I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1814

To provide incentives for Indian tribes to collect and pay lawfully imposed

State sales taxes on goods sold on tribal lands and to provide for

penalties against Indian tribes that do not collect and pay such State

sales taxes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 13, 1999

Mr. VISCLOSKY (for himself, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr.

ROEMER, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. COBLE, Mr. SOUDER, Mrs.

MYRICK, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. NEY, Mr.

NETHERCUTT, Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. TANCREDO,

Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BUYER, Mr. GRAHAM, and

Mr. CANADY of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To provide incentives for Indian tribes to collect and pay

lawfully imposed State sales taxes on goods sold on tribal

lands and to provide for penalties against Indian tribes

that do not collect and pay such State sales taxes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. INCENTIVE FOR INDIAN TRIBES TO ENSURE

2 COLLECTION OF STATE SALES TAXES.

3 Priority among Indian tribes competing for Federal

4 grants shall be given to Indian tribes that certify, through

5 a process established by the Secretary in consultation with

6 the States, that retail establishments operating on trust

7 lands within a tribe’s jurisdiction are collecting and paying

8 to the appropriate State all qualified State retail taxes.

9 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF FAILURE TO PAY TAX.

10 If an Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully

11 fails—

12 (1) to pay any qualified State retail tax on any

13 retail item sold, by a retail establishment located on

14 land that is held in trust for the benefit of the In15 dian or Indian tribe, to a person who is not either

16 a member of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the

17 land is held in trust or a member of the same Indian

18 tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in

19 trust;

20 (2) to make equal payment to the State in lieu

21 of such qualified State retail tax; or

22 (3) to make payment to a State pursuant to a

23 compact governing the payment of qualified State

24 retail tax between the Indian or Indian tribe and the

25 State,
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1 then the Governor or the Attorney General of the State

2 may document and certify such failure to the Assistant

3 Secretary and request that the land upon which the struc4 ture which houses the retail establishment is located be

5 taken out of trust status.

6 SEC. 3. NOTICE OF REQUEST; COMMENT PERIOD.

7 (a) NOTICE.—

8 (1) FEDERAL REGISTER.—Not later than 30

9 days after receiving documentation, certification,

10 and a request from the Governor or attorney general

11 of a State in accordance with section 2, the Assist12 ant Secretary shall publish notice of the request and

13 the reason therefor in the Federal Register.

14 (2) OTHER NOTICE.—Not later than 90 days

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary shall promulgate rules to ensure prompt noti17 fication of any Indian or Indian tribe regarding

18 whose land a request for removal from trust has

19 been made under section 2, the time and manner in

20 which the Indian or Indian tribe has to respond to

21 the request, and the Indian or Indian tribe’s rights

22 regarding the request.

23 (b) COMMENT PERIOD.—The Assistant Secretary

24 shall provide a period of 90 days after the publication pur-
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1 suant to subsection (a) for interested persons to submit

2 comments on the request.

3 (c) HEARING.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a request is made under

5 this Act for removal of an Indian or Indian tribe’s

6 land from trust, the Indian or Indian tribe may re7 quest a timely hearing on the request to remove

8 such land from trust.

9 (2) TIME PERIOD.—If a hearing is requested

10 under paragraph (1) not later than 60 days after

11 the publication pursuant to subsection (a), the Sec12 retary shall grant the hearing request. A hearing

13 under this paragraph shall be held not later than the

14 expiration of the 90-day period provided for com15 ment under subsection (b).

16 (3) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec18 retary shall promulgate regulations to implement

19 this section.

20 SEC. 4. INVESTIGATION; PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS.

21 (a) INVESTIGATION.—Upon receipt of documenta22 tion, certification, and a request from the Governor or at23 torney general of a State in accordance with section 2,

24 the Assistant Secretary shall begin an investigation to

25 verify that the Indian or Indian tribe consistently and will-
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1 fully failed to make payment described in paragraph (1),

2 (2), or (3) of section 2 as documented and certified by

3 the Governor or attorney general of the State.

