Issue Position: Land Trust

Issue Position

On February 24, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Carcieri v. Salazar that Tribes not under federal jurisdiction (meaning not a federally recognized tribe) as of 1934 cannot follow land-into-trust process authorized by the Indian Reorganization Act. This standard, if applied to tribes throughout the United States, could put billions of dollars of investments at risk or even halt tribal economic development altogether. It could also spark a firestorm of litigation between state and local governments and tribal governments. The goal of the Indian Reorganization Act was to encourage tribal sovereignty and self- governance in order to build sustainable self-governing tribal communities, not to prevent individual tribes from increasing their business opportunities. I have introduced a bill to reverse this decision so that tribal governments are able to engage in development without fear of needless litigation.

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