Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the bipartisan Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act to place roughly 700 acres of sacred lands into trust for the benefit of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. The lands in this bill, which are adjacent to the Tribe's existing reservation, include sacred sites, ancient rock art, and Tribal artifacts. Placing these lands into trust would protect the Pala Band's sacred lands and allow them to safeguard their culture and traditions as their ancestors have done since time immemorial.

Our bill would place 721 acres of land in San Diego County, which the Tribe has already purchased, into trust for the Pala Band of Mission Indians. Doing so would allow the Pala Band to preserve their traditions and better steward their sacred sites for generations to come.

Members of the Pala Band of Mission Indians descend from the Cupeno and Luiseno Tribes. The Cupenos lived in the valley of San Jose de Valle for generations until they were expelled from their ancestral homelands by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1901. The Tribe was forcibly relocated to Pala, CA, onto a Luiseno reservation. Over a century later, the Pala Band considers themselves one proud people with over 900 Tribal members.

In 2016, the Tribe purchased the lands covered by our bill in order to prevent the construction of a landfill on their sacred lands, known to the Tribe as ``Chokla.'' This bill would enable the Federal Government to fulfill its trust obligation by providing permanent protection for the Pala Band's ancestral and cultural sites.

I thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this legislation with me in the Senate and Congressman Issa and Congressman Vargas for leading this effort in the House of Representatives. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact this bill as quickly as possible. ______

By Mr. PADILLA (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein):

S. 306. A bill to approve the settlement of the water right claims of the Tule River Tribe, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to reintroduce the Tule River Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2023. This legislation would finalize this multidecade effort by the Tule River Tribe to provide clean drinking water to their people and uphold the Federal Government's trust and treaty responsibilities.

The Tule River people are descendants of the Yokuts Indians, a large group of Native Americans who occupied what is now known as the San Joaquin Valley in California for thousands of years prior to contact with settlers.

In 1856, the Federal Government established their reservation in Tulare County, with the specific goal of providing the Tribe with arable farmland and the water resources necessary to establish self- sufficiency. However, their land was fraudulently stolen from them, and in 1873, President Grant issued an Executive order to create a new reservation for the Tribe. This land--which is the Tribe's current reservation--is comprised of mostly mountainous lands that do not provide sufficient irrigation opportunities or water storage facilities. Today, the Tule River Tribe struggles to provide clean drinking water to their people, and Tule Tribal citizens suffer from a low standard of living as a result.

Since 1971, the Tribe has worked to establish its federally reserved water rights to create the viable homeland they were promised and to ensure that their citizens have enough water to meet their current and future water needs. For decades, the Tribe has worked with the Departments of the Interior and Justice as well as downstream water users to advance a settlement agreement, thereby avoiding costly litigation for both the tribe and the U.S. Government.

I am proud to introduce this legislation to quantify the Tribe's water right of 5,828 acre-feet per year of surface water and fund $568 million towards the construction of a water storage project. Our legislation would also codify what is known as the ``2007 Agreement'' with downstream water users, who support this legislation. Finally, the legislation would transfer approximately 9,000 acres of Federal land currently in the Sequoia National Monument to allow the Tribe to protect the watershed headwaters and 800 acres of grazing land to the north and south of the reservation boundary.

It is long past time for the Federal Government to live up to its trust and treaty responsibilities to the Tule River Tribe. We must codify this water settlement and settle the Tule River Tribe's claims against the United States. Access to clean drinking water now and in the future is essential to the continued strength of Tribal nations and to ensuring the sustainability and viability of future generations.

Water is a sacred and necessary resource for Tribal nations and for all people. As California and the West continue to experience a historic megadrought, enactment of our legislation would provide water security to Tule River citizens now and into the future.

I thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this legislation with me in the Senate. I would also like to thank the Tule River Tribe for their decades of hard work to finalize this settlement and the downstream water users, including the Tule River Association and the South Tule Independent Ditch Company, for working with the Tribe to settle this issue and avoid litigation.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the Tule River Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2023 as quickly as possible.

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