Since 2009 tribes across the nation have sought to persuade Congress to “fix” the U.S. Supreme Court’s Carcieri v. Salazar ruling that says that the Bureau of Indian Affairs cannot put land into trust for tribes recognized after 1934, the year the Indian Reorganization Act was passed.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs John Barrasso has introduced the latest attempt at a “fix”: S. 1879, the Interior Improvement Act.
The United South and Eastern Tribes (USET), an organization representing more than two dozen tribes, has voiced its support for the bill.
This latest in more than a dozen attempts addresses the wording of the high court decision that said land could only be taken into trust for “any recognized Indian tribe now under Federal jurisdiction. “
According to USET: “That holding had the effect of establishing a class of tribes that could no longer take land into trust, while creating uncertainty with regard to the status of current tribal trust lands.”
According to the senator, “This bill clarifies existing law and streamlines outdated, cumbersome, and costly land into trust processes within the Department of the Interior. It is the result of significant work and collaboration, and I want to thank all the members and stakeholders for their contributions to this effort.”
Vice-Chairman Jon Tester has withdrawn his own proposal, S. 732 and now is close to supporting Barrasso’s bill. He said it would fulfill the need of a “reaffirmation of the past land into trust decisions which will provide certainty to tribes for their existing lands and reaffirmation of the Secretary’s authority to take land into trust for all tribes, with an emphasis on all.”
USET also likes the bill because it does not address the gaming aspects of federal recognition, although that issue is bound to be raised by some senators who want to link it to any bill that tackles Carcieri.
