II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 286

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to grant State status to Indian

tribes for purposes of the enforcement of such Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 26 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 1995

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. THOMAS, and

Mrs. KASSEBAUM) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

A BILL

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to grant State

status to Indian tribes for purposes of the enforcement

of such Act, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO GRANT STATE STATUS TO IN4 DIAN TRIBES FOR ENFORCEMENT OF SOLID

5 WASTE DISPOSAL ACT.

6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1004 of the Solid Waste

7 Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6903) is amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (13)(A), by striking ‘‘or au2 thorized tribal organization or Alaska Native village

3 or organization,’’;

4 (2) in paragraph (15), by inserting after

5 ‘‘State,’’ the following: ‘‘Indian tribe,’’; and

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new

7 paragraphs:

8 ‘‘(42) The term ‘Indian country’ means—

9 ‘‘(A) all land within the limits of any Indian

10 reservation under the jurisdiction of the Federal

11 Government (including any right-of-way running

12 through the reservation), notwithstanding the issu13 ance of any patent;

14 ‘‘(B) all dependent Indian communities within

15 the borders of the United States, including depend16 ent Indian communities—

17 ‘‘(i) within the original territory or terri18 tory that is subsequently acquired; and

19 ‘‘(ii) within or without the limits of a

20 State; and

21 ‘‘(C) all Indian allotments with respect to which

22 the Indian titles have not been extinguished, includ23 ing rights-of-way running through the allotments.

24 ‘‘(43) The term ‘Indian tribe’ means any Indian

25 tribe, band, group, or community, including any Alaska
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1 Native village, organization, or regional corporation (as

2 defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native

3 Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)) that—

4 ‘‘(A) is recognized by the Secretary of the Inte5 rior; and

6 ‘‘(B) exercises governmental authority within

7 Indian country.’’.

8 (b) TREATMENT OF INDIAN TRIBES AS STATES.—

9 Subtitle A of such Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) is amend10 ed by adding at the end the following new section:

11 ‘‘SEC. 1009. INDIAN TRIBES.

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the

13 Administrator may—

14 ‘‘(1) treat an Indian tribe as a State for the

15 purposes of this Act;

16 ‘‘(2) delegate to an Indian tribe primary en17 forcement responsibility for programs and projects

18 established under this Act; and

19 ‘‘(3) provide Indian tribes grant and contract

20 assistance to carry out functions of a State pursuant

21 to this Act.

22 ‘‘(b) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGU23 LATIONS.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—
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1 ‘‘(A) TREATMENT.—Not later than 18

2 months after the date of the enactment of this

3 section, the Administrator shall issue final reg4 ulations that specify the manner in which In5 dian tribes shall be treated as States for the

6 purposes of this Act.

7 ‘‘(B) AUTHORIZATION.—Under the regula8 tions issued by the Administrator, the treat9 ment of an Indian tribe as a State shall be au10 thorized only if—

11 ‘‘(i) the Indian tribe has a governing

12 body carrying out substantial governmental

13 duties and powers;

14 ‘‘(ii) the functions that the Indian

15 tribe will exercise pertain to land and re16 sources that are—

17 ‘‘(I) held by the Indian tribe, the

18 United States in trust for the Indian

19 tribe, or a member of the Indian tribe

20 (if the property interest is subject to

21 a trust restriction on alienation); or

22 ‘‘(II) are otherwise within Indian

23 country; and

24 ‘‘(iii) in the judgment of the Adminis25 trator, the Indian tribe is reasonably ex-
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1 pected to be capable of carrying out the

2 functions to be exercised in a manner con3 sistent with the requirements of this Act

4 (including all applicable regulations).

5 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, with respect to a

7 provision of this Act, the Administrator deter8 mines that the treatment of an Indian tribe in

9 the same manner as a State is inappropriate,

10 administratively infeasible, or otherwise incon11 sistent with the purposes of this Act, the Ad12 ministrator may include in the regulations is13 sued under this section a mechanism by which

14 the Administrator directly implements and car15 ries out the provision in lieu of the Indian tribe.

16 ‘‘(B) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Sub17 ject to subparagraph (C), nothing in this sec18 tion is intended to permit an Indian tribe to as19 sume or maintain primary enforcement respon20 sibility for programs established under this Act

21 in a manner that is less protective of human

22 health and the environment than the manner in

23 which a State may assume or maintain the re24 sponsibility.
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1 ‘‘(C) CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT.—An In2 dian tribe shall not be required to exercise ju3 risdiction over the enforcement of criminal pen4 alties.

5 ‘‘(c) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—In order to en6 sure the consistent implementation of the requirements of

7 this Act, an Indian tribe and each State in which the lands

8 of the Indian tribe are located may, subject to review and

9 approval by the Administrator, enter into a cooperative

10 agreement to cooperatively plan and carry out the require11 ments of this Act.

12 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date

13 of enactment of this section, the Administrator, in co14 operation with the Secretary of the Interior, the Director

15 of the Indian Health Service, and Indian tribes, shall sub16 mit to Congress a report that includes—

17 ‘‘(1) recommendations for addressing hazardous

18 and solid wastes and underground storage tanks

19 within Indian country;

20 ‘‘(2) methods to maximize the participation in,

21 and administration of, programs established under

22 this Act by Indian tribes;

23 ‘‘(3) an estimate of the amount of Federal as24 sistance that will be required to carry out this sec25 tion; and
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1 ‘‘(4) a discussion of proposals by the Adminis2 trator concerning the provision of assistance to In3 dian tribes for the administration of programs and

4 projects pursuant to this Act.

5 ‘‘(e) TRIBAL HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE INVEN6 TORY.—

7 ‘‘(1) INVENTORY.—Not later than 2 years after

8 the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis9 trator shall undertake a continuing program to es10 tablish an inventory of sites within Indian country at

11 which hazardous waste has been stored or disposed

12 of.

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF INVENTORY.—The inven14 tory shall include—

15 ‘‘(A) the information required to be col16 lected by States pursuant to section 3012; and

17 ‘‘(B) sites located at Federal facilities

18 within Indian country.’’.

19 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

20 for subtitle A of such Act (contained in section 1001 of

21 such Act (42 U.S.C. prec. 6901)) is amended by adding

22 at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1009. Indian tribes.’’.
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1 SEC. 2. LEAKING UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANK TRUST

2 FUND.

3 Section 9508(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of

4 1986 is amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘Except as provided’’ and in6 serting the following:

7 ‘‘(A) PURPOSES.—Except as provided’’;

8 and

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub10 paragraph:

11 ‘‘(B) SET ASIDE FOR INDIAN TRIBES.—

12 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for

13 each of fiscal years 1996 through 2000, the

14 Secretary shall reserve an amount equal to not

15 less than 3 percent of the amounts made avail16 able to States pursuant to subparagraph (A).

17 Such amount shall be used only by Indian

18 tribes (as defined in section 1004(43) of the

19 Solid Waste Disposal Act) to carry out the pur20 poses referred to in subparagraph (A).’’.

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