[Senate Report 117-125]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                     Calendar No. 430
117th Congress        }                          {           Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session           }                          {           117-125

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

 
  TO TAKE CERTAIN LAND IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA INTO TRUST FOR THE 
 BENEFIT OF THE AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS, AND FOR OTHER 
                                PURPOSES

                                _______
                                

                 June 23, 2022.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

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

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 3273]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the 
bill (S. 3273) to take certain land in the State of California 
into trust for the benefit of the Agua Caliente Band of 
Cahuilla Indians, and for other purposes, having considered the 
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommends that the bill do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    S. 3273 would authorize trust status of approximately 2,560 
acres of land transfered to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla 
Indians in a land exchange with the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) that helped establish the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto 
Mountains National Monument in 2000. Providing trust status on 
the exchanged lands would help consolidate the checker-boarded 
reservation and simplify the management of longstanding 
cultural sites and natural resources that are important to the 
Tribe.

                   BACKGROUND & NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (ACBCI) has been 
rebuilding its Tribal homelands and reclaiming certain 
culturally significant areas through a series of land transfers 
with the federal government since the 1870s.\1\ Currently, the 
ACBCI reservation consists of more than 31,000 checker-boarded 
acres in and around Palm Springs, CA. Within the boundaries of 
the reservation, the United States holds in trust approximately 
4,000 acres for the Tribe and approximately 18,000 acres for 
individual Indian allottees. The remaining lands are held in 
fee status by the Tribe, Tribal members, and non-Indians.\2\
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    \1\See Exec. Order of May 15, 1876; Exec. Order Sept. 29, 1877.
    \2\Memorandum to Director, Office of Indian Gaming, from Regional 
Director, Pacific Region (May 31, 2019).
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    In 1999, the BLM entered into an agreement with ACBCI to 
acquire non-trust Tribal lands that would later become part of 
the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.\3\ 
In exchange, BLM transferred certain federal lands to the Tribe 
pursuant to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National 
Monument Act of 2000.\4\ However, the Act did not address the 
status of the lands once transferred to the Tribe. 
Consequently, the lands are currently owned by ACBCI in fee 
simple and located within its existing reservation 
boundaries.\5\ The Tribe plans to manage the land described in 
S. 3273 for conservation consistent with the surrounding lands 
monument status.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\Bureau of Land Management, Draft Envrionmental Impact Statement, 
Appendix I: Scoping Report, https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/
nepa/87914/131946/161030/39-Appendix_I_(Scoping_IReport).pdf.
    \4\Pub. Law No. 106-351 (2000).
    \5\See land exchange map of November 17, 2021, produced by 
Representative Ruiz and Senator Padilla. On file with the Committee.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           SUMMARY OF S. 3273

    S. 3273 clarifies that the lands transferred by the BLM to 
ACBCI as part of the creation of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto 
Mountains National Monument are to be held in trust for the 
benefit of the Tribe and deemed part of ACBCI's reservation. 
The bill also states that these lands to be taken into trust 
are not eligible for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory 
Act.

       SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF S. 3273 AS ORDERED REPORTED

Section 1. Short title

    This section sets forth the short title as the ``Agua 
Caliente Land Exchange Fee to Trust Confirmation Act.''

Section 2. Land to be taken into trust for the benefit of the Agua 
        Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians

    This section provides a description of the lands to be 
taken into trust and the scope of the bill.
    Subsection 2(a) provides a description of the lands to be 
taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe.
    Subsection 2(b) clarifies that the lands to be taken into 
trust will be part of the Tribe's reservation and that those 
lands shall be administered in accordance with the laws and 
regulations generally applicable to property held in trust by 
the United States for the benefit of an Indian Tribe.
    Subsection 2(c) prohibits gaming under the Indian Gaming 
Regulatory Act on the lands to be taken into trust in 
subsection (a).

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 3273 was introduced by Senators Padilla and Feinstein on 
November 29, 2021. The Committee held a hearing on S. 3273 on 
February 16, 2022. The Committee met in open business session 
on April 6, 2022, and ordered S. 3273, favorably reported, 
without amendment by voice vote.
    Companion legislation, H.R. 897, was introduced in the 
House of Representatives by Representative Ruiz on February 5, 
2021 and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. The 
Committee on Natural Resources ordered H.R. 897 favorably 
reported by unanimous consent on October 13, 2021 without 
amendment.\6\ The House of Representatives passed the bill, as 
amended, on a vote of 395 to 30 on December 8, 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\H. Rep. 117-194 (Dec. 1, 2021).
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    In the 116th Congress, a similar bill, H.R. 4059, was 
introduced by Representative Ruiz (D-CA) in the House of 
Representatives on July 25, 2019 and referred the the Committee 
on Natural Resources. The Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples 
of the United States held a hearing on the bill on February 5, 
2020. Representative Cook (R-CA) was added as a cosponsor on 
February 7, 2020. No further action was taken on the bill.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                    Washington, DC, April 28, 2022.
Hon. Brian Schatz,
Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 3273, the Agua 
Caliente Land Exchange Fee to Trust Confirmation Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Sofia Guo.
            Sincerely,
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

     
     	
     		[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

    S. 3273 would direct the Department of the Interior (DOI) 
to take into trust about 2,560 acres of land for the benefit of 
the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Riverside County, 
California. The act also would prohibit certain types of gaming 
on those lands. Using information provided by DOI, CBO 
estimates that the administrative costs to implement S. 3273 
would be insignificant; such spending would be subject to the 
availability of appropriated funds.
    S. 3273 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as 
defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The bill 
would prohibit state and local governments from taxing land 
taken into trust for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla 
Indians. Information from Riverside County about their tax rate 
and the assessed value of the proposed trust land indicates 
that those foregone revenues would total less than $10,000 
annually, which is far below the annual threshold established 
in UMRA ($85 million in 2021, adjusted annually for inflation).
    The bill contains no private-sector mandates.
    On February 7, 2022, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for 
H.R. 897,\7\ the Agua Caliente Land Exchange Fee to Trust 
Confirmation Act, as passed by the House of Representatives on 
December 8, 2021. The two pieces of legislation are similar, 
and CBO's estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 897, Agua Caliente Land 
Exchange Fee To Trust Confirmation Act, https://www.cbo.gov/
publication/57828.
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    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Sofia Guo (for 
federal costs) and Rachel Austin (for mandates). The estimate 
was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget 
Analysis.

               REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT

    Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the 
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the 
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in 
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 3273 will 
have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The Committee has received no communications from the 
Executive Branch regarding S. 3273.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    On February 11, 2021 the Committee unanimously approved a 
motion to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 
Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the Committee, it is 
necessary to dispense with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite the business of the 
Senate.

                                  [all]