[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 9, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5071-H5073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SHINGLE SPRINGS BAND OF MIWOK INDIANS LAND TRANSFER ACT OF 2025
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2302) to take certain Federal land in the State of
California into trust for the benefit of the Shingle Springs Band of
Miwok Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2302
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 ``Shingle Springs Band of
Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. REVOCATION OF PUBLIC LAND ORDER; LANDS TO BE TAKEN
INTO TRUST.
(a) Revocation of Public Land Order.--Notwithstanding any
other provision of law--
(1) Public Land Order 3309 (Sacramento 071209), dated
January 17, 1964 (29 Fed. Reg. 609), is revoked; and
(2) jurisdiction over the land described in the public land
order referred to in paragraph (1) is transferred to the
Secretary.
(b) Trust Transfer.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, subject to valid existing
rights, the Secretary shall place the following land into
trust for the benefit of the Tribe:
(1) The approximately 80 acres of land generally depicted
as ``BLM Land-Proposed Transfer into Trust'' on the Map.
(2) The approximately 185 acres of land generally depicted
as ``Indian Creek Ranch-Proposed Transfer into Trust Land
Status'' on the Map.
(c) Review; Survey.--
(1) Review.--Before the deadline described in subsection
(b), the Secretary shall conduct a review of the land
described in that subsection to determine if a survey of the
land is required.
(2) Survey.--
(A) In general.--If the Secretary determines that a survey
is required under paragraph (1) after conducting the review
required under that paragraph, the Secretary--
(i) shall perform a survey of the land taken into trust
under subsection (b); and
(ii) may make minor corrections to the survey and legal
land description of the land described in that subsection as
the Secretary determines to be necessary to correct clerical,
typographical, and surveying errors.
(B) Availability.--A survey conducted under subparagraph
(A) shall be kept on file and available for public inspection
in the appropriate office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
(d) Lands Part of Reservation; Administration.--The land
taken into trust under subsection (b)--
(1) is hereby declared to be part of the Reservation; and
(2) shall be administered by the Secretary in accordance
with the laws and regulations generally applicable to
property held in trust by the United States for an Indian
Tribe.
(e) Gaming Prohibited.--Land taken into trust under
subsection (b) shall not be used for any class II gaming or
class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) (as those terms are defined in section 4
of that Act (25 U.S.C. 2703)).
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Map.--The term ``Map'' means the map prepared by the
Bureau of Land Management titled ``Proposed Bureau of Land
Management Land Transfer to Shingle Springs Rancheria'' and
dated May 2, 2025.
(2) Reservation.--The term ``Reservation'' means the
reservation of the Tribe.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(4) Tribe.--The term ``Tribe'' means the Shingle Springs
Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona
Tract), California.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) and the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms.
Randall) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on H.R. 2302, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2302, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians
Land Transfer Act of 2025, introduced by Congressman McClintock, would
place approximately 80 acres of BLM land and 185 acres of fee land into
trust for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.
Descendants of the Miwok Indians once lived throughout north central
[[Page H5072]]
California, inhabiting land from the Sacramento area to the Sierra
Nevada mountains.
The Shingle Springs Band, however, was displaced by the Gold Rush of
the 1850s, prompting the Federal Government to refer to the Tribe as
the ``Sacramento-Verona Band of Homeless Indians.'' In 1920, the
government provided the Tribe a 160-acre parcel of land known as the
Verona Tract, which serves as the Tribe's rancheria.
As the years have passed, and without the realignment of Highway 50
in California, the rancheria has become largely landlocked. This has
prohibited the Tribe's growth and restricted its housing opportunities.
In 2014, roughly 41 acres of BLM land were placed into trust for the
Tribe to assist with Tribal housing needs. Developing the land for
housing has proved difficult, however, due to the land's rough terrain.
Recently, the Tribe purchased land near the rancheria known as the
Indian Creek Subdivision, which was previously approved for a now-
defunct subdivision. The Tribe seeks to place this land into trust and
is pursuing this goal legislatively, as their previous attempts to
obtain fee-to-trust approval through the Federal administrative process
have been mired in bureaucracy.
The other parcels involved in this legislation comprise approximately
80 acres of BLM land that will be transferred into trust for the Tribe.
These parcels have suffered from various management issues, which have
led the Tribe and other surrounding landowners to raise concerns about
increased wildfire risk. Despite lacking ownership, the Tribe has
performed needed management functions on this land, a fact that
reflects positively on the Tribe's stewardship capabilities and deep-
felt concern for the land's overall health.