4 (b) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 60 days after

5 the completion of the 90-day notice and comment period

6 required by subsections 2(a) and 2(b), the Assistant Sec7 retary shall publish the results of the investigation in the

8 Federal Register.

9 SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF LAND FROM TRUST.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the Assistant Secretary deter11 mines pursuant to section 4 that an Indian or Indian tribe

12 consistently and willfully failed to make payment described

13 in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2 in relation to

14 any retail item sold by a retail establishment located on

15 land that is held in trust for the benefit of the Indian

16 or Indian tribe to a person who is not either a member

17 of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held

18 in trust or a member of the same Indian tribe as the In19 dian for whom the land is held in trust, the Assistant Sec20 retary shall inform the Secretary of such determination.

21 Upon receipt of such determination, the Secretary shall

22 remove from trust status such land as the Secretary deter23 mines to constitute the extent of the retail operations.

24 (b) EFFECT OF REMOVAL FROM TRUST.—Removal

25 of land from trust under this Act shall eliminate tribal
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1 authority regarding taxation and make the property sub2 ject to all applicable State and local sales taxes on goods

3 purchased on such land regardless of the purchaser’s sta4 tus as a tribal member.

5 (c) EFFECT OF PAYMENT OR AGREEMENT TO

6 PAY.—If, before the Secretary removes land from trust

7 status pursuant to subsection (a), the Indian or Indian

8 tribe that was determined to have failed to make payment

9 described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2, makes

10 all such payments to the State or enters into an agreement

11 with the State to make such payment, the Governor or

12 attorney general of the State, the Indian, or the Indian

13 tribe may inform the Assistant Secretary of such payment

14 or agreement and request that the land not be removed

15 from trust status. If the Governor or the attorney general

16 of a State so requests, the Assistant Secretary shall imme17 diately inform the Secretary of the request and the land

18 shall not be removed from trust status unless new docu19 mentation, certification, and a new request is submitted,

20 published, and investigated in accordance with this Act.

21 (d) APPEAL OF DECISION.—The Secretary’s deter22 mination under this section shall be final agency action

23 for purposes of judicial review.

24 (e) TRUST STATUS RESTORED.—The Secretary shall

25 take into trust for the benefit of an Indian or an Indian
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1 tribe any land that was held in trust for that Indian or

2 Indian tribe but was taken out of trust in accordance with

3 the provisions of this Act, if each State in which such land

4 is located certifies to the Secretary that, for not less than

5 1 year following such removal, the Indian or Indian tribe

6 has made all applicable payments described in section 2

7 to the State or has entered into an agreement with the

8 State to make such payment.

9 SEC. 6. ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS.

10 For the purposes of the delivery of services and bene11 fits furnished to federally recognized Indian tribes and

12 members of such tribes, land taken out of trust pursuant

13 to this Act shall be considered part of the service area

14 of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land was held

15 in trust or the Indian tribe of the Indian on whose behalf

16 the land was held in trust.

17 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

18 For the purposes of this Act—

19 (1) the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the

20 Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Af21 fairs;

22 (2) the term ‘‘Indian’’ means any individual

23 who is a member of an Indian tribe;

24 (3) the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ means any federally

25 recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or
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1 other organized group or community, excluding any

2 Alaska Native village or regional corporation as de3 fined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Na4 tive Claims Settlement Act;

5 (4) the term ‘‘qualified State retail tax’’ means

6 a lawfully imposed, nondiscriminatory State excise

7 or sales tax on any retail item sold by a retail estab8 lishment located on land that is held in trust for the

9 benefit of the Indian or Indian tribe to a person who

10 is not either a member of the Indian tribe on behalf

11 of which the land is held in trust or a member of

12 the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the

13 land is held in trust; and

14 (5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

15 of the Interior.

16 SEC. 8. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.

17 Except as otherwise provided in this Act, not less

18 than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,

19 the Secretary shall issue interim rules to implement the

20 provisions of this Act.

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