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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. INCENTIVE FOR INDIAN TRIBES TO ENSURE
COLLECTION OF STATE SALES TAXES.
Priority among Indian tribes competing for Federal
grants shall be given to Indian tribes that certify, through
a process established by the Secretary in consultation with
the States, that retail establishments operating on trust
lands within a tribe’s jurisdiction are collecting and paying
to the appropriate State all qualified State retail taxes.
SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF FAILURE TO PAY TAX.
If an Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully
fails—
(1) to pay any qualified State retail tax on any
retail item sold, by a retail establishment located on
land that is held in trust for the benefit of the In-
dian or Indian tribe, to a person who is not either
a member of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the
land is held in trust or a member of the same Indian
tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in
trust;
(2) to make equal payment to the State in lieu
of such qualified State retail tax; or
(3) to make payment to a State pursuant to a
compact governing the payment of qualified State
retail tax between the Indian or Indian tribe and the
State,
then the Governor or the Attorney General of the State
may document and certify such failure to the Assistant
Secretary and request that the land upon which the struc-
ture which houses the retail establishment is located be
taken out of trust status.
SEC. 3. NOTICE OF REQUEST; COMMENT PERIOD.
(a) NOTICE.—
(1) FEDERAL
REGISTER.—Not later than 30
days after receiving documentation, certification,
and a request from the Governor or attorney general
of a State in accordance with section 2, the Assist-
ant Secretary shall publish notice of the request and
the reason therefor in the Federal Register.
(2) OTHER NOTICE.—Not later than 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall promulgate rules to ensure prompt noti-
fication of any Indian or Indian tribe regarding
whose land a request for removal from trust has
been made under section 2, the time and manner in
which the Indian or Indian tribe has to respond to
the request, and the Indian or Indian tribe’s rights
regarding the request.
(b) COMMENT PERIOD.—The Assistant Secretary
shall provide a period of 90 days after the publication pur-
suant to subsection (a) for interested persons to submit
comments on the request.
(c) HEARING.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—If a request is made under
this Act for removal of an Indian or Indian tribe’s
land from trust, the Indian or Indian tribe may re-
quest a timely hearing on the request to remove
such land from trust.
(2) TIME PERIOD.—If a hearing is requested
under paragraph (1) not later than 60 days after
the publication pursuant to subsection (a), the Sec-
retary shall grant the hearing request. A hearing
under this paragraph shall be held not later than the
expiration of the 90-day period provided for com-
ment under subsection (b).
(3) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall promulgate regulations to implement
this section.
SEC. 4. INVESTIGATION; PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS.
(a) INVESTIGATION.—Upon receipt of documenta-
tion, certification, and a request from the Governor or at-
torney general of a State in accordance with section 2,
the Assistant Secretary shall begin an investigation to
verify that the Indian or Indian tribe consistently and will-
fully failed to make payment described in paragraph (1),
(2), or (3) of section 2 as documented and certified by
the Governor or attorney general of the State.
(b) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 60 days after
the completion of the 90-day notice and comment period
required by subsections 2(a) and 2(b), the Assistant Sec-
retary shall publish the results of the investigation in the
Federal Register.
SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF LAND FROM TRUST.
(a) IN GENERAL.—If the Assistant Secretary deter-
mines pursuant to section 4 that an Indian or Indian tribe
consistently and willfully failed to make payment described
in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2 in relation to
any retail item sold by a retail establishment located on
land that is held in trust for the benefit of the Indian
or Indian tribe to a person who is not either a member
of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held
in trust or a member of the same Indian tribe as the In-
dian for whom the land is held in trust, the Assistant Sec-
retary shall inform the Secretary of such determination.
Upon receipt of such determination, the Secretary shall
remove from trust status such land as the Secretary deter-
mines to constitute the extent of the retail operations.
(b) EFFECT OF REMOVAL FROM TRUST.—Removal
of land from trust under this Act shall eliminate tribal
authority regarding taxation and make the property sub-
ject to all applicable State and local sales taxes on goods
purchased on such land regardless of the purchaser’s sta-
tus as a tribal member.
(c) EFFECT
OF
PAYMENT
OR
AGREEMENT
TO
PAY.—If, before the Secretary removes land from trust
status pursuant to subsection (a), the Indian or Indian
tribe that was determined to have failed to make payment
described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2, makes
all such payments to the State or enters into an agreement
with the State to make such payment, the Governor or
attorney general of the State, the Indian, or the Indian
tribe may inform the Assistant Secretary of such payment
or agreement and request that the land not be removed
from trust status. If the Governor or the attorney general
of a State so requests, the Assistant Secretary shall imme-
diately inform the Secretary of the request and the land
shall not be removed from trust status unless new docu-
mentation, certification, and a new request is submitted,
published, and investigated in accordance with this Act.
(d) APPEAL OF DECISION.—The Secretary’s deter-
mination under this section shall be final agency action
for purposes of judicial review.
(e) TRUST STATUS RESTORED.—The Secretary shall
take into trust for the benefit of an Indian or an Indian
tribe any land that was held in trust for that Indian or
Indian tribe but was taken out of trust in accordance with
the provisions of this Act, if each State in which such land
is located certifies to the Secretary that, for not less than
1 year following such removal, the Indian or Indian tribe
has made all applicable payments described in section 2
to the State or has entered into an agreement with the
State to make such payment.
SEC. 6. ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS.
For the purposes of the delivery of services and bene-
fits furnished to federally recognized Indian tribes and
members of such tribes, land taken out of trust pursuant
to this Act shall be considered part of the service area
of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land was held
in trust or the Indian tribe of the Indian on whose behalf
the land was held in trust.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Af-
fairs;
(2) the term ‘‘Indian’’ means any individual
who is a member of an Indian tribe;
(3) the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ means any federally
recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or
other organized group or community, excluding any
Alaska Native village or regional corporation as de-
fined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Na-
tive Claims Settlement Act;
(4) the term ‘‘qualified State retail tax’’ means
a lawfully imposed, nondiscriminatory State excise
or sales tax on any retail item sold by a retail estab-
lishment located on land that is held in trust for the
benefit of the Indian or Indian tribe to a person who
is not either a member of the Indian tribe on behalf
of which the land is held in trust or a member of
the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the
land is held in trust; and
(5) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of the Interior.
SEC. 8. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, not less
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall issue interim rules to implement the
provisions of this Act.
Æ