Testimony Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States: Improving the Land-into-Trust Process with a Clean Carcieri Fix and Consultation with Indian Tribes

Abstract

This testimony addresses two pieces of proposed legislation. First, it discusses legislation designed to amend the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 in order to address the problems created by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. 379 (2009), which unfortunately created two classes of tribes, those that can petition the United States for the restoration of lands through the federal land-into-trust process and those that cannot. The testimony describes why Carcieri is inconsistent with federal norms and supports the clean Carcieri-fix embodied in H.R. 375. Second, the testimony addresses draft legislation, under consideration by Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva and tentatively called the "RESPECT Act." This bill would mandate "tribal consultation as a matter of law" by federal agencies for certain federal actions involving tribal interests. This draft legislation would ultimately make tribal consultation enforceable, thereby improving the government-to-government relationship between federal agencies and American Indian tribes. This testimony describes the context of tribal consultation in recent American history, describes the draft bill, and highlights some of its pros and cons. It concludes that such a law would make federal Indian policy more even across presidential administrations and across independent agencies; it would make federal Indian policy less partisan.

Keywords: Indian Lands, Land-into-Trust, Carcieri, Indian Reorganization Act, RESPECT Act, Tribal Consultation, Indian Law