[House Report 114-649]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


114th Congress    }                                    {        Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session       }                                    {       114-649
======================================================================
 
    TULE RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION LAND TRUST, HEALTH, AND ECONOMIC 
                            DEVELOPMENT ACT

                                _______
                                

  July 1, 2016.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted 
                             the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 4685]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 4685) to take certain Federal lands located in 
Tulare County, California, into trust for the benefit of the 
Tule River Indian Tribe, and for other purposes, having 
considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment 
and recommend that the bill do pass.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 4685 is to take certain Federal lands 
located in Tulare County, California, into trust for the 
benefit of the Tule River Indian Tribe.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The Tule River Indian Tribe's reservation is located 
approximately 50 miles north of Bakersfield, California. The 
reservation, comprising approximately 54,000 acres, spans 
mountainous, forested foothills along the western edge of the 
Sierra Nevada Mountains and is almost surrounded by the Sequoia 
National Forest.\1\ The original reservation was established by 
President Ulysses S. Grant by executive order on January 9, 
1873, and expanded by Executive Order on October 3, 1873. The 
expansion was later rescinded by an executive order in 1878 by 
President Rutherford B. Hayes. Furthermore, the Act of May 17, 
1928, removed an additional 1,240 acres of forest land from the 
northern point of the reservation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Tiller's Guide to Indian Country 3rd Edition. Veronica E. 
Valarde Tiller at 356 (2015).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In the 96th Congress, President Jimmy Carter signed Public 
Law 96-338, which placed the 1,240 acres of Forest Service land 
removed by 1928 Act into trust for the Tribe to again be made 
part of the reservation.
    H.R. 4685 would place into trust approximately 34 acres of 
Bureau of Land Management land adjacent to the western boundary 
of the reservation. The land is situated between tribal fee 
land (land owned by the Tribe but not held in trust) and 
reservation land, isolated from other federal lands in the 
area. Under H.R. 4685, the Secretary of the Interior must 
notify any person claiming a valid existing right that the 
federal lands are being placed into trust for the Tribe. It is 
the intent of Congress that such notification by the Secretary 
shall be carried out in a reasonable manner, by way of U.S. 
mail to current existing right holders or an entity that has an 
application pending for an easement or other right-of-way, and 
by way of notice in the Federal Register. Gaming under the 
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) would be 
prohibited on the lands placed into trust by this bill.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 4685 was introduced on March 3, 2016, by Congressman 
Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The bill was referred to the Committee 
on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the 
Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs. On 
June 14, 2016, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On 
June 14, 2016, the Natural Resources Committee met to consider 
the bill. The Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. 
No amendments were offered and the bill was ordered favorably 
reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent 
on June 15, 2016.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has 
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, June 29, 2016.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4685, Tule River 
Indian Reservation Land Trust, Health, and Economic Development 
Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Robert Reese.
            Sincerely,
                                             Mark P. Hadley
                                                  (For Keith Hall).
    Enclosure.

H.R. 4685--Tule River Indian Reservation Land Trust, Health, and 
        Economic Development Act

    H.R. 4685 would take into trust, for the benefit of the 
Tule River Indian Tribe, approximately 34 acres of federal land 
located in Tulare County, California, that is administered by 
the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The bill 
would direct the Secretary of the Interior to consider 
applications to continue using the land from individuals 
claiming to have valid existing rights to the lands being taken 
into trust. H.R 4685 also would prohibit certain types of 
gaming on those lands.
    CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4685 would have no 
significant effect on the federal budget. We estimate that any 
change in federal costs to manage lands affected by the bill 
(which would be subject to appropriation) would be 
insignificant.
    Under current law, CBO expects that the affected lands 
could generate income from right-of-way permits; thus, CBO 
estimates that taking those lands into trust could reduce 
offsetting receipts, which are recorded as reductions in direct 
spending. Because the bill could increase direct spending, pay-
as-you-go procedures apply; however, based on information from 
BLM detailing the fees collected for rights of way on those 
lands, CBO estimates that any such effects would be negligible. 
Enacting H.R. 4685 would not affect revenues.
    CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 4685 would not increase 
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four 
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.
    H.R. 4685 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Robert Reese. 
The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
    2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required 
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget 
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase 
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. The Congressional 
Budget Office estimates that the bill has ``no significant 
effect on the federal budget''.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to take certain Federal lands located 
in Tulare County, California, into trust for the benefit of the 
Tule River Indian Tribe.

                           EARMARK STATEMENT

    This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined 
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                       COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

    Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that 
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any 
specific rule-making proceedings.
    Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not 
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government 
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was 
not included in any report from the Government Accountability 
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139 
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program 
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law 
98-169) as relating to other programs.

                PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    This bill does not amend existing law.

                                 [all]