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Economic Development Through Tribal Land Exchange Act

Floor Speech

By: Raul Ruiz
By: Raul Ruiz
Date: Nov. 13, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Indigenous Peoples Housing and Property

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Mr. RUIZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the gentleman from Arizona for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of my bill, H.R. 4867, the Economic Development Through Tribal Land Exchange Act, which is a noncontroversial, bipartisan bill that passed unanimously out of the House Natural Resources Committee and is supported by the Department of the Interior.

The bill would aid economic development in the city of Banning, California, through a land swap, supported by all of the parties involved. Currently, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and a private landowner, Mr. Lloyd Fields, would like to exchange two parcels of land which are nearly identical in size and value, but they are restrained from doing so because one of the parcels is currently held in trust by the United States on behalf of the tribe.

My bill facilitates an equitable land swap between the Morongo Tribe and the landowner to provide more consolidated reservation land for the tribe and commercial development opportunities for the landowner, the city of Banning and Riverside County.

The bill is consistent with the Department of the Interior's policy of promoting land consolidation within Indian country and facilitating economic development. We can all support this type of commonsense, bipartisan legislation for the simple reason that it benefits all parties involved and spurs job creation.

This bill serves as a model for how land use issues can be addressed by a community's coming together while upholding the sacred government-to-government relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes.

I would like to thank Chairman Robert Martin of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in the city of Banning for bringing this issue to my attention; my colleague, Representative Paul Cook from California, for being an original cosponsor; and Senator Boxer from California for introducing the companion bill. I would also like to thank the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs' Chairman Young and Ranking Member Hanabusa for holding a hearing on this bill as well as to thank Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member DeFazio for considering this bill in committee and for their help in bringing it to the floor today.

I urge a "yes'' vote on H.R. 4867, the Economic Development Through Tribal Land Exchange Act.

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