BILL NUMBER: AJR 8	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 30, 2002
	PASSED THE SENATE  MAY 29, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 29, 2002

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Briggs
   (Coauthors:  Senators Costa, Polanco, and Soto)

                        MARCH 28, 2001

   Assembly Joint Resolution No. 8--Relative to the Choinumni Tribe.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 8, Briggs.  Choinumni Tribe:  federal recognition.
   This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of
the United States and the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in
the United States Department of the Interior to grant the Choinumni
Tribe full federal recognition and all the rights and privileges that
arise from that declaration.




   WHEREAS, The Choinumni Tribe of Yokuts is a sovereign Indian
Nation, located in Fresno County, California, consisting of 103
enrolled and documented members, with its tribal headquarters located
approximately 15 miles from Choinumni State Park named in honor of
and as recognition of, the Choinumni Tribe; and
   WHEREAS, The leaders of the Choinumni Tribe met with
representatives of the United States for treaty negotiations, and a
treaty was signed by both the tribal leaders and the United States on
April 29, 1851 ; and
   WHEREAS, The Choinumni Tribe was thus recognized by the United
States government as early as 1851; and
   WHEREAS, The Choinumni Tribe signed the treaty, on April 29, 1851,
with four other Indian tribes, Picaynue Rancheria, Table Mountain
Rancheria, Santa Rosa Rancheria, and Big Sandy Rancheria, all of whom
are currently fully federally recognized Indian tribes; and
   WHEREAS, The Choinumni Tribe is the only tribe to have signed this
treaty that has not yet been granted full federal recognition; and
   WHEREAS, Between 1851 and 1915, the United States government began
an unwarranted, hostile relationship with the Choinumni Tribe that
forced many of its members to flee into the hills; and
   WHEREAS, Around 1887, the United States government granted
individual land allotments to some tribal members, but those
allotments were devoid of any water or other vital natural resources,
forcing surviving tribal members to move to the City of Fresno to
seek economic sustainability; and
   WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States has recognized the
Choinumni Tribe pursuant to subchapter XXV (commencing with Section
651) of Chapter 14 of Title 25 of the United States Code, which
recognition was judicially affirmed by the United States Court of
Claims in the case of Indians of California v. United States (1942)
98 Ct.Cl. 583; and
   WHEREAS, Since the Choinumni Tribe is not listed as an Indian
tribe eligible to receive federal programs set aside for Native
American tribes, the Choinumni Tribe cannot participate in health,
education, and social programs provided by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and the Indian Health Service; and
   WHEREAS, The Choinumni Tribe has long been in a position of
poverty that can only be corrected by federal recognition; and
   WHEREAS, The Choinumni Tribe has been working since 1959 for
federal recognition, including a 1987 application that is still
pending; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes the President
and the Congress, and the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in
the United States Department of the Interior to grant the Choinumni
Tribe full federal recognition and all the rights and privileges that
arise from that declaration, including listing the tribe in the
Federal Register under the relevant provisions of the Federally
Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-454), Title
I; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to each Senator and Representative from California in the
Congress of the United States, and to the Assistant Secretary for
Indian Affairs in the United States Department of the Interior.