IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1388 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 27, 2019 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 
AN ACT 
To take lands in Sonoma County, California, into trust as 
part of the reservation of the Lytton Rancheria of Cali-
fornia, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lytton Rancheria 
Homelands Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Lytton Rancheria of California is a fed-
erally recognized Indian tribe that lost its homeland 
after its relationship to the United States was un-
justly and unlawfully terminated in 1958. The Tribe 
was restored to Federal recognition in 1991, but the 
conditions of its restoration have prevented it from 
regaining a homeland on its original lands. 
(2) Congress needs to take action to reverse 
historic injustices that befell the Tribe and that have 
prevented it from regaining a viable homeland for its 
people. 
(3) Prior to European contact there were as 
many as 350,000 Indians living in what is now the 
State of California. By the turn of the 19th century, 
that number had been reduced to approximately 
15,000 individuals, many of them homeless and liv-
ing in scattered bands and communities. 
(4) The Lytton Rancheria’s original homeland 
was purchased by the United States in 1926 pursu-
ant to congressional authority designed to remedy 
the unique tragedy that befell the Indians of Cali-
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fornia and provide them with reservations called 
Rancherias to be held in trust by the United States. 
(5) After the Lytton Rancheria lands were pur-
chased by the United States, the Tribe settled on 
the land and sustained itself for several decades by 
farming and ranching. 
(6) By the mid-1950s, Federal Indian policy 
had shifted back towards a policy of terminating the 
Federal relationship with Indian tribes. In 1958, 
Congress enacted the Rancheria Act of 1958 (72 
Stat. 619), which slated 41 Rancherias in California, 
including the Lytton Rancheria, for termination 
after certain conditions were met. 
(7) On August 1, 1961, the Federal Govern-
ment terminated its relationship with the Lytton 
Rancheria. This termination was illegal because the 
conditions for termination under the Rancheria Act 
had never been met. After termination was imple-
mented, the Tribe lost its lands and was left without 
any means of supporting itself. 
(8) In 1987, the Tribe joined three other tribes 
in a lawsuit against the United States challenging 
the illegal termination of their Rancherias. A Stipu-
lated Judgment in the case, Scotts Valley Band of 
Pomo Indians of the Sugar Bowl Rancheria v. 
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