A bill to declare that the United States holds in trust for the Cocopah Indian Tribe of Arizona certain land in Yuma County, Arizona.
PL 99-23 (H.R.730), enacted 04/15/1985

PUBLIC LAW 99-23—APR. 15, 1985 
99 STAT. 47 
Public Law 99-23 
99th Congress 
An Act 
To declare that the United States holds in trust for the Cocopah Indian Tribe of 
Apr. 15, 1985 
Arizona certain land in Yuma County, Arizona. 
[H.R. 730] 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled. That, subject to all 
valid existing rights, all right, title, and interest of the United States 
in the following described tracts of land shall be held by the United 
States in trust for the Cocopah Indian Tribe of Arizona and shall be 
part of the reservation of such tribe: 
(1) As part of the West Cocopah Reservation, containing 
2,140.91 acres, more or less: 
GILA AND SALT RIVER MERIDIAN, ARIZONA 
Township 9 South, Range 24 West 
Section 18, lot 17; 
Section 19, lots 24 and 25; and 
Section 30, lots 19 and 27. 
Township 9 South, Range 25 West 
Section 24, lots 1 and 3 to 12 included; 
Section 34, lots 1 and 2; and 
Section 35, lots 8, 9, 12 to 26 included, and east half southeast 
quarter. 
Township 10 South, Range 25 West 
Section 2, lots 12 to 17 included and 19 to 27 included; 
Section 10, lots 1 and 2; 
Section 11, lots 5 to 16 included; 
Section 14, lots 8 and 9; and 
Section 15, lots 5 to 7 included, and northeast quarter northeast 
quarter. 
(2) As part of the East Cocopah Reservation, containing 
1,481.68 acres, more or less: 
GILA AND SALT RIVER MERIDIAN, ARIZONA 
Township 9 South, Range 23 West 
Section 30, southeast quarter southwest quarter; and 
Section 31, lots 1 to 4 included, northeast quarter, east half 
northwest quarter, northeast quarter southwest quarter, northeast 
quarter southeast quarter, and west half southeast quarter. 
99 STAT. 48 
PUBLIC LAW 99-23—APR. 15, 1985 
Township 10 South, Range 24 West 
Section 1, lots 1, 2, 5 to 8 included, south half northeast quarter 
and east half southeast quarter; 
Section 12, northeast quarter and east half southeast quarter; and 
Section 13, lots 7 to 9 included, east half northeast quarter, 
northeast quarter southeast quarter, and south half south half. 
(3) As the North Cocopah Reservation, containing 614.18 
acres, more or less: 
SAN BERNARDINO MERIDIAN, ARIZONA 
Township 16 South, Range 21 East 
Section 24, lot 1; and 
Section 25, lots 7 to 17 included. 
Township 16 South, Range 22 East 
Section 19, lot 10; and 
Section 30, lots 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 22, and south half southwest 
quarter. 
SEC. 2. (a) Nothing in this Act shall deprive any person or entity of 
any legal existing right-of-way, legal mining claim, legal grazing 
permit, legal water right, accretion claim, or other legal right or 
interest which such person or entity may have in lands described in 
section 1 of this Act. 
(b) That portion of the lands described in paragraph 2 of section 1 
which are the subject of a dedication for a garbage disposal recorded 
at book 167, page 464 of the Yuma County Recorder's office shall 
remain subject to such dedication for as long as such lands are used 
for landfill or related purposes. 
SEC. 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, Executive 
3 CFR, 1977 
Order Numbered 11988 of May 24, 1977, 42 Federal Register 26951, 
Comp., p. 117. 
as amended, shall apply to lands described in section 1 of this Act. 
SEC. 4. (a) There are reserved to the United States the following 
rights-of-way upon, over, and across the lands described in section 1 
of this Act: 
(1) A right-of-way of sixty feet from the margin of the Colo-
rado River on the international boundary with the Republic of 
Mexico, as described in Public Land Reservation of May 27, 
1907; 
(2) Rights-of-way for existing facilities of the Yuma reclama-
tion project, the Colorado Riv^r front work and levee system, 
and the Yuma Mesa conduit; 
(3) A right-of-way of fifty feet on each side of the center line of 
the Pesch header, as shown on the United States Bureau of 
Reclamation, Yuma project, drawing numbered 35-303-634; 
(4) A right-of-way for power and transmission facilities within 
the north seventeen feet of the south fifty feet of the southeast 
quarter southwest quarter, section 30, township 9 south, range 
23 west, Gila and Salt River meridian; 
(5) A right-of-way of two hundred feet measured horizontally 
landward from the high water mark of the Colorado River 
bankline for channel rectification, bankline maintenance, and 
preservation of the floodway, as well as a right, at all proper 
times and places, to free ingress to, passage over, and egress 
PUBLIC LAW 99-23—APR. 15, 1985 
99 STAT. 49 
from the lands described in section 1 of this Act, for the purpose 
of exercising, enforcing, and protecting the rights reserved in 
this right-of-way; and 
(6) An option for a right-of-way for sludge disposal for the 
Yuma desalting plant on sections 24 and 25 (excluding lots 5 
and 6), township 16 south, range 21 east, and sections 19 and 30, 
township 16 south, range 22 east, San Bernardino meridian. 
This option shall be exercised within five years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. The right-of-way, if exercised, shall 
terminate on the date on which the Secretary of the Interior 
determines that such right-of-way is not needed for such pur-
poses. The rights-of-way which the Bureau of Reclamation cur-
rently has in lots 5 and 6 of section 25, township 16 south, range 
21 east, San Bernardino meridian, shall be retained. Any deter-
mination by the Secretary of the Interior under this paragraph 
shall be published in the Federal Register, 
(b) In the event that any of the rights-of-way reserved by this 
section shall be abandoned, as determined by the Secretary of the 
Interior, such rights shall revert to the Cocopah Tribe. 
SEC. 5. In the event that title to any private lands located within 
section 1 or 2, township 10 south, range 25 west, Gila and Salt River 
meridian, which are contiguous to the West Cocopah Reservation, is 
subsequently acquired by the Cocopah Tribe, such lands shall there-
upon become part of, and shall be within the exterior boundary of, 
the west reservation of the Cocopah Tribe. 
Approved April 15, 1985. 
Federal 
Register, 
publication. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—H.R. 730: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 99-24 (Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 131 (1985): 
Apr. 1, considered and passed House. 
Apr. 3, considered and passed Senate.