II

Calendar No. 658

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 700

[Report No. 105–349]

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 9, 1997

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

SEPTEMBER 28, 1998

Reported by Mr. CAMPBELL, with an amendment

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

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.

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

3 SECTION 1. REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION ON DISTRIBUTION

4 OF CERTAIN REVENUES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The fourth undesignated para6 graph in section 3(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to pro7 vide for the equalization of allotments on the Agua
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1 Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in California, and for

2 other purposes’’ approved September 21, 1959 (25 U.S.C.

3 951 et seq.), is amended by striking ‘‘east: Provided,’’ and

4 all that follows through ‘‘deceased member.’’ and inserting

5 ‘‘east.’’.

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE AND AGREEMENT TO MAKE

7 PAYMENT.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall

8 apply with respect to net rents, profits, and other revenues

9 that accrue on or after the date of distribution of the pay10 ment, as provided in Tribal Ordinance 22 dated August

11 6, 1996, to those persons referenced in Exhibit B of Tribal

12 Ordinance 22.

13 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

14 Congress finds that—

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

16 to provide for the equalization of allotments on the

17 Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in Cali18 fornia, and for other purposes’’, approved September

19 21, 1959, commonly known as the ‘‘Agua Caliente

20 Equalization Act of 1959’’ (25 U.S.C. 951 et seq.) (re21 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Act’’) was intended

22 to provide for a reasonable degree of equalization of

23 the value of allotments made to members of the Agua

24 Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians;
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1 (2) the Act was enacted in response to litigation

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

3 123 F. Supp. 554 (1954);

4 (3) the case referred to in paragraph (2) was ap5 pealed under the case name United States v. Pierce,

6 235 F. 2d 885 (1956) and that case affirmed the enti7 tlement of certain members of the Band to allotments

8 of approximately equal value to lands allotted to other

9 members of the Band;

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

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

12 provided for the allotment or sale of all remaining

13 tribal lands, with the exception of several specifically

14 designated parcels, including 2 parcels in the Mineral

15 Springs area known as parcel A and parcel B;

16 (B) section 3 of the Act restricted the distribu17 tion of any net rents, profits, or other revenues de18 rived from parcel B to members of the Band and their

19 heirs entitled to equalization of the value of the allot20 ments of those members;

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

22 of the Band, as approved by the Bureau of Indian Af23 fairs, provided for expenditure of all revenues derived

24 from both parcel A and parcel B solely for tribal gov25 ernmental purposes; and
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1 (D) as a result of the annual budgets referred to

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

3 were available for distribution to tribal members enti4 tled to equalization under section 3 of the Act referred

5 to in paragraph (1);

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

7 the Sacramento Area Office of the Bureau of Indian

8 Affairs informed the regional solicitor of the Bureau

9 of Indian Affairs that the equalization of allotments

10 on the Agua Caliente Reservation with respect to

11 those members of the Band who were eligible for

12 equalization had been completed using all available

13 excess tribal land in a manner consistent with—

14 (A) the decree of the court in the case re15 ferred to in paragraph (2); and

16 (B) the Act;

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

18 Interior with respect to the case referred to in para19 graph (3), the closure of which was contingent upon

20 completion of the equalization program, were retired

21 to the Federal Record Center, where they were subse22 quently destroyed;

23 (7) on March 16, 1983, the Secretary of the Inte24 rior published notice in the Federal Register that full
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1 equalization had been achieved within the meaning of

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

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

4 accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be

5 deemed complete and full equalization of allotments

6 on the Agua Caliente Reservation’’; and

7 (9) the regulations governing the equalization of

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

9 were rescinded by the Secretary, effective March 31,

10 1983.

11 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

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

14 Caliente Band.

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

16 parcel of land in the Mineral Springs area referred

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

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

19 on the Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in

20 California, and for other purposes’’, approved Sep21 tember 21, 1959, commonly known as the ‘‘Agua

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

23 953(b)).

24 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

25 the Secretary of the Interior.
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1 SEC. 3. EQUALIZATION OF ALLOTMENTS.

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

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

4 to provide for the equalization of allotments on the Agua

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

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

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

8 (25 U.S.C. 957) is deemed to have been completed.

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

10 achievement of the full equalization of allotments described

11 in subsection (a), the entitlement of holders of equalized al12 lotments to distribution of net revenues from parcel B under

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

14 equalization of allotments on the Agua Caliente (Palm

15 Springs) Reservation in California, and for other pur16 poses’’, approved September 21, 1959, commonly known as

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

18 953(b)) shall be deemed to have expired.

19 SEC. 4. REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION.

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

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

22 the equalization of allotments on the Agua Caliente (Palm

23 Springs) Reservation in California, and for other pur24 poses’’, approved September 21, 1959, commonly known as

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

26 953(b)), is amended by striking ‘‘east: Provided,’’ and all
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1 that follows through the end of the paragraph and inserting

2 ‘‘east.’’.

3 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub4 section (a) shall apply as if this section had been enacted

5 on March 31, 1983.

6 (c) SUBSEQUENT DISTRIBUTIONS.—Any per capita

7 distribution of tribal revenues of the Band made after the

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

9 of the Band in equal amounts.
Calendar No. 658

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 700

[Report No. 105–349]

AN ACT

To remove the restriction on the distribution of cerCahuilla Indians. certain members of the Agua Caliente Band of tain revenues from the Mineral Springs parcel to

SEPTEMBER 28, 1998

Reported with an amendment