I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4228

To extend Federal recognition to the United Auburn Indian Community

of the Auburn Rancheria of California.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 14, 1994

Mr. MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. DOOLITTLE, and Mr. RICHARDSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Natural Resources

A BILL

To extend Federal recognition to the United Auburn Indian

Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Auburn Indian Res5 toration Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. RESTORATION OF FEDERAL RECOGNITION, RIGHTS,

7 AND PRIVILEGES.

8 (a) FEDERAL RECOGNITION.—Notwithstanding any

9 provision of law, Federal recognition is hereby extended

10 to the Tribe. Except as otherwise provided in this Act,
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1 all laws and regulations of general application to Indians

2 or nations, tribes, or bands of Indians that are not incon3 sistent with any specific provision of this Act shall be ap4 plicable to the Tribe and its members.

5 (b) RESTORATION OF RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES.—

6 Except as provided in subsection (d), all rights and privi7 leges of the Tribe and its members under any Federal

8 treaty, Executive order, agreement, or statute, or under

9 any other authority which were diminished or lost under

10 the Act of August 18, 1958 (Public Law 85–671), are

11 hereby restored and the provisions of such Act shall be

12 inapplicable to the Tribe and its members after the date

13 of enactment of this Act.

14 (c) FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.—Notwith15 standing any other provision of law and without regard

16 to the existence of a reservation, the Tribe and its mem17 bers shall be eligible, on and after the date of enactment

18 of this Act, for all Federal services and benefits furnished

19 to federally recognized Indian tribes or their members. In

20 the case of Federal services available to members of feder21 ally recognized Indian tribes residing on a reservation,

22 members of the Tribe residing in the Tribe’s service area

23 shall be deemed to be residing on a reservation. Notwith24 standing any other provision of law, the Tribe shall be con25 sidered an Indian tribe for the purpose of the Indian Trib-
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1 al Governmental Tax Status Act of 1982 (26 U.S.C.

2 7871).

3 (d) HUNTING, FISHING, TRAPPING, AND WATER

4 RIGHTS.—Nothing in this Act shall expand, reduce, or af5 fect in any manner any hunting, fishing, trapping, gather6 ing, or water right of the Tribe and its members.

7 (e) INDIAN REORGANIZATION ACT APPLICABILITY.—

8 The Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), shall

9 be applicable to the Tribe and its members.

10 (f) CERTAIN RIGHTS NOT ALTERED.—Except as spe11 cifically provided in this Act, nothing in this Act shall alter

12 any property right or obligation, any contractual right or

13 obligation, or any obligation for taxes levied.

14 SEC. 3. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

15 (a) PLAN FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.—The Sec16 retary shall—

17 (1) enter into negotiations with the governing

18 body of the Tribe with respect to establishing a plan

19 for economic development for the Tribe;

20 (2) in accordance with this section and not later

21 than 2 years after the adoption of a tribal constitu22 tion as provided in section 8, develop such a plan;

23 and
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1 (3) upon the approval of such plan by the gov2 erning body of the Tribe, submit such plan to the

3 Congress.

4 (b) RESTRICTIONS.—Any proposed transfer of real

5 property contained in the plan developed by the Secretary

6 under subsection (a) shall be consistent with the require7 ments of section 4.

8 SEC. 4. TRANSFER OF LAND TO BE HELD IN TRUST.

9 (a) LANDS TO BE TAKEN IN TRUST.—The Secretary

10 shall accept any real property located in Placer County,

11 California, for the benefit of the Tribe if conveyed or oth12 erwise transferred to the Secretary if, at the time of such

13 conveyance or transfer, there are no adverse legal claims

14 on such property, including outstanding liens, mortgages,

15 or taxes owed. The Secretary may accept any additional

16 acreage in the Tribe’s service area pursuant to the author17 ity of the Secretary under the Act of June 18, 1934 (25

18 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).

19 (b) FORMER TRUST LANDS OF THE AUBURN

20 RANCHERIA.—Subject to the conditions specified in this

21 section, real property eligible for trust status under this

22 section shall include fee land held by the White Oak Ridge

23 Association, Indian owned fee land held communally pur24 suant to the distribution plan prepared and approved by

25 the Bureau of Indian Affairs on August 13, 1959, and
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1 Indian owned fee land held by persons listed as

2 distributees or dependent members in such distribution

3 plan or such distributees’ or dependent members’ Indian

4 heirs or successors in interest.

5 (c) LANDS TO BE PART OF THE RESERVATION.—

6 Subject to the conditions imposed by this section, any real

7 property conveyed or transferred under this section shall

8 be taken in the name of the United States in trust for

9 the Tribe or, as applicable, an individual member of the

10 Tribe, and shall be part of the Tribe’s reservation.

11 (d) LANDS TO BE NONTAXABLE.—Any real property

12 conveyed or transferred to the Secretary and taken into

13 trust for the benefit of the Tribe under this section shall

14 be exempt from all local, State, and Federal taxation as

15 of the date of such transfer.

