[Senate Report 110-503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





                                                      Calendar No. 1081
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-503

======================================================================


 
TO TRANSFER CERTAIN LAND IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, AND SAN DIEGO 
 COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, FROM THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT TO THE UNITED 
  STATES TO BE HELD IN TRUST FOR THE PECHANGA BAND OF LUISENO MISSION 
                    INDIANS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                                _______
                                

  September 25 (legislative day, September 17), 2008.--Ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

    Mr. Dorgan, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 2963]

    The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the 
bill (H.R. 2963) to transfer certain land in Riverside County, 
California, and San Diego County, California, from the Bureau 
of Land Management to the United States to be held in trust for 
the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, and for other 
purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon, 
with amendments, and recommends that the bill, as amended, do 
pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of H.R. 2963 is to transfer certain land in 
Riverside County and San Diego County, California, from the 
Bureau of Land Management to the United States to be held in 
trust for the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, and for 
other purposes.

                               BACKGROUND

    H.R. 2963 would transfer approximately 1,178 acres of 
public land (including improvements), in four parcels, 
currently administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians (``Tribe''). 
The lands, located in Riverside County and San Diego County, 
California, will be held in trust by the United States for the 
benefit of the Tribe.
    The lands are located in an area known as the Temecula 
Valley where the members of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno 
Indians and their ancestors have resided for thousands of 
years. The Tribe's ancestral home village of Temeeku was a 
center for all the Payomkawichum, or Luiseno people.
    Testimony provided at a May 15, 2008 hearing before the 
Committee established the following facts. After the 
establishment of the State of California in 1850, a group of 
Temecula Valley Ranchers petitioned the District Court in San 
Francisco for a Decree of Ejection of the Luiseno Indians 
living on the land in the Temecula Valley. The court granted 
the decree in 1873. In 1875, over a period of three days, the 
sheriff of San Diego County ejected the Luiseno people living 
on the lands.
    The Luiseno Indians were taken into the hills south of the 
Temecula River. Most of the dispossessed Luiseno moved upstream 
to a small, secluded valley, where they built new homes and re-
established their lives.
    On June 27, 1882, the President of the United States issued 
an Executive Order establishing the Pechanga Indian 
Reservation. Several subsequent trust acquisitions were made in 
1893, 1907, 1931, 1971, 1988, and 2003, each one increasing the 
size of the reservation.
    The total land area of the current Pechanga reservation is 
approximately 5,500 acres. However, the ancestral territory of 
the Tribe spreads from the center of the Temecula Valley out 60 
miles north and south and approximately 45 miles east to west. 
These lands are home to important cultural resources, including 
pictographs and petroglyphs unique to the Luiseno territory. 
The Tribe seeks passage of H.R. 2963 to protect and preserve 
its history and cultural affiliation with the lands to be 
transferred, as well as the wildlife resources located thereon.
    The larger parcel of land to be transferred (approximately 
958 acres) is adjacent to the existing Pechanga Reservation. It 
consists mainly of jagged, mountainous terrain that contains 
ancestral sites of import to the Tribe. Two additional parcels 
(consisting of approximately 200 acres) are located adjacent to 
each other and to the Pechanga Reservation, and also consist 
mainly of similar jagged terrain, and contain important 
cultural and ancestral sites. A smaller parcel (approximately 
20 acres) is 12 miles from the Tribe's reservation near land 
acquired in fee by the Tribe several years ago from Riverside 
County. This parcel also contains an important ancestral 
archaeological site, and is currently managed by the Tribe 
pursuant to a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of 
Land Management. The Tribe seeks to manage all the properties 
to preserve their cultural values and the wildlife on the 
lands. The Tribe has enacted tribal laws and ordinances to 
achieve this goal.
    The Tribe has also entered into intergovernmental 
agreements that will continue to apply to the Tribe's 
administration of the transferred land. The Tribe entered into 
a habitat conservation plan with Riverside County (the 
``Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat 
Conservation Plan'' or ``MSHCP''), which applies to the lands 
in Riverside County.

                        SUMMARY OF THE AMENDMENT

    At its September 23, 2008 business meeting, the Committee 
adopted an amendment to H.R. 2963. The amendment was adopted 
for three primary reasons.
    First, the amendment clarifies that the lands transferred 
pursuant to H.R. 2963 will be administered in accord with a 
memorandum of understanding (``MOU'') that was entered into on 
November 11, 2005 between the Tribe and the Bureau of Land 
Management and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
    Second, the amendment requires that the transferred land be 
maintained as open space, used only for the maintenance of the 
archaeological, cultural, and wildlife resources. The amendment 
would permit the construction or maintenance of structures 
consistent with this purpose.
    Finally, the amendment prohibits the Tribe from conducting 
gaming activities on the transferred land as a matter of 
inherent authority or authority provided to Tribes pursuant to 
the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

          SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF H.R. 2963, AS AMENDED

Section 1. Short title

    The short title of this Act is the ``Pechanga Band of 
Luiseno Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2008.''