Currently, the Tribe has no immediate commercial or development plans
for these parcels. Pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, gaming
on these lands is prohibited.
I applaud Mr. McClintock for working with the Tribe to develop H.R.
2302, which would place land into trust for the Shingle Springs Band of
Miwok Indians.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
As you heard from Chairman Westerman, H.R. 2302 will help provide the
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians the ability to address their
housing and infrastructure needs for their citizens.
Like Americans across the country who are struggling to afford
housing in the Trump administration's economy, the Tribe is currently
facing a housing shortage, with over 180 families listed on the Tribe's
housing wait list. Without additional land, the Tribe is unable to
build the housing needed to provide these families with homes.
The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act will
address this challenge by transferring 80 acres currently managed by
the Bureau of Land Management and 185 acres of tribally owned fee land
into trust for the benefit of the Tribe.
This bill is an important step toward ensuring that the Shingle
Springs Band of Miwok Indians has the lands they need, their lands, to
meet the current needs of their citizens and to plan for sustainable
community growth.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. McClintock), the lead sponsor of this bill.
{time} 1450
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this bill at the
request of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians to transfer 80
acres of BLM land and 185 acres of fee simple land that is already
owned by the Tribe into trust as part of their reservation for the
purposes of housing.
Mr. Speaker, I have always insisted that any transfer of lands from
fee simple ownership to Federal trust must have the approval of the
local land use management agency that is responsible for this land,
since it takes that land off of the tax rolls and out of the agency's
jurisdiction. I am pleased to report that the El Dorado County Board of
Supervisors has unanimously endorsed this bill effecting the transfer.
This particular tract was approved for residential housing in the
past, but the projects never materialized. This land transfer will
bring a new neighborhood into the community, providing desperately
needed housing to Tribal members. The Tribe already owns this land. It
merely seeks the freedom afforded by Federal trust status to bring it
to fruition.
The transfer of the 80 acres of Federal BLM land should also be a no-
brainer. The BLM long ago abandoned this tract to neglect, and it is
now densely overgrown and a serious fire hazard for the surrounding
communities.
Putting this land under the active management of the Shingle Springs
Band of Miwok Indians assures that good stewardship can be restored to
this acreage in perpetuity.
The local government did request some restrictions on the use of the
land, which the Tribal government has agreed to. The property cannot be
used for gaming, nor for commerce beyond what is necessary to support
the needs of the new neighborhood.
Frankly, I hope that future boards will agree to expand the
permissible use of this land. In the meantime, both the Tribal
government and the local government have agreed to these restrictions,
and they are incorporated into this act.
Mr. Speaker, I will take just a moment to tell you about the Shingle
Springs Band of Miwok Indians because it is a remarkable tale of
resilience, determination, and triumph.
The members of this Tribe are the descendants of the Miwok and
Southern Maidu people who populated the Sierra Nevada mountains and the
Central Valley of California for many thousands of years. Spanish
colonization devastated the Native population in the 18th century, and
the 19th century gold rush all but obliterated it. By 1913, the entire
Native population of California had plummeted from an estimated 310,000
down to just 17,000.
In the aftermath, the few surviving members of the Miwok Tribe were
allocated 160 acres as a rancheria, but the construction of Highway 50
cut the residents off from easy access and the members dispersed into
the surrounding communities.
The Indian Reorganization Act breathed new life into the isolated,
disbanded descendants, and the members returned and reorganized as the
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, the only federally recognized
Tribe in El Dorado County. They have achieved remarkable success in the
years that have followed.
This small Tribe, numbering an estimated 500 enrolled members, raised
the private money to build an off ramp from Highway 50 to restore
access to their rancheria. They used the opportunities afforded under
the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to construct the Red Hawk Casino. From
that success, they have expanded into a hospitality and recreation
center for the region, providing employment, commerce, healthcare, and
all of the spinoff commercial activity that that means to the
surrounding community.
The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians survived near annihilation
during the Spanish colonization and gold rush eras only to become a
prosperous and integral part of El Dorado County. I am honored to carry
this legislation that will continue their progress and contributions to
their posterity and to our community into the years ahead.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman for his work on
this important issue and representing his district so well.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to
close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, this legislation will allow the Shingle
Springs Band of Miwok Indians to place land into trust in a way that
will benefit both the Tribe and the surrounding area.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of the bill, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) that the House suspend
[[Page H5073]]
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2302, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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