[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2154-H2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JAMUL INDIAN VILLAGE LAND TRANSFER ACT
Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 6443) to take certain land in the State of California into
trust for the benefit of the Jamul Indian Village of California Tribe,
and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6443
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Jamul Indian Village Land
Transfer Act''.
SEC. 2. LAND TO BE TAKEN INTO TRUST FOR THE JAMUL INDIAN
VILLAGE OF CALIFORNIA TRIBE.
(a) In General.--The approximately 172.1 acres of land
owned in fee by the Jamul Indian Village of California
located in San Diego, California, and described in subsection
(b) are hereby taken into trust by the United States for the
benefit of the Jamul Indian Village of California.
(b) Land Descriptions.--
(1) Parcel 1.--Those parcels of land totaling approximately
161.23 acres, located in San Diego County, California, that
are held in fee by the Jamul Indian Village of California, as
legally described in Document No. 2022-0010260 in the
Official Records of the Office of the Recorder, San Diego
County, California, and recorded January 7, 2022.
(2) Parcel 2.--That parcel of land totaling approximately 6
acres, located in San Diego County, California, that is held
in fee by the Jamul Indian Village of California, as legally
described in Document No. 2021-0540770 in the Official
Records of the Office of the Recorder, San Diego County,
California, and recorded July 29, 2021.
(3) Parcel 3.--That parcel of land totaling approximately
4.03 acres, located in San Diego County, California, that is
held in fee by the Jamul Indian Village of California, as
legally described in Document No. 1998-0020339 in the
Official Records of the Office of the Recorder, San Diego
County, California, and recorded January 15, 1998.
(4) Parcel 4.--That parcel of land comprised of
approximately 0.84 acres, located in San Diego County,
California, that is held in fee by the Jamul Indian Village
of California, as legally described in Document No. 2017-
0410384 in the Official Records of the Office of the
Recorder, San Diego County, California, and recorded
September 7, 2017.
(c) Administration.--Land taken into trust under subsection
(a) shall be--
(1) part of the reservation of the Jamul Indian Village of
California; and
(2) 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.
(d) Gaming Prohibited.--Land taken into trust under
subsection (a) shall not be used for any class II gaming or
class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (as
those terms are defined in section 4 of that Act (25 U.S.C.
2703)).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Wyoming (Ms. Hageman) and the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger
Fernandez) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Wyoming.
General Leave
Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include extraneous material on H.R. 6443, the bill now under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Wyoming?
There was no objection.
Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6443, the Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act,
would place 172.1 acres of land owned in fee simple by the Jamul Indian
Village into trust by the United States for the benefit of the Tribe.
The Jamul Indian Village is located in San Diego County and is part
of the Kumeyaay people of southern California, otherwise known as the
Mission
[[Page H2155]]
Indians. While the Tribe's history dates back 12,000 years, it only
received Federal recognition in 1981. The Tribe's reservation consists
of approximately 6.04 acres, but the Tribe has continued to work to
restore its land base.
Unfortunately, bureaucratic inefficiencies have delayed the process.
The Tribe has submitted fee-to-trust applications for the parcels
identified in this legislation, including one submitted in August 2015
that the Department of the Interior has not yet finalized.
This legislation would end that bureaucratic delay and place these
parcels into trust. The legislation also would prohibit any class II or
class III gaming pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act from
occurring on the parcels to be placed into trust.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) for his
work on this bill. I encourage the adoption of the legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise also in support of H.R. 6443, the Jamul Indian
Village Land Transfer Act.
The bill would take approximately 172 acres of land located in San
Diego County, California, and owned in fee by the Jamul Indian Village
of California, into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. The land in
question contains four parcels, which include Tribal housing, council
buildings, a historic church, and an ancestral cemetery. Each of these
parcels is already within the Tribe's ancestral territory and is
located near the Tribe's existing reservation.
I again want to acknowledge that land is the very essence of Tribal
sovereignty, cultural survival, and economic prosperity in the future.
That is why these land-into-trust transfers are so very important and
why in Congress we should respond to them when they come before us and
use them as another element of how we honor our trust responsibility to
Tribes.
For that, I thank Representative Issa for bringing this legislation
forward.
Once the 172 acres have been placed into trust, the Tribe will be
able to increase Tribal housing, preserve and protect cultural sites,
and better provide essential governmental operations, including
healthcare services, administrative offices, law enforcement, and other
community resources such as a grocery store and educational services.
This bill honors the connection of the Tribe to its ancestral land
and is a win for their self-determination.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Issa).
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair and ranking member for
bringing this bill here today.
Mr. Speaker, as Californians, our relationship with our Tribes and
bands is different from that of many other places in the United States.
The Kumeyaay Indians, including the Jamul band, were landless for
decade after decade after decade. In fact, if not for the generosity of
one landowner who allowed some of the Jamul Indians to get the 6 acres
that they originally placed in trust, they might still be landless.
Those 6 acres were all they had to live on, and it wasn't enough for
the various members because, unlike some immigrants, Native Americans
lived here for thousands of years, and in those 13,000 years, they
built a bond that could not be broken by the Spaniards and could not be
broken by America as we annexed California.
In fact, as a landless Tribe, the Kumeyaay continued to practice
their language and traditions even though they had to do so on whatever
land they could find, usually not their own.
Since the 1980s, the Jamul band of Kumeyaay Indians has, in fact,
clung to those 6 acres and amassed an ability to find additional plots
of land.
It is ironic that one of the pieces of land we are considering today
is, in fact, where they have been buried for more than 100 years, where
they practice their Western faith taught to them by the Spaniards there
on their land.
The other piece contains a farmhouse. It is a farmhouse where those
Jamul Indians came to work in the fields of another man for decades.
They have had the opportunity to buy that land now.
Many will say: But is there a conflict? Is there a reason for the
Department of the Interior to take so long?
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that there is no conflict about taking a
cemetery where your dead are buried, or at least there shouldn't be.
The other piece of land was entitled by the County of San Diego to
have more than twice as many homes on it as there are Jamul Indians. In
fact, their intention is to preserve that farmhouse for all generations
so that they can understand what life was like in San Diego County 100
years ago and so that their Tribal members will continue to celebrate
those who treated them well when they had no land and no money.
Today, hopefully, we will put land in trust, but we will also
celebrate the resilience of the Native Americans of California who
stayed in the land of their birth even though they had their land taken
from them for more than 600 years.
Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
am prepared to close. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for
time, and I am prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, as noted, this is a worthwhile bill for taking this land
into trust.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, this legislation would take approximately
172.1 acres of land owned in fee simple by the Jamul Indian Village
into trust by the United States for the benefit of this Tribe. I thank
Mr. Issa for his work on this legislation to benefit his constituents.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bill, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 6443.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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