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1°10400 1 ' Resolution No. 15-014
A RESOLUTION URGING CONGRESS TO ENACT COMPREHENSIVE FEE-TO-TRUST
REFORM THAT RESPECTS TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY AND RECOGNIZES LOCAL
COVE• MENTS AS MEANINGFUL AND CONSTRUCTIVE STAKEHOLDERS
WHEREAS, Butte County affirms its absolute respect for the authority granted to federally recognized
tribes and for the right of Indian tribes to self-governance, and recognizes the need for tribes to preserve their
cultural heritage and pursue economic self-reliance; and
WHEREAS,Butte County has a legal responsibility to properly provide for and protect the health, safety,
and general welfare of the members of our communities, including tribal members; and
WHEREAS, every Californian, including all tribal members, depend upon county government for a
broad range of critical services, ranging from public safety and transportation, to waste management and
disaster relief, and California counties are responsible for nearly 700 programs, including, but not limited to,
local law enforcement, public health, fire protection, family support, probation,jails, child and adult protective
services, roads and bridges, and flood control; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Interior takes land into trust for the benefit of federally recognized
tribes or individual tribal members; and
WHEREAS, uses of tribal trust lands include governmental operations, cultural activities, agricultural
or forestry activities, housing, social and community services, health care, educational facilities, tribal casinos
and other commercial developments; and
WHEREAS, large tribal development projects, including casinos, can attract large volumes of visitors
and lead to a myriad of significant adverse social and environmental impacts on the surrounding community; and
WHEREAS, an informed and objective process for the acquisition of tribal trust lands is important in
promoting inter-governmental cooperation,the provision of adequate health and safety services to the community,
and in balancing development with related governmental interests such as containing urban sprawl, preserving
open-space and prime agricultural lands, and efficiently extending government services; and
WHEREAS, there are major, long-standing deficiencies in the current fee-to-trust process as it relates to
both gaming and non-gaming land acquisitions; and
WHEREAS, the implications of losing jurisdiction over local lands are very significant, including the
loss of tax base, loss of planning and zoning authority, and the loss of environmental and other regulatory power;
and
WHEREAS, state, county and local governments are afforded inadequate, and often late, notice of a
pending trust land application, and, under the current regulations, are asked to provide comments, in a very
abbreviated time frame, on only two narrow issues: potential jurisdictional conflicts and loss of tax revenues; and
WHEREAS, studies by both the U.S. Government Accountability Office and independent legal
researchers (Extreme Rubber Stamping: The Fee-to-Trust Process of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934,
Pepperdine Law Review, Volume 40 — Issue 1 (2012) have determined that the current BIA process lacks
objective criteria and has become a"rubber-stamp" for tribal fee-to-trust requests; and
WHEREAS,the lack of objective and consistently applied standards has resulted in a broken fee-to-trust
land process that fails to meaningfully include legitimate interests, provide adequate transparency to the public,
or demonstrate fundamental balance in trust land decisions, thereby creating significant controversy, conflicts
between tribes and local governments, costly litigation, and broad distrust of the fairness of the system; and
WHEREAS, on February 24, 2009,the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision on Indian trust
lands in Carcieri v. Salazar, holding that the Secretary of the Interior lacks authority to take land into trust on
behalf of Indian tribes that were not under the jurisdiction of the federal government upon enactment of the IRA
in 1934; and
WHEREAS, the responsibility to address the implications of Carcieri rests with Congress and the
decision presents a historic opportunity to address the long-standing issues with the fee-to-trust process; and
WHEREAS, a Carcieri"fix" does not make sense if the trust process remains broken and Butte County
calls on Congress to establish clear and specific congressional standards and processes to guide trust land
decisions in the future and to define the respective roles of Congress and the Executive Branch in trust land
decisions; and
WHEREAS,it is the adopted policy of both the California State Association of Counties (CSAC)and the
National Association of Counties (NACo), as has been conveyed to Congress in oral and written testimony, that
a Carcieri fix should not be undertaken absent comprehensive fee-to-trust reform; and
WHEREAS, the BIA has recently promulgated an amendment to the fee-to-trust regulations (25 CFR
151.12), over the objection of many California local governments, which allows for land to immediately go into
trust despite outstanding valid legal challenges to the BIA trust decision; and
WHEREAS, the coordination of tribal, state, county and local government policies can reduce
jurisdictional conflicts and the use of voluntary agreements by tribes and local governments are important to
create joint plans for economic growth, long-term land use,transportation, and other aspects of regional planning.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE
COUNTY OF BUTTE urges Congress to enact comprehensive fee-to-trust reform as part of any Carcieri"fix"
that simultaneously respects the sovereignty of federally recognized tribes and provides local governments a
meaningful role in the trust land process; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that trust reform should embody a new paradigm where counties are
considered meaningful and constructive stakeholders in fee-to-trust decisions which shall include: full disclosure
of trust land uses on applications; fair notice to counties and a meaningful opportunity to respond to applications;
BIA transparency regarding its process and decision-making; and clear objective standards by which applications
are considered; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Butte County supports and encourages federal fee-to-trust
process refottn which provides an incentive for intergovernmental agreements to support constructive
government-to-government relationships between counties and federally recognized Indian tribes to insure that
the off-reservation impacts of tribal development are fully mitigated.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Butte this 10th day of February 2015,
by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Connelly, Wahl, Kirk, Lambert and Chair Teeter
NOES: None .....____.
ABSENT: None
NOT VOTING: None ' L.'''') V.. ......,...4......._
DOUG EETER, Chair
Board of Supervisors
...
ATTEST:
PAUL HA 11 i / dministrati e Officer and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
7
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