16 SEC. 5. CRIMINAL AND CIVIL JURISDICTION.

17 The State shall exercise criminal and civil jurisdiction

18 within the boundaries of the reservation in accordance

19 with section 1162 of title 18, United States Code, and sec20 tion 1360 of title 28, United States Code, respectively.

21 Retrocession of such jurisdiction may be obtained pursu22 ant to section 403 of the Act of April 11, 1968 (28 U.S.C.

23 1360 note).
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1 SEC. 6. MEMBERSHIP ROLLS.

2 (a) COMPILATION OF TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP ROLL.—

3 Within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act,

4 the Secretary shall, after consultation with the Tribe, com5 pile a membership roll of the Tribe.

6 (b) CRITERIA FOR ENROLLMENTS.—(1) Until a trib7 al constitution is adopted pursuant to section 8, an indi8 vidual shall be placed on the membership roll if the indi9 vidual is living, is not an enrolled member of another fed10 erally recognized Indian tribe, is of United Auburn Indian

11 Community ancestry, possesses at least one-eighth or

12 more of Indian blood quantum, and if—

13 (A) the individual’s name was listed on the Au14 burn Indian Rancheria distribution roll compiled and

15 approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on August

16 13, 1959, pursuant to Public Law 85–671;

17 (B) the individual was not listed on, but met

18 the requirements that had to be met to be listed on,

19 the Auburn Indian Rancheria distribution list com20 piled and approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs

21 on August 13, 1959, pursuant to Public Law 85–

22 671; or

23 (C) the individual is a lineal descendant of an

24 individual, living or dead, identified in subparagraph

25 (A) or (B).
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1 (2) After adoption of a tribal constitution pursuant

2 to section 8, such tribal constitution shall govern member3 ship in the Tribe, except that in addition to meeting any

4 other criteria imposed in such tribal constitution, any per5 son added to the membership roll shall be of United Au6 burn Indian Community ancestry and shall not be a mem7 ber of another federally recognized Indian tribe.

8 (c) CONCLUSIVE PROOF OF UNITED AUBURN INDIAN

9 COMMUNITY ANCESTRY.—For the purpose of subsection

10 (b), the Secretary shall accept any available evidence es11 tablishing United Auburn Indian Community ancestry.

12 The Secretary shall accept as conclusive evidence of Unit13 ed Auburn Indian Community ancestry information con14 tained in the Auburn Indian Rancheria distribution list

15 compiled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on August 13,

16 1959.

17 SEC. 7. INTERIM GOVERNMENT.

18 Until a new tribal constitution and bylaws are adopt19 ed and become effective under section 8, the Tribe’s gov20 erning body shall be an Interim Council. The initial mem21 bership of the Interim Council shall consist of the mem22 bers of the Executive Council of the Tribe on the date

23 of the enactment of this Act, and the Interim Council shall

24 continue to operate in the manner prescribed for the Exec25 utive Council under the tribal constitution adopted July
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1 20, 1991. Any new members filling vacancies on the In2 terim council shall meet the enrollment criteria set forth

3 in section 6(b) and be elected in the same manner as are

4 Executive Council members under the tribal constitution

5 adopted July 20, 1991.

6 SEC. 8. TRIBAL CONSTITUTION.

7 (a) ELECTION; TIME AND PROCEDURE.—Upon the

8 completion of the tribal membership roll under section

9 6(a) and upon the written request of the Interim Council,

10 the Secretary shall conduct, by secret ballot, an election

11 for the purpose of adopting a constitution and bylaws for

12 the Tribe. The election shall be held according to section

13 16 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 476), except

14 that absentee balloting shall be permitted regardless of

15 voter residence.

16 (b) ELECTION OF TRIBAL OFFICIALS; PROCE17 DURES.—Not later than 120 days after the Tribe adopts

18 a constitution and bylaws under subsection (a), the Sec19 retary shall conduct an election by secret ballot for the

20 purpose of electing tribal officials as provided in such trib21 al constitution. Such election shall be conducted according

22 to the procedures specified in subsection (a) except to the

23 extent that such procedures conflict with the tribal con24 stitution.
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1 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act:

3 (1) The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the United Au4 burn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of

5 California.

6 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

7 of the Interior.

8 (3) The term ‘‘Interim Council’’ means the gov9 erning body of the Tribe specified in section 7.

10 (4) The term ‘‘member’’ means those persons

11 meeting the enrollment criteria under section 6(b).

12 (5) The term ‘‘State’’ means the State of Cali13 fornia.

14 (6) The term ‘‘reservation’’ means those lands

15 acquired and held in trust by the Secretary for the

16 benefit of the Tribe pursuant to section 4.

17 (7) The term ‘‘service area’’ means the counties

18 of Placer, Nevada, Yuba, Sutter, El Dorado, and

19 Sacramento, in the State of California.

20 SEC. 10. REGULATIONS.

21 The Secretary may promulgate such regulations as

22 may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

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