[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.