[Senate Report 118-180]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 411
                                                       
118th Congress }                                                {   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session    }                                                { 118-180

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                  WINNEBAGO LAND TRANSFER ACT OF 2023

                                _______
                                

                  June 3, 2024.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

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

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 1240]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the 
bill, H.R. 1240, to transfer administrative jurisdiction of 
certain Federal lands from the Army Corps of Engineers to the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, to take such lands into trust for the 
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, and for other purposes, having 
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of H.R. 1240 is to transfer approximately 1,585 
acres of land, currently administered by the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers (USACE), to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be held 
in trust for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska as part of the 
Tribe's reservation.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    The Winnebago Tribe is a federally-recognized Tribe with a 
reservation located on the banks of the Missouri River in both 
Nebraska and Iowa. In the 1830s, the federal government began 
to forcibly remove the Winnebago Tribe from its homelands in 
Wisconsin, to Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and finally, in 
1865, to its present-day reservation in Nebraska and Iowa.\1\
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    \1\S. Rep. No. 45-747, (1879). See also Winnebago Tribe of 
Nebraska, Tribal History, About Us, Winnebago Tribe, https://
winnebagotribe.com/tribal-history/ (last visited May 28, 2024).
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    In 1970, the USACE condemned approximately 1,585 acres of 
the Tribe's original reservation lands in Iowa and Nebraska to 
make way for the Snyder-Winnebago Oxbow Lake Recreation Complex 
project.\2\ Following several lawsuits initiated by the Tribe, 
the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that while the 
USACE did not have Congressional authorization to condemn the 
reservation lands, the Court did not have authority to compel 
the USACE to return those lands.\3\
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    \2\https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/mrrp/site-Snyder-Winnebago-
Complex/.
    \3\United States v. Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, 542 F.2d 1002 (8th 
Cir. 1976); Bear v. United States, 810 F.2d 153 (8th Cir. 1987).
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    Congressional action is needed to return certain lands 
previously condemned and taken by the USACE, without authority, 
to the Winnebago Tribe.\4\
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    \4\United States v. Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, 542 F.2d 1002 (8th 
Cir. 1976).
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                SUMMARY OF H.R. 1240 AS ORDERED REPORTED

    This bill would declare approximately 1,585 acres to be 
part of the Winnebago reservation and held in trust for the 
benefit of the Tribe and prohibit class II and class III gaming 
under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act on those lands.

      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF H.R. 1240 AS ORDERED REPORTED

Section 1--Short title

    This section sets forth the short title as the ``Winnebago 
Land Transfer Act of 2023.''

Section 2--Land to be taken into trust

    Section 2(a) clarifies that lands described in subsection 
(b) shall, subject to valid existing rights, be part of the 
Winnebago reservation, created by Treaty in 1865 and will be 
held in trust for the Tribe's benefit.
    Section 2(b) provides a description of the lands to be 
taken into trust.
    Section 2(c) prohibits class II and class III gaming on the 
lands taken into trust.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    On February 28, 2023, Representative Feenstra (R-IA) 
introduced H.R. 1240, the Winnebago Land Transfer Act of 2023, 
along with Representatives Flood (R-NE), Nunn (R-IA), Davids 
(D-KS), and Smith (D-NE). Three additional cosponsors joined 
after introduction. The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources and further referred to the Subcommittee on 
Indian and Insular Affairs on March 22, 2023. On June 7, 2023, 
the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On June 13, 2023, 
the Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee was 
discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1240 by unanimous 
consent, and the Committee ordered H.R. 1240 reported favorably 
with an amendment. The bill was placed on the Union calendar on 
January 30, 2024, and on February 5, 2024, Representative 
Westerman (R-AR) moved to suspend the rules and pass, as 
amended, H.R. 1240. The bill passed the House by voice vote. 
H.R. 1240, as amended, was received in the Senate on February 
6, 2024 and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. On May 
3, 2024, at a duly convened business meeting, the Committee 
ordered H.R. 1240 reported favorably, without amendment, by 
voice vote.
    On November 6, 2023, Senator Fischer (R-NE), along with 
Senator Grassley (R-IA), Senator Ernst (R-IA), and Senator 
Ricketts (R-NE), introduced S. 3230, the Winnebago Land 
Transfer Act of 2023, an identical companion bill to H.R. 1240. 
On the same day, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee 
on Indian Affairs. On February 8, 2024, the Committee held a 
legislative hearing to receive testimony on S. 3230.
    117th Congress. On April 8, 2021, Representative 
Fortenberry (R-NE) introduced H.R. 2402, the Winnebago Land 
Transfer Act of 2021. On the same day, the bill was referred to 
the Committee on Natural Resources. On June 5, 2021, the bill 
was further referred to the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples 
of the United States. On October 5, 2021, the Subcommittee held 
a hearing on the bill. The House took no further action on H.R. 
2402 in the 117th Congress. On December 1, 2022, Representative 
Sharice Davids (D-KS) introduced similar legislation, H.R. 
9382, the Winnebago Land Transfer Act of 2022. H.R. 9382 was 
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. The House took 
no further action on H.R. 9382 during the 117th Congress.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS



    H.R. 1240 would transfer administrative jurisdiction of 
about 1,500 acres of land in Woodbury County and Monona County, 
Iowa, from the Army Corps of Engineers to the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs to take such lands into trust for the Winnebago Tribe 
of Nebraska. The act would prohibit certain types of gaming on 
that land. Using information from the agencies, CBO estimates 
that the administrative costs to implement H.R. 1240 would not 
be significant; any related spending would be subject to the 
availability of appropriated funds.
    The transfer of that land would reduce the number of acres 
in the Missouri River Recovery Program, an effort to compensate 
for losses of fish and wildlife habitat resulting from past 
development. The license between the Corps and Iowa expressly 
prohibits any liability against the federal government if 
lawmakers enact legislation conveying the land to the tribe.
    H.R. 1240 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as 
defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) on the 
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska by prohibiting gaming on tribal 
land in Iowa. That prohibition would apply to land being placed 
into trust for the benefit of the tribe under the act. Because 
gaming on such land is currently allowed under federal law, the 
proposed ban would be a mandate. However, because the tribe has 
no plans to conduct gaming on the land, the cost of the mandate 
would be small and below the threshold established in UMRA 
($100 million in 2024, adjusted annually for inflation).
    The act contains no private-sector mandates as defined in 
UMRA.
    On November 8, 2023, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for 
H.R. 1240, the Winnebago Land Transfer Act of 2023, as ordered 
reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on June 
13, 2023. The two bills are similar, and CBO's estimates of 
their budgetary effects are the same.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Julia Aman 
(for federal costs) and Rachel Austin (for mandates). The 
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director 
of Budget Analysis.
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                             Director, Congressional Budget Office.

               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 H.R. 1240 
will have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork 
requirements.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The Committee has received no communications from the 
Executive Branch regarding H.R. 1240.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    On February 9, 2023, 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.