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 reve-
nues from the Mineral Springs parcel to certain members
of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION ON DISTRIBUTION
OF CERTAIN REVENUES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The fourth undesignated para-
graph in section 3(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to pro-
vide for the equalization of allotments on the Agua
Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in California, and for
other purposes’’ approved September 21, 1959 (25 U.S.C.
951 et seq.), is amended by striking ‘‘east: Provided,’’ and
all that follows through ‘‘deceased member.’’ and inserting
‘‘east.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE AND AGREEMENT TO MAKE
PAYMENT.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to net rents, profits, and other revenues
that accrue on or after the date of distribution of the pay-
ment, as provided in Tribal Ordinance 22 dated August
6, 1996, to those persons referenced in Exhibit B of Tribal
Ordinance 22.
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) among its purposes, the Act entitled ‘‘An Act
to provide for the equalization of allotments on the
Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) Reservation in Cali-
fornia, and for other purposes’’, approved September
21, 1959, commonly known as the ‘‘Agua Caliente
Equalization Act of 1959’’ (25 U.S.C. 951 et seq.) (re-
ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Act’’) was intended
to provide for a reasonable degree of equalization of
the value of allotments made to members of the Agua
Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians;
(2) the Act was enacted in response to litigation
in Federal courts in Segundo, et al. v. United States,
123 F. Supp. 554 (1954);
(3) the case referred to in paragraph (2) was ap-
pealed under the case name United States v. Pierce,
235 F. 2d 885 (1956) and that case affirmed the enti-
tlement of certain members of the Band to allotments
of approximately equal value to lands allotted to other
members of the Band;
(4)(A) to achieve the equalization referred to in
paragraph (3), section 3 of the Act (25 U.S.C. 953)
provided for the allotment or sale of all remaining
tribal lands, with the exception of several specifically
designated parcels, including 2 parcels in the Mineral
Springs area known as parcel A and parcel B;
(B) section 3 of the Act restricted the distribu-
tion of any net rents, profits, or other revenues de-
rived from parcel B to members of the Band and their
heirs entitled to equalization of the value of the allot-
ments of those members;
(C) from 1959 through 1984, each annual budget
of the Band, as approved by the Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs, provided for expenditure of all revenues derived
from both parcel A and parcel B solely for tribal gov-
ernmental purposes; and
(D) as a result of the annual budgets referred to
in subparagraph (C), no net revenues from parcel B
were available for distribution to tribal members enti-
tled to equalization under section 3 of the Act referred
to in paragraph (1);
(5) by letter of December 6, 1961, the Director of
the Sacramento Area Office of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs informed the regional solicitor of the Bureau
of Indian Affairs that the equalization of allotments
on the Agua Caliente Reservation with respect to
those members of the Band who were eligible for
equalization had been completed using all available
excess tribal land in a manner consistent with—
(A) the decree of the court in the case re-
ferred to in paragraph (2); and
(B) the Act;
(6) in 1968, the files of the Department of the
Interior with respect to the case referred to in para-
graph (3), the closure of which was contingent upon
completion of the equalization program, were retired
to the Federal Record Center, where they were subse-
quently destroyed;
(7) on March 16, 1983, the Secretary of the Inte-
rior published notice in the Federal Register that full