Indianz.Com SoundCloud: Senate Indian Affairs Committee Business Meeting November 18, 2015

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee approved two bills at a short business meeting on Wednesday.

Both bills address land-into-trust issues for tribes in Oregon. Under S.817, any land acquired by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians within the original 1855 Siletz Coast Reservation will be considered a part of the current reservation.

S.818 benefits the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. It eases the number of steps currently required for land to be acquired and declared a part of the reservation.

“These two bills authorize the secretary of Interior to treat certain trust land applications of these tribes as on-reservation applications,”Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the chairman of the committee, said at the meeting, which lasted less than three minutes. “They will also make the trust land acquired under these bills a part of the tribes’ reservations.”

The committee held a hearing on both bills on October 7. Neither tribe sent representatives but both have testified in favor of similar bills in prior sessions of Congress.

The House version of the Siletz bill is H.R.3211. The Grande Ronde bill is H.R.3212.

Committee Notice:
Business Meeting to Consider S. 817 & S. 818 (November 18, 2015)

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