein):
  S. 306. A bill to approve the settlement of the water right claims of 
the Tule River Tribe, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Indian Affairs.
  Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to reintroduce the Tule River 
Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2023. This legislation 
would finalize this multidecade effort by the Tule River Tribe to 
provide clean drinking water to their people and uphold the Federal 
Government's trust and treaty responsibilities.
  The Tule River people are descendants of the Yokuts Indians, a large 
group of Native Americans who occupied what is now known as the San 
Joaquin Valley in California for thousands of years prior to contact 
with settlers.
  In 1856, the Federal Government established their reservation in 
Tulare County, with the specific goal of providing the Tribe with 
arable farmland and the water resources necessary to establish self-
sufficiency. However, their land was fraudulently stolen from them, and 
in 1873, President Grant issued an Executive order to create a new 
reservation for the Tribe. This land--which is the Tribe's current 
reservation--is comprised of mostly mountainous lands that do not 
provide sufficient irrigation opportunities or water storage 
facilities. Today, the Tule River Tribe struggles to provide clean 
drinking water to their people, and Tule Tribal citizens suffer from a 
low standard of living as a result.
  Since 1971, the Tribe has worked to establish its federally reserved 
water rights to create the viable homeland they were promised and to 
ensure that their citizens have enough water to meet their current and 
future water needs. For decades, the Tribe has worked with the 
Departments of the Interior and Justice as well as downstream water 
users to advance a settlement agreement, thereby avoiding costly 
litigation for both the tribe and the U.S. Government.
  I am proud to introduce this legislation to quantify the Tribe's 
water right of 5,828 acre-feet per year of surface water and fund $568 
million towards the construction of a water storage project. Our 
legislation would also codify what is known as the ``2007 Agreement'' 
with downstream water users, who support this legislation. Finally, the 
legislation would transfer approximately 9,000 acres of Federal land 
currently in the Sequoia National Monument to allow the Tribe to 
protect the watershed headwaters and 800 acres of grazing land to the 
north and south of the reservation boundary.
  It is long past time for the Federal Government to live up to its 
trust and treaty responsibilities to the Tule River Tribe. We must 
codify this water settlement and settle the Tule River Tribe's claims 
against the United States. Access to clean drinking water now and in 
the future is essential to the continued strength of Tribal nations and 
to ensuring the sustainability and viability of future generations.
  Water is a sacred and necessary resource for Tribal nations and for 
all people. As California and the West continue to experience a 
historic megadrought, enactment of our legislation would provide water 
security to Tule River citizens now and into the future.
  I thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this legislation with me in 
the Senate. I would also like to thank the Tule River Tribe for their 
decades of hard work to finalize this settlement and the downstream 
water users, including the Tule River Association and the South Tule 
Independent Ditch Company, for working with the Tribe to settle this 
issue and avoid litigation.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the Tule River 
Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2023 as quickly as 
possible.

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