Congressman Huffman has shared some recent correspondence
with the Town.
On December 2, 2015, Congressman Huffman wrote to Kevin
Washburn, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the
Interior to seek clarification on a few issues with respect to the Department
of the Interior's position on the land-to-trust process and the Lytton Tribe's
application to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
The Congressman asked for a description of the Obama
Administration's stance on taking lands into trust; whether the Carcieri v. Salazar case was an
insurmountable obstacle for tribes seeking land-to-trust decisions such as
Lytton; and whether the federal government would enforce agreements between the
tribe and local governments, such as Memoranda of Understanding prohibiting
gaming on trust land, and whether the BIA would enforce a no-gaming provision
if not required by federal statute.
In a letter dated December 17, 2015, Mr. Washburn
responded to Congressman Huffman, and explained that the Department of the
Interior considers taking land into trust for tribes as one of its highest
priorities. The Department hopes to take approximately 200,000 acres of land
into trust in the coming year to support the Obama Administration's goal of
acquiring half a million acres of new trust land. He further notes that the
Department has applied a case-by-case methodology to land-to-trust applications
in light of Carcieri, and has
prevailed in courts even in the face of challenges by opponents citing the Carcieri decision. Mr. Washburn notes
that nearly all of the 300,000 acres of land taken into trust so far during the
Obama Administration has been taken into trust following the Carcieri decision. The Department
intends to apply the case-by-case analysis to determine whether it affects
Lytton's application. A determination has not yet been made with respect to the
Lytton's application. Further, the letter notes that the federal government
does not enforce agreements between a tribe and a local government, and that
tribes and local governments cannot overrule Congress on matters of federal
law. The letter closes by stating that tribes presumably have a right to
conduct gaming if such gaming is lawful under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
In transmitting these two letters to the Chair of the
County Board of Supervisors and Mayor Millan of Windsor, Congressman Huffman
notes that without his bill, HR 2538, there is every reason to believe the BIA
could and very likely would grant Lytton's pending trust application before the
end of 2016; that the land would come into trust with none of the federally
enforceable limitations and restrictions in HR 2538; and that Lytton would be
eligible for gaming if permissible under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,
unless it chooses not to do so. Thus,
unlike the Huffman legislation which makes no-gaming a condition of the land
being taken into trust, the BIA itself would not make a no-gaming provision
part of its trust grant and therefore would not enforce a contractual no-gaming
provision.
Copies of the letters have been placed on the Lytton page
of the Town's website under the section Correspondence by Congressman Huffman: http://www.ci.windsor.ca.us/index.aspx?NID=973.
