In the Senate of the United States,

October 12 (legislative day, October 2), 1998.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 700) entitled ‘‘An Act to remove the restriction

on the distribution of certain revenues from the Mineral

Springs parcel to certain members of the Agua Caliente Band

of Cahuilla Indians.’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) among its purposes, the Act entitled ‘‘An Act

4 to provide for the equalization of allotments on the

5 Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in Cali6 fornia, and for other purposes’’, approved September

7 21, 1959, commonly known as the ‘‘Agua Caliente

8 Equalization Act of 1959’’ (25 U.S.C. 951 et seq.) (re9 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Act’’) was intended

10 to provide for a reasonable degree of equalization of
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1 the value of allotments made to members of the Agua

2 Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians;

3 (2) the Act was enacted in response to litigation

4 in Federal courts in Segundo, et al. v. United States,

5 123 F. Supp. 554 (1954);

6 (3) the case referred to in paragraph (2) was ap7 pealed under the case name United States v. Pierce,

8 235 F. 2d 885 (1956) and that case affirmed the enti9 tlement of certain members of the Band to allotments

10 of approximately equal value to lands allotted to other

11 members of the Band;

12 (4)(A) to achieve the equalization referred to in

13 paragraph (3), section 3 of the Act (25 U.S.C. 953)

14 provided for the allotment or sale of all remaining

15 tribal lands, with the exception of several specifically

16 designated parcels, including 2 parcels in the Mineral

17 Springs area known as parcel A and parcel B;

18 (B) section 3 of the Act restricted the distribu19 tion of any net rents, profits, or other revenues de20 rived from parcel B to members of the Band and their

21 heirs entitled to equalization of the value of the allot22 ments of those members;

23 (C) from 1959 through 1984, each annual budget

24 of the Band, as approved by the Bureau of Indian Af25 fairs, provided for expenditure of all revenues derived
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1 from both parcel A and parcel B solely for tribal gov2 ernmental purposes; and

3 (D) as a result of the annual budgets referred to

4 in subparagraph (C), no net revenues from parcel B

5 were available for distribution to tribal members enti6 tled to equalization under section 3 of the Act referred

7 to in paragraph (1);

8 (5) by letter of December 6, 1961, the Director of

9 the Sacramento Area Office of the Bureau of Indian

10 Affairs informed the regional solicitor of the Bureau

11 of Indian Affairs that the equalization of allotments

12 on the Agua Caliente Reservation with respect to

13 those members of the Band who were eligible for

14 equalization had been completed using all available

15 excess tribal land in a manner consistent with—

16 (A) the decree of the court in the case re17 ferred to in paragraph (2); and

18 (B) the Act;

19 (6) in 1968, the files of the Department of the

20 Interior with respect to the case referred to in para21 graph (3), the closure of which was contingent upon

22 completion of the equalization program, were retired

23 to the Federal Record Center, where they were subse24 quently destroyed;
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1 (7) on March 16, 1983, the Secretary of the Inte2 rior published notice in the Federal Register that full

3 equalization had been achieved within the meaning of

4 section 7 of the Act (25 U.S.C. 957);

5 (8) section 7 of the Act states that ‘‘allotments in

6 accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be

7 deemed complete and full equalization of allotments

8 on the Agua Caliente Reservation’’; and

9 (9) the regulations governing the equalization of

10 allotments under the Act referred to in paragraph (1)

11 were rescinded by the Secretary, effective March 31,

12 1983.

13 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act:

15 (1) BAND.—The term ‘‘Band’’ means the Agua

16 Caliente Band.

17 (2) PARCEL B.—The term ‘‘parcel B’’ means the

18 parcel of land in the Mineral Springs area referred

19 to as ‘‘parcel B’’ in section 3(b) of the Act entitled

20 ‘‘An Act to provide for the equalization of allotments

21 on the Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in

22 California, and for other purposes’’, approved Sep23 tember 21, 1959, commonly known as the ‘‘Agua

24 Caliente Equalization Act of 1959’’ (25 U.S.C.

25 953(b)).
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1 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of the Interior.

3 SEC. 3. EQUALIZATION OF ALLOTMENTS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The full equalization of allotments

5 within the meaning of section 7 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act

6 to provide for the equalization of allotments on the Agua

7 Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in California, and for

8 other purposes’’, approved September 21, 1959, commonly

9 known as the ‘‘Agua Caliente Equalization Act of 1959’’

10 (25 U.S.C. 957) is deemed to have been completed.

11 (b) EXPIRATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—By reason of the

12 achievement of the full equalization of allotments described

13 in subsection (a), the entitlement of holders of equalized al14 lotments to distribution of net revenues from parcel B under

15 section 3(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the

16 equalization of allotments on the Agua Caliente (Palm

17 Springs) Reservation in California, and for other pur18 poses’’, approved September 21, 1959, commonly known as

19 the ‘‘Agua Caliente Equalization Act of 1959’’ (25 U.S.C.

20 953(b)) shall be deemed to have expired.

21 SEC. 4. REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The fourth undesignated paragraph

23 in section 3(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for

24 the equalization of allotments on the Agua Caliente (Palm

25 Springs) Reservation in California, and for other pur-
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1 poses’’, approved September 21, 1959, commonly known as

2 the ‘‘Agua Caliente Equalization Act of 1959’’ (25 U.S.C.

3 953(b)), is amended by striking ‘‘east: Provided,’’ and all

4 that follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting

5 ‘‘east.’’.

6 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub7 section (a) shall apply as if this section had been enacted

8 on March 31, 1983.

9 (c) SUBSEQUENT DISTRIBUTIONS.—Any per capita

10 distribution of tribal revenues of the Band made after the

11 date of enactment of this Act shall be made to all members

12 of the Band in equal amounts.

Attest:

Secretary.
105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 700

AMENDMENT