And This Just In From Congress...

Native American Legislative Update - June 2012

And This Just In From Congress...

This week, the House approved several bills affecting specific tribes and Alaska Natives, including lands for the benefit of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation of Utah, use of court-awarded funds for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, and allowing certain lands to be taken into trust for the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico to be used for the benefit of the Santa Fe Indian School. The House also voted to prohibit certain gaming activities on lands that the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona was authorized to purchase, and to authorize the Alaska Native Corporation for southeast Alaska, Sealaska, to receive its remaining land entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Finally, the House approved H.R. 1505 (as a part of omnibus bill H.R. 2578), which waives the requirement that the Department of Homeland Security comply with certain federal environmental laws - including the National Environmental Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Archeological Resources Protection Act - when conducting border security activities on federal lands within 100 miles of the international borders between the United States and Mexico and Canada. It would also waive the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act within that 100 mile area. See a map of the area covered by this bill.

See more articles in the June 2012 NALU.