Date: 2016-07-12
Speaker: BEN RAY LUJAN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New Mexico

Mr. Chairman. if Chairman CALVERT and Ranking Member MCCOLLUM are able to commit to work with me on this. I do plan to withdraw this amendment. and I appreciate the time to be able to share a few words with everybody about why this amendment is so important. I want to say a few words about my amendment and the challenges facing people in my district in New Mexico. My amendment requires the Bureau of Indian Affairs to report. identify. and adjudicate to landowners egress and ingress easements where they do not exist for landowners on land parcels adjudicated under the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924. While this sounds like a complex issue. Mr. Chairman. it is a very simple issue. and one that was created back in 1924 with the Pueblo Lands Act. This amendment. Mr. Chairman. is the result of an issue that is specific to the State of New Mexico and the 1924 Pueblo Lands Act. In 1924. Congress passed the Pueblo Lands Act. which established the Pueblo Lands Board. This board was tasked with adjudicating land claims to Pueblo lands. and it took about 6 years. until 1930. for the board to adjudicate these claims between the Pueblos and nontribal landowners. For the last 80 years. families have been able to buy homes and build homes. pass land on from one generation to the next. Everything had been going well until recently. when the Bureau of Indian Affairs alleged a trespass on some of the county roads. the County of Santa Fe. which is a local government in the State of New Mexico. that provide egress and ingress to the nontribal residents. Now these residents have been given patents by the United States of America. That is what the Pueblo Lands Act did. giving the clearest title to land ownership in the United States of America. But as a result of the BIA letter. the title insurance companies in the State of New Mexico began to refuse issuing title insurance. Now. as we all know. that complicates your ability to buy a home. sell a home. or even refinance a home so that way you can reroof a home. In some instances. some of the families were trying to refinance that home because of bills that they have incurred for healthcare purposes. but because they are not able to get title to their home. they are not able to do so. Mr. Chairman. these are families who have their entire savings in their homes. like many of us across America. These are families who have been saving up to build a home in a community where they grew up. where their parents grew up. where their grandparents grew up. and now they are fortunate to have a piece of land there. I want to share with you a paragraph from a constituent by the name of Jeff Archuleta that he sent to me. He writes: "When I grew up and my wife and I started a family of our own. it was easy for me to decide where I wanted to raise our boys. I was fortunate enough to obtain an acre of land from my father. I dont know exactly how long this parcel of land had been in my family. but I can say that it was listed in the San Idelfonso report of 1929 addressing land titles between the pueblo and nonpueblo residents. This document references land that was in nonpueblo private landowners possession prior to the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924. Reference is also made to a Spanish Grant approved by Congress December 22. 1858. At the time of this report. the land belonged to Demetrio and Catalina Roybal. They later deeded the land to one of their children. my great uncle Pedro Roybal. who went on to sell it to my father." Mr. Chairman. I worry that we need to address this issue. but that this dispute is tearing at the fabric of our communities. For more than 2 years now. I have tried to get anyone from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide assistance to me. to provide a way to get this solved. I have asked the BIA for the process and any criteria they used to issue an alleged trespass. and to share their antiquated database with the public. I have asked for maps and historical documents that the BIA considered. Nothing was produced. I asked for the chainofcommand that was followed and the BIAs interpretation and understanding of the Pueblo Lands Act of 1924 and the actions of the Pueblo Lands Board. Nothing was produced. I even asked the BIA for information related to mediation services. Mr. Chairman. because the fabric of these communities are being torn apart. That is why I felt compelled to offer this amendment. Mr. Chairman. I yield to the gentleman from California .