BILL NUMBER: SB 1134	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Oropeza, Scott, and Yee
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Davis and Karnette)

                        JANUARY 31, 2008

   An act to add Division 6.5 (commencing with Section 8575) to the
Public Resources Code, relating to the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1134, as introduced, Oropeza. Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe.
   Under existing federal law, the Bureau of Indian Affairs within
the Department of the Interior is responsible for the administration
and management of land held in trust by the United States for
American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaskan Natives. Under existing
law, there are 561 federally recognized tribal governments in the
United States. In addition, certain states have state-recognized
tribes and state Indian reservations. California law identifies
various Indian tribes and reservation lands, but does not have a
formal system of recognizing state Indian tribes or establishing
state Indian reservations, such as that contained in federal law.
   This bill would establish a state-recognized Indian reservation
for the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe, a nonfederally recognized Indian
tribe, effective immediately upon the certification of specified
facts by the city or cities in which the reservation is located. It
would require the tribe to purchase and contribute to the state the
real property to be designated as the reservation. The bill would
provide that title to the reservation shall be held by the State of
California in trust for the benefit of the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe.
   The bill would make related findings and declarations.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian Reservation Act.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following
with respect to the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe:
   (a) In 1994, the State of California officially recognized the
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe in Assembly Joint Resolution 96, Resolution
Chapter 146 of the Statutes of 1994. The Joint Resolution states that
the State of California recognizes the Gabrielinos as the aboriginal
tribe of the Los Angeles Basin and takes great pride in recognizing
the Indian inhabitance of the Los Angeles Basin and the continued
existence of the Indian community. The tribal offices are currently
located in the City of Santa Monica.
   (b) A state historical site at University High School in West Los
Angeles preserves the Tongva Holy Springs, the site where tribal
members met the Portola Expedition, which founded the City of Los
Angeles in 1769. Mount Tongva in Angeles National Forest is named
after the tribe and city plaques commemorate the tribe's history in
Culver City and the City of San Gabriel. Loyola Marymount University
dedicated a one million dollar ($1,000,000) garden to the history of
the Gabrielinos, and the university library contains a special
collection of scholarly works on the tribe, as well as archaeological
artifacts discovered on campus. The Gabrielinos are included in a
major exhibition at the Native American Museum in Washington, D.C.
   (c) Over 1,700 current tribal members are documented as
"Gabrielino Indians" by the United States Interior Department, Bureau
of Indian Affairs (BIA) and current tribal membership rolls. While
avoiding recognition of the tribe, the United States published
official rolls of Gabrielino Indians in 1928, 1950, and 1972. Since
1972, tribal members have received BIA "blood quantum certificates"
as "Gabrielino Indians."
   (d) The tribal history in the Los Angeles Basin and its
ethnographic area is well documented through over 3,000
archaeological sites, 400 scholarly publications, in state historical
records and federal archives, and Catholic Church records at San
Gabriel Mission and San Fernando Mission. According to the
Smithsonian Institution's Handbook of North American Indians, Volume
8: California, the Gabrielinos occupied villages to the north up to
Topanga Canyon in Malibu, extending south past the Newport Beach
estuary, and inland to the City of San Bernardino.
   (e) The Gabrielino-Tongva were enslaved to build San Gabriel
Mission and San Fernando Mission. Other Gabrielino village sites have
been uncovered at California State University at Long Beach, the
Sheldon Reservoir in Pasadena, Whittier Narrows, downtown Los
Angeles, and the Los Encinos State Historical Park in Encino. Nine
major villages with 50 to 200 Gabrielino-Tongva Indians at each
village site lie in close proximity to the Cities of Inglewood and
Long Beach, including Amupunga, Atavingna, Tajuat, Puvunga, and
Saangna.
   (f) From 1851 to 1853, three federal treaty commissioners
appointed by President Fillmore signed the 18 "lost treaties,"
setting aside 8.5 million acres in California for Indian reservations
in return for the Indians' quitclaim to 75 million acres of
California land. After lobbying by California business interests, the
United States Senate refused to ratify any of the treaties, instead
placing an "injunction of secrecy" on the documents. They were
discovered in a locked desk drawer in the United States Senate
Archives in 1905.
   (g) The Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe signed Treaty D with federal
Indian Commissioner George Barbour in 1851. In the Act of 1852,
Congress set aside an Indian reservation for the Gabrielino-Tongva
Tribe near Fort Tejon at the edge of Los Angeles County and began
moving Gabrielinos from their ethnographic area to the Gabrielino
reservation. After the Senate refused to ratify Treaty D and the
other "lost treaties," the Fort Tejon reservation was
misappropriated. As a result, Gabrielino villages were never
relocated from their historic ethnographic area, but instead were
absorbed into the blossoming cities of Los Angeles County and Orange
County.
   (h) Based upon the discovery of the 18 "lost treaties" in 1905, a
series of efforts were made to address the land claims of the
treatyless and landless Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe. The California
Jurisdiction Act of 1922 authorized the California Attorney General
to represent members of the tribe, among others, and to bring their
land claims before the United States Court of Claims. The Court of
Claims, in Indians of California v. United States (1942) 98 Ct.Cl.
583, 592, recognized the arguments of California Attorney General
Earl Warren, and declared that "There was a promise made to these
tribes and bands of Indians and accepted by them but the treaties
were never ratified so the promise was never fulfilled."
   (i) Under new legislation in 1946, the Indian Claims Commission
addressed individual claims of Gabrielino-Tongva tribal members in
Docket 80. In 1972, settlement was reached for six hundred
thirty-three dollars ($633) for each tribal member, including current
tribal councilmen. The settlement was administered by Commissioner
of Indian Affairs Dillon S. Meyer, who previously served as chief
administrator of the notorious Japanese internment camps in
California. The land claims of the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe, however,
were never settled.
   (j) California is one of 16 states that recognize 62 Indian tribes
that are not federally recognized. State legislation in other states
that recognizes Indian tribes and creates tribal lands provides
models for this act. At least five states have established state
Indian reservations, which are usually referred to in state
legislation as "tribal lands." Connecticut, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, New York, and Virginia all have state-recognized tribes and
state Indian reservations.
  SEC. 3.  Division 6.5 (commencing with Section 8575) is added to
the Public Resources Code, to read:

