Bill Text: CA AB1284 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Tribal ancestral lands and waters: cogovernance and comanagement agreements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-01 - Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. [AB1284 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1284-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Assembly
January 22, 2024 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 23, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1284
| Introduced by Assembly Member Ramos (Coauthor: Assembly Member Ward) |
February 16, 2023 |
An act to add Section 11019.82 to the Government Code, relating to Native American tribes.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1284, as amended, Ramos.
Tribal ancestral lands and waters: cogovernance and comanagement agreements.
Existing law governs various interactions between the state and federally recognized Native American tribes within the state. Existing law encourages and authorizes all state agencies, as defined, to cooperate with federally recognized California Indian tribes on matters of economic development and improvement for the tribes.
Existing law provides that the Legislature encourages the State of California and its agencies to consult on a government-to-government basis with federally recognized tribes and to consult with nonfederally recognized tribes and tribal organizations, as appropriate, in order to allow tribal officials the opportunity to provide meaningful and timely input in the development of policies, processes, programs, and projects that have tribal implications. Existing law provides that the Legislature
encourages the state and its agencies to consult with a federally recognized tribe, at the tribe’s request for a government-to-government consultation on a specified agency action, within 60 days of the request.
This bill would provide that the Legislature encourages the Natural Resources Agency, and its departments, conservancies, and commissions, to enter into cogovernance and comanagement agreements with federally recognized tribes. The bill would authorize the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency or a delegate to enter into agreements with federally recognized tribes for the purposes of shared responsibility, decisionmaking, and partnership in resource management and conservation within a tribe’s ancestral lands and waters, and would require the secretary or a delegate
to be the signatory for the state for these agreements. The bill would authorize the secretary or a delegate, within 90 days of a federally recognized tribe’s request, to begin government-to-government negotiations on cogovernance and comanagement agreements with the tribe.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California’s Native Americans have always been the stewards of California’s land and waters.
(b) California’s Native Americans have distinct cultural, spiritual, environmental, economic, and public health interests, and hold indigenous traditional knowledge relating to natural systems in California.
(c) Federally recognized tribes in California have the sovereign governance authority to enter into agreements with other sovereigns.
(d) Executive Order No. N-15-19 acknowledges and apologizes on behalf of the State of California for the historical “violence, exploitation, dispossession and attempted destruction of tribal communities” and the subsequent removal of California Native Americans from their ancestral lands.
(e) Executive Order No. N-15-19 reaffirms and incorporates by reference the principle of government-to-government engagement established by Executive Order No. B-10-11 and the state’s commitment to strengthening effective government-to-government relationships with tribes.
(f) Executive Order No. B-10-11 recognizes and reaffirms the inherent right of California’s Native American tribes to exercise sovereign authority over their
members and territory.
(g) Governor Newsom’s Statement of Administration Policy on Native American Ancestral Lands seeks “opportunities to support California tribe’s co-management of and access to” lands that are within tribal ancestral territories and under the ownership or control of the state.
(h) The purpose of the Statement of Administration Policy on Native American Ancestral Lands is to partner with tribes to, among other things, facilitate comanagement and support tribal self-determination and self-governance.
(i) California’s 30x30 Initiative is committed to strengthening tribal partnerships, including the development of opportunities for “meaningful and mutually beneficial tribal management and tribal co-management
within new and existing state lands, marine waters, and private lands, through formal agreements and other means.”
SEC. 2.
Section 11019.82 is added to the Government Code, to read:11019.82.
(a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Tribal Cogovernance and Comanagement of Ancestral Lands and Waters Act.(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Ancestral lands and waters” means lands lands, resources, and waters within a federally recognized tribe’s ancestral territory that are state owned
or controlled.
(2) “Cogovernance” is governance that emphasizes collaboration and shared decisionmaking on a nation-to-nation, government-to-government level.
(3) “Comanagement,” as adopted by the Fish and Game Commission, means a collaborative effort established through an agreement in which two or more sovereigns mutually negotiate, define, and allocate amongst themselves the sharing of management functions and responsibilities for a given territory, area area, or set of natural resources.
(4) “Federally recognized tribe” means a tribe
located in the state and acknowledged by the federal government pursuant to the annual list published under the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 5131) in the Federal Register.
(5) “Resources Agency” means the Natural Resources Agency and its departments, conservancies, and commissions.
(c) The Legislature encourages the Resources Agency to enter into cogovernance and comanagement agreements with federally recognized tribes. The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency or a delegate shall be the signatory for the state, and may enter into agreements with federally recognized tribes for the purposes of shared responsibility, decisionmaking, and
partnership in resource management and conservation within a tribe’s ancestral lands and waters.
(d) At the request of a federally recognized tribe, the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency or a delegate may, within 90 days of the request, begin government-to-government negotiations on cogovernance and comanagement agreements with the tribe.