Section 2. Transfer of land in trust for Pechanga Band of Luiseno 
        Mission Indians

    Section 2 identifies the lands to be transferred into trust 
with the United States for the benefit of the Pechanga Band of 
Luiseno Mission Indians from the Bureau of Land Management and 
provides for limitations to and exemptions from the transfer.
    Subsection (a) provides for the transfer of the land into 
trust status for the benefit of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno 
Mission Indians, with the exception of approximately 12.82 
acres of land in San Diego County, upon which an existing 
electrical transmission line now rests. Subsection (a) requires 
the transferred lands to be administered in a manner consistent 
to those of other trust lands and in conformity with a 
Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the Pechanga 
Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, the United States Bureau of 
Land Management and the United States Fish and Wildlife 
Service. Subsection (a) requires the parties to notify Congress 
of any termination or violation of the Memorandum of 
Understanding within 45 days, unless the termination is due to 
the termination of the Western Riverside County Multiple 
Species Habitat Conservation Plan.
    Subsection (a) further provides that the approximately 
12.82 acres of excepted lands will be sold to San Diego Gas & 
Electric Company after the completion of a cadastral survey 
required in subsection (c) and an appraisal required by 
subsection (d).
    Subsection (b) provides a description of the approximately 
1,178 acres of land to be transferred to the Pechanga Band of 
Luiseno Mission Indians, and refers to a map provided to the 
Congress by the Bureau of Land Management.
    Subsection (c) directs the Bureau of Land Management, 
Office of Cadastral Survey, to complete a survey of the lands 
to be transferred and sold within 180 days of the date of 
enactment of H.R. 2963 for the purpose of establishing the 
appropriate boundaries of the lands.
    Subsection (d) provides for the conveyance of the 12.82 
acres excepted from the tribal transfer to the San Diego Gas & 
Electric Company, for a utility corridor. The corridor lands 
will be conveyed upon the completion of the survey required in 
subsection (c), the receipt by the Secretary of all rents and 
other fees due for use of the utility corridor (if any are 
due), and the receipt of payment by the Secretary from the San 
Diego Gas & Electric Company of consideration in an amount 
equal to the fair market value of the utility corridor as 
determined by an appraisal.
    Subsection (d) provides for an appraisal, done in 
conformity with the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal 
Lands Acquisitions, of the approximately 12.82 acres within 90 
days of the completion of the survey required in subsection 
(c). Once the survey is completed, San Diego Gas and Electric 
Company will be required to pay the appraised value of the 
12.82 acres and the costs associated with the survey and 
appraisal.
    Subsection (d) also requires the Secretary, upon receiving 
the proceeds from the sale of the 12.82 acres for the utility 
corridor, to deposit them in the Federal Land Disposal Account.
    Subsection (e) requires the map created by the Bureau of 
Land Management to be retained and filed with the Bureau of 
Land Management.
    Subsection (f) requires that upon completion of the 
cadastral survey required in subsection (c), and its approval 
by the Tribal Council of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission 
Indians, the publication of the legal description of boundary 
lines and the lands transferred pursuant to subsection (a). 
Subsection (f) directs that the legal descriptions become 
effective as of the date of publication.
    Subsection (g) states that no existing right of the 
Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians is affected by H.R. 
2963, and that no previous existing water right is affected. 
Additionally, this subsection provides that no rights-of-way or 
right-of-use existing prior to the date of enactment of H.R. 
2963 are affected.
    Finally, subsection (g) prohibits the Tribe from developing 
the transferred land, and limits the use of the land except as 
open space. Gaming is specifically prohibited on the 
transferred lands.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 2963 was introduced on July 10, 2007, by 
Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), and is co-sponsored by 
Representative Joe Baca (D-CA). The bill was referred to the 
House Committee on Natural Resources.
    On July 30, 2007, the House Natural Resources Committee 
discharged the bill. On July 30, 2007, the bill was considered 
by the House under unanimous consent and passed without 
objection. The bill was received in the Senate on July 30, 
2007, andreferred to the Committee on Indian Affairs on August 
3, 2007. On May 15, 2008, the Committee on Indian Affairs held a 
hearing to consider H.R. 2963.

            COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AND TABULATION OF VOTE

    On September 23, 2008, the Committee, in an open business 
meeting, considered H.R. 2963. By a voice vote, the Committee 
ordered the bill reported to the full Senate with the 
recommendation that the bill pass with an amendment.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    On September 24, 2008, the Committee transmitted this bill 
to the Congressional Budget Office and requested it to conduct 
an estimate of the costs incurred in carrying out its 
provisions. The Committee will publish in the Congressional 
Record information on 5-year projections for H.R. 2963 when 
such information is available from the Congressional Budget 
Office.

               REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT

    Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the 
Senate requires that each report accompanying a bill to 
evaluate the regulatory and paperwork impact that would be 
incurred in carrying out the bill. The Committee has concluded 
that the regulatory and paperwork impacts of H.R. 2693 should 
be de minimis.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION

    The Committee has received no official executive 
communication from the Administration on H.R. 2963.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by H.R. 2963.

                                  
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