99-Year Tribal Lease Authority Act

Floor Speech

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1448) to amend the Act of August 9, 1955, to authorize the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw, the Klamath Tribes, and the Burns Paiute Tribe to obtain 99-year lease authority for trust land.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Under what is known as the Long Term Leasing Act, lands held in trust for Indian tribes may be leased for a variety of purposes for a term of no greater than 25 years, with an option for an additional 25 years if approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Often, tribes find that in order to operate more efficiently and to sustain economic development activities, they need to be able to lease trust lands for longer periods. In fact, through various acts of Congress, approximately 50 tribes have been granted the ability to issue leases not to exceed 99 years.

The pending legislation would afford this extended leasing authority to several tribes in the State of Oregon.

I want to commend our colleagues, Mr. DeFazio and Mr. Schrader from Oregon, for their work in getting this bill to the floor. I ask Members to support it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, again I want to urge our colleagues to support S. 1448, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source