CERA Helps Stop Land to Trust
The supporters of CERA should be extremely proud for the role they played in stopping the new process of Tribes being able to put land into “Trust” that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had proposed.
When President Clinton departed, he had left the new “Acquisition of Title to Land in Trust” processing standards on the desk of President Bush for his signature. Thank goodness the new administration extended the comment period and gave more citizens the opportunity to voice their concerns about the serious economic and social ramifications more Tribal lands will create. The decision to withdraw the final rule was based on comments from 93 tribes, 18 state and local governments and federally elected public officials and 28 were from interested groups and individuals such as CERA.
Since October of 1999 CERA has been writing letters to Washington D.C. on an annual basis concerning the conversion of fee lands to federal trust. We have done an excellent job explaining how the change from fee land to federal trust is disruptive to local non-Indian governments and citizens and how it creates conflicts with local land use plans, zoning and law enforcement. It also places a devastating financial hardship on local governments by removing lands from the tax base.
In 1999 and 2000 we sent lengthy letters to President Clinton’s administration stating:
“It is the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance position that before land can be put into federal trust for the benefit of Indian Tribes, a determination must be made whether such an action is precluded by the Indian Claims Commission Act, 60 Stat. 1049 (1946). On August 13, 1946 Congress passed the ICCA creating a Commission with broad and exclusive jurisdiction to hear claims arising under Treaties, laws, executive orders, takings, and for unfair and dishonorable dealing. To the extent that the effort to put land into federal trust is based upon a historical or treaty claim to land, such as a claim that the land should be within the reservation, or a reservation was unfairly diminished, the ICC precludes the BIA from considering such a claim under Section 12 of the ICCA.
“No claim existing before such date (August 13, 1946) but not presented within such period (five years) may thereafter e submitted to any court or administrative agency for consideration, nor will such claim thereafter be entertained by he Congress.”
60 Stat. 1049, Section 12 (emphasis added).
“Any claim that land should be put in trust status that arises from a claim that could have been made, or was made, pursuant to the ICCA must be barred from hearing by the BIA. Specifically, if the claim is based, in whole or in part, upon treaties, laws, takings, unfair dealings or any other transaction or occurrence that happened before August 13, 1946, the BIA is precluded by Section 12 of the ICCA from even considering that claim.”
This past year we sent letters to the President, and Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, requesting that they investigate the problems being created by Federal Indian policies. We put together an eight page fact sheet that explained the myths of Tribal Governmental Sovereignty and Civil Rights, the corruption within the agencies involved and the use of tribal members as “pawns” of the federal government to steal territory and resources from local citizens.
We wrote personal
letters to every State Governor and Attorney General, every member of Congress,
the Secretaries of the Administration and one thousand media outlets and
personalities across the nation, asking them all to support our efforts to have
Senator Orrin Hatchs’ Judiciary Committee conduct a thorough investigation of
Federal Indian Policy.
A change in the Senate?
We were going to call on Senator Hatch’s office on Tuesday May 22 after the CERA annual meeting on May 20 and 21. The media had received our packets a week earlier and we are sure the phones started ringing asking how Senator Hatch was going to respond to our request.
The rumor of Senator Jeffords switching parties from Republican to Independent started on May 19 and by May 21 he had switched from Republican to the Independent party and so Senator Hatch’s Conservative Committee was off the hook and our request ran into a brick wall of confusion and excuses.
Congratulations to PERM’s “Save Minnesota” Campaign
Congratulations to Proper Economic Resource Management for their excellent amicus curiae brief that helped win the Atkinson case in the Supreme Court.
PERM’s lawyer, Randy Thompson also defended a landowner named Keck Melby in north eastern Minnesota against the Grand Portage Band. The band was trying to make Mr. Melby get a tribal building permit for a building he had already obtained a local government permit to build. When the band saw they were going to lose in court they settled with Mr. Melby by buying his land for 1.6 million dollars.
Mr Thompson and PERM are also responsible for the Indian Claims Commission series of articles, which begin in this issue on page 4. Many thanks to the members of PERM!
More Comments to the BIA
CERA recently mailed a packet of prepared comments concerning “Gaming on Trust Lands acquired after Oct. 17, 1988”, requested by the BIA. Again, CERA objected to any more trust lands and we will attempt to educate more than the BIA about the social problems associated with gambling and taking fee lands off the tax rolls.
Looking Forward
Besides subjecting citizens to an undemocratic form of government with no 14th Amendment rights when fee land is moved to trust status, new economic studies are showing the costs of casinos are at least 1.9 times greater than the benefits. That means for every dollar the tribe makes, we the taxpayers pay the social costs of pathological problem gamblers, greatly increased crime, suicide and bankruptcies.
CERA is currently writing Congress concerning HR380, the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2001. The Federal Election Commission allows Indian tribes to finance their federal contributions with government funds. It is the only exemption to the federal law’s fundamental requirement that all money used in federal elections must be derived from voluntary contributions of individual U.S. citizens. Incredible, but true!
If fee to trust lands and gambling aren’t enough problems, add on the social costs of the depletion of local tourism economy from the over harvest of tribal commercial gillnet fisheries. Here in Minnesota and in many other states that had valuable sports fishing resources, the taxpayers are getting the “triple whammy” for sure.
For this years campaign to D.C. we are preparing a request for a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will give tribal members living on reservations, the full protections of the 14th Amendment including instant access to federal courts.
Hope to see you in D.C., on May 19-23, 2002!