[Senate Report 110-503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 1081
110th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 110-503
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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.