      DIVISION 6.5.  GABRIELINO-TONGVA RESERVATION


   8575.  (a) The Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe is and continues to be
recognized as an Indian tribe by the State of California. The
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe is a California Indian Tribe historically
known as the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, and its Tribal
Council, currently located in the City of Santa Monica, is and
continues to be recognized as its governing organization.
   (b) The tribe shall, within 60 days of the effective date of the
act adding this section, and every four years thereafter, certify all
of the following to the Governor:
    (1) All Gabrielinos documented by the United States Bureau of
Indian Affairs are or may become members of the tribe.
   (2) Tribal membership is a property right established in the tribe'
s Constitution and enforceable in state courts.
   (3) The tribe's Constitution incorporates substantially all due
process protections from the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (25
U.S.C. Sec. 1301 et seq.).
   (c) An Indian reservation is hereby created by the State of
California to provide tribal lands for the tribe, effective
immediately upon certification pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section
8576. The state Indian reservation shall be known as the
"Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian Reservation" and shall lie on the
lands designated in the certification made pursuant to subdivision
(a) of Section 8576.
   8576.  (a) The Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian Reservation shall be
authorized by the city or cities in which the reservation is located
(the host city or cities) by a resolution of the city council of
each host city. The resolution shall contain a description of the
lands included in the reservation, and shall certify to the Governor
all of the following:
   (1) The planning commission or city council of the host city has
held hearings that were open to the public to review the following
topic areas:
   (A) The location of the reservation and the designation of a zone
overlay or other development plan for local control over development
on the reservation.
   (B) The infrastructure impacts on the host city, including
traffic, police and fire services, sanitation, and public
transportation, and agreements between the tribe and host city to
mitigate those impacts.
   (C) Agreements between the tribe and the host city to provide for
planning and building safety review of development on the
reservation.
   (D) Agreements between the tribe and host city for the provision
of police, fire, public safety, education, water, sanitation, and
public transportation services on the reservation.
   (E) Enforcement of state laws on the reservation, including, but
not limited to, child support obligations, court process, labor laws,
and host city fines and parking tickets, and agreements between the
tribe and the host city for that enforcement.
   (2) The agreements with the tribe reviewed by the planning
commission of the host city and requested by the city council of the
host city have been executed by the host city and the tribe.
   (3) A zone overlay or other development plan for the reservation
has been or will be adopted, and environmental review has been or
will be completed by the host city.
   (4) The host city lies within the ethnographic area of the tribe,
as established by an independent review of archaeological sites and
scholarly publications by the host city, the tribe, and outside
experts.
   (b) The tribe shall purchase and contribute to the state the real
property to be designated as the Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian
Reservation. Title to the reservation shall be held as follows:
"State of California, in trust for the benefit of the
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe, a California Indian Tribe."
   8577.  (a) The Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian Reservation shall be
dedicated to whatever lawful use that the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe
decides, subject to any agreements with the host city governing that
use, provided that land use decisions on the reservation shall comply
with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13
(commencing with Section 21000)).
   (b) The Department of Parks and Recreation shall administer state
ownership, activities, and approvals for the Gabrielino-Tongva State
Indian Reservation.
   (c) Unless otherwise specified, all federal, state, local, and
special district laws and regulations shall be applicable to the
tribe, and to the Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian Reservation, and may
be enforced on the Gabrielino-Tongva State Indian Reservation in the
same manner and to the same effect as elsewhere in the state.
   (d) Nothing in this division is intended to grant gaming rights to
the tribe.